"Unnatural links"... from the linker's perspective

[fischermx]

I run a niche directory website. Actually it is directory plus content, i.e. press releases from vendors, some articles, etc.
I have a few thousands links out on my website.

Today I received a notice from certain company asking me to remove my links to them. A funny thing, instead of providing me the URLs where I have the links to them, they sent me a link to a website, which, by its name, was clearly a so called SEO company, which was offline for some reason, so I couldn't see what was there.

Then I searched my website and found like 6 articles they sent me (like 5 years ago!), which where interesting, worthy and on-topic, but of course, all they ended with a sort of commercial, and a link to their website. I published the articles, because they were good anyway.

These guys, in clear panic, are now asking me to take down my links (their links!) to them immediately, which I will do.

But I have my website under webmaster tools, so I thought, should I have a notice there for me too? And no, there's no alarm, no warning, at all.

Why not? Shouldn't the owner of the "spammy" website receive a notice as well?

[Str82u]

Are you sure you're the spammy website? Giving you the benefit of the doubt; They may be trying to reel in any links they put out from that company regardless of any quality links they are going to destroy by having webmasters remove them.

[lucy24]

How do you know there even is a spammy website? I reread your post twice, slowly. Did you leave out a paragraph explaining that they told you they'd got a warning from G, and/or they were disavowing your links?

Now make sure you are unnaturally polite when you write back to say that you have, at their request, removed the articles and links that they themselves originally sent you ;)