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dpreview banning SmugMug - what can we do?

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    DavidTODavidTO Registered Users, Retired Mod Posts: 19,160 Major grins
    edited June 23, 2006
    Nikolai wrote:
    I just like the big bold red letters.. reminded me of USSR of 70s (Hey, Mike, is communism/stalinism referencing covered by Godwin Law, too?:-)


    At least you're relating it to something you actually *lived* through.
    Moderator Emeritus
    Dgrin FAQ | Me | Workshops
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    dmcdmc Registered Users Posts: 427 Major grins
    edited June 23, 2006
    DavidTO wrote:
    This is what I ended up doing as a work-around:

    http://www.davidrosenthal.smug(ahem)mug.com

    will it let you use a tinyurl like this?

    http://tinyurl.com/m83uz
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    AndyAndy Registered Users Posts: 50,016 Major grins
    edited June 23, 2006
    dmc wrote:
    will it let you use a tinyurl like this?

    http://tinyurl.com/m83uz
    thumb.gif thinking out of the box.
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    NikolaiNikolai Registered Users Posts: 19,035 Major grins
    edited June 23, 2006
    Powered by S m u g m u g
    DavidTO wrote:
    This is what I ended up doing as a work-around:

    http://www.davidrosenthal.smug(ahem)mug.com

    And this is what I did :-) (see the title)
    After all, there are tons of ways to fool simplistic "black filters".
    Put spaces, asteristics, dots, dashes - any special small characters - inside - and you're golden.
    Hopefully, Don and Phil will agree on some less disruptive measures.

    HTH
    "May the f/stop be with you!"
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    DavidTODavidTO Registered Users, Retired Mod Posts: 19,160 Major grins
    edited June 23, 2006
    dmc wrote:
    will it let you use a tinyurl like this?

    http://tinyurl.com/m83uz


    heheh. If I cared enough, I'd give it a try!
    Moderator Emeritus
    Dgrin FAQ | Me | Workshops
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    retiefretief Registered Users Posts: 4 Beginner grinner
    edited June 24, 2006
    I hate to put this post here
    But I was having what I thought was a decent conversation with OneThumb in the DPReview thread and I would like to contact him again. Unfortunately, an email to Help at Smugmug got me nowhere, no response, and I can't send email from here. Hopefully you will see this and reply to me at retief@deweydrive.com. It may be that I simply missed a link to Contact Info, if so, please point me in the right direction.

    Thanks,
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    Mike LaneMike Lane Registered Users Posts: 7,106 Major grins
    edited June 24, 2006
    retief wrote:
    But I was having what I thought was a decent conversation with OneThumb in the DPReview thread and I would like to contact him again. Unfortunately, an email to Help at Smugmug got me nowhere, no response, and I can't send email from here. Hopefully you will see this and reply to me at retief@deweydrive.com. It may be that I simply missed a link to Contact Info, if so, please point me in the right direction.

    Thanks,

    I'm sure he'll get the email to the help desk or he'll answer your reply right in here. He's a busy daddy of 5 month old twins so I'm sure he'll get to you as soon as he can. Welcome to dgrin wave.gif
    Y'all don't want to hear me, you just want to dance.

    http://photos.mikelanestudios.com/
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    Ken CCPKen CCP Registered Users Posts: 24 Big grins
    edited June 24, 2006
    Phil is very picky about his business model, and values that over cash.
    That is cool...

    I fear his success has gone to his head that he thinks it is his job to advise others businesses on thier marketing, bording on business extortion. Blocking competitors is what Got Microsoft in trouble.

    He doesn't want smugmug's money, just thier free time coding his business model into thier site!!! So he doesn't want people making a few $$ on referals, but he is ok with diverting the resources we pay for to his personal service instead of custom watermarks.


    Phill needs to hire a good programmer that can philter refereal codes without breaking one of his sites main features, sharing photos.

