# What's the rule on linking to other forums? **URL:** \ **Category:** About This Message Board\ **Created:** [August 31, 2004, 1:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-rule-on-linking-to-other-forums/262405 "2004-08-31T13:03:58Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![RumMunkey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/b19c9b/32.png) [@RumMunkey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RumMunkey)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2004, 1:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-rule-on-linking-to-other-forums/262405/1 "2004-08-31T13:03:58Z")
Can I recommend other forums to another member in a thread via a link? I don’t know why, but I seem to remember some sort of problem with this. ---
**Author:** ![C\_K\_Dexter\_Haven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/b2d939/32.png) [@C\_K\_Dexter\_Haven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/C_K_Dexter_Haven)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2004, 2:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-rule-on-linking-to-other-forums/262405/2 "2004-08-31T14:01:52Z")
Linking to another forum on our website? Sure. Linking to another forum on another Message Board? Depends on what, and on context. Get an OK from a Moderator first, and save headaches later. For instance, there are some boards that are largely populated by people who didn’t have good manners and couldn’t play nice here, and who go to other boards to drip venom about how terrible we are. We don’t like links to such, for obvious reasons. Similarly, links to porn discussion forums &c. would not be OK. ---
**Author:** ![roger\_thornhill](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/d9b06d/32.png) [@roger\_thornhill](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/roger_thornhill)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2004, 2:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-rule-on-linking-to-other-forums/262405/3 "2004-08-31T14:31:26Z")
Anyways, we got our own um…er adult bits, haven’t we, Dexter? (My daughter glanced at this as I as previewing and asked me, “Dexter. Does he have a lab?”) ---
**Author:** ![Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/left_hand_of_dorkness/32/7156_2.png) [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Left_Hand_of_Dorkness)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2004, 2:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-rule-on-linking-to-other-forums/262405/4 "2004-08-31T14:53:47Z")
> [@C K Dexter Haven](#): > > Linking to another forum on another Message Board? Depends on what, and on context. Get an OK from a Moderator first, and save headaches later. D’oh! I’d kinda figured that common sense was a good enough guideline, and I’ve linked several times to a D&D forum that I’m active in without consulting the mods. The forum is strictly moderated (by myself among others) to maintain a level of decorum that usually surpasses the SD’s own decorum (at the expense of forbidding lots of interesting but off-topic discussions). I’ll pop off an email with the site address before offering that link again. Sorry! Daniel ---
**Author:** ![C\_K\_Dexter\_Haven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/b2d939/32.png) [@C\_K\_Dexter\_Haven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/C_K_Dexter_Haven)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2004, 7:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-rule-on-linking-to-other-forums/262405/5 "2004-08-31T19:29:05Z")
If you’ve linked several times, and no Mod has chastized you, that probably means the links are fine. It’s the old “better safe than sorry” process. We’d rather have you ask first, it makes life easier for us. Links to a D&D site? But… but… that’s FANTASY. And we’re firmly grounded in reality around here. Right. Firmly. Grounded. No, I don’t have a lab, **roger**. I’m no cartoon, I’m a real live boy. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2004, 7:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-rule-on-linking-to-other-forums/262405/6 "2004-08-31T19:32:16Z")
Another point to be careful of, is we don’t want to start a board war. There have been cases in the past where Dopers and members of another board starting mass-joining each other basically for purposes of abuse and ridicule. Fortunately, in the case I’m thinking of, more mature heads eventually prevailed, and we are now at peace with an overlap of valued members, but it was still rather unpleasent for a time, and we don’t want a repeat. ---
**Author:** ![roger\_thornhill](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/d9b06d/32.png) [@roger\_thornhill](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/roger_thornhill)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2004, 2:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-rule-on-linking-to-other-forums/262405/7 "2004-09-01T02:17:10Z")
Dexter, I \*do \* appreciate your reply and the discretion you show. I haven’t yet told her that we’re related. (You and me, I mean, not her and me; I’m still awaiting my appeal against the test results there.) I feel that I should wait at least until she’s through her Lizzie McGuire stage before I do that.