Link Removal Request Email - Page 1
Forum section: electronics / general

author: Chet T16
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: August 09, 2012, 08:23:26 am
content: This is the second email i've got about one of the spam members signed up to my site. I wonder if the original member profile was created by them and its now backfiring or did someone else set it up to harm them? If its the former then they can stuff it, if its the latter i probably won't bother doing anything eitherQuote

author: amyk
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: August 09, 2012, 08:43:39 am
content: It's probably somewhere in here that it says you don't need to pay attention to them:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Copyright_aspects_of_hyperlinking_and_framing#Linking

author: tom66
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: August 09, 2012, 09:10:27 am
content: It sounds more like a request, than a demand. I expect there is no legal recourse they may take.

author: nitro2k01
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: August 09, 2012, 09:16:33 am
content: Haha! That does indeed sound like a spammer that got their bacon fried. This gives it away:QuoteYou could reply with something like this:QuoteThe "joke" is of course that the profile is spam, and either created by that silver company and they don't have access to that account any more, or by someone else, who also won't respond.I feel strongly about spam, and on the forums I'm running or administrating, and I'm always taking various measures against spam, some homebrew, some existing, like reCaptcha (as you have on your signup page) and Akismet.But in this case, leave it for irony. I can guarantee you that you don't get into trouble for it.

author: Chet T16
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: August 09, 2012, 09:55:37 am
content: I love that reply, i'm tempted to send it out!I just found the other mail tooQuote

author: Rufus
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: August 09, 2012, 12:07:51 pm
content: Quote from: Chet T16 on August 09, 2012, 09:55:37 amThe second email explains what happens.It is really pleasing to see google recognising and penalising link spam.I think most forum administrators would recognise the link spam and delete it in the first place.Since the company paid to have link spam posted on your forum it would seem reasonable to request a small payment from them to cover the cost of removing it.Wonder what the links to their web sites in the emails you quoted are going to do for their page rank

author: SeanB
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: August 09, 2012, 12:30:13 pm
content: I would reply:Wah, Sux doesn't it that the chocolate factory has punished you for trying to game them. I cry crocodile tears and have genuine erzast angst for your feeling burned by this. Linking is allowed by convention, so I will do sweet to remove the links, unless you point them out directly, and am not going to trawl looking for your poor choices. Best regards etc Whatever........

author: tom66
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: August 09, 2012, 12:35:58 pm
content: I've never liked SEO - always seemed like some kind of black magic and no-one knew what they were doing!

author: mikeselectricstuff
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: August 09, 2012, 01:18:57 pm
content: "any editing is subject to a $20 administration charge. Please forward payment via paypal to this mail address if you wish to proceed"

author: SeanB
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: August 09, 2012, 02:23:21 pm
content: Per line................

author: Bored@Work
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: August 09, 2012, 06:10:26 pm
content: No, no, don't charge them for the removal service. That has a bit of a smell of extortion.Charge them for the advertising. That is a service you indeed provided, although involuntarily. And leave the links in place, so you can send them another bill in the future.

author: SeanB
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: August 09, 2012, 06:19:02 pm
content: Even nicer, the spam that loses the spammer income........... The ultimate White Elephant.

author: EEVblog
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: October 28, 2013, 06:19:44 am
content: I just got this email pertaining to this thread:WTF?Quote

author: Shock
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: October 28, 2013, 07:05:01 am
content: These are just social engineering emails to get you to visit their websites or reply so they can scam you or send more spam.Unless you have actual spam posts or members that need removing (which you should) ignore all emails like this. Linking them here on a forum page is just getting them more hits.

author: Psi
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: October 28, 2013, 07:17:42 am
content: lol @ thread about the email triggering another email.

author: Bored@Work
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: October 28, 2013, 09:27:29 am
content: So there was a spammer for ezatms.com. Google figured it out and reduced their page ranking. Good.Instead of writing an apology they demand their name being removed. Complete with an ominous threat. Mr. Austin didn't even manage to keep his story straight. At one time it was an employee hiring some SEO scum, now it is suddenly a competitor's fault.Seems like the number 1 rule of spammers in action: Spammers are liars.

author: dexters_lab
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: October 28, 2013, 12:04:34 pm
content: Yea, these emails seem to be automated and are likley to be phishing for something, it might even be a precusur to advance fee fraudOr as Shock says the websites in question could well be boobytrapped with malwareI would just ignore

author: BurtyB
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: October 28, 2013, 10:30:43 pm
content: Most of the time they come from site owners who employed an SEO "expert" (such asSEO Shrink) and then fall foul of Google algorithm changes and end up being penalised. I get lots of requests like this since my site has over 240 million "nofollow" links to domains people seem to think I should remove. So far I haven't removed any and when they've come with legal threats I've had no response when requesting details of which law applied (I don't think any do in the UK/EU).

author: Unknown
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: October 28, 2013, 10:45:45 pm
content: I wonder if it would be possible to automatically publish each email on a new subdomain, so it will trigger another email and throw the system in an infinite loop.

author: AlfBaz
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: October 28, 2013, 11:06:35 pm
content: Quote from: alm on October 28, 2013, 10:45:45 pmadd a bit of gain to the +ve feedback loop, each email published twice in 2 new subdomains

author: BurtyB
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: October 29, 2013, 08:37:46 am
content: I've been considering an "idiots gallery" for a while to name and shame those falling foul of the doggy tactics, although in some cases it's just their continued bad choice of SEO expert.