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You aren't wrong.

Here's the thing though: this isn't some pissing match against C4S. If, for example, you have your own domain name that forwards to your C4S store and you put a 'Pad link or banner on it, you're perfectly welcome to link to it here and notify everyone of updates with samples.

Unfortunately though, there is no selective barring of the links for only some posters. And since there are far more Hit-and-Run spammers -- yes, that's what they are, which I'll address in a moment -- than cool vendors participating on the board, in this instance the babies gets tossed with the bathwater.

This is a *Community* first and foremost. That's the primary reason paysite owners come, let's not kid ourselves: you make more money selling snowboards in Colorado than Arizona. And we don't begrudge anyone that.

But they need to actually participate in this community to do so. Folks here aren't fish in a barrel waiting to be speared. And yes, sadly, the majority of vendors posting their links here ONLY do that: post a link and leave. You might not think it's as problematic as it is because the Mods are on top of it, but they still come looking for a quick buck with little else to offer anyone. In that sense, they are absolutely spamming, and are no different than these Chinese sneaker counterfeiters posting their crap here because some BabelFish search makes them think the 'Pad must be perfect marketing.

And for the record, this "retaliation" was in play before C4S started enforcing their policy. We first asked for link/banner reciprocation very kindly years ago and were ignored by more people than cooperated -- especially insulting when you visit them and see they *have* acquiesced to other places.

I mean, think about that. This is the oldest board of it's kind on the web. New members cycle in and out, but almost no one ever leaves permanently -- the retention rate, just in terms of lurkers, is insane. And yet we've never taken a penny in advertising revenue, despite many opportunities to, even as entrepreneurs that hang out here go on to open model/fetish/paysites of their own. Seems like the very least they could do is point back here, especially if they're using samples to mooch our traffic.

I agree with you about competition, and I want the cool people to succeed. Longtime participants like Danumedia and Good Guy Neighbor, who actually venture out to other areas of the board to share opinions, send their models here to hang out, etc, *should* rise to the top over the type of multi-site franchise owners you might have noticed don't have the right to post here anymore.

That kind of leveling of the playing field can only be good for the "Little Guys" with C4S stores in an economy forcing people to be more selective with how they spend their hard-earned money.