I pose this question, because a blogger called me out in a comments discussion the other day for leaving my url within my contribution. I mean, is it really so bad to leave behind a harmless little signature after you've posted a well thought out comment that moved along the overall discussion? - Brad Williamson

Because the _perception_ is that you're trying too hard to promote yourself... And people think that if you're trying too hard then there must not be something really worth promoting... And therefore people see it as spam. Your contributions should encourage people to find out more about you on their own and as long as you make your url easily findable then you should still get attention and respect as long as your contributions are good. - Her Lindsay-ness

I guess to sum it up it goes to the old adage "The harder you have to advertise something then the less it must be worth." Good things get a reputation on their own and become successful on their own merits. - Her Lindsay-ness

@Gregory My motive for leaving my url was really quite simple. My site is brand spankin' new and I'd like for at least a few people to check it out while I work on establishing a bigger presence. But even if I was the biggest superstar on the net, I still don't believe it's so wrong to share with others the place where they can become familiar with your virtual identity. After all, it's just a url, not an advertorial. - Brad Williamson

@Lindsay Good point, but I gotta disagree a bit. Unless you gratuitously promote yourself in a random fashion, where your product has nothing in common with the arena your promoting yourself in, then it should be alright to brand yourself under appropriate circumstances. My name is part of my personal brand and I'm allowed to leave that behind, but so is my website. Why can't that be mentioned? - Brad Williamson

Again, Brad, it's all about perception. Most people don't like being barraged and consider it spam. Other people are more tolerant or impressionable and respond well to over-exposure. There's something to be said for being "humble", but there's also been many cases of success by over-promotion. Just don't expect not to get some flack from the people who don't think that every interaction should be about your brand. Why don't people like flashing banner ads? Same rules apply. - Her Lindsay-ness

Please don't take this wrong way, because I'm not trying to attack anyone here with this thought, but I'm willing to bet that most, if not all, people who have websites, leave their locations (urls) within their email signatures. Is that a display of ego? Now what's so different about that in comparison to leaving a brief url in a blog comment? As long as you don't do it over and over within one particular discussion, it shouldn't be so taboo. / Interesting discussion, party people! - Brad Williamson

I try to write the major points from a blog post in my comments. I then finish the comment with "more detail at" my blog post URL. - Hutch Carpenter

Urls in signatures are generally considered contact information. A lot of people use their blogs as a business card with all the various ways to get in touch with them listed. Much easier to include one url than all your services in an email sig. Including a url in a comment is fine if it links to a post that is relevant to the discussion. Leaving it just to hope someone clicks through _could be_ considered bad taste. It all depends on what kind of relationships you want to cultivate. - Her Lindsay-ness

Ultimately just ask yourself if you care to have relationships with the people you could offend by "shameless self-promotion". If the answer is no, then don't worry about it... if the answer is yes, then figure out how to change your behavior. - Her Lindsay-ness

@Lindsay That's true on the business card front, but MOST people leave their main domain url in their email sig in hopes that people will stumble upon ANY and ALL content within it. As for me, I leave two mentions of my virtual identity in my email sig: I first leave my main domain and, secondly, a link to a page within it that brings attention to my social media profiles. Our websites are a part of who we are - that's why we leave links to them in most of our social media profiles, etc. It's harmless IMO. - Brad Williamson

Will you all please visit my blog and digg my articles? Thanks. KTHXBYE. - Robert Scoble

@Robert We can't do that if you don't leave your website address behind in EVERY SINGLE COMMENT YOU MAKE! ;-) - Brad Williamson

I'm not sure it's fair to say that "MOST people leave their main domain url in their emails sig in hopes that people will stumble upon ANY and ALL content within it." Some people, I'm sure. As for root urls in comments, most comments systems on blogs allow you to enter your url and your name becomes a link to it on the comment header. If people are interested they'll click through. Otherwise, your comment wasn't interesting enough and adding a root url will just make it even less appealing to some. - Her Lindsay-ness

I'm just trying to figure out who you're trying to persuade... Some people are offended by the impression that someone is trying to sell them something (personal branding is basically selling yourself). You'll never get those people to concede that putting your url all over the place is something that will make them like you or give you attention. But do you really WANT their attention? If you do, you'll need to respect that and modify your behavior... if you don't then why worry about it? - Her Lindsay-ness

I like that Gregory. So true. That's why I'm gonna continue my practice of making my website address a part of my signature within blog comments (only once per discussion), emails, social media profiles, etc. Why? Because my site is a part of who I am, just as much as my first and last name is, and I'm proud of it. Anyone who doesn't have interest in hearing further commentary out of me can simply not click it. But those who are will have a link to click on to get to know me better. No harm done. - Brad Williamson

There ya go. Do what makes you happy. Just accept that it doesn't obligate everyone else to be happy with what you do (and that's ok). :) - Her Lindsay-ness

@Gregory I LOL'd on that one! I think I'll name mine TwoGirlsOneCup.com @Lindsay I think our debate might have been the most sophisticated one we'll hear all week (If ya politically know what I mean - Hardy-har-har. ;-) Truce ;-) - Brad Williamson

HAAAAA TwoGirlsOneCup.com amazing! Got a 'friend's friends' etc. who named her baby Kilyan (as in kill the dad's name) urls will come soon enough, starting with me hehe. I'll find something original a-la tinyurl. Good discussion: leave an url explaining the motive. http://tinyurl.com/zugetsit For anyone interested in seeing more url signatures templates etc. http://tinyurl.com/meownshit Where you can know more about me if needed. - ElijahBailey-Zu of FF <0,

Look for WiseStamp cool way of bring up your services in a signature. - ElijahBailey-Zu of FF <0,

Including links is simply a matter of convention. I once wrote for a forum that was rabidly against linking - even when their moderators did it. Some blogs still have policies against links while others welcome them. I believe that is why blog platforms started linking the comment author's name to their blog. Some including Andy Beard campaigned for dofollow (most default to nofollow). - Internet Strategist

Look for an official comment policy. Some insist on real names. Others ban signatures. Personally I love links. What really is the point if we aren't going to hold conversations across blogs? Come by my blog and drop all the relevant links you like. - Internet Strategist

You do know in many blogs your URL is automatically linked from your name, right? I've been thinking about posting about this the last few days. Your discussion prompted me to go ahead and do it: Get Your Link Love Here; We LOVE Visitors Who Drop Related Links in Comments http://www.growmap.com/link-lo... - Internet Strategist