What is the problem with html redirects/meta refresh?

[namniboose]

Can someone explain to me what the problem is with html redirects/meta refresh. I want to be able to explain to my webmaster why this is not a good idea!

[bufferzone]

Well here goes my try.

The HTML redirect has been used by some promoters (in the porn industry) to bye a lot of domaine and then redirect the user to the main site, when they hit the redirected site. They usually bought domainnames that were misspellings of popular sites.

The HTML refresh has been used to inflate hitcounters and banner expoesions (how the he... do you spell that).

The SE's will bann you if you use these. Use javascript if you must