Official List of Staff-Banned Viral Marketing Widgets
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Is there an officially list of banned “Viral Marketing” widgets/things from the Staff somewhere here?
The TOS does not mention anything banned by brand name that I could find and I’m confused about the “banning of Blog Rush” I’m reading about here in the forum — but I can’t seem to find any staff directive indicating Blog Rush is banned.
I’m not looking to add Blog Rush to my blog, but I am curious if it has been made clear here by staff why Blog Rush is banned on WP.com — if it really is — while StumbleUpon and BlogMad and MyBlogLog and Digg and other content created to virally send traffic to “third party sites” appears to be allowed.
Thanks!
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As far as I am aware, the Blogrush widget requires javascript – and that is not allowed anywhere.
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Hi Mark!
Yes, we all know JavaScript is not allowed — but not supporting a widget on a “technical level” is not the same as “banning it for content,” right? I guess I should be more specific.
When I read this thread —
https://en.forums.wordpress.com/topic.php?id=15955&page&replies=18
— and see a volunteer saying this:
“There are no plans to include BlogRush at this time. BlogRush is a viral marketing widget designed to drive traffic to affiliated 3rd party sites and that’s not allowed on wordpress.com blogs.”
— it comes across as misleading to those with experience, and as official policy for those who are new to the forum.
That example isn’t the only time that sort of mandate has come down from a volunteer, and not a staff member or moderator, when “expressing” official WP.com policy that may, or may not, actually be true.
I understand a TOS is required to be changeable and rubbery — but I hope the interpretation and enforcement of the TOS belongs to the staff and not forum volunteers.
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The full quote is:
timethief Member September 21st, 2007 at 7:28 pm
There are no plans to include BlogRush at this time. BlogRush is a viral marketing widget designed to drive traffic to affiliated 3rd party sites and that’s not allowed on wordpress.com blogs.
See: section 2, 5th bullet in the Terms of Service you agreed to to get a blog here http://wordpress.com/tos/
see also: https://en.forums.wordpress.com/topic.php?id=13157
and http://faq.wordpress.com/2005/12/08/adsense/
… if the primary purpose of the blog is to drive traffic to affiliate programs that’s not allowed. If you’re not sure, contact support.
If you wish to lobby staff to do reverse the policy then during support hours you can use the “Support” link on the top right hand corner of any admin side blog page to state your reasons for requesting it in your submission. -
There is no official policy against Blogrush. There wasn’t one for mybloglog and that waited until someone (engtech?) found a js-free way of using it. The others you mention above are static links whereas Blogrush has changing content.
Widgets and links which are there to increase readership are not a bad thing, just their js implementation is.
The only viral thing I recall which we really did not like was one in which people filled a post or two with dozens and dozens of links. That sort of thing is not good because it benefits only a few and exploits many.
If anyone wants clarification, send details to Support and we’ll take a look. But most of the time it’s going to need javascript so the widget has dynamic content so the odds are against it.
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Hi Mark!
There’s a way to add MyBlogLog on WP.com now that uses pure HTML and even CSS coding if you want to use it to make it match the look and feel of your blog. You have to separate the CSS from the HTML they provide you, but it works sort of well…
I found their servers did not correctly update the images and links on my blog using the non-JS version — so I deleted it — though it was a fine idea to help build a community based on shared interests. You can actually get up to 9 MBL “visitors” to load now on WP.com if you want to chance it and fiddle with their HTML code.
There are so many forum messages here where volunteers proffer opinions as facts and then post multiple links to official WP.com policy to falsely enforce their personal, misleading, interpretations of official policy.
I’m glad to learn Blog Rush has not been blacklisted by WP.com as anti-TOS “viral marketing.”
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… if the primary purpose of the blog is to drive traffic to affiliate programs that’s not allowed. If you’re not sure, contact support.
If anyone wants clarification, send details to Support and we’ll take a look. But most of the time it’s going to need javascript so the widget has dynamic content so the odds are against it.
Thanks for the clarity Mark. It’s appreciated.
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