Author Topic: Banned from Bogleheads?  (Read 6834 times)

Blonde Lawyer

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Banned from Bogleheads?
« on: April 14, 2015, 04:27:45 PM »
I've been lurking on several financial sites and posting more frequently on others.  I was just lurking on Bogleheads until someone wrote asking if anyone had any experience with SoFi.  Since I did, I registered and wrote a reply.  In my reply, I included the referral link that is in my sig below.  My comment went into moderation and I got a notification that my IP address was banned.  I sent an email to the site administrator explaining the above and never heard back.  I apologized if the referral link was not allowed and that I would refrain from using it in the future.  It should have been clear from my reply that I was not a spammer.  I didn't create a new post to promote SoFi, I was responding to someone actually asking about it! I never received a reply.  Short of creating a new account that I only access from a different IP address, is there anyway I can participate in this forum again? I can't even lurk now from the original IP address. 

Cheddar Stacker

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Re: Banned from Bogleheads?
« Reply #1 on: April 14, 2015, 04:37:55 PM »
Shame shame. I have no helpful info, I just find the story amusing. Some sites allow for blatant promotion, others are more militant. Sorry.

Daley

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Re: Banned from Bogleheads?
« Reply #2 on: April 14, 2015, 04:40:12 PM »
From the Bogleheads Policies and Etiquette page:
Quote
No Solicitation or Link Farming

Please do not solicit business or website traffic on this forum. A discreet link to your personal website or blog in your profile is allowed. The moderators and administrators reserve the right to determine unilaterally what constitutes solicitation, to remove such material, and to ban a repeat offender if necessary.

Money-making referral links in siglines are kinda tacky, anyway.

Edit: If you want to get down to brass tacks, your sigline is technically against forum rules here, too:
Quote
You may only share a referral code for each particular product or company once, on the entire forum.  Promoting the same code over and over is considered spamming.
« Last Edit: April 14, 2015, 04:46:18 PM by I.P. Daley »

Kris

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Re: Banned from Bogleheads?
« Reply #3 on: April 14, 2015, 04:50:43 PM »
I've been lurking on several financial sites and posting more frequently on others.  I was just lurking on Bogleheads until someone wrote asking if anyone had any experience with SoFi.  Since I did, I registered and wrote a reply.  In my reply, I included the referral link that is in my sig below.  My comment went into moderation and I got a notification that my IP address was banned.  I sent an email to the site administrator explaining the above and never heard back.  I apologized if the referral link was not allowed and that I would refrain from using it in the future.  It should have been clear from my reply that I was not a spammer.  I didn't create a new post to promote SoFi, I was responding to someone actually asking about it! I never received a reply.  Short of creating a new account that I only access from a different IP address, is there anyway I can participate in this forum again? I can't even lurk now from the original IP address.

That's too bad.  Maybe someone here is in good with one of the mods there and could intervene on your behalf?

MikeBear

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Re: Banned from Bogleheads?
« Reply #4 on: April 14, 2015, 06:34:23 PM »
So, power cycle your cable modem and router at home, it'll grab a different IP address, and register with a new account at Bogleheads.

Blonde Lawyer

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Re: Banned from Bogleheads?
« Reply #5 on: April 14, 2015, 07:51:13 PM »
IP Daly, no time to grab the quote now but I thought the TOS here said sig lines were okay.  I actually responded to the poster over at Bogleheads because of my good experience w/ SoFi.  I included the link b/c I thought he/she would want the $100 bonus.  Yes, I benefit too but it didn't seem like shameless promotion. I guess if I was asking about a company that I was going to use anyway, and someone could offer me a way to use the same company and get $100 I would like to know. 

I realize that I was actually on my work IP when I was banned so I can still read from home.  If I want to post again (with no link this time of course!) I'll create a new account and use it from home only!

So for people that participate there, do you think the link is what got me banned? I can't think of anything else.

Thanks for the replies so far.

Wile E. Coyote

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Re: Banned from Bogleheads?
« Reply #6 on: April 14, 2015, 08:05:36 PM »
IP Daly, no time to grab the quote now but I thought the TOS here said sig lines were okay.

I think the exception for sig lines is only for links to your blog, not for referral codes.

Daley

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Re: Banned from Bogleheads?
« Reply #7 on: April 14, 2015, 08:26:54 PM »
IP Daly, no time to grab the quote now but I thought the TOS here said sig lines were okay.  I actually responded to the poster over at Bogleheads because of my good experience w/ SoFi.  I included the link b/c I thought he/she would want the $100 bonus.  Yes, I benefit too but it didn't seem like shameless promotion. I guess if I was asking about a company that I was going to use anyway, and someone could offer me a way to use the same company and get $100 I would like to know. 

I realize that I was actually on my work IP when I was banned so I can still read from home.  If I want to post again (with no link this time of course!) I'll create a new account and use it from home only!

So for people that participate there, do you think the link is what got me banned? I can't think of anything else.

Thanks for the replies so far.

Okay, the Boglehead mods have a pretty tight no spamming and referral link policy from what I've witnessed, so try to look at things from their perspective. You create a new account and your very first post out of the gate that goes into moderation contains a referral link for the service you're responding to. As someone with forum moderation experience, this is frequently how referral spammers will operate. Register and first post dropped includes a referral link never to post again. Can you see how you might have gotten tagged as you have?

