Sorry for posting a link.

[krammer]

Sorry for posting a link to a review I thought was well thoughtout & funny. (probably more than the film)

Won't mention the title here but I now acknowledge why you pulled it. I'm kinda surprised you did given the fact the review was a joke. (Clever one)

[Arkadin]

it was pulled because members cannot post threads with links to other sites now as purpose of the thread.
new rules.
I'm sure this is going to go down well.
grabs popcorn bag.
the decline continues.

[krammer]

mmk

Will keep that in mind.

What if I quoted the whole thing?

[Arkadin]

not sure what is going down.
I have been told by a mod not to post threads that have an original post linking away from HDD.
Now if they want to be super strict about this then obviously the forum will die a pretty quick death because no one will be able to post news about releases unless HDD has already announced them.
I mean I am still not clear if it pertains to foreign releases also.
this is going to be interesting for sure.

[Gunyaga]

indeed, I'm not sure what the purpose is of eliminating things so thoroughly. I can understand last week's hubub regarding a thread specifically discussing reviews here vs. other sites, but just linking to info from another site is pretty much SOP for most forums in order to reference a topic of discussion unless that topic happens to have been born from a home site specific review.

If that's the intention, then I agree Ark.

@Krammer, I was surprised to see your post deleted as well, it was good times to be sure.

[Cochise]

Originally Posted by Gunyaga

indeed, I'm not sure what the purpose is of eliminating things so thoroughly. I can understand last week's hubub regarding a thread specifically discussing reviews here vs. other sites, but just linking to info from another site is pretty much SOP for most forums in order to reference a topic of discussion unless that topic happens to have been born from a home site specific review.

If that's the intention, then I agree Ark.

@Krammer, I was surprised to see your post deleted as well, it was good times to be sure.

Moved this to Feedback, where it can be better discussed.

Sure, linking to other sites for info is fine - within an existing thread - as long as the info is useful and pertinent to the thread topic. What we don't think is useful is starting a thread that just directs the reader to another site in the very first post. I have no doubt that Krammer and Arkadin's posts were well intentioned, but often we have less scrupulous posters coming in and starting threads linking to other sites strictly just to promote that site. That's called site pimping, and is not allowed. And if we're going to enforce that, we have to enforce it uniformly.

Again, posting a link within a thread to another site that has information useful to the discussion is fine. We just don't want threads with the only purpose being to direct the reader away to another site.

[Gunyaga]

Cochise-I appreciate the feedback as I was completely in the dark as to what was going on. I'm not sure how we are to handle this then, though.

Taking Krammer as an example (sorry man), he finds a joke review on x movie at another site, so as I understand it he can post the topic of x movie, and then I come in at say post 4 and reference said reviewm that's ok? I'm not trying to give you guys a hard time, and I am well aware of the need for some policing in the area of site pimping on here, but am not sure this is something that can be addressed effectively with a blanket policy.

In Krammer's defense, the best info he has to share is on that other site, and it was funny. I'm not entirely sure where I am going with this other than brainstorming trying to come up with a solution that doesn't result in innocent posts like Krammer's getting the boot.

[Arkadin]

what I am confused about is an example like the following--
say some site has news that Bfi is releasing some movie, like "Belle de Jour".
HDD hasn't mentioned it at all.
so is HDD saying that I can't make a thread announcing the release with a link to the news?
I would appreciate some clarification.
Is HDD saying members cannot make threads with release news now if HDD hasn't already announced the news?
because my thread was such a thread.

[KYThrill]

Originally Posted by Cochise

Sure, linking to other sites for info is fine - within an existing thread - as long as the info is useful and pertinent to the thread topic. What we don't think is useful is starting a thread that just directs the reader to another site in the very first post. I have no doubt that Krammer and Arkadin's posts were well intentioned, but often we have less scrupulous posters coming in and starting threads linking to other sites strictly just to promote that site. That's called site pimping, and is not allowed. And if we're going to enforce that, we have to enforce it uniformly.

Well, I don't think it is being enforced uniformly. Here are some recent examples of threads that were started with a link that points away to another site. These are links in existing threads, but rather threads that are started with a link out.

Blu-ray player prices continue to slide
PS3 To Utilize Netflix By Next Month
Sony optical drives probed by anti-trust watchdog
Disney's Iger: Blu-ray Sales "Not as Much as We Would Have Liked"
Blu-ray thrives despite economic hard times
Reed Hastings: DVD ‘Sales Only’ Window Could Benefit Netflix
WSJ: Wal-Mart DVD Shift Is Latest Threat To Movie Studio Profits

And I could go on and on and on and on and on...

If you link the site, and then quote the whole thing, is that allowed? Is that the difference between one thread getting to stand and others getting deleted?

[Cochise]

Originally Posted by Arkadin

what I am confused about is an example like the following--
say some site has news that Bfi is releasing some movie, like "Belle de Jour".
HDD hasn't mentioned it at all.
so is HDD saying that I can't make a thread announcing the release with a link to the news?
I would appreciate some clarification.
Is HDD saying members cannot make threads with release news now if HDD hasn't already announced the news?
because my thread was such a thread.

