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Who thinks PROXIES and WORDCLOUDS should have their own sales category?

Discussion in 'Support & Feedback' started by EducationLinks, Apr 16, 2007.

  1. #1
    For those of us looking to buy legit links, the dozens of daily ads for proxy and wordcloud-type sites make it very difficult to have a decent experience at DigitalPoint on a daily basis. In my opinion, these type of sites are SPAM-ish. Anyone else agree?

    EDIT: I forgot to mention SIGNATURE link sales.
     
    EducationLinks, Apr 16, 2007 IP
    devin likes this.
  2. iwm1979

    iwm1979 Well-Known Member

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    #2
    Seperate sales category may not be required. A standard subject line should be enough.

    For example a subject like

    [WTS] PR4 Proxy Text Link $10/month

    will be clear to all interested (and not so interested) parties.

    The subject must definitely have the following info:

    1. Want to buy or sell or trade (WTB, WTS or WTT)
    2. Category of site
    3. Type of link
    4. Price
     
    iwm1979, Apr 16, 2007 IP
  3. casinobonusguy

    casinobonusguy Active Member

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    #3
    I am still trying to figure out what they are :)
     
    casinobonusguy, Apr 16, 2007 IP
  4. soju

    soju Peon

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    #4
    Who thinks this belongs in suggestions and feedback?
     
    soju, Apr 16, 2007 IP
  5. EducationLinks

    EducationLinks Well-Known Member

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    #5
    Um, it's not a question/suggestion directed to the administrators of DigitalPoint (not yet, anyway). It is a question for hands-on Webmasters who actually surf here every day, sifting through hundreds of spam-ish link offers just to find the legit offers. I, for one, am just tired of all the junk.

    Junk, basically.

    Proxies enable people to surf on sites that their computer network otherwise blocks.

    Wordcloud-type sites are mostly expired domains with positive PR that people buy and then immediately offer paid links on the home pages. The sites always have dozens or even hundreds of links, including porn, gambling, drugs, and just about every other random, unrelated topic under the sun.

    The problem with that solution is that the SPAM-ish/low-quality offers (proxies, wordclouds, signature links) will still appear in a category-specific search of the "Link Sales" category.
     
    EducationLinks, Apr 16, 2007 IP
  6. iwm1979

    iwm1979 Well-Known Member

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    #6

    Still think it should appear here since there are enough people willing to buy it.
     
    iwm1979, Apr 16, 2007 IP
  7. EducationLinks

    EducationLinks Well-Known Member

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    #7
    Well, the people who want to buy these low-quality links will still be able to find them, more quickly and easily, in a different sub-category:

    "Link Sales"
    -----"Link Sales - Wordclouds, Proxies, and Signatures"

    This way, EVERYONE is happy.
     
    EducationLinks, Apr 16, 2007 IP
  8. jquindlen

    jquindlen Notable Member

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    #8
    I'm personally against the idea. I see where you're coming from, but I think the Link Sales forum is fine the way it is. I mean, if you're going to seperate out those types of links, than why not: Wordpress themes, Drupal templates, PR5, PR6, PR7, Gaming Links, Entertainment Links, 50,000 & Below Alexa Links, High Traffic Links, etc. There's just too many specific types of links, and no particular reason to singles out proxy, wordclouds, and sigs imo.
     
    jquindlen, Apr 16, 2007 IP
  9. frosty

    frosty Peon

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    #9
    There are a lot of threads on this subforum, and the idea seems to have some merit. It takes a long time to go through all the threads. If I don't check in on this place at least once a day, I get scared at how many new threads are waiting for me to check in on.

    This could ease the logistical burden in that sense. It's probably discriminatory against word clouds, but should word clouds be discriminated against? I've been told they are the next bad neighborhood, so I stay away. If that's true, then maybe things should be split up.

    2 cents.
     
    frosty, Apr 16, 2007 IP
    EducationLinks likes this.
  10. EducationLinks

    EducationLinks Well-Known Member

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    #10
    Frosty, my thoughts exactly.

    What makes a wordcloud any different than a link farm? Google HATES link farms, and considers them SPAM. I predict that wordclouds will be on Google's "penalize list" soon enough.
     
    EducationLinks, Apr 16, 2007 IP
  11. sgsmorgan

    sgsmorgan Banned

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    #11
    I agree totally. There are enough "Tire Kickers" on this forum as it is and the removal of this type of spam to another category would give those Webmasters looking for a much more "legit" and useful experiencea a much more rewarding AND useful resource.

    Nothing against them if people want to buy from them, just a separate category would make this sales category much cleaner, clearer and useful.
     
    sgsmorgan, Apr 17, 2007 IP
    EducationLinks likes this.
  12. iwm1979

    iwm1979 Well-Known Member

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    #12
    The next complexity with this problem is how do you define a wordcloud. Currently 'all' wordclouds are just a set of links. But what happens when they start selling a sentence each with link embedded. Do they become content sites? No.
     
    iwm1979, Apr 17, 2007 IP
  13. sgsmorgan

    sgsmorgan Banned

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    #13
    No there is a difference between between a link on a blog template, blog roll etc than a lionk on a word cloud that if the truth be known is going to give you damn all use. Imagine, the hwole idea is to get good links on useful pages with good PR. Even if a wordcloud has good PR it is going to be so diluted as to be worthless.

