They were all just out celebrating my birthday.

It looks like Cre8asite Forums, a very popular SEO and usability forum, has the same idea as I do.

They have a Website Hospital forum whose description is:
Website reviews, questions like "Why can't I sell anything from my site?" and "Why do people leave as soon as they get to my site?"

I think, for webmaster forums, it's a good idea to allow links in sigs and self promotion if it's relevant to the discussion at hand. Many webmasters participate in discussions just for the backlinks.

Well people who participate in a community just for the backlinks - aren't those exactly the type of people that we DON'T want? We want people because they enjoy being a part of our community and enjoy learning with us and sharing knowledge.

Well their are some that are allowed like in the sig but make sure a users has to posts on the forum first before they can do that! but i will remove anyone who just spams the forum about their site etc

I think it may be a bit hard to be too strict on people who posts their websites on this forum (if we are talking about this forum). I mean I am quiet happy to just visit different peoples sites without them annoying me, kind of like a forum rotated Web Ring. There is a line that can be crossed though with too much web pimping.

Thanks for all the feedback. For anyone out there who runs a webmaster-oriented community of your own, what is your policy? (And remember, don't mention the name / url of your site! )

Hmm ...

The simplest method is to code a solution. Namely set it so "new fellows and gals" can NOT post links. Make them get to 50 posts and then let them have a sig, post links etc. ( 50 posts being a number pulled out of my.... )

I dont have a webdev forum but I do find every person who is making a movie and every intern at every major studio loves to spam big boards. So these two "code updates" made my boards a much nicer place to hang out without hindering true contributors.

Dani you already know my outtake on this subject I am all for allowing links as long as they are not spam links the forum is for dicussion and wether dicussion is site specefic, general or general discussion with reference to a particular site a good discussion is all that matters. I have had great discussion on SEO forums at sitepoint, TAZ etc even with reference to the website. Thing is that when you have a mature set of aurdience discussing which Daniweb has the discussion which is with reference to a particular website will eventually turn into general discussion all by itself. IMO too many ifs, buts and dont's put people off and is a primary reason for lack of word of mouth marketing atleast that has been my experience.

This is indeed a tricky situation.

I have a webmaster site with the appropriate community :lol: I allow my members to link to their webmaster site/forum in their signatures (I mean something discreet and of common sense, not "Join now", "visit now" ...

I allow web site reviews. In the end I have started the entire project after getting involved in other huge forums and reviewing sites. After a while I thought I should have a site of my own where i can express MY own views on design, layouts, promotion and so on. After putting down some very "opinated" articles I have thought about starting a forum too.

I allow reviews there too (well, it's my "job" ). BUT .. I don't allow forum reviews. Why? because most of the time people post there just to promote. Unless I see some serious theme modding and efforts to make me have what to review, I just consider it a sneaky way to get visits and members. When someone installs a script and uses a stock template, then he should be prepared for some "nasty" remarks.

I do allow forum reviews in my "group" called Forums development team". Usually people who want to get more members and posts join, make 20 posts and ask for inclusion in the team. The team is hidden and so is the corresponding forum. That's the only way I am willing to give tips for improvement and reviews.

As for the other sites, they are reviewed in the "normal" reviews forum. If I am not mistaken I have made it so only people with more than 20 posts can post there and open topics. Same for the "market" place. I don't want my place to become a spammer's heaven, nor turn it to a "shopping place". The members who are "serious" enough as to post 20 messages (takes me 30 minutes to do so ) are allowed for more "goodies".

Not a good idea if you want to fast expand, but in the end I don't rush anywhere. I want more posts and quality then just people to waste my space and bandwidth ...