fantomaster - 11:30 pm on May 17, 2000 (gmt 0)

Not being defensive on our own score: we know pretty well where
we succeed and where not. But the web being the fairly hysterical
medium it is, it doesn't take too much to instigate (if unintentionally)
a witch hunt on cloakers. (Look at what happened to the term "spam"
in recent years: nowadays, hardly anyone seems to remember what spam
used to be defined as. Instead, what it *has* led to is the merry hunt
of the bigotted clueless, self-declared "web cops" decrying more or
less anything as spam which doesn't seem to fit into their particular
reality tunnel. The mechanisms at work here are basically the same which
in meatspace will provoke lynch mobs, pogroms etc.)
Look at all the discussion forums where people are throwing their weight
about shouting how "decidedly anti-cloaking" they are, and you can
see it coming ...

There's basically only two approaches towards search engine positioning:

1. You can succumb to their tyranny and inferior technology - more often
than not to the detriment of layout and design and, in many cases, even
content. (Database driven sites featuring dynamic content are a typical
case in point.)

2. You can exploit all possibilities at your disposal to get your sites
well ranked without foul compromises in design and layout, content, etc.

Personally, I detest irrelevant cloaking as much as the other guy, and I
find this sort of tactics plain dumb to boot: searching for auto parts,
I'm certainly not going to buy *anything* from some idiot redirecting me
to his porn pages. I don't take kindly to people trying to fool me, and I
think most surfers don't, either, at least not after having gained a
modicum of net experience to draw upon.

But then, of course, it's not a question of morals or ethical standards
(which, after all, are for anybody to define at their whimsy) - I'm only
concerned with what works and what doesn't. Which, of course, raises
the question of the working conditions involved, etc.

engine: I agree in full with your statement, and I can actuall show you
sites where we're achieving lots of good results with no (or hardly any)
cloaking involved, even in highly competitive areas.
Neither would I place my belief in anyone claiming that cloaking is the
one and only immaculate key to search engine positioning bliss - that just
dumb.
But you're right about the real estate biz - refuse cloaking there, and you
might just as well drop out of the industry altogether. The same holds true
for lots of other industries, notably the adult content world, gambling,
online finance, and more. Here, it's simply "cloak or croak" ...

And Dave, yes: without wishing to unduly add to the mystique which still
surrounds cloaking for many, many webmasters - present company excepted,
of course - I agree that what we term "industrial-strength" cloaking
is becoming an ever more specialized realm which doesn't lend itself
easily (or, rather, safely) to the prevalent DIY ideology.

As for link popularity: it's sure doing wonders currently, but it remains
to be seen if it will ever become more than a mere fad. That's because
the basic logic underlying it is pretty flawed at best - it will only
favor big players in the long run; it's easy to counter, etc.
It works on the dubious principle that sixty billion flies simply can't
be wrong, which is why you, too, should favor horse dung for your diet ...
It may only be a matter of time till it evaporates as did overhyped
DirectHit technology.