Now if you have got that answer to your "genuine" question, it wouldn't hurt to do an apology for blaming Chris. And if your question was that "genuine", you should have posted it with your "real" username.
I don't think the guy deserves capital punishment for thinking he had discovered something peculiar and bashing a business publicly for it. Maybe a lawsuit, but not the death penalty. Since bid directory ethics has been brought up..., this is as good a place as any for me to raise a concern I have with them. I'm speaking (typing) as an owner of a bid directory so clearly I want bid directories to succeed and my concern is being raised for that very reason. Bid directories are easily abused by owners because fake bids can alter the "pecking order" in a few clicks. I've submitted my bid directory to other bid directories only to see my listing get knocked out of first place suspiciously quickly. Was it because other clients came back and raised their bids? Or was it because my new directory with a PR0 (not for long) fouled up the look of the directory's homepage? I choose to believe there was no foul play involved, but it was eye opening and I suspect there are Website owners who have shied away from investing in bid listings out of lack of trust. I recently went through my directory and removed all of my own $1-4 listings once the homepage was full to avoid any conflict. Frankly, I wish I had never placed them there, but I really was just seeding my list. I also removed all other free listings. The fact that this thread was started as an accusation against someone most of us know as reputable and honest is almost laughable. The fact that the thread was started however is a good thing imo! Bid directory owners (actually all biz owners...) NEED to know that they MUST be honest and ethical. If they're not, they will pay a steep price because they adversely affect a lot of other people. No doubt the most successful business people will tell you to NEVER, absolutely NEVER do anything that may damage your credibility or integrity. It's Biz 101 stuff. Keep it honest!
That makes the most sense to me. As a bid directory owner I don't see a problem with a PR0 site being on my home page. I can't see a problem with seeding at below the minimum (or in my case I seeded at $1) because it really has no effect on bids.
Great looking directory you have there! Will do very well. And I'm sure I was just being paranoid, but the more the potential for issues is discussed the less likely it is to occur. Cheers P.S. No that's not me posting as 2 people! It's a nice looking dir....
I used to buy listing from bid directories, but I no longer do because bid directories have some credibility issues. Whether the above statement is TRUE or NOT (I don't know), but the perception of it is what really matters.
Well, mystikmedia are not cheating, but MANY others do so dont judge the OP so soon. He is pointing at a problem. All of you that gave the OP red deserves one red, think before you hand out reds.
Do many others cheat? Thing is when you mud sling like that you risk splattering it on everyone who owns a bidding directory. Care to back your comment that many do?
I don't believe more than a handful of bid dir owners have commited any "foul". And they certainly aren't the people you've see around here month in and month out. Just stick with the directories that the better known directory owners patronize and you'll be fine. They tend to have a good sense for what's up and they never would support an unethical person. In my (relatively) brief time in the Web directory business I've seen a strong sense of community and a VERY strong self policing system. Cheers
There is some talk about it in other threads here, actually I dont care to back it up, but you are pretty naive if you think that this does not happen. I agree that the OP is out of line mentioning mystikmedia, but in line with noobs that do mistakes and should be forgiven.
Well, I supposed you could all laugh and take the name in - Big Tease. Create the name and live by it too.
There's always the risk that 'better known' people may well take advantage of that cushion and actually do what's being said although I do agree its much less of a risk.