I recently add a pos to my dircetory's blog about an issue I had with a large number of blogs that were submitted to my directory recently. Every other blog seemed to have similar content, and they all appeared to be part of a blog network that was selling links for PageRank. I have declined every one of the blogs from inclusion. As some of the blogs may be run by individuals who are unaware of the issues at hand, am I justified in making a blanket policy of disallowing all blogs that "appear" to be part of a paid blogging network? Should I make an effort on contact future bloggers if I question their legitimacy? Has anyone else had this issue come up? Edit: For those wanting more details go to: http://freeseofriendlydirectory.info/blog/2007/12/14/the-ethics-of-blogger-x/
If you want to have a quality directory, you are going to have to get a little picky. I am a real stickler on these things and if I suspect a site is using duplicate or re-purposed content (it usually has a look about it) and a few searches prove it - it's gone from my queue with no answer to the submitter. Affiliate sites are now out after getting at least 10 submissions from the same person. Paid to blog sites may or may not be out depending on the quality, writing skills and if they contain information that is actually useful. Never forget it's your site and you don't have to link to anyone you don't want to. Google's won some massive lawsuits with that argument - why wouldn't it hold true for even us little guys?
I had free reciprocals up for a while but after getting spammed to heck it just wasen't worth it. I did get a kick out of people cussing you out for rejecting them though. It was creepy and If eel bad for any girl that rejects them. It's true some people just can't take NO for an answer
It's your site and your sole discretion as to which sites you list. If a blogger doesn't like it they are free to move on to the next directory. I personally reject 80-85% of blogs thats get submitted to my blog directory.