People are trying to eliminate spam. Spammers tend to include links to outside services which cost money. Thus, your providing such a link gives you the superficial appearance of a spammer, and you got downmodded accordingly. You are not a spammer, you have participated in good faith in this community, at great personal effort, and contributed many useful insights as a result. I think by now, most people are aware of this, and you should not need to worry about giving the appearance of spamming.
People are trying to eliminate spam. Spammers tend to include links to outside services which cost money. Thus, your providing such a link gives you the superficial appearance of a spammer, and you got downmodded accordingly. You are not a spammer, you have participated in good faith in this community, at great personal effort, and contributed many useful insights as a result. I think by now, most people are aware of this, and you should not need to worry about giving the appearance of spamming.