Member Avatar for harishankar

Just that question. What are the pros and cons of implementing a no-advertising policy (i.e. while posting) in new communities which are looking for more members?

Do you think initially people should be allowed to advertise their sites/products or is this a bad thing? Let me know what you all think of this as I am in a dilemma whether it would help or not.

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Dani AI

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Early-stage communities face a clear tradeoff: strict "no advertising" rules keep quality high but can deter early members; blanket permissiveness invites spam and wastes moderator time. is right to worry about losing contributors, and is right that changing rules later creates resentment. is also correct that intent matters — deliberate spam is different from a member quietly sharing a project. The practical path is a controlled, transparent compromise that protects fledgling engagement without inviting low-value posts.

Start with a narrowly scoped, well-signposted option for promotion rather than opening advertising site-wide. Concrete measures that work together:

  • One dedicated Promotions or Showcase forum where links are allowed.
  • Minimum participation threshold before posting external links (for example, 5 meaningful posts or 7 days).
  • Require context: every link post must explain value, include screenshots or a short summary, and disclose affiliation.
  • Hard limits on frequency (one promotional thread per member per week) and automatic nofollow on user-submitted links where feasible.

Make enforcement low-friction and consistent. Pin a short policy, craft a short canned moderator message for first-time offenders, and escalate (remove post + warn, temporary posting restrictions, then ban for repeats). Automate what you can: simple regex filters for repeated domain posts, and a moderation queue for new users’ posts containing links.

If planning a future ban, announce it upfront and give a clear migration path for existing promos (move them to the Showcase, grandfather long-time contributors, or offer a featured-week spotlight). To keep members engaged without open advertising, run a weekly "Member Projects" thread, occasional curated spotlights, and encourage members to describe their work in dedicated, value-first posts.

Sample moderator message:

Hi [username], welcome — thanks for sharing. Please add more context about your project and disclose your affiliation. Links are allowed only after a few contributions; I can move this to the Showcase if you prefer. Thanks!

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Member Avatar for Dani

I think that if you plan on possibly implementing this policy in the future, it is best to never allow advertising to begin with. There is nothing that frustrates frequent forum members more than change of policies.

Member Avatar for harishankar

Yes. I can understand that. However, I have an awkward problem. You see, I have only about 20 members and my community is very slow in picking up. When I see somebody blatantly posting links to their sites from mine, I can take action. However, because the situation is that I *need* every member to be active on my community, I feel that I cannot take effective action without driving them away.

So far I've been solving the problem by PMming the individual member and asking them to remove links. It is a bit difficult also to do this every time and cannot go on for too long when I have more members joining up. What do you suggest?

And how did you handle this issue Dani? :)

Member Avatar for jdmml

It depends on the advertisements and if they are spam...

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