Big (Pepsi) Blue

July 24, 2007 2:37 AM

Self-link policy question: I'm one of the creators of a site that features a lot of user-generated content (and has been discussed on MeFi before). One of our users recently made something that I thought was pretty cool, and I'd like to share. The problem is that I have a conflict of interest here -- of course I want to drive more traffic to my site in general, but then I genuinely think this particular thing that a complete stranger made is pretty neat and people would find it enjoyable. Any opinions?
posted by xthlc to Etiquette/Policy at 2:37 AM (25 comments total)

Absolutely unallowed. Now that you have piped up here, perhaps someone else will sniff it out.
posted by Meatbomb at 2:50 AM on July 24, 2007

Email it to someone else. They can post it if they like it.

Wendell can help you with a couple of email addresses.
posted by Dataphage at 2:53 AM on July 24, 2007 [3 favorites]

Projects
posted by gomichild at 3:24 AM on July 24, 2007

Yeah, email it to somebody. If it's good they'll post it. If you don't know anybody just pick somebody in this thread. Hell, I'll take a look at it if you want.
posted by sveskemus at 3:40 AM on July 24, 2007

I think it might count as a double, due to that first one you linked to.
posted by blacklite at 3:41 AM on July 24, 2007

You're pretty much compromised by being one of the Many Eyes guys, xthlc; the conflict of interest is a bugger, even if it is a pretty cool project.

If some other mefite who is a fan of Many Eyes (and there have got to be at least a few) sees the thing and posts it independently (and it turns out to be, in fact, sufficiently cool to justify the quasi-doublish territory), awesome. But, yeah, it really shouldn't be you.
posted by cortex (staff) at 4:52 AM on July 24, 2007

Just make up some half assed question about this neat thing and post it in AskMe. ;)
posted by caddis at 5:11 AM on July 24, 2007

This is exactly what projects is for -- go there and post it. If there's sufficient interest, it'll get posted to the blue by somebody who is not you.
posted by boo_radley at 5:15 AM on July 24, 2007

Eh, the problem is that it isn't his project that he's thinking warrants a post. He can post his site to Projects, but then the thing that xthlc thinks is "genuinely.. pretty neat" will still go unlinked.

xthlc: I suggest you link to it here, in this thread. People who see it will take it with the self-link grain-of-salt.
posted by Plutor at 5:19 AM on July 24, 2007

Also, if the user over there were to register at Mefi and post a link to it as a Project, that'd fly. Hopefully they'd be inclined to stick around, of course.
posted by cortex (staff) at 5:26 AM on July 24, 2007

Thanks everyone for the guidance. I think for now I'll just wait and see if the rest of the world thinks it's cool enough to show up on MeFi via someone else.

I'm not sure it quite fits in Projects -- the site itself would (if it hadn't already been posted), but then this is a piece of user-created content on Many Eyes that I just found today. I didn't make it, I just made the tools that this person used to create it. And it was surprising, original, and fun enough to me that I thought it would merit a FPP, and wouldn't feel like a double.

I was originally thinking of it like YouTube -- could a YouTube employee / MeFite, idly surfing his own site after work, post a link to a funny home video someone uploaded to YouTube? Of course it's a different beast, given the fact that YouTube is a fundamental currency of linkage these days and my project is more esoteric and less well-known.
posted by xthlc at 5:46 AM on July 24, 2007

Perhaps the user might like to spend 5 of his/her hard earned dollars to post it to Projects themself?
posted by nevercalm at 6:01 AM on July 24, 2007

I think the general rule of thumb has been When In Doubt, Don't, which serves pretty well. The prohibition on self-links is an imperfect compromise because there will always be cases where genuinely good stuff could be posted in good faith by someone involved in making it, but the rule simplifies the situation wonderfully and the good stuff has a tendency to make its way to the front page anyway. This might be one of those cases where there'd be little actual harm, but if you have to ask...

