Houssee.com Spam Policy

Houssee.com is a Digg-like web site that lets us submit and vote for our favorite news about real estate (broadly considered). There are several sites attempting this, and our ambition is to be the best of them. This means we can't tolerate litter (posts that aren't about real estate). It also means that users need to know that the system is fair and that the posts with the most votes got that way because of their quality and broad appeal. Therefore, in order to create a site that's worth spending our time to use and promote, we have a simple, no-nonsense spam policy, which can be summed up in the following three-words:

 

Don't do it.

 

For our purposes, there are two types of spam that you shouldn't do:

 

First Degree Spam
First degree spam is a post that isn't about real estate, broadly considered. Broadly considered is meant to be as inclusive as possible. If you're a Realtor®, for example, chances are most everything on your blog will make it in with no problem, unless your blog is seriously off topic. If you're not a Realtor®, it's still OK to post news about about real estate or mortgages or real estate law or home inspections or other fields that are directly related to real estate.

 

However, if it's not about real estate, don't post it. Period. I will remove your post and/or your account. No warnings.

 

Second Degree Spam
OK, so you're posting about real estate. That's great! Welcome. We're glad to have you. Please submit as many stories as you want and vote and comment as much as you like, but note the following definition: second degree spam is gaming the voting system by creating dummy accounts and voting for yourself, or by other means.

 

Does that mean you shouldn't invite your friends or vote on their articles? Not at all. That's what the site is all about. The moderator himself enjoys voting for an article or two for most new users, because I think it's nice when you're new to know someone's reading you (and I actually do read you -- go figure). However, if your friend is just you by another name, or if you and your friend have secretly agreed to promote everything for each other regardless of the quality, that crosses the line and becomes spam. Your published posts may sent back to the upcoming queue, or if you persist, your posts or account may be deleted.