The frustrating side of webmaster forums
Forums for web site designers are a great place to swap news, tips, and ideas, and I frequent a few for this reason. Over the years though, and recently in particular, certain types of things happen that just frustrate regular users.
Build me a site for free and I’ll split the profits
So you want me to build you a site for your “amazing” idea for free with no guarantee of any return? Yeh right! I do have a living to make but some folks don’t get that.
These posts often involve building complex sites that would normally cost at least a five figure sum, and not surprisingly people just laugh at the idea.
How do I do this in Dreamweaver?
Normally people are glad to help with questions but some posts just beg to be ridiculed. The poster usually has a signature link to a web design company (often in Asia) and they’re asking the most basic of questions - put the two facts together and it becomes suspicious.
More often than not the poster is using Dreamweavers WYSIWYG “Design mode”, doesn’t really know anything about XHTML and CSS, and they’re working on a commercial site - pity the poor customer!
How can I do XYZ for SEO?
Alas the search optimisation world is full of charlatans. As with the “Dreamweaver” posters, the poster often has a signature link to and SEO company in Asia, and they ask either a very basic question or promote the use of “black hat tactics”.
“Fluff” posting
I first saw the name at Sitepoint and it refers to pointless responses like “thanks…” or “I recommend XYZ software”. The “thanks” type posts are all very well but they don’t add anything useful to the discussion. The “software recommendation” ones usually come with no explanation that will help the original poster and again serves no useful purpose.
Driveby spam
Just about every forums gets spammed eventually and usually the posts end up being put down for what they are. Driveby posters usually only leave 1 post and that all important affiliate link - they are easy to spot but usually nothing more than a pain in the rear.
Am I ranting too much over this?
by Rob Allen | Filed in The Internet