[UPDATED] Rules for Bloggers and Posters of Video Content
 

As you may have seen, Flyertalk recently published an updated set of rules. These rules apply site wide and therefore include the Trip Reports forum. In line with the new rules we’d like to highlight the impact that these may have on those of you that like to blog or link to video trip reports.

The first rule which is particularly relevant is Rule 7: Linking to content on other websites: http://www.flyertalk.com/help/rules.php#externallinks

In the context of linking to a trip report on an external blog, the requirement here is to ensure that the content of the post adds value to the Flyertalk community in a standalone capacity, without needing to visit the external blog. Simply providing a synopsis or a couple of photos with a link to the blog for more information is not acceptable.

It is important that you make it clear in your post that you own the blog, or that you act as a regular contributor to which you are linking to. This ensures that the Flyertalk community can make an informed decision about whether to click through to the blog or not.

For those of you that post video reviews, please ensure that there is sufficient text to describe the video and the trip that you undertook. Your post should have enough content to standalone without requiring the user to click through to view your video.


The second rule to consider is Rule 10: Commercial Posts: http://www.flyertalk.com/help/rules.php#commercial

In line with rule 7 regarding linking to content on other websites, it is important to point out that posting with the intention of promoting or advertising a highly commercial blog will be subject to moderator review. These types of posts may be considered commercial in nature and may be removed.

As a reader of a blog, if you feel that the site linked to is inappropriate or off topic then please use the 'Report Bad Post' feature and the moderators will evaluate and take any appropriate action.

Thank you for your understanding.

We will leave this thread open for a short period to give you the opportunity to ask any questions that you may have.

matthandy & Moomba
Co-moderators: Trip Reports

Please note that this thread has been updated following changes to the Flyertalk rules. We have also decided to open it up for questions for a short period.

Please feel free to ask away. ^

matthandy & Moomba
Co-moderators: Trip Reports

Regarding the Trip reports thread I think that the new rules are a shame : Flyer Talk is a forum so not convenient to post a trip report.

Most of my trip reports have more than 100 pictures that's why I publish them on a convenient website and then post few pictures in the Trip Reports thread with the link.

G_G, I'm sorry that you don't approve of the new rules. Unfortunately, it would be impossible to have a set of rules that would please everyone.

We have increased the limit on photos per post to 100 and you are very welcome to post your reports in multiple parts.

Is there going to be a way to embed videos into posts (the way we can embed photos)? Some of us just aren't good writers.

That's a good question but it's more of a technical one. I wil ask it on your behalf and report back.

May I say that I frequently find that reports have too many photos (often of unnecessary things), or photos that are too big to fit in the column width, or the depth available on your computer monitor (so you never get to see the whole picture without constant scrolling), or are underexposed, or are so close-up that you can't look at them....

Would much rather have some decent prose writing — and a limit on the number and size of photos.

Out of interest, has anything happened with this? It should be fairly easy to do and a number of other forum platforms now automatically embed YouTube links.

There is, or at least there used to be a way to embed videos into vbulletin forum posts. I remember doing it on another forum, and just had a look there and they can still do it. There was a youtube option in the post editor, just like the image icon, or the link icon. I think it was a plugin to the server software.

It's been raised and I'm waiting for an official answer. I'll let you know once I have one.

Question: Say we post a TR on our own blog... can we just copy/paste the TEXT of said TR, then indicate that the pics are available on our blog entry?

The driving reason for my question is mainly because of how time-intensive it is to sit there an add the BBC code for each photo to recreate the report here in forum format.

Also, it seems like the text of the TR would satisfy the "stand alone" requirement of the FT rules.

Thanks for the advice!

Yes you can although from a readability point of view it would be better if the photos were in line.

I write my TRs using MS Word and use the 'find/replace' functionality to format these for other websites if required. It does take a little bit of time, but it's not too difficult.

I agree with G_G that these updated rules are disappointing... VNAFlyer made a very good point that copying and pasting BBC code is very time consuming but not only that, once you hit your bandwidth on photobucket or wherever else, then your report is basically useless, if some of us are regular contributors to other blogs where we have unlimited bandwidth I don't see why we couldn't post some of the pics here and then link to the blog. I agree of course that the content posted here should be substantial.... Anyways just my opinion.

I'm sorry that you feel that way Wilko Pali Sedef. The rules are in place for several reasons. Here is my own view on them. One: they attempt to ensure that Flyertalk remains a community, with users encouraged and rewarded for contributing directly. There are many TR writers on here that do just that and are very popular as a result. It would be unfair to allow blog writers to simply 'post and run' and expect the same level of engagement. What value are they adding to the community by doing so? Two: the rules attempt to protect the users from posters that wish to abuse the community by using FT as an advertising platform and gaining clicks (and in some cases revenue) as a result. It takes no effort to visit multiple websites and drop in a link and then disappear. That practice is also against the community spirit. It's all take and no give.

I do however recognise the argument from people that just want to read good reports, no matter where they are posted. Responding to that I would argue that FT is very much about the community spirit and isn't simply a place to dump links. FT is about the discussion that takes place between members, it's not just somewhere to pick up information or guide you to other parts of the Internet. Those that contribute need to feel valued and by supporting people who simply post a link to their site it would be doing a disservice to those that spend hours and hours of their own time putting reports together for you to enjoy here on Flyertalk.

I write my trip reports in MS Word. I know what the code is and have a standard template now. Yes, it took some initial set up but now I can write TRs fairly easily. FT isn't a blogging site, it's not designed for it and doesn't have the same features and functionality that those sites offer. This hasn't gone unnoticed. Perhaps there would be some benefit in myself and other regular contributors putting a guide together covering the technical aspects of developing a trip report. What do you think?

Yes, you can do that and the rules allow for it so long as your post adds value to the community and stands alone in it's own right, those are the two main tests. Several regular contributors do just this by the way.

I hope that this was helpful.

matthandy
Moderator: Trip Reports

A month on, and no answer to this. It seems to me like a simple solution but I find it curious that it's taking so long to even find out. I can't see any problem with embedding YouTube videos in FT posts - Internet Brands keep the user on FT, the creator of the video still gets their plays and share of ad revenue. It would seem to me to be a win-win solution.