I have heard that because of the vast amount of people using phpLD that Google may ban you for using it. Does anyone know if this is true? And if so would it be possible to alter the template to avoid this?
Where on Earth did you "hear" that? Please provide a link or something before sending everyone into a friggin panic.
I've never heard a story like that, It's not the script you are using to get you banned from google. It's more likely to get banned if you host links to bad neighbourhood websites, it's about the outbound links from your directory. And it's always a good idea to alter the template of the directory so you will stand out in the directories. Get the latest version of phpLD here: http://www.phplinkdirectory.com/, version 3.0 is in beta right now should be out there soon.
Guys... what hes talking about is the fact that PHPLD makes several calls to the toolbarqueries server every single time a page is loaded to show the PR bar for each site listed on the page. It wont get you banned from the Google index but I've heard Google will block your hosts IP from querying for PR.
As far as I can tell, Google is only queried when the site is submitted. The pr rating stays in the database. This is why you have use a script to update the pagerank after each toolbar update. That's the way I thought it worked. Am I wrong?
Your correct. It checks PR when the site is submitted and that is all unless you manually update them which should only be done 3-4 times per year, IMO.
Yes, there is a tool available (now free to members of our supporters forum for 3.0) that allow you to update pagerank from your home pc, and then submit changes via phpmyadmin. More info here: http://www.phplinkdirectory.com/content/view/21/31/ I am not aware of any sites that have been banned, but I think it is important that sites balance selling sponsored listings with providing quality listings. Don't just wait for sites to submit to you. Instead, spend a little time adding some quality sites to your directory as well. It makes a big difference.
Re Google removals, there might be some confusion with phpODP (a DMOZ script), which I believe *has* caused some sites to be dropped from Google.
I have seen I think 2 PHPLD powered sites banned few months ago, but that had nothing to do with the script - they participated in some linkexchange schemes.... As for altering the template, if you mean the backlink to PHPLD, I think that's possible if you purchase the license.