See Something? Say Something! Keep WA Safe!
Ok, this might become controversial, so fasten your seat belts:
I don't know where I read that slogan "See something? Say something!" It was either in America or England.
It encourages people to alert the authorities or bystanders when they see something that is not right.
That can be abuse, violence or any other type of criminal activity.
Today, I want to expand this to the online world...and to WA.
We are all supposed to know the anti spam rules:
https://my.wealthyaffiliate.com/training/wealthy-a...
We are not supposed to advertise our own stuff here at WA!
That means no affiliate links (neither openly posted nor cloaked) or any other type of link that sends people to our own offers!
We are also not supposed to send private messages to others with offers that would make us richer!
We are not supposed to send people to other sites to give them the whole information. If you write a blog that teaches something, give them the whole information in that blog.
Don't send them to your own website!
So, whenever I see someone breaking this rule, I will report them from now on!
I used to write them privately and tell them "Hey, this is not ok...blablabla".
And in many cases that was enough.
Especially new folks might not know about this rule.
But I see people that have been here long enough and are still breaking this rule.
Ok, I take one step back from what I just said:
If someone posts and affiliate link, I will leave a comment and let him/her know that it is against the rule.
If that link does not disappear, I will report it.
I still believe in a second chance.
But, if someone does the same via private message, they will get reported instantly.
If he sends me such a link, he is most likely doing the same with hundreds of other people!
I want to urge you to do the same.
WA is meant to be a safe zone where everybody can learn how to make money online.
It is not a place where you make money from the other members!
Don't think that everybody here is your friend.
They might seem nice and helpful. If they send you a link to their own offer, they want to make money from you!
Report them directly to Kyle! He will thank you for it and take action.
Just make sure you are not reporting innocent people.
So, how do you know it is an affiliate link?
Affiliate links usually have a question mark (?) in their URL.
While they are supposed to not work here at WA, I have just seen one getting posted.
But links can be cloaked easily.
Everything shortened with bitly[.com] or tinyurl[,com] is most likely an affiliate link.
Or if you see something like "domain[.com]/productname" (without any hyphens) you can be pretty sure that it was shortened with "Pretty Link".
If you click on such a link, just have a look at the URL after you landed on the linked page.
It is easy to see if it is an affiliate link, as it usually has some sort of ID in the URL.
You can check the destination of a cloaked link!
BobBarr just gave some valuable advice in the comments:
"To check out the *real* destination of any cloaked link (bitly, tinyurl, or whatever), copy it and paste it into the search field at the getlinkinfo (dot) com site. You'll get the full URL displayed without having to go there."
This is excellent advice.
Cloaked links can lead to harmful websites. Always check them with this tool.
Stay safe.
Thanks Bob!
The "smart guys" are the worst!
But posting affiliate links in blogs or questions is not the worst.
There are members that pitch people with success posts.
They say that they made thousands of dollars on a day or in a month.
They let it shine through that they are using techniques that are not being taught here at WA.
Of course, they will not go into details.
They want you to send them a private message!
Then, they engage you in a conversation and seem to be pretty helpful.
After one or two exchanges they will send you a long copy/paste message.
Either in that or in the following message you will receive a link to their landing page, including a sign up to an expensive program!
If you see something like this...report it!
They are a bit smarter, but they are still not your friends!
They want you to spend thousands of dollars, because they get at least 50% from that.
Guess how they make those thousands of dollars (if they even make it)....luring people into buying those overpriced products.
What are your feelings about this?
Am I overreacting?
Or do you agree?
Let me know in the comments below.
Oh, and please don't name those people publicly.
This is not a "naming and shaming" post!
Just report them directly to Kyle.
Regards,
Moritz
Recent Comments
54
Yes, the rules do get broken quite a bit and I'm not just talking about the rules against affiliate links and self-promotion. If I see repeated, blatant abuse then i make a comment on the post. Partly to inform the author and partly to make others aware of the Spam is a No-No post. In the past this has resulted in an Ambassador retaliating with a follow up post targeted at me that was supposed to be "just fun". I was not amused nor impressed.
After I leave the comment I try not to coick on that member's content unless it's blatantly obvious that the post
violates rules. At that point I simply report the post using the button if I've already informed the person of the rules or they have participated in comment strings with me about the rules. They alrwady know the rules and are willingly breaking them, so they automatically get reported.
Hey,
I had the exact same thing happen to me once, too.
Most likely it was the same Ambassador.
In my case, this person is not an Ambassador anymore.
That's one of the reasons, why I am not a big fan of the internal WA rank.
It is easy to get to the top by spamming useless answers and comments.
All the best,
Moritz
I agree. Rules are rules! On the other hand I like to see the sites of other members. Therefore, as long as a member ask me just to have a look at his site and is not trying to sell me something, I let it pass. Eventually I have a look at it's site, but will not check out any affiliate link.
That's why we can leave the link to our sites on our profile.
If I want to see someone's site, I check it out on his/her profile.
For me, a valid exception is when someone needs help with his site.
I always ask them to give me their link then.
Without looking at the site I can hardly help them.
And I don't mind new members sharing their sites in a blog or even in the chat.
They are excited about their first site.
Of course, if they keep doing it again and again, and/or ask for comments, I will show them how they can get feedback or comments more efficiently.