    I also have heard that they may well be considered as the next bad neighbourhoods etc.

    2c
     
    sgsmorgan, Apr 17, 2007 IP
  14. jquindlen

    jquindlen Notable Member

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    #14
    That misses my point completely, although I do understand where you're coming from. Essentially what you're saying is that wordcloud sites are worthless, and I agree. They are a bad link neighborhood and the links are completely worthless, if not outright harmful to your SERPs.

    To argue against this from another perspective, guess how many wordcloud threads I found going all the way to page 5 of the link sales forum... zero. Prehaps I missed one, but I doubt it. One or two threads a day does not warrant a new sub forum, and destroys the "sorting through worthless crap" argument. Where are all these crap threads that desperately need their own section?

    In regards to proxy links, I personally think they are extremely valuable in terms of traffic from personal experience. If you're trying to capture a young demographic, there's nothing like a well placed ad/link on a popular proxy site. May not be that great PR, but it's damn good for traffic.

    Sig links are valuable as well, so why should proxy and sig links be relegated to the "crap" section along with wordclouds?
     
    jquindlen, Apr 17, 2007 IP
  15. sgsmorgan

    sgsmorgan Banned

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    #15
    I guess there's none so stupid as folk and the trouble is that along with some of other more hyped cr@p we see on a day to day basis there are always those who would consider this to be good business because they can't get links anywhere else or they don't know any better (the latter comment is meant more in sorrow than in anger).

    Sig links and Proxy sites. OK if you want to go down that road but it is only a matter of time before the Googleplex et al crack down on that one. If you want to, make hay while the sun shines is all I can say. Personally none of my clients would touch that sort of link with a barge pole and I have two or three youth orientated sites.

    Getting back to the point in hand, because of the worthless nature of some proposals put on here it is now harder and harder (and more of a time wasting exercise) to find value for money quality proposals.

    2.5c
     
    sgsmorgan, Apr 17, 2007 IP
  16. karl turnbull

    karl turnbull Peon

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    #16
    The easiest thing for you to do is ( SKIP THE THREADS YOU DONT WANT TO PARTICAPATE IN ) easy as that m8 :)
     
    karl turnbull, Apr 17, 2007 IP
  17. Kaediem

    Kaediem Well-Known Member

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    #17
    I think people at dp are smart enough to know what if anything they want to buy.

    Wordcloud/sigs/proxies all have their place (as do "cookie cutter type" "everyone has one" directories) but for now, they are still valid backlinks (maybe not as valuable but not as pricey either! - let's not get all snobby about it and cast them out like lepers just because they may be of little value. Are you going to make those with pr3 or pr2 sites post their links elsewhere too? Where do you draw the line?

    Lisa
    (a little biased as I own one of those word bidding sites - but it's not an expired domain! :D )
     
    Kaediem, Apr 17, 2007 IP
  18. EducationLinks

    EducationLinks Well-Known Member

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    #18
    Um, I guess you were looking for threads with "WORDCLOUD" in the subject line. That doesn't cut it. I;m referring to all of the junk threads with deceptive lead ins like "Permanent PR6 link for $1." A potential buyer doesn't find out its a wordcloud until he opnes the thread and deciphers all the seller bullcr*p. COMPLETE GARBAGE and a waste of everyone's time.
    If you like them, more power to ya! What's your problem with simply giving these type of sites their own category so that EVERYONE can be happy and have a more efficient workday?
    Again, these need their own cat.

    All I know is that RIGHT NOW, my DP experience sucks because of all the junk, and searching by category doesn't help.
     
    EducationLinks, Apr 17, 2007 IP
  19. karl turnbull

    karl turnbull Peon

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    #19
    link sales is link sales m8 , why should there be another sub cat for word clouds and proxies , thay are selling links the same as anyone else :) it is not going to happen m8ty :)
     
    karl turnbull, Apr 17, 2007 IP
  20. EducationLinks

    EducationLinks Well-Known Member

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    #20
    Well, I figure that most of the people against the idea of separate categories will be the people ho own the low-quality sites/links/ads in question.

    Wordcloud = Link Farm

    "Don't participate in link schemes designed to increase your site's ranking or PageRank. In particular, avoid links to web spammers or 'bad neighborhoods' on the web, as your own ranking may be affected adversely by those links."
    - http://www.google.com/support/webmasters/bin/answer.py?answer=35769&hl=en

    "Don't load pages with irrelevant words."
    - http://www.google.com/support/webmasters/bin/answer.py?answer=35769&hl=en

    "Search engines countered the link farm movement by identifying specific attributes associated with link farm pages and filtering those pages from indexing and search results. In some cases, entire domains were removed from the search engine indexes in order to prevent them from influencing search results."
    - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Link_farm

    Here is an article concerning the FAKE PAGERANK of wordcloud-type sites being sold on DigitalPoint:
    http://www.linkrain.com/articles/fake-pagerank-wordcloud-sites/
     
    EducationLinks, Apr 17, 2007 IP