The internet is a weird and wonderful place.
This evening let’s look at the “weird” and possibly even “bizarre”.
As regulars readers probably know, I run several websites apart from my day job (I really should put “day” in inverted commas, as it’s never really been 9 to 5), including IWF, which is a discussion forum for Irish internet professionals.
Users of the forum discuss topics that they’re interested in and, naturally, link to websites they’ve come across.
(Last time I checked there weren’t any laws against linking to websites, but maybe I was mistaken… I’m just not so sure anymore.)
Maybe I don’t know anything about how the internet works, or anything about internet marketing or SEO, but I heard this rumour, now it was just a rumour, that links to websites were quite important. Maybe I just misheard it.
In any case I received an email earlier this evening from the owner of a website that someone had linked to demanding that the link be removed as it was against their linking policy and breached their copyright terms (I’m not linking to them directly, as that would be against their rules)
Am I alone in thinking that this is decidedly odd for a company that sells online marketing and SEO services?
UPDATE: The link I provided earlier was redirected to another person’s website, so I have removed it.
Loving the fact that they offer online marketing as a service. How clueless are they?
Hello Michelle,
The comments were derogatory therefore I requested, not demaned the removal. SEO is one thing but derogatory comments is another and affects me personally and financially so do check as this is most definite against the law as is the prank phone calls I have received from your colleague Dave Davis.
If you persist in this then I will start legal proceedings.
I did not ask for any critique on my website 9as you put it for another category on the forum)therefore you state to not put forward a website for “critique” then in this vane do not allow anyone else to put forward my website for critique either
Suzanne,
I do not wish to use Michele’s blog as a forum for this, but making accusations that I have been “prank” phone calling you is absurd.
Michele passed me on your mail and I can tell you here and now, I would never use O2, let alone waste my time calling your husband. I bet whoever made the call is having a great laugh.
I would love to join them winding you up but I am afraid how far your wild accusations will go. I suggest you call O2 and report that number to report abuse. However, judging by your complete willingness to ignore facts and jump the gun, that was probably a real customer.
Best of luck.
Hi dave,
If you say you didn’t phone then thats fine but I have the mobile number and I phoned back.
I asked for Dave and was told that this was a colleague of Daves who was in the same business of SEO. The original prank phone call was from this number and claioming to be a photographer.
I wish for this to stop and therefore I have at all times requested that all references to me or my business stop. I never demanded.
I never submitted my website to any of the forums but do follow them closely and I am disgusted by the way I am being treated.
Suzanne,
Please go ahead and take action against WHOEVER owns that number. I assure you that I neither own it, nor do I have any association with the person who does.
Suzanne,
If you’re confident about your business and it’s website why not defend it? Or if not, then why not take this as a great opportunity to get constructive feedback and improve the service you provide?
I’m sure any business owner will agree that spending this time improving your service or listening to feedback rather than firefighting criticisms would be time much better spent. Your customers (both present and potential) would prefer it too.
Then you can remove that silly policy as all links to your site would be from great reviews 😉
Just my two cents.
Peter
Hello all.
This nonsense will have to stop and I aggree with Dave here on using this forum to have a go at each other is petty and childish.
I received a phone call from a mobile to my landline that gives the number of the dcaller through the caller ID. The prankster didn’t realise this which would suuggest a person of low inteligence so I would not say that the person is Dave.
Howevr the person decided to call due to the posting on the forum and got the number off the website this is fine except taht the request was made to remove the links to the website as it was not placed there for “critique” etc.
End of story.
Bye.
-Liam
Suzanne,
I have no affiliation with the forum, with Michele (other than being a blacknight customer) or even know Mr Dawes above but I do wish to try and help you with something.
Your website needs work. There are a number of spelling and grammatical mistakes, the copy on certain pages and the links to different websites and websites are both bad practise and a complete turn-off. For a company advertising “end user appreciation” as a philosophy, the perception of your website leaves something to be desired.
I appreciate how difficult it can be to run a business and look after everything that’s necessary, I understand that your own site is probably no reflection on the sites you produce but look at this, as Peter says, as an opportunity to learn and to *prove* how good you are by taking the feedback and constructive criticism you gain and making changes.
A reputation for bad work is going to affect you far worse financially than an inclusion on a forum. The more you complain about this without doing anything to sort things out, the worse it’s going to be.
You may choose to write me off as “just” another commenter here, but I have ten year’s proven experience in website editing, copywriting and how your potential customers will perceive you based on your site, so maybe have a think about it. You’ll benefit in the long run.
Good luck whatever you decide.
Hi Michele,
I posted about this site in IWF but unforutantely Suzanne’s company have forwarded the link you had to their site to eScape Software’s page? That’s odd! Are they embarrassed?
Thats a bit silly.
In fact, you’re all a bit silly.
Suzanne, I’m no solicitor, but I love calling B.S on people like you; people who claim to know all about the law that they know very little if anything about. There is no law against linking to websites, except in cases where the intended outcome is for the use of spam (unsolicited communication) or indeed acting under false pretences in a bid to imitate another landmark property, or in a bid to commit fraud.
Your page redirect comes under the category of acting under false pretences. Don’t go getting funky with the law when you don’t know what it is. The only category of law that any of your claims come under is harrassment – a form of abuse that you initiated and have been just as, if not more involved in than everyone else.
I don’t know who you are, but the impression I get is that you may be another “web guru” milking whatever’s left of the celtic tiger.
You’re email threatening that having something like that(a link to a website) was against the law has to be one of the silliest things I’ve ever heard on the internet.
It’s obvious you didn’t consult a solicitor about this, or any other equivalent expert – otherwise they would have told you there’s no money to be had out of suing internet forum owners because a user *linked* to their site.
Look on the bright side Suzanne, your page got a few extra backlinks at least. But now with the redirects, Dave’s site is going to get all the Google glory. Pitty really. Your website looked so beautiful.
If you’re hiring a solicitor, let me know. I’ll be a witness especially on the part of Section 4 of the Criminal Justice Act which refers committing the criminal offence of linking to a website.
I’ve always wanted to know what the inside of a court looks like. Now could be my chance.
Isn’t Suzanne defaming Dave by incorrectly suggesting that he makes prank calls?
To be perfectly honest, getting on the wrong side of the market leaders will never serve your well Suzanne.
Getting on the wrong side of an industry based around PR, communication and tangible products (such as good design, code and SEO) will certainly leave you looking like the fool.
Anyone can link to anything, providing it is not done in a manner which would mislead THE USER. It would probably help your reputation to link to Irish Webmaster Forum.
In a previous group I worked for, we got slatted for one job we we’re doing on an infamous, and yet, professional design forum. We listened, anonymously, without commenting, to those comments, and within a few weeks of making changes, our clients website performed far better, and comments on that forum turned in our favour.
Another tip is, when online, never write defaming things , they stay in server records, backups, even in the wayback machine. Technically you have legally committed a crime by talking about Dave in that manner, I would hope your clients are aware of THAT.
Best of luck in business, I hope you are actually what you say you can do, because by the sounds of it, you have had too many A+’s in university and not enough hands on experience.
Regards,
Bb
Interesting story and cautionary tale of how NOT to tackle a situation! Good God, I just looked at the site and it’s portfolio…
I suppose some individuals have some nerve pawning themselves as a proper design company. Their work is terrible. If they put ha;f the time into learning the trade as they did in throwing rocks around, they might reach average.