I've been doing a bit of investigative research about link spam at Wikipedia for an article I'm writing, and was wondering if anyone here has any experience or observations on the topic.
I don't have experience with spamming it, but I do regularly post links to my new sites there. The links show up automatically but they are reviewed shortly thereafter and either approved or taken down. Competitors might come in and remove your link though, which can also be annoying (this also requires approval--don't ask about the logic of how this could happen ). In my experience the links carry more weight with MSN and Yahoo than they do Google, but that is pure speculation. hope that helps
I have added links to my project several times on important articles related to my website. First I noticed that some where removed right away and some stayed longer. The once that stayed longer then got removed or changed by competitors. The most important thing for posting links on wiki is that they a) fit to the article and b) you post them at the bottom of all existing links. (Links posted at the top of an existing link list is the most obvious sign of spam. Also don´t post with your registered account, but if you remove a competitors link or if you undo a revert where someone removed your link, then use your wiki account and write a comment as "Spam - RV" or "This link is usefull and not spam, I think it should stay - RV" ) Adding a edit reason is making it easier for other users to redo your addition so even if it would be usefull for the wiki community it will hurt your advertising at the end. Also another tip is to contribute to the article like adding some infos, or changing a mistake, correcting a spelling error or such in the same edit you add your link. This way reverting your link edit is harder then if you only post a simple link addition. If you add a link register with wiki and watch your articles. This way it is easier to see if they are changed, to check the changes regularly and revert additional links added and changes to your link. Hope this helps a little ps: At the end I gave up adding links. I have 2-3 still existing which bring in low but constant traffic. However I stoped adding removed links because it is a never ending story of add and remove :/
Thanks for the feedback. DaStarBuG, I understand how you feel, giving up. I think Wikipedia is going to need to make major changes in this, hopefully I can bring some more attention to the subject before it gets as bad as DMOZ.
The most important thing is: Wikipedia is not a link directory. The best thing for wiki would be to get rid of all external links (except 1-2 real important links realy tied to the issue) But that is not possible so the link wars continue. It is much to time consuming to advertise on wiki if you are not willing to check at least once a day for your link. It takes about 20 seconds to revert a post, that is why link spam is removed so often But I am realy interested in your article. If you remember please let me know when you post it ps: Is this your son on your avatar? He (he is a he right?) is realy cute. I am currently working on a cardiologie station for children in our hospital and I am going to become a pediatrition when I am a doctor (in 2 years I am finished then 5 more years for the pediatrition ). I love kids and whish I hade 1-3 myself
Yea, this is what I have written so far. http://www.petertdavis.net/176-wikipedia-and-link-spammers-a-how-to-guide/ Yep, that's my kid. Thanks for the kind words!
Hmm, looks like I got someone's attention http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipe...mmer_admits_he.27s_seeding_links_on_Wikipedia
Mwahaha, you win Peter! "this" is linked in the above quote. You tricked him, and now you get a permanent backlink from a page that will probably get some natural attention!
LoL! Actually, it came out of left field. I can't really understand why someone would think about banning me from Wikipedia because of a critical blog post. But, hey, I got kicked out of being a DMOZ editor for being critical of their policy, so if Wikipedia is really the new DMOZ, then they certainly should ban anyone who doesn't walk lock-step.