Hey–elect me dictator of the mod loop. I’ll settle things! I already apparently broke the board. Now I’ll fix it…MY WAY!
FENRIS FOR DICTATOR, 2010****IN YOUR HEART, YOU KNOW HE’S RIGHT
$15.00 for unlimited advertising seems like a pretty good deal.
Why not…
- Open vBulletin admin cpanel
- Go to Usergroups and click “Usergroup Manager”
- Select “Guest” usergroup
- Scroll to “Signature Permissions”
- Set Allow Link BBCode to “no”
- Save settings
- Profit!
FYI- if you use the tapatalk app it automatically places sigs in your posts, with no ability to delete them from within the app. You may see more sigs that acceptable for people using that app.
It does, except for the people who change their avatar depending on their mood.
Good idea, but it doesn’t completely solve the problem. It still allows (non-clickable) links, and takes away bold, italics and such from guests. We’ll talk about it, though.
Hm. What’s a non-clickable link? You mean someone just posting www . something . com? (Breaking the code so it doesn’t auto-link.) That’s possible but still, might as well solve the more likely scenario and worry about the non-clickable links separately.
Nope, this doesn’t disallow all BBcode – it’s just turning off the Link BB code (i.e. [ url ] and [ /url ]) in sigs. There’s a different setting that does let you disallow all BBcode from sigs on a usergroup basis, but this one is more specific.
Vbulletin lets you turn on and off various BBcodes for different usergroups, which is a very nice feature if an admin, say, ever turn on IMG linking but wants to restrict it to members over ___ posts. That kinda thing.
Ah, I didn’t read your first message closely enough. I’ll pass this on to the admins. Thanks.
So it’s okay if I add my signature to every single post, like Shodan & Steven, right?
I don’t know whether or not it would be “okay” to do so, but wouldn’t following both the letter and the spirit of the rules be the polite thing to do, regardless of what others may or may not be doing? I’ve always been of the mind that my ethics are my own to control, and that the actions of others shouldn’t influence them.
IMHO, YMMV.
BTW, I’ve noticed that the OP hasn’t been back since he was told he coudn’t include his advertisement links with every post.
Mr. Posner is B&H’s director of corporate communications; he posts a lot in photography forums regarding B&H.
No prob & my pleasure. 
Interesting.
If anything, that strengthens my objections. His job is apparently specifically focused on the promotion of B&H and on the maintenance of its corporate reputation. If he wants to drop into a conversation about camera or other products where he has expertise, or conversations about retailers and customer service, i’m sure his experience and insight would be appreciated. But flogging his employer’s store in his sig is, IMO, inappropriate for a board like this.
I would have less of a problem with it if this was a board devoted specifically to photography. So, if i saw him and his link on the DPReview.com boards, i probably wouldn’t think twice about it. But this place is a general message board, and we don’t need to know his corporate affiliation in every thread.
I asked a question. I got a reply with which I was satisfied. I’ve read the ensuing and ongoing conversation but didn’t have anything to contribute I thought would advance the conversation. If that bugged you, I am sorry.
If using a sig once per thread is the forum convention here I respect that and will try to comply. I confess I follow hundreds of forums - some daily, some weekly and some less frequently - and form time to time might forget this convention, but that would be inadvertent. I have no intention of being a bad participant here.
- HP
BTW, I was not told I “coudn’t include his advertisement links with every post.” I was told, “We prefer that you use your sig no more than once per thread…” I appreciate and respect that.
@choie: Thank you. Much appreciated.
I regret you have developed this inaccurate and incorrect misapprehension about my job. I have a couple of functions. One is to act as a customer ombudsman, cutting red tape and facilitating problem solving when more traditional routes from a customer to B&H have proved imperfect. Another, based on the extensive product and vendor contacts B&H affords me, is to inform people interested in photography, etc who post questions here and elsewhere online.
Precisely. I was a full-time professional photographer for 20+ years before coming to B&H and I hope I contribute insights about the marketplace, the equipment photographers use, techniques, and the business of being a photographer.
Flogging? I don’t think being denigrating or disparaging furthers the conversation or contributes positively to the ambiance you seem to think I’d threaten if I used my apparently dangerous and razor-sharp sig too frequently. 
It is, and yet the topic which originally brought me here was specifically related to photography. BTW, you’ll see me in dpreview.com’s forums all the time. It’s one of the forums I tend to visit frequently.
- HP
Right. And all of this is in the service of a for-profit business.
I’ve got no problem with what you do for a living, and nor do i have any problem with your business. I’ve already said, on multiple occasions, that i like your company and think it’s the best of its type in country. But, no matter how i feel about it, i still think this board should be used very sparingly to promote commercial enterprises.
That sounds great.
I assume that there’s nothing to prevent you from doing this, even if you don’t link to your company’s website in your signature?
I’m not sure what you mean about denigrating or disparaging. I can only assume you misunderstand my meaning.
“Flogging,” where i come from, is a colloquialism meaning to sell something, often by way of active promotion or solicitation. That’s all i meant by describing your signature in such a way.
Hi Henry,
Actually mhendo is correct on this one – see Gary’s post, which explained that guests (i.e. people who haven’t paid for membership) can’t include signature links in any post. See bolded statement (my bolding):
BTW I don’t think mhendo meant anything insulting by ‘flogging’ – though I can understand why you might conflate the word with ‘shilling’ or ‘hyping’, which do have negative connotations.
Oh, I agree with you there, Czarcasm.
It’s been my experience over the past 15+ years that when talking about techniques, this is fine. OTOH talking about a piece of hardware I’m suggesting a correspondent needs can be a problem. If I make a suggestion and my affiliation is revealed later, the question inevitable lingers if my suggestion was in the best interest of the person whose question I am answering or in the best interest of my then-concealed employer. If my affiliation is known upfront, and I am transparent it lends credence to my claim to be transparent otherwise and that my suggestion was not for my employer’s profit.
I misunderstood. Thank you.
I’d just like to say that I appreciate henryp taking the time to sign up and answer questions in the IHMO ‘lens’ thread.