Ok, let me see if I understand the logic here. A directory owner allows free submissions, just long enough that it boosts the PR of the directory and SERP standings to the point that the directory owner no longer has a use for the free listings. He then deletes the listings and tries to use the PR (That we helped him gain) to make people pay to keep the free listing they got in the first place. IMO...This has nothing to do with getting better position for paid listings, and it has a whole lot to do with the owner wishing he had gotten paid for all those free links he gave away. Why not just mod your dir so that paid listings are always listed BEFORE free listings? It would be a very easy mod, and would be a lot easier to understand the logic.
Exactly! This is what I did with my directory and it works just fine. The free listings in my directory are a great incentive for serious submitters to choose a premium paid link over a free one. Well, that and a few other differences.
Forget ethnical he needs to keep links to avoid an onslaught of 404's. He's also loosing most of his spider food. Let him do it he's sinking his own ship. I don't agree with the letter fwiw. If you want to prune dead ilnks thats one thing but nuking all free isn't good. Oh well!
Currently, I get this when I do a site:www.voisd.com [SIZE=-1]Results 1 - 10 of about 727 from www.voisd.com. Wanna bet it drops even lower than it already is? Not to mention the loss of whatever keyword traffic he may be getting from the link details pages on the site. [/SIZE]