[Liz]

I just noticed that signatures are seen only when I'm logged in, was it always like that or is it something new?

 

[ARTadmin]

I haven't changed anything in regard to the signatures, but I can check on that.

 

[TerryCurley]

I had to check this out @Liz. You are right, my signature wasn't there either when I browsed the forum without logging in.

 

[TerryCurley]

It doesn't matter to me one way or the other. I think all members of the community log in and stay logged in. It's people that are not members that can't see the signatures. This doesn't bother me much, but some folks that have their web page in their signature would probably like the exposer. So if there is an option I think we should turn it on.

 

[ARTadmin]

I'm working on it.

 

[Bushcraftonfire]

Please dont work on it Cricket. It's not good to show signatures if the person seeing them isn't logged in

 

[ARTadmin]

One of the reasons this is a good thing is because we want to be able to help promote our artists.

Since Google follows links it can help them with the process of building up their site.

The exposure can help with those who would like to sell their work.

We could of course make sure we have rules on what links can be in a signature.

Members have the option to only show them on their profile if they prefer.

 

[Bushcraftonfire]

Well.. as I stated in my other post on this.. Spambots WILL scan the board and pick up the links.. and spam them. I have had A LOT of trouble with this in the past.. and get literally hundreds of spams on my websites and emails daily because of it. Being a public figure this is probably a cost of what I do.. but it's a PITB

If you allow signatures to be seen by the public (not logged in) I will have to remove my signature.. which I don't think is a good thing. I don't believe it promotes our artists.. as the general public doesn't come on the board and clicks on sig line links. Maybe 1 out of 1000. It's just not worth it IMO

 

[ARTadmin]

While there certainly shouldn't be an email address in anyone's signature, the search engines finding our sites and pages is a good thing for those who want to build their pages, sites and blogs. Helping our artists get exposure from the public, not just other artists can make a huge difference for those who would like to earn money from their artwork.

 

[Bushcraftonfire]

I didn't say the searchbots.. I said the spambots.. but you are the admin.. just my suggestion. I still don't believe it will help our artists.. but perhaps I am wrong

 

[Liz]

Yes I think most people with their websites in the siggy would prefer to have their signature viewable always. I totally agree with Cricket, the more exposure our sites get the better.

Spambots are just a consequence of having a website, if they don't harvest it from a forum they will get it somewhere else. It is a pain but I try to get around it by using free email accounts and not my domain email, that way if the spam gets too much I can dump the email address and get a new one.

Besides, sometimes people with art related businesses browse art forums and contact artists with their offers, I don't mind getting that kind of spam.

 

[ARTadmin]

With regards to fixing issues with spam. Although it's not perfect all the time, certain host emails are very good at collecting patterns when it comes to spam. Outlook is pretty good, I'm not sure if it applies the same to the free accounts but Office 365's outlook business accounts are great.

Most of the time, it just requires so researching using Google to find tricks to it.

Lee

 

[Liz]

I don't like using spam filters because sometimes they block legitimate emails. A couple of ways to keep spambots from grabbing your email off your site is to either only use contact forms or display your email address as an image.

 

[ARTadmin]

I really feel that as a community, it needs to be a priority to help our artist make their art more visible to others, not just our members.

This is especially important for those who may want to sell their artwork or build an online business with it.

It may also help us draw more artists to the community.

For those who do not want their signatures visible to the public, they may want to just remove it and then create an image (rather than text) they can have on the cover of an album with their site information on their profile. Or, they could add their URL to the bottom of images they display here.

 

[ARTadmin]

I also meant to offer some tips regarding spam. Gmail is already pretty good at dividing email spam, but many have found it helpful to make sure to use a contact form rather than posting their actual email address on their site. For those of you that have a WordPress based website, many people have reported that WP-SpamShield is a very effective plugin to help prevent comment spam.