@hutchman , all we ask is that links be used to help others find information, and not to simply promote another Web site. We have had situations where businesses want to add signature links, leading back to their commercial Web sites. Those kinds of links are not permitted. If someone wants to promote their business on this site, they can purchase advertising, else they can go link-drop elsewhere.
We had a former member of this site, who announced he was going to shut us down, with his own T-Bucket forum site. Suddenly, he was playing Chatty Cathy on other T-Bucket-oriented sites, adding links to his site in each post. We don't play those kinds of games, here. If someone has a blog site they want to link to, then post the link. If someone has a Web site showing build photos, family photos, etc., then post the link. If someone has what could be considered a competitive site, then they need to go link-drop elsewhere.
One of the 'best' moves I could make to help build traffic to this site would be to add links to this forum to sites like the NTBA forums, or the the Spirit forums. Search engines (Google, Bing, etc.) love to see contextual links on like sites. As forums like the NTBA's grow, the search engines start granting them more 'authority' on T-Buckets. So, if I add a link to this site on to theirs, then the search engines start 'thinking' this site is authoritative, as well. But, as I said, we don't play those kinds of games. I purposely avoid the afore-mentioned forum sites, simply because I do not want the owners and operators of those sites to think I am there trawling for potential, new members. And yes, I have been victim of that game, as well. Three members of this site decided to set up a competitive forum of their own, and in order to build traffic, they came here and used our Private Messaging service to attract new members. It seemed to be a fool-proof way to gain new members, but pipe dreams being what they are, I was onto their trick within an hour. I am very fortunate to have some very good friends on this site, and those people have always got my back.
I have no quarrel with anyone who feels they can build a better mousetrap. But I climbed up no one's back to build this site, so I am somewhat less than accommodating (How's that for being politically correct??) when others try to climb up my own.
As for copying content from an external site to this one, that is a violation of copyright. Not a law that I created, but it is a law I must observe. If, for instance, you copy the content of an external Web site and post it here, it is not you who is at fault. I am the one held responsible, as I am the one who is actually publishing the copied content. And if you really want to see a can of worms, start reading about Fair Use, when it comes to Web sites. Typically, a good rule to use, with respect to Fair Use, is to copy no more than one or two sentences, and to post a link back to the originating site. I once ran a rather large Scottish-oriented site, and we pulled in a news feed from a Scottish newspaper. Their definition of Fair Use was that I was allowed to show the headline of their articles in the feed, and that was it. By posting any of the content of their article, I was stepping outside their legal definition of Fair Use. Fair Use is naught but a slippery slope.
Here is a really good rule of thumb to use, when posting to any Web site. If you are hesitant about posting some content, because you think it might be outside the rules, then go with your gut and assume it is outside the rules.