[nycbug-talk] Off Topic: Website Link Exchange Question

[Dan Langille]

On Mar 21, 2008, at 5:50 PM, Matt Juszczak wrote:

> Hi all,
>
> As many of you know, I run bsdjobs.net - years ago, I posted the  
> idea on
> this list, and then when I launched the site last year, I alerted  
> all of
> you that the site had been launched.  Since then, the site has been  
> very
> successful in my opinion.
>
> This morning, I received this email:
>
>>> i just tripped over your site as i was doing some additional  
>>> research
>>> for my site. We've started a Unix, Linux and BSD recruiting  
>>> service and
>>> were curious, if we could somehow exchange links. I've seen you  
>>> have a
>>> small firefox image, maybe something simular, nothing big.
>>>
>>> If you're asking yourself "Why should i link to a semi-commercial
>>> company?"i'll pre-answer it for you:
>>> We're trying to stay as "pure" and dedicated to the community (by
>>> community i mean the whole open source community) as possible.
>
> I'm a bit confused as to whether a "link exchange" like this would be
> beneficial to the concept and purpose of the site, or whether it would
> hurt it.
>
> I'm leaning towards saying that the site is meant to allow  
> recruiters/job
> seekers to be on equal ground in searching for candidates and jobs,
> respectively, and not honoring requests like this one.  In the past  
> few
> months, I've gotten similar emails, and so I felt it was time to  
> ask the
> opinion of nycbug.
>
> Would any of you mind sharing your opinion on whether something  
> like this
> would be a good idea?


Usually the person requesting the link is the one that will benefit
the most from the link.  Inbound Links help drive traffic and boost
your Google "page rank". Your site has been around a bit longer
and a link from you to them is worth more than a link from them
to you.

You have to decide for yourself: who will benefit from the links and
in what way?

-- 
Dan Langille -- http://www.langille.org/
dan at langille.org