"da rules!" In case of confusion over what is ok and not okay to post.
 

It seems it's time for me to step in and clarify what I kinda, foolishly / naively thought would be obvious, but clearly not.

da rules...

Advertising
You agree not to post any advertising, URL's with affiliate id's or tracking numbers or anything which actively promotes your own business site or company without authorization.

Pretending to be a traveller and hyping your own business is not okay. Businesses desiring to advertise products or services on the HUBB, the Horizons Unlimited website or the monthly e-zine should contact us. See AD RATES here. Advertisers / Small Businesses Posts on the HUBB

a. Small vendors, tour operators etc: You can become a "Contributing Vendor" by simply paying for a one line Advertising Signature, which will show whenever you make a post.

• The price is only US$ 40 per year, payable in advance, minimum 1 year.
• Your signature can contain up to 40 characters of text and your link in one line.

b.You can also become a "HUBB Advertiser".

• The price is only US$ 100 per year, payable in advance, minimum 1 year.
• Your signature can contain
  • up to 150 characters of text and your link in three lines.
  • Signature Image / logo, animated .gif, 200x50 pixels, max 30kb.

c. Vendors with a regular ad (minimum 6 months, US$100 per month) on the HU website, are entitled to the "HU Sponsor" status. See AD RATES here to become an HU Sponsor.

• Your signature can contain
  • up to 250 characters of text and your link in three lines.
  • Signature Image / logo, animated .gif, 330x72 pixels, max 50kb.

IMPORTANT: The above options a, b and c do NOT allow you to make advertising posts, or any post promoting your services or products. You can offer information in response to posts by travellers, but NO MENTION of your services or products is allowed unless it's FREE.
If you wish to make advertising posts:

"Contributing Vendors", "HU Sponsors" and "HUBB Advertisers" can also make an Advertising Post on the HUBB. These are the first post of a thread advertising an event or product, in the appropriate forum.

• You can make as many posts in the thread as you like.
• Price is US$ 100 per thread, payable in advance.
• The thread is "live" for as long as you maintain your "Contributing Vendors", "HU Sponsors" and "HUBB Advertisers" status, so a minimum of one year.

CONTACT Grant to arrange any of the above options.
You can also have a FREE link to your website with a link to us of similar quality. See www.HorizonsUnlimited.com/linktous for details


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With all that, it IS ok to post links to your PERSONAL SITE for more information. HOWEVER - there is a trade-off here if you do that. What we ALLOW and what is FAIR to ALL - including myself, Susan and HU - is a little trickier.

Horizons Unlimited is VERY expensive to run, and is my full time job / living. And I DO like to eat. (During the pandemic our income has been essentially ZERO, not that it has ever really paid near enough.)
So, to do that, we need traffic TO HERE, and CONTENT for google to find and send people HERE, so they spend time on the site, maybe buy a DVD or a t-shirt or download the Achievable Dream series, or even better, go to an HU event or become a Supporting Member.

IF YOU SEND PEOPLE to YOUR site, or any other site, you drive traffic AWAY from HU - and that hurts us. If your site is a hobby, and you like what we do here on HU, the now 24 years of effort to support the traveller community, perhaps you could help to SUPPORT HU by driving traffic and providing full information here whenever possible.

Some people have complained that the "treatment" has been uneven, or unfair:

If you feel you've been done wrong, TELL ME. There's a link to contact at the bottom of every page, or PM me. I listen, and will ALWAYS do my best to hear both sides of a story and be fair to all.
I've also noticed that sometimes peoples understanding of all the factors improves, and they change their ideas, their attitudes, and how they interact on the site, and that's usually a good thing. They day I stop learning is the day they put me in the ground.

The moderators have a VERY difficult job, far harder than you can imagine, trying to apply the rules fairly at all times. They are to be congratulated and appreciated for their usually thankless and always unpaid efforts. We are forever grateful to them.

Sometimes they err - and sometimes mods have been relieved of their duty for too many errors. But always, they try their best.

We - the mods and I - often discuss how best to deal with an issue. I've been thinking hard about this one for several days now, (amongst all the personal stuff I currently need to deal with) - and hope that I have clarified for everyone the essence of what is ok or not re posting on HU.

P.S.: Please note that Greg Frazier has SPONSOR status here, as he has for a very long time promoted HU on a regular basis wherever and whenever he can, in the press, his books, and in presentations. He is a great AMBASSADOR for HU.

Surfy - great info, sparked lots of discussions, and it's much appreciated - please try to post full info here whenever possible.

Someone complained they thought they had been unfairly stepped on for posting a link in their sig to their own site years ago - contact me. Or, just note that a sig link to YOUR OWN NON-commercial, NON-money making in ANY way travel website is fine.

I hope all that makes sense!

ALSO OF COURSE READ THE FAQ!!!!! Always good reading :thumbup1: