STEAM GROUP
TF2 Outpost by Fanbyte
Membership by invitation only
STEAM GROUP
TF2 Outpost by Fanbyte
160,702
MEMBERS
3,876
IN-GAME
27,739
ONLINE
Founded
7 August, 2011
Language
English
Overview Announcements Discussions Events Members Comments Curator
Vic=HKC= 4 Dec, 2012 @ 2:56am
Referral links: what's that?
Hello,

I didn't find any post about that, so, I'm sorry if it exists and if I searched with the wrong keywords.

I'm generally good in English but as it's not my native language, sometimes, I may misunderstand something, like I've an hard time to understand the concept on relist despite having read several posts about it.

Is a referral link applying to server ip? Because I've put naively a server ip in my trade, so that people can join me easily and check if I'm on it or not (because when not on it, I tend to forget to accept invites). I did check the rules before putting my first trade and saw referral links or third-party websites. For me, a link is a clickable link, not a server ip. You bet that as an admin of a server myself, I check rules everytime I go into a server (or sites such outpost or backpack.tf).

Result: got banned for a day (didn't say anything, it's a day after all - though I could have asked to change "his trades" by "her trades" ;) ). But I've checked back the rules as I was kinda surprised that I would have missed such a rule about server. And I didn't see anything about them apart referral links.

So my question is: is a server ip a referral link? If yes, I'll go in the suggestion trade and suggest to add server ip in the rules because not everyone can grasp the subtility of that concept. I don't want people to have a similar experience because of a misunderstanding.

Thanks in advance for your answer
< >
Showing 1-3 of 3 comments
norby89 4 Dec, 2012 @ 5:36am 
What you've done is called advertizing, which is already against the rules. Referral links are something else but they fall under the same category as well.
Last edited by norby89; 4 Dec, 2012 @ 5:37am
#1
Vic=HKC= 4 Dec, 2012 @ 7:16am 
Well I can understand why it was seen as advertising. But it wasn't the goal to promote a server, it was just for people to reach me easily. I wouldn't have put it if I knew that server ips were forbidden too. I didn't intend to break the rules like that, I'm always sweating when I put a trade similar to another that I closed because I fear the relisting, so, you bet I would have been careful if I knew about that ^^.

So, to be sure, a referral link would be for example a youtube link or a phishing link or anything else?

Oh BTW, the fact that I mention Steam in my trade, does it count towards advertising? Now, I can't prevent myself to think about each word. Soon, I will ask myself if saying backpack.tf price or spreadsheet price isn't advertising :P
Last edited by Vic=HKC=; 4 Dec, 2012 @ 7:30am
#2
His Wardship 4 Dec, 2012 @ 8:20am 
A server IP is most definitely a referral. If you check the wording of the rule (which isn't all inclusive in the first place) it says:
Originally posted by TF2Outpost-Rules:
Advertisements — YouTube, referrals, raffles, etc

Since you were advertising your (or someone else's) server and referring people to it, it resulted in the trade being taken down. I can understand how you could have misunderstood it though.

EDIT: Try looking at the bottom under trade rules, since this concerns a trade, rather than user rules.
Last edited by His Wardship; 4 Dec, 2012 @ 8:23am
#3
< >
Showing 1-3 of 3 comments
Per page: 1530 50

All Discussions > General Discussions > Topic Details
Date Posted: 4 Dec, 2012 @ 2:56am
Posts: 3
Start a New Discussion

Discussions Rules and Guidelines