04-06-2003, 09:48 PM
I disagree with dii.net's latest policies as well, but I can see the reasoning behind them.
The various D2 sites have all different identities the evolution of which has been greatly influenced by those who run the forums and their vision of its purpose. Those who run dii wanted it to be the biggest, most know d2 site. They got it, but it didn't come without a price. I think it's an important clue that they also ban all links to sites with ad busting software. Dii is a commercial site and their income comes from adds and posters clicking on them. Running a big site comes with expenses and who knows they might even want to make a profit. To attract the ad revenues they need to attract a lot of posters, offer something for everyone. The drawback is that they achieve quantity at the cost of quality. Over time dii became to resemble public battlenet itself, and gained a bad reputation.
This latest policy is actually not new at all. The first mass exoduses from dii happened sometime between 1.03 and 1.06, and the admin then removed url's and nuked posts asking for the addresses of other forums. This latest shows their desperation, and will in my opinion have no significant effect, negative or positive. They simply fail to understand the basic economics: they created the forum equivalent of walmart, and while the masses go to walmart, the connoisseurs don't. I know it sounds incredibly snobbish, but what I mean by it is that the dii environment does not nurture community spirit well. People are much more likely to find that in small, nonprofit "specialty" forums. Zapping links will do little keeping people at dii. Anyone capable of using Google can find the other places. I'm sure diinet's traffic is dropping, but it is the same for all d2 forums - it's an old game. Forbidding outside linking will not save them, only make them look ridiculous.
The various D2 sites have all different identities the evolution of which has been greatly influenced by those who run the forums and their vision of its purpose. Those who run dii wanted it to be the biggest, most know d2 site. They got it, but it didn't come without a price. I think it's an important clue that they also ban all links to sites with ad busting software. Dii is a commercial site and their income comes from adds and posters clicking on them. Running a big site comes with expenses and who knows they might even want to make a profit. To attract the ad revenues they need to attract a lot of posters, offer something for everyone. The drawback is that they achieve quantity at the cost of quality. Over time dii became to resemble public battlenet itself, and gained a bad reputation.
This latest policy is actually not new at all. The first mass exoduses from dii happened sometime between 1.03 and 1.06, and the admin then removed url's and nuked posts asking for the addresses of other forums. This latest shows their desperation, and will in my opinion have no significant effect, negative or positive. They simply fail to understand the basic economics: they created the forum equivalent of walmart, and while the masses go to walmart, the connoisseurs don't. I know it sounds incredibly snobbish, but what I mean by it is that the dii environment does not nurture community spirit well. People are much more likely to find that in small, nonprofit "specialty" forums. Zapping links will do little keeping people at dii. Anyone capable of using Google can find the other places. I'm sure diinet's traffic is dropping, but it is the same for all d2 forums - it's an old game. Forbidding outside linking will not save them, only make them look ridiculous.