tedster - 7:33 pm on Nov 16, 2008 (gmt 0)

I can't help but wonder if there's some other factor at work since I haven't ever seen a problem based purely on the hosting or the IP block - and especially if being a "thin affiliate" is the only infraction.

Are you talking about a penalty (lower ranking) or a ban (not in the index)?

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I would assume that it's the common ownership (registrar information) that's creating the problem. But even then, there is probably something on at least one of the sites that Google considers a major violation. Thin pages don't get ranked, but the site isn't banned. That takes something more spammy, like dodgy backlink schemes.