[MichaelColey]

The forum rules state that you're not to spam (which we generally interpret to mean promoting or mentioning your company/site) and that you're not allowed to use a manual signature, but I think in some ways that's overly restrictive in the Introduce Yourself forum. Where we work and what we do is a big part of who we are. In addition, I think it's beneficial to know what people are with what companies.

Effective immediately, we're going to loosen the policies slightly for people's introductory posts here in the Introduce Yourself forum. This does not mean that we will now allow spammy or promotional posts. That's still not allowed. If you want to post something promotional or you want to try to recruit affiliates or business, you should do a paid program announcement.

When you introduce yourself, we will now allow one sentence about where you work, which can include the company name (but no links), your position, and what network it is on (if you have an affiliate program). It needs to be short, to the point, and non-promotional.

It is expected that when you introduce yourself, you introduce yourself and not just your company.

Some suggested things to consider including in your introduction:

1) Your name. (Many affiliates will choose not to do this due to privacy concerns - that's fine. I think it's very beneficial for affiliate managers, network reps, and others in the industry to include their names, though. It makes you a person, and we work with and build relations with people, not companies.)
2) Where you're from.
3) How long you've been in the industry (or if you're a newbie) and what roles you've played.
4) Where you work and what you do, following the guidelines above.
5) What your areas of expertise are.
6) How you found ABestWeb.com.
7) What you hope to get out of ABestWeb.com.
8) Your family.
9) Your hobbies, favorite sports teams
10) Anything unique or interesting about you that you would like to share.

Some examples of inappropriate introductions:

"Hi, I'm Widget Store, and we have an affiliate program with LinkShare." Not acceptable. You are NOT "Widget Store". You are a person and you have a name. Introduce YOURSELF, not your company.

"Hi, my name is John and I'm from Washington. I like fishing and hunting. I own Widget Warehouse, where we sell the cheapest widgets in the world and our affiliate program pays 30%. Sign up today!" Not acceptable. This is promotional in nature and you're trying to recruit.

"I'm Jason from Widget Expo, and we have an affiliate program on AvantLink. I'm new to the industry and am still learning. I'm looking forward to participating on ABW! I'm married with three kids, and we love skiing." Not acceptable. You're not allowed to link.

Okay, now for an example of an acceptable introduction:

"Hi, everyone! I'm Frank Smith, the affiliate manager for Widget World. I've been a lurker at ABW for a while, and am finally joining. I look forward to learning how to better manage my program. I'm from Boston, and am a huge fan of the Red Sox. My previous job was doing SEO, so I have a lot of experience to share in that area." Excellent introduction! Plenty about YOURSELF and just a single sentence about the company you work for, with no links and promotional wording.

[MichaelColey]

Also, please note that if you disregard these rules, the moderators will:

1) Unlink any links that you included.
2) Remove any promotional or recruiting text.
3) Respond, welcoming you to the forum, pointing you to these rules and encouraging you to do more to introduce YOURSELF.