Sometime, in our eagerness to share something with the rest of the world we may end up doing things that can be classified as spamming. I have got a first hand experience of this.
I have been visiting Wikipedia for information on quite a few things. Wikipedia is a place where you can contribute to any topic about which you have some relevant information. The fact that it can be edited by anyone makes it very powerful because the content generation is not limited to a fixed group but to anyone with an access to the Internet. The disadvantage is that unlike Britannica or World Book, you don't really have the guarantee that the facts presented are accurate.
I thought of making a contribution in my own way. I felt that there are a lot of places where the wikipedia could do with better images. I thought it would be a good idea to add some image links where appropriate. I added a few links on the pages of things like Absolut Vodka, Fosters Beer and places like Juhu Beach etc. I saw it as a mutually beneficial thing, I could get some traffic from there and in return the users were getting to see much better images that are already included in the pages of Wikipedia. For an example, you can compare images on this page with this, this and this image I added there.
While visiting one of the pages again, to my surprise, I realised that the links I had placed have gone missing. I was surprised but soon discovered that another user has been deleting all the links that I have added. He also left a message for me that is reproduced below
Please do not add inappropriate external links to Wikipedia. Wikipedia is not a mere directory of links nor should it be used for advertising or promotion. Inappropriate links include (but are not limited to) links to personal web sites, links to web sites with which you are affiliated, and links that exist to attract visitors to a web site or promote a product. See the external links guideline and spam policies for further explanations of links that are considered appropriate. If you feel the link should be added to the article, then please discuss it on the article's talk page rather than re-adding it. See the welcome page to learn more about Wikipedia. Thank you.
This looked a little odd to me. True I am adding external links of my own photoblog but those links are relevent to the content of those pages and it is actually adding value. At least that is how I saw it. I decided to go and read the guidelines and policies he suggested and I found out that whatever he said is correct. Even now I feel that the links I added were very valid and added value to the pages they were added but that is against the policy of the site where they were added and you have to respect that.
I guess the moral of the story is that no matter how good your intentions are, you may still end up doing things that may be considered spam and a good idea is to make sure that what you are doing is following the guideline if one exists or in the absence of one, you are not doing something that would generally be considered spam by common definitions.
