Comments on: Aboutus.org spamming search results http://www.cominvent.com/2008/02/13/aboutusorg-spamming-search-results/ Search, and you will find! Fri, 09 May 2008 15:43:11 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.3.3 By: janhoy http://www.cominvent.com/2008/02/13/aboutusorg-spamming-search-results/#comment-14 janhoy Mon, 07 Apr 2008 15:33:24 +0000 http://www.cominvent.com/2008/02/13/aboutusorg-spamming-search-results/#comment-14 What is good about searching for your own company name and finding your own site listing on page 2 or 3 and a bunch of ads-stuffed spam-sites on top-10 abusing your brand to generate traffic and ad-revenue to to their own site? Sure, someone may love such sites and for some it may even generate traffic, but for the serious players on the net, it's mostly noise, and it should be possible to opt out. Just randomly checked in to "my" entry again, and my last edits were gone, censored away according to new editing rules... I made another attempt to make my site's entry reflect my opinion... What is good about searching for your own company name and finding your own site listing on page 2 or 3 and a bunch of ads-stuffed spam-sites on top-10 abusing your brand to generate traffic and ad-revenue to to their own site?

Sure, someone may love such sites and for some it may even generate traffic, but for the serious players on the net, it’s mostly noise, and it should be possible to opt out.

Just randomly checked in to “my” entry again, and my last edits were gone, censored away according to new editing rules… I made another attempt to make my site’s entry reflect my opinion…

]]> By: Greenville Dance Lessons http://www.cominvent.com/2008/02/13/aboutusorg-spamming-search-results/#comment-13 Greenville Dance Lessons Sun, 06 Apr 2008 04:36:17 +0000 http://www.cominvent.com/2008/02/13/aboutusorg-spamming-search-results/#comment-13 I think all the complaints about aboutus.org are not well thought out. I think the site is great for all small sites, and OK even for large sites. This is just the next step in the internet. Think of it as a combo of Google and Wikipedia. I think all the complaints about aboutus.org are not well thought out. I think the site is great for all small sites, and OK even for large sites.

This is just the next step in the internet. Think of it as a combo of Google and Wikipedia.

]]> By: janhoy http://www.cominvent.com/2008/02/13/aboutusorg-spamming-search-results/#comment-5 janhoy Fri, 15 Feb 2008 08:06:47 +0000 http://www.cominvent.com/2008/02/13/aboutusorg-spamming-search-results/#comment-5 Hi Ted, and thanks for taking the time to comment (what's your role at AboutUs anyway, i did not see that from your info page?) * I don't say that AboutUs is bad for everyone. Internet is open and if people like your service, fine. * I agree that it's better to have some influence over content on other sites than none. I love Wikis * But the very name itself "AboutUS", is false, if the content is not controlled by US. You should call the site "AboutTHEM" if the goal of the service is as you claim to let OTHERS do reviews of what they feel about a certain site. * I did not claim that bot-scraped info cannot be removed - that is exactly what I've done in restoring the entry I posted first :) * Forcing people to send an email to get stuff removed is not friendly, nor secure, nor does it scale I am not convinced by your "advertising" statements. I feel AboutUS abuses my registered company name to drive traffic to themselves. My sole feature request is: * Let webmasters avoid being crawled and included (already possible through robots.txt) * Let webmasters who was unlucky to already be included get out by editing robots.txt and pushing a link "reload robots.txt" on their aboutus page The current practice is simply inconsistent Hi Ted, and thanks for taking the time to comment (what’s your role at AboutUs anyway, i did not see that from your info page?)

* I don’t say that AboutUs is bad for everyone. Internet is open and if people like your service, fine.
* I agree that it’s better to have some influence over content on other sites than none. I love Wikis
* But the very name itself “AboutUS”, is false, if the content is not controlled by US. You should call the site “AboutTHEM” if the goal of the service is as you claim to let OTHERS do reviews of what they feel about a certain site.
* I did not claim that bot-scraped info cannot be removed - that is exactly what I’ve done in restoring the entry I posted first :)
* Forcing people to send an email to get stuff removed is not friendly, nor secure, nor does it scale

I am not convinced by your “advertising” statements. I feel AboutUS abuses my registered company name to drive traffic to themselves.

My sole feature request is:
* Let webmasters avoid being crawled and included (already possible through robots.txt)
* Let webmasters who was unlucky to already be included get out by editing robots.txt and pushing a link “reload robots.txt” on their aboutus page

The current practice is simply inconsistent

]]> By: Ted Ernst http://www.cominvent.com/2008/02/13/aboutusorg-spamming-search-results/#comment-4 Ted Ernst Wed, 13 Feb 2008 16:50:47 +0000 http://www.cominvent.com/2008/02/13/aboutusorg-spamming-search-results/#comment-4 Couple of points: * People that build great pages on AboutUs.org about their site have found that the traffic to their website increases. * If someone is considering buying a product from you, they are likely to google you (just as you did to find that TechCrunch post). With a negative blog post (again, like that TechCrunch one), it lives there forever, without regard to how things have changed in the world. Talk about being out of date! But with AboutUs, the information can be updated and you are encouraged to take part in the conversation (AboutUs cannot take part in the conversation at TechCrunch in the same way). And, because AboutUs is not part of your site, not controlled by you, your potential customers are better able to trust what they find there, as a third party resource. * You say bot-scraped info cannot be removed, but then you link to the http://www.aboutus.org/No_Bot_Policy, which clearly explains how bot-scraped into CAN be removed. I've gone ahead and done that for http://www.aboutus.org/ComInvent.com . I didn't do the second step of removing the history, but I can. Just ask (support@AboutUs.org). * The AboutUs community patrols every edit. You can also get http://www.aboutus.org/EmailAlerts when the page changes - no account necessary Please let us know if you have further concerns. We'd love to win you over and become an asset for your business! Couple of points:
* People that build great pages on AboutUs.org about their site have found that the traffic to their website increases.

* If someone is considering buying a product from you, they are likely to google you (just as you did to find that TechCrunch post). With a negative blog post (again, like that TechCrunch one), it lives there forever, without regard to how things have changed in the world. Talk about being out of date! But with AboutUs, the information can be updated and you are encouraged to take part in the conversation (AboutUs cannot take part in the conversation at TechCrunch in the same way). And, because AboutUs is not part of your site, not controlled by you, your potential customers are better able to trust what they find there, as a third party resource.

* You say bot-scraped info cannot be removed, but then you link to the http://www.aboutus.org/No_Bot_Policy, which clearly explains how bot-scraped into CAN be removed. I’ve gone ahead and done that for http://www.aboutus.org/ComInvent.com . I didn’t do the second step of removing the history, but I can. Just ask (support@AboutUs.org).

* The AboutUs community patrols every edit. You can also get http://www.aboutus.org/EmailAlerts when the page changes - no account necessary

Please let us know if you have further concerns. We’d love to win you over and become an asset for your business!

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