Regarding your sigline here, siglines are fine, but referral links in siglines are pushing it. I view it thusly: you're permitted one referral link on the entire forum per product (which is generous), by placing that referral link in your sigline, those links now exists in at least 158 locations on these forums simultaneously and counting in your case, and that's not including the other two times you've deliberately dropped your SoFi referral links in other threads. Can you see how that might be viewed as spamming?

Consider this a gentle lesson in learning and reviewing the acceptable usage policies in the online communities you participate in before doing so. You got banned first day at Bogleheads, but you've gone four months here without getting so much as a slap on the wrist. Sometimes things get enforced harder than others, but money-making referral link spam is typically pretty well universally loathed. Best to refrain from doing so.

arebelspy

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Re: Banned from Bogleheads?
« Reply #8 on: April 14, 2015, 09:52:45 PM »

IP Daly, no time to grab the quote now but I thought the TOS here said sig lines were okay.

I think the exception for sig lines is only for links to your blog, not for referral codes.

We tend not to police too hard, unless someone is being a pest. Usually when they break forum rule #1, and catch our eye, that's when we might notice other indiscretions.

Not because we want people breaking other rules, but just because we don't go around looking for forum violations, because we generally don't care about being enforcers.

Some people just can't help but draw attention to themselves though.
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Blonde Lawyer

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Re: Banned from Bogleheads?
« Reply #9 on: April 14, 2015, 10:05:11 PM »
Thanks for the info and the thoughtful response.  Today I learned MMM is now recommending SoFi and has a better deal for readers.  $300 credit rather than $100.  I'm sure me (and everyone else) will refer readers from here to his link instead of our own.  I know I tend to proselytize about the company.  Getting out of my usurious former loan was life changing.

The real moral dilemma is in other venues, when I see the opportunity to discuss SoFi, do I point people to the $300 and get nothing or to my link where we each get $100.  Maybe it depends on how much I like the person I'm talking with.  Maybe I offer them both and let them choose.  :)

Off to edit my sig. 

vern

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Re: Banned from Bogleheads?
« Reply #10 on: April 15, 2015, 02:26:35 AM »
It's better than being banned from the pubs.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=chOVH_aj9c0

gecko10x

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Re: Banned from Bogleheads?
« Reply #11 on: April 15, 2015, 05:47:26 AM »
They are Nazis over there about the rules. I did something similar a couple months ago and got a warning, which really rubbed me the wrong way- I was truly just trying to help someone else out (and I'm not even sure I would have gotten anything from the referral).

I don't know where the best place to draw the line is, but they are over it for my tastes.

JustPlainBill

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Re: Banned from Bogleheads?
« Reply #12 on: April 15, 2015, 05:40:34 PM »
The BogleHeads are infamous for their heavy-handed censorship of posts that dare to suggest that (1) active investing, in some cases, is superior to indexing, and (2) John Bogle isn't technically eligible for sainthood.

Somehow, the "shilling for business" rule is conveniently overlooked if you're a BogleHead-ish author that posts there "referencing" his books, or if one of the authors of "The BogleHeads Guide To Stuff That I Can Find For Free On The Internet But Cough Up $19.99" recommends one of those books as a must read.

Don't feel so bad about being banned.  There's some very thin-skinned, egocentric peeps over there that can pull your post for pretty much any reason.

RootofGood

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Re: Banned from Bogleheads?
« Reply #13 on: April 16, 2015, 07:47:01 AM »
They have pretty heavy handed moderation (like facepunches for going a little off topic or not posting in the right forum).

That said, delurking and popping in a referral link in your first post looks exactly like spam and is probably a poor way to introduce yourself to that forum (or any forum, really). 

I'm only an occasional lurker there, but it's still a very solid forum with excellent resources. 

As for the $100 vs $300 referral links, I'd feel pretty shitty if I sent any of my friends or associates to a crappier link instead of giving them the extra $200 discount.  As an example, I have a link to some credit cards with bonus offers on my personal blog.  If I know I have a credit card that gives 25,000 points/miles for signing up but I know there's a link for 50,000 miles somewhere else, I'll try to suggest readers google and find the 50k offer (or go to flyertalk's master thread and find it or whatever).  No reason to short other people $200 or 25000 miles just to make a buck yourself (unless you're in it for the money!).  Or alternately, if there's a 50k offer that pops up a few times per year (like Southwest Chase card) instead of 25k at most times, I'll advise waiting to get the bigger bonus when it's offered. 

Edit to add: somewhere on the margins I might recommend a slightly inferior offer if the net between what you and I receive is better than the straight terms of the offer.  Like if MMM's sofi link was $125 bonus for the refinancer but my own link was $100 for me and $100 for you, I might give my own referral link to a friend since together we net $200 (at the expense of costing my friend $25).  There's a rationalization for my slight sleaziness somewhere in the utilitarian field of ethics but I don't care enough to elaborate right now.  :)
« Last Edit: April 16, 2015, 07:49:41 AM by RootofGood »

Silverado

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Re: Banned from Bogleheads?
« Reply #14 on: April 18, 2015, 05:50:29 AM »
They have pretty heavy handed moderation (like facepunches for going a little off topic or not posting in the right forum).

My only issue is that they operate with a real strong good ole boy network there. The facepunches are not universally applied. I get the first post spammer getting nuked, but so often a 30-250 post person gets dinged for something that is very very similar to something one of 10k posters has already said without a problem. There is good info. I do appreciate avatars over there, since there are some posters who never say anything worthwhile and the picture helps weed them out. Crazy amount of low sig to noise dribbling from a couple folks over there.