So yeah; I figured, err on the side of caution, and hope for the best, and in the mean time take some satisfaction that Many Eyes is so danged cool and you have users producing neat stuff. :)
posted by cortex (staff) at 6:03 AM on July 24, 2007

Hey! I found it and that was cool! (I'm half tempted to post it to the blue myself...how much easier could a first FPP get? I've always wanted to find something cool on the internet to post to the blue. (Voice of Ralph Wiggum:) And I found it!)

(Then again, I'm still scared of posting to the blue, so I think I'll cower and wait)
posted by iamkimiam at 6:16 AM on July 24, 2007

I didn't make it, I just made the tools that this person used to create it. And it was surprising, original, and fun enough to me that I thought it would merit a FPP, and wouldn't feel like a double.

Yeah, it's not okay. I get your YouTube analogy but really the big deal is that it has to pass the smell test not just the "grade my report card" test. I'm not sure why one of the links in your post had a Yahoo redirect link, but I took that out.

of course I want to drive more traffic to my site in general

This is why the YouTube analogy is NOT valid, people who work at YouTube rarely care if their site generally gets more eyeballs. So, yeah, wait it out. Post it to MetaChat maybe if you want to get some good feedback and maybe see if other people there think it's worth posting here. As you said the site has been here three times already there's a good chance whatever it is is MeFi-worthy. In the meantime, maybe put a link in your profile so people here can see what you're talking about.
posted by jessamyn (staff) at 6:33 AM on July 24, 2007

jessamyn: "This is why the YouTube analogy is NOT valid, people who work at YouTube rarely care if their site generally gets more eyeballs."

That's only because they've already got 8734; eyeballs. What about someone who works at Revver or Daily Motion or Metacafe. Would it be okay for them to FPP a video on their sites?
posted by Plutor at 6:45 AM on July 24, 2007

Argh. ∞ is how many eyeballs they have.
posted by Plutor at 6:46 AM on July 24, 2007 [1 favorite]

I'm not sure why one of the links in your post had a Yahoo redirect link, but I took that out.

Thanks -- I did a search via MeFi's searchbox for the prior discussions and did a right-click->copy link location instead of actually clicking through and copypasting from the address bar -- got the Yahoo search result redirect URL instead of the one I meant to paste.

This is why the YouTube analogy is NOT valid, people who work at YouTube rarely care if their site generally gets more eyeballs.

That's a far more succinct way of putting it. Good enough for me.
posted by xthlc at 6:53 AM on July 24, 2007

Hah. Plutor - I actually spent a few seconds wondering why you chose exactly 8,734 eyeballs. I even did the math in my head to arrive at the number of two-eyed humans it would require to achieve that number of eyeballs. And then I scrolled down...
posted by jonson at 9:22 AM on July 24, 2007 [1 favorite]

Is it the Shakespeare thing?
posted by goodnewsfortheinsane at 11:02 AM on July 24, 2007

Hey! I found it and that was cool! (I'm half tempted to post it to the blue myself ... Then again, I'm still scared of posting to the blue, so I think I'll cower and wait)
posted by iamkimiam

C'mon, iamkimiam!!!! Post it! We won't hurt ya! MeFi is full of wonderful, warm folks who will applaud even the smallest effort at making a quality post. As long as you show you tried, we will all give you back-pats and kudos!!!

Do it! You know you want to!!!!

*sharpens snark-blade*
posted by The Deej at 1:58 PM on July 24, 2007

Deej, how 'bout we ro-sham-bo (sp.?) for the honors?
posted by iamkimiam at 5:00 PM on July 24, 2007

What about Wee-a-boo?
posted by anthill at 5:07 PM on July 24, 2007

Dueling pistols at dawn. If I'm not there, start without me.
posted by The Deej at 9:14 PM on July 24, 2007

Why don't we both leave tuna sandwiches on the counter overnight, post some AskMe's about the odds of survival, and eat them anyway against the better advice of 50,000 overthinkers...whoever lives, wins!
posted by iamkimiam at 4:46 PM on July 25, 2007