Do you bother to check out Links?

In the thread

LINK > www.gransnet.com/forums/culture_arts/1312375-Virtual-cruise-from-Mainz-along-the-river-Main

there are many links, a lot to YouTube videos. A lot of them posted by me.

These have provided interest and enjoyment to a number of people who have said so, and possibly to other people who may be reading the thread yet not posted.

Various people have suggested various things in that thread, one of which, a side trip that had not occurred to me, but which I gladly incorporated, was wonderful. That involved a link to a YouTube video that was amazingly interesting.

Does anyone here consider that having the large number of links that are in that thread to be wrong and/or a breach of Gransnet guidelines?

When a thread is started with just a link I do not look at it, if the poster cannot be bothered to put a brief description of what it is about or their opinion of the link I cannot be bothered to read it.

I think some people on this thread are just having a dig as usual, sigh.

Good post doodle

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Firebird978

Quotes deleted post

I’ll be honest, I don’t see the logic in what you’re saying. If Gransnet was purely a chat site, with no referencing to other sites for people to find out more about a subject or to verify whether what somebody is saying is true, the membership would dwindle dramatically. A lot of us want to have intelligent and informed conversations about different topics and to do that you need to read more widely.

I'm happy to read links. It can be very helpful.

Oh, that had never occurred to me.

Yes, the links do go to YouTube videos of walks around various places for sometimes an hour, such as Mainz in Germany.

And, sometimes the videos have an adverting break in them.

Oh.

Ah.

I have always had a policy of never becoming "an affiliate" for a link to a site as I feel that if I post a link to a website that sells something that I only do it to tty to be helpful and that I should not receive any reward for doing so.

Also, when various sites have offered me something if I send through them an email to someone I know and they buy something, I have never accepted.

If I inform a friend of a website I do it privately and not for gain.

I suppose that it could be said (by me) tht having that long-running virtual cruise thread has people coming back to Gransnet to enjoy the virtual cruise, or to spend ;longer on Gransnet.

I will start a thread in site issues on this and then report it to GNHQ and try to find out how they feel about it.

LINK > www.gransnet.com/forums/site_stuff/1314053-PLEASE-READ-AND-COMMENT-Is-it-wrong-for-the-virtual-cruise-threads-to-have-lots-of-links

Firebird978

Quotes deleted post

Can you give us a hint about which "entire threads" have been completely dedicated to pushing one person's external site? I don't remember any of these starting that got beyond one or two posts before they were sussed by eagle-eyed posters and reported as spam to GnHQ, who deleted them pronto.

And what does that kind of spam have to do with people posting links to sites that illustrate or explain the points they are making, or which contain music or cartoons that have entertained them?

The internet is like a library - a potent source of good and bad literature. It is better to teach people how to tell the difference between a great book and dangerous trash, and how to read the signs so as to avoid finding themselves in the wrong aisle by mistake, than to warn them not to enter the library at all, because some books will harm them.

Or to prohibit some books altogether Elegran.

Firebird I think you've got this very wrong and you should be aware that targeting a specific poster is against GN guidelines.

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Casdon "If Gransnet was purely a chat site, with no referencing to other sites for people to find out more about a subject or to verify whether what somebody is saying is true, the membership would dwindle dramatically. A lot of us want to have intelligent and informed conversations about different topics and to do that you need to read more widely." and an intelligent and informed conversation needs input from more than the individuals who are conversing. It also needs reference to comments from others outside the immediate posters, people who have experience of the subject and knowledge of aspects which may not have occurred to the posters.

Readers who don't have the chance to go on a conducted tour like Stardreamer's, with visits to landmarks and places of interest and talks on local customs and crafts, and meals of local produce, can enjoy the virtual tour. So maybe they spend time away from the GN site - but they come back again to look at other threads, and they return next day to see what else is happening. Without the links they wouldn't have found it nearly as interesting.

Do you remember being told at school to "read around the subject"? Didn't you find that more interesting than sticking to a rigid syllabus? Links is a good word for the mental excursions that spice up a conversation. One thing leads to another.

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Perhaps you could buy a gag for StarDreamer too, Firebird, so that no diversions in verbal conversation can distract the hearer from the cold nitty-gritty of sticking to exactly one pathway and not veering off into the fascinating byways of knowledge.

You could inform the real boat tour companies that they should be keeping to a tight schedule of no side tours, too. Just take the tourists from embarkation to the disembarkation point by the shortest possible route. If the two points are the same port, it may be best to just welcome them aboard then put the straight ashore again. They won't be booking a second tour with you, but hey! they haven't risked having their pockets picked in the picuresque market, have they?

Firebird

You send people away to look at other sites which may have adverts which don't provide MN/GN with revenue.

I take it that you work for a company with an interest in keeping us here on Gransnet then?

Why do you care if we go off elsewhere otherwise?

Yes I do, if I'm interested and the link seems safe.
Some are very informative.

Thank you MichaelGransnet.

I haven't been following StarDreamer's virtual tour, but Firebird's concerns about the vast number of interesting links that could take me away from Gransnet (for hours?) has made me think that I should take a look. Thank you, Firebird. You have fired my interest.

I think this is the only thread that Firebird978 has commented on.
They don't appear at all in a search.

NotSpaghetti

I think this is the only thread that Firebird978 has commented on.
They don't appear at all in a search.

Funny that.

If you stray away from the topic of this thread, you might find that Firebird is another name for Phoenix, which is a creature who rose from the ashes, and wonder if there is any significance in that ?

I'm another who hasn't been following the virtual tour (I work during the summer), but will now bookmark it for future reference as a result this thread - it sounds really interesting.

MichaelGransnet

Hi all, we're fine for Gransnetters to share interesting links on the boards.
Of course, if you have any concerns - for example, a post might contain a spam link - then please report to us and we'll take a look.

Thank you for clarifying.

Please let’s not think or imagine any connection with Phoenix who was a much loved and I think even perhaps founder member of GN who sadly left us just a year ago on 18 August.
But her legacy (“Cursing the Gammon ”) lives on. ?

Depending on the subject matter I will click on a link but do agree with Chewbacca that it is irritating when people put up a link which is behind a paywall, sort of presumes everyone wants or can afford to pay for news (from a particular point of view). I also think that many come onto GN asking for advice and surely it is polite to give a link which you know may save the person wasting their time in fruitless searching. The worldly wisdom gathered here can frequently provide a quick answer to a question.