Blog Sites

[one...two...tree 2,762]

I think this needs to be said here since there seems to be a reoccurring problem with some Pinays creating threads with links to their blog sites.

It is against the Terms of Service for members of this website to post links to your blog site if you are getting paid by the number of hits from advertisers.

By way of example, and not as a limitation, you agree that when using the Service, you will not:

Advertise or offer to sell any goods or services for any commercial purpose, other than in areas of the Service that are intended for such uses.

No Solicitation. You shall not distribute on or through the Service or to any persons or entities identified via Visajourney.com any Content or material containing solicitations or advertising of any kind without the express prior written permission of Visajourney.com. Lawyers, law firms, immigration related businesses or their proxies are prohibited from soliciting employment from prospective clients through the Forums or any of its interactive features. In the discussion forums you may discuss or recommend third-party Web sites, goods or services, so long as you have no financial interest in and receive no direct or indirect benefit from such Web sites, products or services, or the recommendation of such.

Terms of Service

[sjr09 155]

I see blogs and website links across the boardI This needs to be said here and across--the-board since there seems to be a problem across-the-board not just some "Pinays" creating threads with links to their blog sites. Look around Question? How would you know if they are getting paid or not?

[one...two...tree 2,762]

I see blogs and website links across the boardI This needs to be said here and across--the-board since there seems to be a problem across-the-board not just some "Pinays" creating threads with links to their blog sites. Look around Question? How would you know if they are getting paid or not?

I take it you don't know much about blogging. If you see someone posting a link to a personal blog site where there are advertisements on their pages, they are getting paid based on the number of visitors to their site. And if you see those kinds of links, report them as they are a violation of TOS.

[sjr09 155]

I take it you don't know much about blogging . If you see someone posting a link to a personal blog site where there are advertisements on their pages, they are getting paid based on the number of visitors to their site. And if you see those kinds of links, report them as they are a violation of TOS.

Do I get paid to be a snitch?

[one...two...tree 2,762]

Do I get paid to be a snitch?

Nope. But you also don't get paid to complain about links to blog sites you supposedly see throughout the entire VJ site. Blog sites per se are not against the TOS. Posting links to blog sites that pay you for how much internet traffic you bring to that site is.

[Kevin- 13]

Are you talking about people who's blogs are in their signatures? I haven't happened to notice threads created for the purpose of linking to a blog. I don't read every thread though, could have easily missed out.

It seems quite a stretch of that rule to say that people's personal blogs which happen to contain a few advertisements are against the TOS. I have visited a maybe a handful of blog links from this forum (all from this section), and I never even noticed the ads. I'm quite sure the goal of that rule is to avoid affiliate links and similar from being posted and used in signatures.

I happen to know quite a bit about how advertising and money-making works over the internet. It's incredibly unlikely that anyone who's blog is linked on this forum is earning even enough money to cover the cost of the blog hosting if they're not using a free host/blog service. If they are using a free blog service, then the ads are very possibly being placed by the service provider and not the blogger. There are many types of ads a person could have on their blog, most of which require visitors to actually click on them before there is any payment involved. Beyond that, many require the visitor to either give some personal information or buy a product before there's any payment or commission earned. They'd have to have a very popular site in order to charge a CPM rate for banners on it (cost per thousand views/displays), which are about the only kind that doesn't require the visitors to do something. So it's nearly certain they are not "getting paid based on the number of visitors to their site".

Hypotheticals:

1) Joey Ray (fictional, hypothetical person) runs a very popular content-based website about scuba diving. His site earns a significant income because he's put a lot of work into it, and has some advertising deals with scuba oriented vendors. Joey Ray has himself a Filipina wife and is an average member of the forums here, occasionally participating in normal ways. One day, another user asks about scuba diving in the Philippines, and Joey Ray response to the question and includes a link to the Philippines Diving section of his site. Is this okay? If not, would it be fine if another member aware of Joey Ray's site linked to it instead? Clearly, it is not the intent of the rule to block this type of post, though you could stretch the strict definition of it to possibly argue against the innocent post.

2) Frank (finctional, hypothetical person) runs myriad money-making-blogs on myriad topics, the goal of his blogs is purely to make money, and they only contain content which serves the purpose of making money. If Frank posts links to these blogs, the reason for posting is most likely also to earn money, unless he was posting them as an example of "this is what a money-making-blog looks like". Regardless of whether Frank is a regular contributing member or not, this type of posting would be what the rule is trying to prevent, as it makes the post a commercial advertisement rather than a discussion.

If people are actually linking to real money-making-blogs here, then I agree with you. If their blog is personal in nature, with their daily lives, thoughts, musings/rants, vacations, photos, etc, then I can almost guarantee they aren't "making money" from it, regardless of advertising content. Therefore, I doubt there's actually any problem.

