The Great Crime of Self-Linking...

April 4, 2001 9:40 AM

The Great Crime of Self-Linking: some posts are better than others, and the same goes for the self-links--the bermi village link was interesting enough for Me to forgive. This is a policy/feature-request i guess...I think an area here in metatalk where users can post links to projects they are working on--or friends are working on--without the guilt and stigma of self-linking would be a good idea.
posted by th3ph17 to Etiquette/Policy at 9:40 AM (7 comments total)

this differs from the list of weblogs/sites that users have listed in their profiles, and would be focused more on asking feedback and highlighting truly interesting content.
posted by th3ph17 at 9:43 AM on April 4, 2001

I could do that yeah, but what if it's interesting enough to go on metafilter proper? (and no, don't post a feature request for a thread mover because I don't feel like coding it)

The problem with having an "announce your site here!" thread is that there will be very few gems among the pointless self promotion. Or if it gets no traffic, it'll never get any posts at all, though I suspect the rampant self promotion will be more likely.

How about if I like it, I'll post it on the metafilter sidebar as something worth seeing?
posted by mathowie (staff) at 11:23 AM on April 4, 2001

(I forgot to add to that last sentence: assuming I added an announce section to metatalk)
posted by mathowie (staff) at 11:24 AM on April 4, 2001

yeah...the problems with the announce your site thread would be immense...especially with trolls and newbies and people trying to market things, or get dates with girl-just-broke-my-heart-again angst poetry. [not that thats me...]

so maybe not a thread...maybe just a page somewhere of current projects...and not an archive either, but a relevent and timely list of brand spanking new cool shit. And not a "what do you think of my new design" list either...content and projects...because i think collectively MeFi users are probably involved in some cool stuff that isn't linked to.

for instance, even though its not my site, i would feel weird linking to the webzine site...even though that would interest some people.

posted by th3ph17 at 12:00 PM on April 4, 2001

Self linking to your blog so people can read your thoughts on the latest episode of Buffy the Vampire Slayer is one thing, but the Bermi Village site was interesting to pretty much everyone who posted in that thread. I mean, it's Matt's site (although I did sell the design once to a wonderful little hosting company) and what he says goes, but some things seem worth posting regardless of the rules. If it's taken down, so be it. Plus, it gives all the little hall monitors a chance to see who can be the most pedantic in their knowledge of MeFi Etiquette.
How many posts you think are from someone's friend, or worse, put up by PR and AD agencies? An announce section moderated by Matt seems like a good idea, and a way around possible crap.

posted by Doug at 3:35 PM on April 4, 2001

(although I did sell the design once to a wonderful little hosting company

oh man. and me all alone in here without the mob! heh.

I agree about not needing anymore Buffy blog entries in my diet...the announce section [cough, if there is one] should be for high-quality stuff, or projects with Value to them, or that could have value with feedback and help.
posted by th3ph17 at 4:51 PM on April 4, 2001

the guilty one speaks - on reflection i should have mailed mathowie for advice. but i feel that the bermi site is interesting and unusual enough for mefi.
posted by quarsan at 3:07 AM on April 5, 2001