What do you do when you find a site gaming the system

I can't stand a site that games the system.

[bwnbwn]

It pisses me off to no end when I get a link request from a site that looks ok but after some looking see they are blocking them through one means or another to get one way links.
i use to just delete the request but now I have taken a new approach when discovered and it works.
Below is an example of my email I sent this morning. Hey I know it isn't polite but I really don't care because it they get message loud and clear.

This is an example from today.

http://www.example.com/robots.txt

Clay what does your company think we are fools here. I am going to tell ya this you keep blocking the pages in robots.txt

User-agent: *

Disallow: /Truck-Driver-Links

Get rid of this or I promise to go over all your linking partners and send them an email telling them your blocking their links in your robots.txt file. Then lets see what your ranking do in Google when all your links go away.


This is your only warning delete it or suffer the fate of being a dirty underhanded cheap site. I have no problem going over all your links and sending this email to all of them at one time. Been doing this for 10 years and it pisses me off to no end the way cheap sites such as yours try to game the system.


I have cc'd a couple of your linking partners in this email just to show you I will follow through with what I say. You had better be glad I am letting you know because I could just do it and kill all your rankings so delete the robots file.

I do this if they are doing a redirect 302 and so on. I will follow up on my threat as well but as the one from today I go back and guess what the robots.txt file has been changed.

[deejay]

While I agree completely with your indignation at their actions... if you really wanna know what I think...

It makes you look like an ass.

There, I said it.

Not that I think you care what the infringing party's opinion of you is, and neither would I, but you're looking like as much of an ass to those linking partners you are cc-ing in.

You ever see that Will Smith movie, Hancock? Same guy doing the same good deeds one end of the movie to the other, with vastly different public perception. It's all in the delivery, baby.

[martinibuster]

Virtually ever link request I have received for at least the last six years has been useless trash. If I put a rule on my inbox to permanently delete any email with typical link request subject lines, I am confident I will not miss reading them.

Is it possible that we have reached the end of blind reciprocal link requests and it's time the industry stopped sending them?

[Demaestro]

I often feel the same rage as you brn, but I have come to accept that you can either spend your time worrying about what others do or you can spend your time worrying about what you do.

I have found a lot more peace in my mind since I stopped carrying so much about what others do.

You could spend the next 20 years sending off these emails and it wouldn't make anything any better and the only thing you will have to show for it is gray hair and high blood pressure.

There is solace in being on the high road. I know it will irk you, but you have to move on or you will go crazy. I speak from xp.

[bwnbwn]

It's all in the delivery, baby.

Maybe I am being an ass but as you said in the quote it gets the mesage across and an old saying from "Gone With the Wind" Rhett Butler: Frankly, my dear, I don't give a damn."
Just how I feel.

Actually Demaestro this is a rather new site in our nitch and I have seen it popping in the serps lately so this is not something I do for each and every link request I get just those that are moving into our nitches. Leveling the playing field is what I am really trying to do.

[JerryOdom]

Hey if it helps you blow off stress bwnbwn then go for it and make'em pay. Personally I don't even read link requests so I've never even investigated enough to know that tactic.

martinibuster I think the professional industry in general has stopped already don't you? I think it's about time we actively promoted that link exchanges with strangers is a bad idea. Only through this will non-professionals get the idea about link exchanges with strangers. If you work/communicate with another site owner enough to feel like you're not getting abused then maybe consider it otherwise no thanks.

[bwnbwn]

martinibuster in some of the nitches I am involved it is still an option that I need to keep working. I am sure there are areas of the net were link exchanges are a gone, but others it will continue to work. I can't tell you the last time I sent an email out requesting a link but I do visit sites that send me a request just to see what is coming.

JerryOdom why I like to attend Pubcon to meet as many other webmasters I can and build a trust factor inot our relationship were we both feel secure in our dealings.

[Propools]

What? There's a

"Trust Factor"

Great. Now, I've got to re-work all of my logic in dealing with people. :(

[martinibuster]

I am fine with doing a reciprocal link with someone, it's something I do now and then. But I do not ever do it as a result of an email I receive that is usually from an SEO company, never.

Getting back to topic, I have never seen an honest link exchange email. I can't ever recall ever receiving one that was honest or worth pursuing. I have seen plenty that are gaming the system but I don't do anything because they will never get anywhere so I have nothing to fear. They have never gained on me, ever, so it's not worth the effort to concern myself with them.

[bwnbwn]

martinibuster just the opposite I have gotten many really good request from some good sites that I am linking with today. Now granted in one site in the legal field I have never ever gotten a request from that nitch that was worth a hoot. I can see were some nitches are really horrible with bogus request.

[wheel]

You have time for this?

Total up all the time you spent on this, and that's one extra fishing trip a year you could be taking.

[ron15]

The problem I see with getting confrontational with that site is that you might start a war. Run into the wrong site admin and you might find that they start looking at your sites and doing things you might prefer not happen. Sometimes its best to move on.

[anallawalla]

Yes, I'm with ron15. Someone out there is better at revenge than you, so threatening the cheat is not always risk-free.

I wish I had time to carry out such threats, for it sounds satisfying, but I too have settled for spending time on my own sites. Truth be told, I don't worry about my own ranking as much as I should. If it levels your playing field, then I'm in support.

I am collecting for a rainy day emails from link outsourcers (3 so far) in SE Asia who attach spreadsheets of their entire portfolio of link sites as evidence of their might. At best this gives me data to observe the performance of their clients in various industries.