    He has no business demanding anyone conform to his view of the world and business. He has everyright to censor his site as he wants.. we can only hope he never runs for parlament.
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    ltobiasltobias Registered Users Posts: 1 Beginner grinner
    edited June 24, 2006
    Ken CCP wrote:
    Phil is very picky about his business model, and values that over cash.
    That is cool...

    I fear his success has gone to his head that he thinks it is his job to advise others businesses on thier marketing, bording on business extortion. Blocking competitors is what Got Microsoft in trouble.

    He doesn't want smugmug's money, just thier free time coding his business model into thier site!!! So he doesn't want people making a few $$ on referals, but he is ok with diverting the resources we pay for to his personal service instead of custom watermarks.


    Phill needs to hire a good programmer that can philter refereal codes without breaking one of his sites main features, sharing photos.

    He has no business demanding anyone conform to his view of the world and business. He has everyright to censor his site as he wants.. we can only hope he never runs for parlament.

    Phil has the right to do with his site what he want. The problem comes from some smugmug usern.

    Also it looks like the smugmug links works (again?) in dpreview.

    Leif
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    AndyAndy Registered Users Posts: 50,016 Major grins
    edited June 24, 2006
    retief wrote:
    But I was having what I thought was a decent conversation with OneThumb in the DPReview thread and I would like to contact him again. Unfortunately, an email to Help at Smugmug got me nowhere, no response, and I can't send email from here. Hopefully you will see this and reply to me at retief@deweydrive.com. It may be that I simply missed a link to Contact Info, if so, please point me in the right direction.

    Thanks,
    Hi Retief,

    I can't fine any email from you to our helpdesk. Can you please let me know the name and email address you used - was it the one listed here? If so, it didn't arrive. Please try again, help@smugmug.com we really do answer all our mails, and I'll be sure that Onethumb sees your note straight away deal.gif

    Cheers!
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    retiefretief Registered Users Posts: 4 Beginner grinner
    edited June 24, 2006
    Andy wrote:
    Hi Retief,

    I can't fine any email from you to our helpdesk. Can you please let me know the name and email address you used - was it the one listed here? If so, it didn't arrive. Please try again, help@smugmug.com we really do answer all our mails, and I'll be sure that Onethumb sees your note straight away deal.gif

    Cheers!

    I just forwarded the email sent yesterday. The note is simply the same as I posted here, I'd like to hear from Don so that I can pass on a few comments directly.

    Thanks,
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    AndyAndy Registered Users Posts: 50,016 Major grins
    edited June 24, 2006
    retief wrote:
    I just forwarded the email sent yesterday. The note is simply the same as I posted here, I'd like to hear from Don so that I can pass on a few comments directly.

    Thanks,

    retief, we don't see it. It's not getting through to us at help at smugmug.com I've been watching the help mail for the past two hours, also. Please try and send it to awilliamsny at yahoo dot com and I will be SURE that Don gets it.
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    AndyAndy Registered Users Posts: 50,016 Major grins
    edited June 24, 2006
    Andy wrote:
    retief, we don't see it. It's not getting through to us at help at smugmug.com I've been watching the help mail for the past two hours, also. Please try and send it to awilliamsny at yahoo dot com and I will be SURE that Don gets it.
    You can also Private Message me here, if that helps. I'll be sure your note gets to Don.
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    Ken CCPKen CCP Registered Users Posts: 24 Big grins
    edited June 24, 2006
    ltobias wrote:
    Phil has the right to do with his site what he want. The problem comes from some smugmug usern.

    Also it looks like the smugmug links works (again?) in dpreview.

    Leif

    Yup that is correct. I had to eat crow on Phil's site and I will here too.
    I had missread comments on Phil'sand Don's part that made me think Smugmug was coding to do active blocking referal codes for Phils site.

    It wasn't so, sounds like Smugmug is making policy changes to keep referals from becoming Spam..

