kanetrain - 2:41 am on Dec 10, 2003 (gmt 0)

Bingo.

Paid to Play. Something is definately amis at Inktomi and Positiontech.

I'm not sure where the breakdown is, but there is certainly something going on with Position Tech listings in Inktomi.

After hours and hours of research, I think that you may be right that it could possibly be an algorithmic penalty (not editorial) assigned to some sites (for duplicate content or other reasons...not sure yet).

BUT, the thing is that these penalties are ONLY assigned to paying customers and I've only found evidence of Positiontech customers getting hammered. So, for some reason, Positiontech listings are being scritinized by the engine and penalized.

I agree that it is on purpose. I think they are dropping paying customers on purpose to get us to sign up for more listing with Overture or to sign up with trusted feed. Clever...but unethical.

I'm not sure if the problem is that Positiontech doesn't care about these widespread problems... or they don't have the power to fix them. Either one is cause for alarm. If they don't have the power to fix them, then something is definately wrong with the whole sytem. You can't sell a product that you don't understand and can't fix it and if you don't go to bat for your customers... then you shouldn't be in business.

Quite honestly, if this were a major concern for them it would be resolved by now. It's as if PT is working for Inktomi and not us. They are more concerned about protecting Inktomi and not organizing complaints and getting to the bottom of these problems than they are about taking care of us... (the ones who pay them).

That's what is wrong with a middle-man approach. ;) They have two bosses.

Again, if you are having issues with this same problem, please contact via PM. I have some info that could be of value to you.