Tallon - 11:04 pm on Dec 1, 2010 (gmt 0)

I know tedster but...and there's always a but lol...my site will lose ground to those that are using those methods (if they're fine). That's my problem.

What I'd like to see Google say: do promotional activity as you see fit, you won't be harmed by it. We may not count the retweets, likes, followers, feature badge links, etc., that were garnered through the promotional activity, but you won't be penalized or knocked a tic down for it either...now or ever.

That's all I'm asking for. Otherwise, if the "gray area activity" really is kosher with google and I don't partake because the lines are fuzzy and I'm unsure...my site loses out while others gain momentum.

I realize it's sick to let a search engine dictate how to promote my website, but this one is a biggy that I don't mess with in any way, shape or form. I'd hate to wash away years of hard work because I manipulated retweets for a giveaway and google decided that tweets and facebook followers count for something after all so they want them to be un-incentivized (just like they did with linking).