    I got the story wrong and admit it.
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    Awais YaqubAwais Yaqub Registered Users Posts: 10,572 Major grins
    edited June 24, 2006
    Phil rolleyes1.gif
    Thine is the beauty of light; mine is the song of fire. Thy beauty exalts the heart; my song inspires the soul. Allama Iqbal

    My Gallery
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    tsk1979tsk1979 Registered Users Posts: 937 Major grins
    edited June 24, 2006
    Ken CCP wrote:
    Phil is very picky about his business model, and values that over cash.
    That is cool...

    I fear his success has gone to his head that he thinks it is his job to advise others businesses on thier marketing, bording on business extortion. Blocking competitors is what Got Microsoft in trouble.

    He doesn't want smugmug's money, just thier free time coding his business model into thier site!!! So he doesn't want people making a few $$ on referals, but he is ok with diverting the resources we pay for to his personal service instead of custom watermarks.


    Phill needs to hire a good programmer that can philter refereal codes without breaking one of his sites main features, sharing photos.

    He has no business demanding anyone conform to his view of the world and business. He has everyright to censor his site as he wants.. we can only hope he never runs for parlament.
    I always thought him to be bit of a nazi. Disagree with him and he will fire at you from all angles with counter arguments. Disagree even more and he mau ban you too. A good forum is built with moderators whom the users can trust, not with dictators. The only reason dpreview forums are so popular is due to the great reviews, and also due to the fact that they were one of the early birds.

    At some point in time I got banned from dpreview site, atleast thats what I think because I cant even retrieve my password. I think the reason is smugmug referrel code or something else? I am more of a lurker there and not exactly very active. But then I started asking questions on photography-on-the net canon forums and here at dgrin, and I have been very happy
    IMHO dgrin has the potential to displace every other photography discussion forum.
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    asdasd Registered Users Posts: 115 Major grins
    edited June 25, 2006
    From here (the bold is mine): http://forums.dpreview.com/forums/readflat.asp?forum=1018&thread=18952335&page=3
    Phil Askey wrote:
    Re: Phil is 100% correct to do this.... NEW

    Quite similar to a pyramid scheme actually.

    Jay Turberville wrote:
    >
    > > It's sad to think that so many people are that desperate for a $5
    > > credit.
    >
    > $10 credit toward membership fees. $5 goes to the referred "friend".
    >
    > --
    > Jay Turberville
    > http://www.jayandwanda.com

    --
    Phil Askey
    Editor / Owner, dpreview.com

    Wow.
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    kkartkkart Registered Users Posts: 137 Major grins
    edited June 25, 2006
    onethumb wrote:
    [reposted from this thread on dpreview]

    We just got an email from Phil Askey saying he was going to shut off and ban all links to SmugMug on dpreview. :(

    We've tried hard (look at my dpreview post history) to provide relevant, informative posts about ourselves and our service without advertising in any way on the forums. But apparently we're getting in trouble because our *customers* are self-advertising themselves.

    We'd like to see if we can find a way to make sure that doesn't happen. I'd love to hear any ideas you may have about how we can avoid catastrophe.

    Here's all the gory details: http://blogs.smugmug.com/onethumb/

    Thanks!

    Don

    Ya know....seeing this literally made my eyes swell----

    " Phil Askey wrote:
    Don has amended his 'codes' page and we will be (attempting to)
    block the posting of promotional codes in signatures, we'll be
    contacting anyone who uses them and will (respectfully) ask them to
    remove them (which we have done on a good dozen occasions in the
    past)."

    I used to have respect for dpreview and the site as a whole, but if that is the attitude they want to take, it does nothing but hurt their image which has been severly tarnished because of this. Why on earth would he try and do this....? It honestly makes no sense at all.
    "Capturing Colorado, one click at a time"
    website | photoblog | facebook | twitter | deviantArt | RedBubble
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    kevin.coppalottikevin.coppalotti Registered Users Posts: 41 Big grins
    edited June 25, 2006
    kkart wrote:
    Ya know....seeing this literally made my eyes swell----

    " Phil Askey wrote:
    Don has amended his 'codes' page and we will be (attempting to)
    block the posting of promotional codes in signatures, we'll be
    contacting anyone who uses them and will (respectfully) ask them to
    remove them (which we have done on a good dozen occasions in the
    past)."