SiteComments and SiteFeedback.
Moritz
I think I must be not seeing a lot of this because I am very choosy about who I follow at WA. If I come across this kind of thing randomly though, I tend to just post a comment informing them that it's against the rules, and if I see it repeatedly then I will click the Report Spam button.
But generally, these people wouldn't be being followed by me.
I am sure that I miss quite a few of those cases, too.
Like you, I don't follow everyone here.
But I sometimes do follow people, when I suspect this kind of activity from them. ;)
I totally agree, BUT I still contact people via PM to inform them before I do anything. From my own experience, I know it is easy to miss (or even forget/ misunderstand) some of the rules. I really feel they need to be more visible.
I find that many people here-- even those who have been around a year + will comment on posts with links and not say a word. Either they are overlooking it, don't care about it, or maybe are also sending PMs... I don't know.
The only times that I have gone directly to Kyle without sending a PM first is when someone is promoting a definite scam.
Yes, I make my decision from case to case.
I mostly contact them privately or leave a comment.
But in other cases, I report it directly.
Like I said in another comment:
So far I reported about 5 people in the two years I am here.
Two of them were reported this/last week.
It also depends on how they react after I wrote them.
It is tricky, but I think especially experienced members should know the rules.
Moritz
I totally agree, and if I see something I send a gentle reminder about the rules if it seems like an honest mistake, but if it is miore spammy I will report it. And think it is great with a post like this to encourage everybody to keep WA safe.
Thanks,
Mikael
Mistakes happen, of course.
I have often reminded people of the rules and in most cases, they were very sorry and didn't know.
They removed either the link or the whole blog then.
But in some rare cases, they either don't react or get nasty.
Those people need to be reported.
They will not bother you or me with their stuff anymore but will continue doing it with other people.
If we all work together, we can keep this place mostly spam-free.
Moritz
Totally agree. The rules are there for a reason. Without naming names, I picked up on someone cloaking an affiliate link in the live chat and a blog post not so long ago. What made it worse was this member said that they cloaked it because the URL was too long (it wasn't), and they also stated that they didn't even know if the site had an affiliate program (they did).
After checking the link on the site you mention, it was clearly an affiliate link. So to blatantly lie about it just made it worse in my mind.
Then I copped a nasty PM from them, all for trying to help them by pointing out the rules.
This might be the same person I clashed with before, too.
Sounds familiar.
The only thing we can do is reporting it to Kyle (with proof).
Link + Screenshot, etc.
Those people are not doing this accidentally.
They are gambling and hoping that nobody reports them.
When their link is online for a few hours or days, they can already make some good money from it (from us!).
Thanks for sharing.
Moritz
This is true Moritz and I too warn the members who would knowingly or unknowingly violate the anti-spam rules. Can I assume this blog is in response to another blog I saw a couple of hours ago about an affiliate program called Affiliate Window?
When I saw that blog posted by a long-time member to remain nameless, I had to shake my head. That member should have known better. But before I could warn that member to remove it, the blog was already taken down.
Yes Robert.
You are right with your assumption.
That and another case of self-marketing (the other one was nastier) made me write this blog.
Those two really should know better. The latter was even warned before.
Moritz
I do contact members regularly about signing their blog with their website link or adding their website link to every comment they give. Some links I let go when people are very proud to present their own very first made website ever.
I know, that´s not allowed too, but I see no harm in that. I try to look to the reason why people are adding some links. If it out of gain of profit, or more meant to be informational.
People with blogs with a "read more on my website" get a PM from me with the anti spam rules.
Blunt spamming with affiliate links to other programs, I do report
Great way to handle it Loes - I do agree that it is obvious that some people are only posting a link because they are proud of their first website. But actually think it is important to also let them know in a kind way that this should not be done - if not they might never find out about the rules. I know that it was because someone kindly told me about the rules when I first joined that I found out. So whether it is an honest mistake or not, I think we should make people aware.
Mikael
I agree and I also commented on a post earlier that you commented on. It may be that the poster isn't aware of this but common sense should prevail and anyone doing this should be reported.
Why?
Quite frankly, there are people that won't be aware that it's an affiliate link and they may click on it and sign up. People on this site shouldn't be using it to make money from other members.
Do we report it to Kyle or Site Support?
Yes, I saw your comment there.
I report stuff like this to Kyle.
In the few cases I had to report someone, he answered pretty fast.
Thanks for your support. :)
And yes...it should be common sense.
Moritz
See more comments
I guess in any community there are bad apples. You just need to know how they are and stay away from them.
As days go by I am learning these things about W/A. All in all W/A is a great place to be in and we can learn from others that as generously being helpful.
If I find a member like that I will ask in a PM if they will have a look at my site and give me pointers on how to make it better.
But it is like everything, get to know the members and let them know how you are.
Build block is very important and by doing so your are only building yourself esteem in how to communicate to people.
thanks, Moritz for this blog.
always a better way
Linda
That's true.
Unfortunately, it is not always easy to see who they are. ;)
But with time and help of experienced members, we will make/keep WA safe for everyone.
It's the beginners I am worrying about.
Those who don't know anything about online marketing.
Cheers
Moritz
I am a beginner only two months, I have made it this far