lax rules or is it just me?

[SheepGuy]

I'm hoping the whole index, mainpage, gallery1, gallery2, structure will eventually bite the dust. It's a fairly new thing and it stifles creativity.
Rules about blind links, minimum content, and limited ads per page are reasonable. Nobody wants to piss off the surfer. But the present format of free sites is boring to build, which makes me think we just might be boring the surfer too.
Think about it, a surfer hits an index page with the standard warning they see everywhere, exactly 3 ads and a bunch of sales text. They must know, right from that point, that they are exactly 2 clicks away from the good stuff, so they ho-hum through the intro and grab a free wank.
I'm thinking the smarter surfers just go to the hun and buy nothing there either, it saves them 2 clicks
I'm thinking if you could throw something freaky at them on the index page you might at least get them thinking WTF? Then they might pay more attention to what you're trying to sell, instead of what you're giving away.

The present rigid free site regime stifles that, and I truly miss the wild west days when rules were far less defined. I know I made a fuck of a lot more money then.

[ladydesigner]

Originally Posted by SheepGuy

I'm hoping the whole index, mainpage, gallery1, gallery2, structure will eventually bite the dust. It's a fairly new thing and it stifles creativity.

I totally agree BUT what's the solution to the standard free site index, main page, gallery 1 and gallery 2 structure? I've been thinking about this for a long time and haven't been able to come up with any new ideas. We already have one page TGP's.

[Linkster]

Originally Posted by SheepGuy

It's a fairly new thing and it stifles creativity..

I seem to remember that it has been the "accepted" structure for at least 9 years???? Although there was some flexibility about where the recips were placed and some of us still have that flexability - I dont remember another structure except for feeders, se/dmoz and avs sites

[ponygirl]

Originally Posted by SheepGuy

I'm hoping the whole index, mainpage, gallery1, gallery2, structure will eventually bite the dust. It's a fairly new thing and it stifles creativity.

Originally Posted by ladydesigner

I totally agree BUT what's the solution to the standard free site index, main page, gallery 1 and gallery 2 structure? I've been thinking about this for a long time and haven't been able to come up with any new ideas. We already have one page TGP's.

Originally Posted by Linkster

I seem to remember that it has been the "accepted" structure for at least 9 years???? Although there was some flexibility about where the recips were placed and some of us still have that flexability - I dont remember another structure except for feeders, se/dmoz and avs sites

I don't mind the structure of the freesite, obviously it still has it's fans and people are familiar with it. I agree that the two entrance pages (index & main) need to have something compelling to them, making the surfer stop and look at it, but instead of fooling with the structure, I think we need to think of different ways to present our stuff on those pages. Everyone keeps saying most of their sales come from those pages, so we must be doing something right

For freesites to change and move forward, I think we need to change the way we think about those pages, and how we present information on them. For me, the structure's fine, it's just what I do with them that I want to experiment with.

Which kinda brings me back to the original point - I see freesite builders getting a little more aggressive with their advertising tactics, which suggests what - frustration? trying to push the limits? I don't know, but I don't want to start seeing it become out of control, because I feel bad about declining good submitters and feeling like I'm being too anal about it. But when I click something and am surprised at where I end up, how is my surfer going to feel?

There are some things I've tried that I wasn't sure would be accepted, but were, so I know there are other ways to get more creative without breaking or pushing the rules

[Licker4U]

If surfers expect to see gallery links on the second page of a free site, what about putting the gallery links on the index page? Maybe they'll scroll past them to get to the enter link and bypass them altogether Anyone tried this?

[stuveltje]

at the linksites i review for i am stricted by the rules, although i am easier with trusted submitters, at my own linksite, i changed my rules huge, i wanna test something, i dont have any rules there anymore, if i like the site i will list it, blind links or whatever, if i think its oke with me i lett them thru, well only at my own linksite then.