    I used to have respect for dpreview and the site as a whole, but if that is the attitude they want to take, it does nothing but hurt their image which has been severly tarnished because of this. Why on earth would he try and do this....? It honestly makes no sense at all.

    The rules at DP Review have been updated, below is the new rules.

    "Commercial advertising - Commercial website linking or advertising is not allowed, if you wish to advertise on the site contact us. This rule includes webmasters of other digital photography websites promoting themselves on the forum. You will be banned and have all of your messages removed.
    Promotional / discount codes - We do not allow the use of promotional codes or discount codes in messages, users signatures or plans. This is simply to avoid putting our members in a position of inadvertently advertising on behalf of a commercial company and falling foul of our commercial advertising rule. It's for the good of all members, so please don't do it. "
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    marlinspikemarlinspike Registered Users Posts: 2,095 Major grins
    edited June 25, 2006
    Promotional / discount codes - We do not allow the use of promotional codes or discount codes in messages, users signatures or plans. This is simply to avoid putting our members in a position of inadvertently advertising on behalf of a commercial company and falling foul of our commercial advertising rule. It's for the good of all members, so please don't do it. "

    That promotional codes one must be new. I remember when I first signed up for smugmug almost 2 years ago I asked on the open talk forum if it was allowed to put my referral code in my sig and everyone told me yes.
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    dogwooddogwood Registered Users Posts: 2,572 Major grins
    edited June 25, 2006
    makes sense to me
    The rules at DP Review have been updated, below is the new rules.

    "Commercial advertising - Commercial website linking or advertising is not allowed, if you wish to advertise on the site contact us. This rule includes webmasters of other digital photography websites promoting themselves on the forum. You will be banned and have all of your messages removed.
    Promotional / discount codes - We do not allow the use of promotional codes or discount codes in messages, users signatures or plans. This is simply to avoid putting our members in a position of inadvertently advertising on behalf of a commercial company and falling foul of our commercial advertising rule. It's for the good of all members, so please don't do it. "

    My opinion is probably going to be unpopular here but this rule sounds entirely reasonable. It does seem DPR overreacted initially by pulling photo links to smugmug sites, but how many of us can say we haven't overreacted at some point in our lives?

    Anyway, I actually like DPR quite a bit and I like dgrin and smugmug quite a bit so I'm glad things appear smoothed over. I'm having trouble, though, seeing how the slaugher of 6 million people by the nazis plus the war deaths and invasion of Europe has anything to do with this situation. I'd only suggest that folks making those analogies take some time to read about World War II.

    Portland, Oregon Photographer Pete Springer
    website blog instagram facebook g+

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    DavidTODavidTO Registered Users, Retired Mod Posts: 19,160 Major grins
    edited June 25, 2006
    dogwood wrote:
    I'm having trouble, though, seeing how the slaugher of 6 million people by the nazis plus the war deaths and invasion of Europe has anything to do with this situation. I'd only suggest that folks making those analogies take some time to read about World War II.


    Yeah, what a great way to lessen the importance of such a tragic event. To me, equating what's going on here with WWII is akin to spitting on the graves of those who suffered and died.
    Moderator Emeritus
    Dgrin FAQ | Me | Workshops
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    devbobodevbobo Registered Users, Retired Mod Posts: 4,339 SmugMug Employee
    edited June 25, 2006
    The modification of the DPR rules should have happened at the very beginning, approaching SM directly is totally out of order IMO, as it really had nothing to do with SM as a company and more to do with the control of DPR posters.

