Well every directory owner usually does as he/she sees best for their directory.. It was free for a long time and is a decent directory so if he/she chooses to go paid reviews then they are entitled to do so... BUT i agree being the "domain name" actually has "FREE" in it , then to offer NO Free inclusion of some sort seems... thx malcolm
Ive seen plenty like that before, you must think long and hard before choosing a domain and where you may take the site further down the road.
Your not going to complain are you, it would make people question why you'd want to spend money then complain. I first saw this name being used a while back and thought, here we go, another one with a stupid name that's going to reel them in offering free links (hence the title) then go and charge for them at a later stage. The price is ridiculous, ($40 a year) based on my observations of it. By fluke or design I clicked on 'directories' to look at the editorial integrity and saw that there was very little of it. I'd comment more but I don't want to end up really going to town on the content and the way it's organised. Words coming from Dan at info.vilesilencer come into mind (Quality not Quantity). This site seems to have gone chasing after the latter forsaking the first. Too many directories used this play on words imho, but hopefully time will be our friend in that because most of this type of directory won't be here in a few years of this I'm pretty certain.
Yeah a lot of directories start out free and then change to paid down the road. I've come across quiet of a few directories that have free in their name but charge.
This directory was free for many years unlike 99.999% or directories. It was never turned to paid as it was used for attracting SEO clients and promotion of directory submission services. It was owned by Jim Westergren, but looks like he sold his company including this directory. I guess new owners turned it to paid. Personally I wouldn't make fun of this guy since he is very good in SEO and marketing. Shame he left his business.
Wow he entered the writing world, not an easy future for him, its not all cardigans and pipe smoking in that business, good luck to him though.
True it was owned by Jim, and he is both a good SEO and directory owner. Obviously once something like that is sold, you no longer have control over it so you shouldn't be held accountable. He made quite a bit of money by selling the business, and last time I spoke to him he was getting into writing (as in books). He's chasing his dream rather than doing the 9-to-5 Johnny Punchclock routine that many of us are caught up in. Best of luck to him
His blog post is dated 2nd October 2007, however he probably negotiated long before that - and it may have passed hands much earlier.
Thanks for that info. I was just curious because of the content that was and still is poor quality dates back to Sep 2007. Possibly it wasn't in his hands at that time? Hopefully they will pick up on this thread and our recent highlights of editorial integrity.