I think an article about Lens Guestbook Etiquette would also be helped with examples of when an link in the guestbook is appropriate and examples of guestbook entries with links that are great.

For example, on August 07, 2009, on my lens What to Do With Your Old Soda Cans, LauraSchofield left the message:
My son and I have yet to complete this, but its a pretty cool idea
http://digg.com/d3NMA3

It was an awesome link - Thanks Laura.

Also, on my lens Organ Donation Should be an Opt-Out System, johncpate left in the duel this message:
At the recent TED conference, Dan Ariely, a behavioral economists shows how the opt-out system does significantly affect overall participation in organ donation. The link is below. The whole talk is great, but the bit about the opt-out system for organ donations starts around the 5 minute mark.
Personally, I think hoarding your own organs after you no longer need them is one of the most selfish things you can do.
http://tinyurl.com/qmk79w

That link was so awesome that I watched the whole video, several other speeches from him, read his book, and made a lens on him.

As far as etiquette goes, people should not leave irrelevant links, but we need to make sure they feel completely comfortable leaving a great link.

Adding a module to highlight the Top 10 comments Gia is a great idea - I have done the same on my bullying lens where some people have made good points or ones I dont necessarily agree with and I have responded in the module.

This stops salient points from ending up way down the Guestbook and getting buried - particularly if there's a lot of comments.

You could also add any decent links that people have left to a Link List.

Ener-G wrote:

Those are good points Kab. I love relevant links and info.

On my lens on how to lower blood sugar naturally I ask readers to add their own kitchen table wisdom and have had some amazing comments that have really added to the value of the lens, including some doctors who encourage and remind people to get appropriate diagnoses, etc.

Some of the comments have been so good, I might have to add a module to highlight the top 10 comments!

I love the idea of a top comments module, I may have to steal this idea    love it!

mysticmama wrote:

HQ e-mailed me back saying:  (quote)

"Cases like this are usually touchy. When it's a totally irrelevant message, it's easy to say it's spam. With something like this, the lensmaster may really truly think this is an appropriate way to promote his link. After all, they teach this EVERYWHERE, including in lots of Squidoo ebooks.  I've sent a warning note and hopefully that is all that's needed!"

See the loophole is that he spammed my lens with a link & commercial for his website that was somewhat related to the topic of my lens...

Sending this person a "warning" is not going to make him stop this behavior, because he knows just how to play the system...

The scariest part about this whole experience is that Squidoo HQ believes that this sort of spam is acceptable just because...

"they teach this EVERYWHERE, including in lots of Squidoo ebooks"

Squidoo HQ did not say that that behavior was acceptable.  They did send a warning note.  I am certain that if this lensmaster were to get reported again for the same behavior that the actions they take would be different.

I try to just use the delete button and move on. I have too much to do to dwell on spam.

aj2008 wrote:

daybreak wrote:

I try to just use the delete button and move on. I have too much to do to dwell on spam.

But if everyone used that report button there would be less Spammers on the site to deal with

See, that's just the problem AJ...
It's not that easy to just report it...

there is the whole "guilt" complex involved in reporting a fellow lensmaster
no one wants to be a tattle tale

I struggled with the decision and felt terrible about reporting the person...
even though this guy's clever loophole type of spam was really even more offensive to me than the cheesy newbie spam we frequently see...
In fact is was because this person wasn't a newbie and should know better, that convinced me to report him...

to be totally truthful, I rarely report newbie spammers unless they spam multiple lenses...
If it's just one lens, somewhat related to their spam... I usually send them a friendly e-mail letting them know that they can get in trouble for posting spam type comments in people's guestbooks... and then I usually get an e-mail reply from them, thanking me for the heads up, because they had been taught by an e-book that they were supposed to do that ...

We're raised to not be tattle tales, in school that concept is reinforced by our peers...
no one wants to be branded a snitch, rat or narc...
by the time we are adults it's ingrained in us not to tell on each other...

In this aspect Squidoo becomes the parent, teacher, authorities...
and we feel like children again... not wanting to tell on the naughty kids in class...
or for people like me, who were the naughty kids in class... it's even harder to break that code of silence

As an adult, it's easy to see the need for reporting bad behavior, but that doesn't make it any easier to do...
and then when one finally does "report" it, and gets the kind of response I got...
It makes one ask themselves "why bother, if nothing is done about it anyway due to loopholes?"

BTW... I'm sure that this type of experience has happened to others, but I doubt many people would be willing to fess up to it... peer pressure & how other people see & judge us, really matters to most people... you know me though, always brutally honest... even if it's myself that I'm sacrificing in the name of truth...

I started a thread about the incident above, right after it happened, because I felt so bad about reporting a fellow lensmaster
http://www.squidu.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=45291

66 people viewed that thread, but only 3 people had the courage to respond, and only 2 of those 3 had the courage to say that I did the right thing...
Oh, I am sure that there are lensmasters who do report bad behavior as long as can stay anonymous...
but I would bet even more report it once, get a similar response to what I got and never report anything ever again, thinking "what's the point"

but most would never admit to reporting because of the stigma attached to being a tattle tale

I know that I now feel very much like "what's the point" as far as reporting it goes
and even more so, if I were ever to report again (which I'm not sure I ever will) I would for sure remain anonymous about it...
which is why I probably would never report again... I have issues with being anonymous... to me, being anonymous is like telling a lie and you know me... I don't think I could lie if you held a gun to me head lol