Well, bad example - as we typically do not cover releases outside the US, foreign releases pretty much get a free rein. A better example is your Book of Love thread - we do have the release listed, so I reopened your thread with the link edited to direct to the listing info we have on this site.

[project-blu]

due to my obvious tightrope walking on some issues, i'm not going to jump in here, however i will ask that if krammer or arkadin want explanations, they should PM a mod, rather than create a thread.

it seems lately every single damn mod decision has a thread created because of it.

[Cochise]

Originally Posted by KYThrill

Well, I don't think it is being enforced uniformly. Here are some recent examples of threads that were started with a link that points away to another site. These are links in existing threads, but rather threads that are started with a link out.

Blu-ray player prices continue to slide
PS3 To Utilize Netflix By Next Month
Sony optical drives probed by anti-trust watchdog
Disney's Iger: Blu-ray Sales "Not as Much as We Would Have Liked"
Blu-ray thrives despite economic hard times
Reed Hastings: DVD ‘Sales Only’ Window Could Benefit Netflix
WSJ: Wal-Mart DVD Shift Is Latest Threat To Movie Studio Profits

And I could go on and on and on and on and on...

If you link the site, and then quote the whole thing, is that allowed? Is that the difference between one thread getting to stand and others getting deleted?

1 - Those articles are not news or information that we would typically cover here.

2- The news articles are quoted, so the reader does not have to click a link to another site to get the jest of the information.

3- Of the two threads discussed here, one pointed to a review on another site and we will likely have our own review, and the other pointed to news of a release on blu-ray which we already had listed here.

[project-blu]

3- more than likely? guaranteed. it was viewed and written last nite for the site, and will be up sometime soon. it arrived a bit late, with an embargo to boot. i hate saying embargo, but the embargo said embargo.

[KYThrill]

Originally Posted by project-blu

due to my obvious tightrope walking on some issues, i'm not going to jump in here, however i will ask that if krammer or arkadin want explanations, they should PM a mod, rather than create a thread.

it seems lately every single damn mod decision has a thread created because of it.

Well, I'm glad they did. As fast as the rules seem to change around here, I think people publicly asking questions is the only way I can keep informed of them. I mean, I know there are rules stickies, but I read those once. I don't make it a habit of reading them weekly and trying to determine if there are any rule changes.

I think HDD needs to do a better job of keeping the community up-to-date about any rule changes.

For example, the Blu-ray trading area just introduced a Master Steelbook Area. Rule changes went into effect as a result of creating that sticky. However, I was never notified of any rule changes. I just happened across them when I opened the thread and read the first post (the only post at the time). There is nothing in the title of the thread to indicate any rule changes were there, and I never received an e-mail informing me of the new rules. I just happened across them because I was curious.

If this were Facebook, Twitter, E-Bay, etc., etc. and there was a rule change, an e-mail would go out either explaining the rule changes, or linking you to a site that explains them, and when they go into effect.

Here it seems like you are just supposed to spend time on a weekly basis reading the rules, and looking through stickies and feedback threads, trying to find the new rules that are being enacted.

[KYThrill]

Originally Posted by Cochise

1 - Those articles are not news or information that we would typically cover here.

2- The news articles are quoted, so the reader does not have to click a link to another site to get the jest of the information.

3- Of the two threads discussed here, one pointed to a review on another site and we will likely have our own review, and the other pointed to news of a release on blu-ray which we already had listed here.

Well, none of that is preferenced in the posts before your commenting on enforcing no link outs. So it sounds like his review post may have been okay if he had quoted everything in the link. However, aren't there legal issues with that?

I mean, technically, isn't HDD allowing users to violate copyright law everytime they allow someone to quote (especially when it is the entire article) an outside link? Does HDD have permission to reproduce original copyrighted material from all over the web? Sites produce articles to draw traffic to their site, so allowing them to be completely quoted here would be damaging to those sites from where I stand (less traffic).

From your response, it sort of sounds like you are condoning copyright violation (from response 1 & 2). Posting a link out is not copyright violation. Posting the entire contents of the link as a quote is copyright violation. It seems that should be against the rules. I mean, what would HDD do if I created a Blu-ray website and quoted all your reviews, verbaitim. Even if I provided a link, few would use it since the review is right there already. It would simply stop traffic to HDD.

As to point 3, I understand if someone is starting a duplicate thread (announcing a title) when one already exists. Totally understandable. But in the other case, are users supposed to be psychic? How do we know that HDD might be posting a review? You might post a review of any title, at anytime (import or domestic). So if a thread will be deleted because HDD might post a review, then why not make the rule simply no linking or quoting at all of outside reviews?

Personally, if HDD hasn't gotten around to doing a review of an already released title, I would appreciate links to another review so I can go ahead and make my decision on the title. HDD can lock that thread once they have their official one to replace it. I don't think users should have to predict what HDD might be doing in the future though.