Bitcointalk and reflinks: don't produce refspam, please

[LTU_btc]

One question though: Say an operator/service provider is managing several ANNs in different languages. Obviously it would be important for them to track the traffic they are getting from the local boards. Would this be okay or still forbidden?

I think it would be ok. I seen lot of services using tracking tags in their links. First example which comes to my head is Freebitco.in, but we can easily found lot of other services. This is how their link in ANN looks:
http://freebitco.in/?r=4&tag=bitcointalk.
So, for services such links is allowed.

[1miau]

One question though: Say an operator/service provider is managing several ANNs in different languages. Obviously it would be important for them to track the traffic they are getting from the local boards. Would this be okay or still forbidden?

Since referral links will be deleted because of the spammy side-effects (spamming it everywhere to get more sign-ups), I would say it's allowed if the intention of the OP is not to push the referral link. Like if the purpose is to track the traffic from Bitcointalk to their site. If that's the case, it should be fine.
As far as I know regarding users including a reflink into a very well thought post, adding value and helping others it's also considered to be allowed and I've found different comments:  

From my experience yes. IIRC the only time you are allowed to post a ref link is in a well rounded response. E.g. if someone asks for a good service for X and you reply with a well rounded review you may add a ref link if its clear that it is one.

I am not 100% sure on that though, but I think I read something along those lines. All in all, I would say if the ref link is worth it, put it in your signature and otherwise dont bother.

https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=1238563.msg12895517#msg12895517

From my experience yes. IIRC the only time you are allowed to post a ref link is in a well rounded response. E.g. if someone asks for a good service for X and you reply with a well rounded review you may add a ref link if its clear that it is one.

I am not 100% sure on that though, but I think I read something along those lines. All in all, I would say if the ref link is worth it, put it in your signature and otherwise dont bother.

It depends on who you ask, but you are right. Only in extremely rare cases is a referral link allowed. The post has to be really constructive/useful and it has to contain both a normal and referral link. OP you shouldn't even try with them, as 99,9% referral links are considered as spam.

https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=1238563.msg12895612#msg12895612

I know it is against the rules to post referral links only.
-snip-

Correct, but it's allowed if it isn't spam.
The only exception is if you're the owner or representative of the gambling website
and you're posting it as the official thread of your casino, that's normally tolerated because it isn't ref code spamming.
Example: wetsuit's thread - with "?r=4" as his ref link.

However, the description of your "review" is one of the example of ref link spam.

I'm not sure but I think I have seen a comment from hilariousandco (Global Moderator) a few weeks ago (or where it was quoted) about that issue and the reply was similar to the quotes above.

[efialtis]

Thanks - oh well it wouldnt make any sense though not to allow a company to track the generated traffic and as ltu_btc mentioned, I just checked and really found many ANN threads with ref links. I mean, you cannot compare those "shitty spammy user-ref links" with what I am talking about... in my opinion for what its worth.

[Lauren Smith]

I am a member of an SEO forum and I was reading a guide I thought would be a load of trash. You know how these "money-making guides" are? However this one made sense and they were talking spedicidally about getting referrals and affiliate marketing. I though you had to haev a massive online presence to make money that way but the thing is you don't. You need traffic leads that lead to sales. Would you rather a website with 50 visitors a day that makes $1000 a month or a website that gets 1000 visitors a day but makes $50 a month.

Anyway one of the things they mentioned was signatures. There so many people here that would rather wear someone else signature then make their own. My strategy will be to support bounties here but where signatures with referal links in other forums. You don't even have to post much. A few good posts will work very well esspecially if you comment back to people which if you serious about making money you should be doing anyway.

YOu can find out how to make money online but 90% of people read it and don't even try. Those that try mostly give up just because one thing doesn't work. You must try a few times before you move onto the next thing. Give yourself a proper chance. All of what you mentioning here is very good for SEO. IT creates backlinks and good leads. Just having keywords in your profile helps so much with indexing on google. Nice post well done.

[1miau]

Bump!

Looks like questions about reflinks are still coming up sometimes.
Small reminder to everyone that refspam is not allowed and such posts will be deleted.
If you want to use a reflink, follow the rules and you will be safe.

[nakamura12]

This is much better idea to promote referral links instead of including ref links on every post that a person made. If ever anyone does have a bit longer referral links then better use url shortener that doesn't have many pop-up ads and would redirected to the ref link right away instead of opening many new tabs in your browser then it will be fit in the personal text which we know it does have limited characters available. That's what I hate the most about URL shortener if I ever use one.

