spam refers to the content of the post.
IMHO posts which only exists because they want to share a ref link are spam.
if a post is valid and good AND contains reflink its ok (my opinion).
IMHO that rule is in place because if ref links are allowed there are more spam posts (content wise) and staff has more work to do.
I am also of the same opinion. As long as program being advertised is not against any rules for sites allowed to be promoted on this forum then why should referral link not allowed to be posted as part of OP?
For that matter, I created 1 thread where I wanted referrals for DollarClix (GPT Site where users can earn by completing offers) & mexxer-2 reported it and some moderator deleted it saying it's SPAMMY. Since that day I am confused how was my thread spamming the entire forum?
For me, all those users who post on any Newbie's thread to mark them as scammers just to advertise the campaign they are promoting in their signature are spammers but my thread which was supposed to be read by only those people who were interested in getting those 20 cents or something from me was not spammy at all . I did not put any misleading content as part of my post. I was crystal clear with my requirements but still that post was marked as spammy. Why?