I disagree with that.
Your right that it only hurts their CURRENT hit counter if you previously went and then stop going.
But where you wrong is... if you add the article instead of just the link...
You hurt their POTENTIAL hit counter... and what they potential could of made. With the link only it could bring even more people to read the article on their site...
If others missed it then the site and/or article probably isn't interesting enough to go to, unless things are very slow and boring. So go to the cool sites with a lot of different articles from everywhere like packershome.com =p~
Originally Posted by: beast
You are certainly correct when you say that by coming to a site, creating a topic, posting a message containing just a link, yes, that DOES help the linked site greatly, because it gets them exposure!!!
However, I personally feel that's a slap in the face to the owner of the site you're posting nothing but a link on. You're essentially saying, "hey folks, forget this site, springboard yourself here!". That's just rude and throws sand in my vah-jay-jay.
I'm guessing we could back and forth for weeks about this, lol... but I've created websites and made them prominent, helped others make their site prominent and know what works and what doesn't. I've got the experience that says your train of thought alone simply is not the most beneficial method of getting traffic and retaining said traffic.
But I disagree to think badly of a writer just because he wants/needs hits, because sometimes they need them to keep the site going. When a simple link and summing it up could give it just as much exposure.
Originally Posted by: beast
If I said I think badly of a writer because they do not want their full material posted elsewhere, that is incorrect. I respect that position and appreciate it. However, if one is attempting to gain traffic, they should (in my experience) advocate others spreading their material (with a link to the source) as readily as possible.