[Egii Nna]

When dealing with cryptocurrencies you'll hear about so-called reflinks very soon. Reflinks, often also known as referral links or affiliate links, are customized links leading to a page where you can register to use a service. It’s possible to receive your own reflink from the website of the service, if you are logged in to your account. If you are sharing your reflink now, other users click on it, and then sign in to this service, the person whose reflink was used (you) will get a small commission for referring this new user.
Reflinks are different from normal links where the person sharing the reflink receives a small commission and reflinks are usually also visible in the link, often the link contains an individual letter / number combination or an username.

Therefore, reflinks are very popular, because the "owner" of the reflinks can earn a bit by sharing it. Unfortunately, this fact often results to so-called "Refspam" that reflinks are posted everywhere to get users who sign up via this reflink. Because of this, Bitcointalk has a rule to prevent "ref-spam":

4. No referral code (ref link) spam.

Source: Unofficial list of (official) Bitcointalk.org rules, guidelines, FAQ
 
If you post reflinks, your posts will be deleted, and if someone is systematically repeating refspam posts, it may even end up in a (temporary) ban.
Therefore, you should always be careful and avoid posting reflinks.
There are some exceptions, where reflinks could be tolerated like if you are including it in a very informative reply / description which adds value, a site owner who wants to track traffic coming from Bitcointalk or similar where it's very clear that it's no ref-spam.




When in doubt you should avoid getting troube, better follow the rules and use legal ways how you can use reflinks in Bitcointalk:


1.) Reflinks in your signature

It is allowed to use reflinks in your own signature. In order to be able to wear a signature, your account has to be at least Jr. Member. But it’s not possible to click the links in signatures of Jr. Members, other users would have to copy them in the URL by themselves. In signatures of Member accounts and above, it’s possible click on links in their signatures.

It’s described in 2.) how to change your personal signature.



2.) Use reflinks as a website in your profile

Reflinks can also be linked in your own profile page and then referenced in a post. Linking a reflink in your own profile page works as following:
Choose Profile in your profile => Forum Profile Information and there you can insert your reflink at Website URL. If you like, you can select a name at Website title, which will be displayed in your profile in Website.

In Profile => Forum Profile Information you’ll find also the option to change your personal signature.









In a normal post on the forum you can point out that you have a link in your profile at "Website". It will look like that:





3. Refliks in your personal text

It's also possible to post your referral link as personal text. You can find it in your account settings, described by sheenshane here. It should work if your link is not too long because your personal text is limited and you can only use a limited number of characters.

Thanks to hugeblack for suggesting this.



I hope this little guide will help for you to avoid misunderstandings if you are honestly sharing your reflink.
But please, don’t spam reflinks in normal posts, better use the strategies described above. Refspam is annoying and not allowed. And if you are abusing these strategies to produce sigspam / spam to refer to your reflink in your profile you’ll also get a problem. Better be careful  

Hi @1miau I found this topic so educative that I will like to translate it to my local board (Naija local board). pidgin, if permitted will be glad.

[1miau]

Hi @1miau I found this topic so educative that I will like to translate it to my local board (Naija local board). pidgin, if permitted will be glad.

Hello, dear Egii Nna  

As agreed on your local board I've approved your request from November 07, 2023 and your translation got checked and added on my list now:

Language	translated by	Title
___________________________	_____________________	_______________________________________________________________________
Nigeria (Naija)	Egii Nna	Bitcointalk and Reflinks: make wuna no do referral-spam, ahbeg.

Many thanks for your translation and now, your local board members will be informed about how to apply reflinks properly.  

[Egii Nna]

Hi @1miau I found this topic so educative that I will like to translate it to my local board (Naija local board). pidgin, if permitted will be glad.

Hello, dear Egii Nna  

As agreed on your local board I've approved your request from November 07, 2023 and your translation got checked and added on my list now:

Language	translated by	Title
___________________________	_____________________	_______________________________________________________________________
Nigeria (Naija)	Egii Nna	Bitcointalk and Reflinks: make wuna no do referral-spam, ahbeg.

Many thanks for your translation and now, your local board members will be informed about how to apply reflinks properly.  

Thank you once again, and I appreciate the chance you gave me to translate this awesome topic for my local board. I am pretty sure that most members of my local board will understand more about reflinks and refspam in bitcointalk.

And again, I am very excited with the new method of approving translation because that is the best way to follow, which is the review that is being done now, which is just like evaluating the translation and making sure that the translation is done in an accurate manner.