I'm sure many in the Rain community who actively blog must have received a few comments that were in essence more self-advertising rather than relevant to the blog subject.  Relevant comments=good, comments left solely as advertising=somewhat tacky.  There is debate as to what exactly crosses the line, since this whole blog and comments format is essentially informative self-promotion for the blogger, which the commentor may infringe on by leaving their own self-promoting comments and by leaving website links outwardly or imbedded in personalized signature graphics. 

Personally, I don't mind links left in comments if they are to the commentor's own professional/personal website, especially if the promoter is outside my local market.  I am not even all that concerned with non-relevant comments made for "shameless" self promotion since I appreciate the attention of someone visiting my blog and saying anything positive.  This is after all an exchange among professionals in the real estate BUSINESS.  If you met someone professionally, would you fail to exchange business cards?  Is leaving a singular link in comments all that bad?  Heck, all comments are registered to the commentor identified by their name and business anyway, which is ultimately linked to their ActiveRain profiles just a page click away.  www.Realtywnc.com