    Let's just hope they apply the new rules to others using promotional codes with as much vigor as they have done with SM.
    David Parry
    SmugMug API Developer
    My Photos
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    garyjwoodgaryjwood Registered Users Posts: 51 Big grins
    edited June 26, 2006
    DavidTO wrote:
    Yeah, what a great way to lessen the importance of such a tragic event. To me, equating what's going on here with WWII is akin to spitting on the graves of those who suffered and died.

    Yes! Well said!
    - Gary
    Galleries: http://garyjwood.smugmug.com
    Photo of the Day: http://blog.garyjwood.com
    Location-enabled and interactive!
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    wslamwslam Registered Users Posts: 277 Major grins
    edited June 27, 2006
    Why not do this? Create a new alias for your referral program. So e.g., create referral.smugmug.com/accountid=xxxxx
    Explain to Phil that he can block all referral.smugmug.com. That will effectively kills all links that would be considered as advertising.
    Having dpreview block smugmug is a BIG deal for many users, including me. I really hope you can solve this ASAP.
    onethumb wrote:
    [reposted from this thread on dpreview]

    We just got an email from Phil Askey saying he was going to shut off and ban all links to SmugMug on dpreview. :(

    We've tried hard (look at my dpreview post history) to provide relevant, informative posts about ourselves and our service without advertising in any way on the forums. But apparently we're getting in trouble because our *customers* are self-advertising themselves.

    We'd like to see if we can find a way to make sure that doesn't happen. I'd love to hear any ideas you may have about how we can avoid catastrophe.

    Here's all the gory details: http://blogs.smugmug.com/onethumb/

    Thanks!

    Don
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    AndyAndy Registered Users Posts: 50,016 Major grins
    edited June 27, 2006
    wslam wrote:
    Why not do this? Create a new alias for your referral program. So e.g., create referral.smugmug.com/accountid=xxxxx
    Explain to Phil that he can block all referral.smugmug.com. That will effectively kills all links that would be considered as advertising.
    Having dpreview block smugmug is a BIG deal for many users, including me. I really hope you can solve this ASAP.
    Dpreview is not blocking any smugmug links. Only referral code links in your signatures there.
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    marieboyermarieboyer Registered Users Posts: 117 Major grins
    edited June 28, 2006
    Andy:
    Can I say in my signature "Get $5 off your Smugmug account," put no referral code in my signature, and then simply include my smugmug link (where my homepage has referral code)? Would that be okay? There would be no referral code in the actual signature that way?
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    AndyAndy Registered Users Posts: 50,016 Major grins
    edited June 28, 2006
    marieboyer wrote:
    Andy:
    Can I say in my signature "Get $5 off your Smugmug account," put no referral code in my signature, and then simply include my smugmug link (where my homepage has referral code)? Would that be okay? There would be no referral code in the actual signature that way?
    You are encouraged to put your SmugMug site, and your referral code in your signature, here on Dgrin, if you like, sure. As to other forums, you'll need to abide by their rules :)
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    marieboyermarieboyer Registered Users Posts: 117 Major grins
    edited June 28, 2006
    I am trying to discern if that would abide by dpreview rules. Where do we go to determine what is permissible? I saw nothing at dpreview that spelled it out. The rule only says "no referral codes." I do not want to harm other smugmug users on dpreview because I am not following the rules there. I was hoping someone here might be able to clarify.
    Andy wrote:
    You are encouraged to put your SmugMug site, and your referral code in your signature, here on Dgrin, if you like, sure. As to other forums, you'll need to abide by their rules :)
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    AndyAndy Registered Users Posts: 50,016 Major grins
    edited June 28, 2006
    marieboyer wrote:
    I am trying to discern if that would abide by dpreview rules. Where do we go to determine what is permissible? I saw nothing at dpreview that spelled it out. The rule only says "no referral codes." I do not want to harm other smugmug users on dpreview because I am not following the rules there. I was hoping someone here might be able to clarify.
    Marie,

    The dpreview rules are right here:
    http://forums.dpreview.com/forums/rules.asp?forum=1018

    Phil's made it very clear, no referral codes in your signature or profile.


    Cheers,
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