suidas - 4:09 pm on Aug 2, 2005 (gmt 0)

I think you're being a bit dogmatic, and hasty. The effect you describe is not an anti-sandbox, but another effect which has long been seen. The value of a link varies over time, peaking quickly and then dropping slowly. So, the search engine position of a new site (or page of a site) will rise rapidly for a few days, hit a ceiling and then start to slowly fall—unless more links are forthcoming. For all I know, click-throughs may also be in the mix. The age/value idea is spelled out in the Google patent.

This effect is different from the sandbox effect, although, as you say, it can seem like an anti-sandbox. I launched a site some months ago—when sandbox fever was high—and found no effect. I strongly suspect the sandbox is a function of other things, like the type of content, number of pages, link structure, etc. Its probably something simple—a Bayesian filter or some sort of link rate or pattern test—but it's surely not manual. Whatever it is, it seems to happen to spammers, and not to the legitimate, low-key informational sites like I run.