Website reviews?

[james438]

It is ok in this case, but I am talking about as a general rule. It seems unnecessary to have to make this request every time someone wants criticisms/feedback on a website they are working on. If the person is brand new to the forum then it is a good idea to make a request for permission prior to posting their website so as to be sure they are not accidentally labeled as a spammer. If the person has 100+ (50+?) posts then it should be clear that the person is not a spammer.

[keyboard]

@100 post +
Even though it shows you're not a spammer, I still think it's a nice idea to contact one of the mods/admin, just to check... It's not as if it takes that long for an answer, and I think it would be the *polite* thing to do...

[james438]

I disagree. Members have been doing this for some time and I have no memory of this ever being an issue. Even in this case I am being overly cautious in recommending that members with less than 100 posts should request permission to ask for criticisms/feedback on their website. This is what the forum is for. Unless DD wants the extra job of monitoring the forums for people who are asking for feedback who have not asked permission first I find it silliness to have to ask for permission to get help with website design. It is not being polite. Rather, asking for permission becomes annoying.

[traq]

I think the "fine line" here is between someone posting a vague "review my site please" link (which is often simply a front for advertising the site in question), and someone with a legitimate question that is appropriate for these boards.

[djr33]

For established users (eg, the three users who've posted on this page), there's no problem with posting a link to a project as long as it's a legitimate question. Others do this fairly often as well. As moderators, we're a bit skeptical when it comes to a first-time poster doing that, especially when it's vague. If the post seems suspicious, we'll delete it and potentially ban the user if it seems necessary. Even for long time members, we might delete the post, if it's particularly inappropriate.

If you want to post something that is not related to web design (and is some sort of 'ad' for it), then you should contact the administrators. If it's "review my site", you can post that (and others do) especially if you're an established user. However, personally I'd prefer for this to only be for established users because if everyone starts posting this sort of thread it'll get crowded. And beyond that, I don't really like that kind of thread-- it's vague and often not very helpful. But in some cases it works.

There's not much to debate here-- you're certainly welcome to ask for clarification of the rules at any time, and do so if you're uncertain. If you have a legitimate web design question (whatever it may be), that should be allowed. If it's not, we'll let you know.

[buynowwebsites]

Mod's edit: here comes the spam. (I left this not deleted just as an example of how discussions like this can attract spam. It's one reason they can sometimes do more harm than good. Usually we can keep up with the spam and delete it, though.)

[keyboard]

The question has been answered and james and I have finished having our "discussion" .
Why don't you just close the thread?

[djr33]

I will if the spam keeps showing up. But in case anyone else has a question, I'll leave it for now.
I left it because non-mods can't see the spam once it's deleted and it might be interesting to see it for once (content removed, of course).

[keyboard]

I left it because non-mods can't see the spam once it's deleted and it might be interesting to see it for once (content removed, of course).

Mods can see spam after its been deleted?????

[djr33]

Until it's permanently erased from the database (done manually by ddadmin every once in a while), we can see that something was posted and we can access its content if we want to (it's hidden by default). This helps us figure out what the spam patterns are, pick keywords to filter, and check again in the rare event that someone protests its deletion.