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Happy anniversary! Today marks year number 5 since you first became a Sifter and the community is better for having you. Thanks for your contributions!

Happy anniversary! Today marks year number 4 since you first became a Sifter and the community is better for having you. Thanks for your contributions!

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Happy anniversary! Today marks year number 1 since you first became a Sifter and the community is better for having you. Thanks for your contributions!

Hi @popfan1224 -

First off, please disregard the automatic banning the system did which resulted from a false positive for spammer-like behavior. (Specifically posting a comment to your own account is what triggered it; you should refrain from doing that.) Your account has been restored and won't be auto-flagged again.

As for your questions... Our definition of "self-link" is prominently and clearly defined in the posting guidelines, which is why we insist over and over on the video submission form that those guidelines be reviewed. I'm assuming you haven't reviewed those, but if you do, I think it'll clarify it a bit for you.

http://videosift.com/faq#posting_guidelines

I understand the 'self promotion' ban, though I can assure you I am not the OP nor do I know any way of getting in touch with her because I don't know who she is. My question was here to begin with just because "ban" seems like a bad word lol, I was just curious as to why they were associated with it. I'm also confused about "self link" and the definition of that. For example, if I were to copy and paste the link to their video from YouTube, and use it here, is that "self promotion"? Or is it "sharing". (Which I assume sharing is ok?) I will look through twitter and some of the other Fansites for the band and see if I can find a "KellyMML" because I know for a fact none of the fans would be intentionally doing something that would link MML to breaking rules somewhere, especially with the video that he or she shared.
No worries about the confusion, it looks as though someone was helping out with promo on release day (which WAS October 20th) and probably didn't read the rules the way they are suppose to. I personally run one of their street teams and do google searches all the time to see if the fans on MY personal team are promoting the way they agree to. I don't see any other posts or threads from "KellyMML" so I'm assuming it was a "post and go" type behavior, which I also tell fans to shy away from. I prefer them to form a relationship with the members of the communities they are sharing with in an effort to get to "know" the band rather than make them look like spammers.
Thank you for all the information and now that I've found this site I may use it more often lol.
I WOULD however like to know the details on self-linking vs. not? Still a little confusing to me.

*spammer

[admin note: you were mistakenly auto-flagged by the system for spammer-like behavior]

From what I know, if it appears you (she) 'self linked', you will be nominated for a 'ban' by anyone who notices. I'm fairly certain that's what happened. If this was really NOT your (her) video, you might convince lucky to remove the ban.

We have an issue here of people who don't follow the 'no self posting' rules and try to fill the sift with their own videos, attempting to get move views. That's NOT what the sift is about, and many members have become overly sensitive to that.

If Lucky is convinced this WAS your (her) video that you (she) self linked, you (she) may have no recourse. He's fair, but no one's perfect, maybe try again with him to explain if it really isn't 'yours'.

If you (she) posted their video elsewhere, and linked to that video, that's 'self posting' as it links to 'your' (her) version of 'their' video...giving YOU (her) views. Maybe try embedding directly from THEIR post instead of a copy YOU (she) posted....assuming you can still post anything.
I hope that clears it up a little.
Good luck, and enjoy the sift.

(sorry for the confusion, it's odd that one new user is asking about what happened to another here, and I got confused/mixed you two up)