There seems to be some confusion on the subject of whether emails or links are permitted in signatures and in posts.
In the Forums Rules - it states:
Quote:
SIGNATURES: You are permitted to use signatures, these are placed at the bottom of each of your posts in the forums.
DO NOT post links to yours (or anyone elses) website. {You can display your website in your profile}
DO NOT Place email addresses in signatures -
SPAMBOTS as well as others can collect these, your email is stored on our system and if someone sends you an email through the FRN website you wil be notified from where it came.
You can place Your Name, Company Name, Phone Number(s), Tag line and other information/comments in your signature - try to keep it brief - limit is supposed to be 5 lines...
Images should be kept to a maximum of two and no more than 120 pixels high and 250 pixels wide. We would prefer that you kept them smaller.
LINKS: Posting of links will be permitted in the forums, as long as they meet these standards:
1) Links are a direct, relevant answer to a question.
2) Links are to pertinent information.
3) A link is not to advertise (or appear to advertise) anything.
If it is determined that a link does not meet the above qualifications it may be deleted without an explanation. It is understood that all links appear at the discretion of Fugitive Recovery Network and its staff.
If a link is removed, it was already decided that it wasn't appropriate and there will not be any further discussion on the matter. Repeat: There is to be NO discussion regarding the removal of the link. If a member wishes to request a reason or explanation they may do so through a PM to me and I will see if I can get an answer. No guarantee is given.
If it is determined that permitting the posting of links gets out of control or is abused, Fugitive Recovery Network may revoke the privilege.
I will reiterate that the reason it is not recommended to place emails within a post - is for the Members protection to avoid detection by "spambots."What are SpamBots?
One specific type of spambots are created to harvest e-mail addresses from material found on the Internet in order to build mailing lists for sending unsolicited e-mail, also known as spam. These spambots are web crawlers that search the Internet for the purpose of gathering e-mail addresses from Web sites, forums, newsgroups, special-interest group (SIG) postings, and chat-room conversations. Because e-mail addresses have a distinctive format, spambots are able to easily detect and collect email addresses.NOTE: there are several techniques used to avoid detection by spambots. I have incorporated some of these techniques on this site, so that the spambot cannot acquire members email addresses. Placing your email address in your post(s) negates these techniques and leaves you vulnerable to your email being collected and placed into multiple spam mailing lists.While, there is not a specific rule that email addresses are not permitted, again it is for your protection. I have supplied a place within your profile (accessed via user control panel) Please make certain that this is a valid email address as well.
Additionally, links to your website(s) can be provided in your profile.
The main reason that I request that you not place links to websites within your posts or signature is to prevent the website from being considered a "link farm*" which is detrimental to gaining proper SEO (Search Engine Optimization.)
What is a Link Farm?
A Link farm is a web site that provides hyperlinks to multiple other sites. Search engines consider a link farm as a form of spamming the index of a search engine (sometimes called spamdexing.) I hope this explanation helps clear up any confusion or misunderstandings.
