We prohibit links to other forums because they often contain language that is inappropriate for Members of this Community. A very large number of our woodworkers here are under the legal age or people who prefer not to be subjected to raunchy behavior and flaming. If we don't allow it here we certainly don't want to link to it here. Since our Moderators are already busy it isn't possible to ask them to chase links to verify if they suitable for everyone in this Community.
Concerning links, we rely on advertising to pay the bills and keep the majority of our forums open for everyone to enjoy for free. In the past we were less stringent but these days with the terrible economy it is more difficult to attract advertisers which are our primary source of income. Links in our Forums are very valuable, in a nutshell they are what makes The Creek attractive to advertisers. Banner ads are more than just graphics at the top of the screen, the banner links are a very large reason why companies will sponsor banner ads here. If you give away my primary source of revenue then it makes it impossible to pay the bills. Note that many companies will not support or be associated with public forums that promote immature behavior, flaming and online brawls. I don't blame them for protecting their good names and reputations they have worked hard to establish.
Our Terms of Service clearly states that we allow you to provide a link if it adds to the discussion. This also means that you can't build a discussion around a link for the purpose of financial gain or promotion. Whenever a new thread is started, particularly by someone who has just registered, and the thread contains a link and a question about a particular company or service the odds are that the thread will be removed. Those of you who have been Members of this Community for a long time are given more lee-way than someone who is new here. Because I know you and you have been active here for a long time I am less stringent or possibly just more trusting that you are not here to use our resources for financial gain. Often I will just edit the link if I feel it has merit and remove just enough to make it inactive and leave enough for someone to be able to visit the source if they prefer.
Links to Blogs and other personal web sites other than the ones we host here are no longer allowed. Some people enjoy financial gain from advertising on their Blogs, this is the primary reason why we will not allow links to these sites.
Active links, those that you can click on, are valuable because the Google Bots pick up the links and it promotes the source of the link. Because The Creek averages one and a half million hits per day links here are worth money and that my friends is how we pay the bills.
I prefer to leave our TOS as it is and not remove your ability to post links here because they are often very valuable to a particular discussion. I have asked our Staff to be more diligent watching for links that are either an abuse of our resources or that are not pertinent to a discussion. Please help us out, your support will help us to keep The Creek from becoming polluted, abused and to keep our forums online for everyone to enjoy.
Think of SawMill Creek as a comfortable workshop that you get to visit and enjoy time with your friends. If the group who visited before you left trash everywhere it wouldn't take long before it ceased to be the place you enjoy visiting and your friends will be long gone. This is your Community, you each have a responsibility to help with the chores.
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