CanadianGuy Posted January 7, 2010 Share Posted January 7, 2010 In reading the forum rules, understandably it mentions that members should not promote competitor websites.A question was asked today on the CSS thread regarding text gradients. I was able to reply to the question from information that I found on another website that was complete with a tutorial and a zip file with the complete tutorial and files required. As a new member I certainly did not want to violate forum rules. Nor did I want to plagiarize another’s work. So I best relayed the information in my own words as I understood them. Although I do not know that my interpretation best served the member as a link to the information would have been.To the best of my knowledge this topic is not covered on W3Shools. So would I have been in error by providing a link to the website that covered this topic?I belong to many forums where it is standard practice to provide links to the best information we find available. And I believe that it is this acceptance of seeking the best information available that keep our members in our communities.I welcome all responses regarding this issue but would most certainly appreciate on a moderator’s clarification on this forum rule.Regards,Jeff Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
boen_robot Posted January 7, 2010 Share Posted January 7, 2010 "competitor" web sites, as far as I understand it*, are sites "that offers similar if not identical information", not sites that offer additional information. W3Schools has nothing even remotely similar to text gradients (except maybe background gradients, though arguably, the code samples could be better...), so providing a link to such a tutorial, even if it's on a site with tutorials is, I think, fine. In fact, I have done it countless times, especially for badly covered topics, such as installing Apache, PHP and MySQL on Windows. If possible, you should favor personal sites and blogs over tutorial sites, but that's just a reccomendation, not a requirement.*I'm new as a mod, so don't take my word for it. I'll have to check up with the elders just in case. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CanadianGuy Posted January 8, 2010 Author Share Posted January 8, 2010 Thank you Boen Robot for your answer.I will in future try to post with the best interest of the forum members in mind and hope for the best.My teenage children call me old and I have gray hair, does that qualify me as a senior member? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
boen_robot Posted January 8, 2010 Share Posted January 8, 2010 After some talks with the elders, it seems that not only was my assumption correct, but in addition, the only real limitation for external links is when they are given for the sake of promoting that other site, not when they are given in order to help answer the topic's question. In other words:"Hey, check out *this web site* - it has really fine tutorials." - NOT allowed."Check out *this web site*. All the stuff about [non-web related topic] you'd want to find!" - NOT allowed."BTW, you should read *this web site's page* about [non-web related topic]. The whole site itself is fascinating!" - NOT allowed."The next time you have a similar problem, check out *this web site* first." - Allowed."Check *this web site's page* for a solution to your problem." - Allowed. My teenage children call me old and I have gray hair, does that qualify me as a senior member?Heh. It didn't qualified me as one . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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