Edited December 7, 2010 by Kevin-

[rlogan 2,036]

I haven't happened to notice threads created for the purpose of linking to a blog. I don't read every thread though, could have easily missed out.

Hi Kevin. I think they deleted the threads or locked them. There were two or three of them going on the first page of this Philippine subforum when he decided to do something about it. That's kind of intrusive, and that was with only one person doing it. So you can see what would happen if everyone could post threads about their blogs.

I happen to know quite a bit about how advertising and money-making works over the internet. It's incredibly unlikely that anyone who's blog is linked on this forum is earning even enough money to cover the cost of the blog hosting if they're not using a free host/blog service. If they are using a free blog service, then the ads are very possibly being placed by the service provider and not the blogger.

You know a lot more than I do I'm sure. I'm going to ask you something by PM, so look for that.

In our case we have to fight off these dastardly programmers that try all manner of ways to smuggle ads onto our stupid little blog. God I hate those guys. The main way is to offer "free" movies from the Philippines or games and such - but they secretly commandeer your blog, change your home page, and all manner of other evil things.

We have to use google to figure out how to kill them.

Hypotheticals...

[snip for brevity]

I think the place to talk these things over is on the page for site administration/ideas/suggestions or whatever its called. They're pretty good about responding to ideas.

[one...two...tree 2,762]

Are you talking about people who's blogs are in their signatures? I haven't happened to notice threads created for the purpose of linking to a blog. I don't read every thread though, could have easily missed out.

It seems quite a stretch of that rule to say that people's personal blogs which happen to contain a few advertisements are against the TOS. I have visited a maybe a handful of blog links from this forum (all from this section), and I never even noticed the ads. I'm quite sure the goal of that rule is to avoid affiliate links and similar from being posted and used in signatures.

I happen to know quite a bit about how advertising and money-making works over the internet. It's incredibly unlikely that anyone who's blog is linked on this forum is earning even enough money to cover the cost of the blog hosting if they're not using a free host/blog service. If they are using a free blog service, then the ads are very possibly being placed by the service provider and not the blogger. There are many types of ads a person could have on their blog, most of which require visitors to actually click on them before there is any payment involved. Beyond that, many require the visitor to either give some personal information or buy a product before there's any payment or commission earned. They'd have to have a very popular site in order to charge a CPM rate for banners on it (cost per thousand views/displays), which are about the only kind that doesn't require the visitors to do something. So it's nearly certain they are not "getting paid based on the number of visitors to their site".

Hypotheticals:

1) Joey Ray (fictional, hypothetical person) runs a very popular content-based website about scuba diving. His site earns a significant income because he's put a lot of work into it, and has some advertising deals with scuba oriented vendors. Joey Ray has himself a Filipina wife and is an average member of the forums here, occasionally participating in normal ways. One day, another user asks about scuba diving in the Philippines, and Joey Ray response to the question and includes a link to the Philippines Diving section of his site. Is this okay? If not, would it be fine if another member aware of Joey Ray's site linked to it instead? Clearly, it is not the intent of the rule to block this type of post, though you could stretch the strict definition of it to possibly argue against the innocent post.

2) Frank (finctional, hypothetical person) runs myriad money-making-blogs on myriad topics, the goal of his blogs is purely to make money, and they only contain content which serves the purpose of making money. If Frank posts links to these blogs, the reason for posting is most likely also to earn money, unless he was posting them as an example of "this is what a money-making-blog looks like". Regardless of whether Frank is a regular contributing member or not, this type of posting would be what the rule is trying to prevent, as it makes the post a commercial advertisement rather than a discussion.

If people are actually linking to real money-making-blogs here, then I agree with you. If their blog is personal in nature, with their daily lives, thoughts, musings/rants, vacations, photos, etc, then I can almost guarantee they aren't "making money" from it, regardless of advertising content. Therefore, I doubt there's actually any problem.

I agree with rlogan's assessment that this kind of discussion would normally be better addressed in the Site Discussion Forum. However, since I posted this thread to address what seems to be a problem in the Philippines Subforum, I'll give you a response.

The TOS are pretty clear: As a member, you agree not to....

Advertise or offer to sell any goods or services for any commercial purpose, other than in areas of the Service that are intended for such uses.

Advertise or offer to sell any services or products on the Forums without the written permission of VisaJourney.com.

A member can always ask before posting a link to their own blog site, if it in fact has ads and they are not posting the link to gain traffic to their site to see if Captain Ewok would make an exception, but I think it would be easier if you want to just share what you've written on your blog site, to simply copy and paste the text in the thread you are creating. You can do the same things with photos.