fatinfo.com

Deleting all the free submissions when turning into a paid directory is a NO NO.

Recently a DigitalPoint Forum member did just that and got blasted by the community. Many believe it was an unethical move by the directory owner because if the submitters had known that this was going to happen to their listing, then they might not have wasted the time on the submission or provided a reciprocal link back to the site. Anyways, the discussion thread could have gone on for days without end but a moderator locked it up.

Clearing a database when turning into a paid for inclusion directory is not the same as deleting affiliates and MFA sites because a lot of the content that works as search engine food is now gone, pretty much making the empty directory worthless. The same concept applies as if I was to clear this whole blog then it will become worthless.

Update 08/15/2006: Another directory commits a faux pas. Iwebtools is a notable directory that recently did the unethical thing of bait and switch. Their previous offer: “Total Cost: Only $5.00 USD for a Lifetime Listing” signed up a lot of webmasters to purchase listings on the PR5 directory. Some bought as many as 20 “permanent lifetime listings”, only to find out through email that to keep their listing on Iwebtools would require an annual renewal fee. This is a very unethical thing to do for a few extra bucks. Everyone is pretty sure the Iwebtools directory would have gotten less support from the directory owners community if this was an annual listing sold as a lifetime offer. To those who are seeking to be listed in iWebtools, buyer beware.

Facing a major backlash from the forum community and existing customers, the owner of iWebtool issued a formal apology after much soul searching. This whole issue could have been easily avoided if their true purpose of raising prices was to combat directory spammers (but I doubt it). When someone is paying for a permanent listing, and upon review that it is an outright duplicate affiliate site, or poorly designed MFA site with no original content - how can you still take the small fee and look the other way? Delete the spam right there and then, and refund the listing fees thus avoiding to deal with the whole fiasco. Chances are that the directory have over hundreds of spam sites that paid for a permanent listing.

iWebtool fiasco continues. Instead of promising to keep the permanent listing as stated from their 2nd email, iWebtool implemented an expires field to the listing. I would have to say that nothing was accomplished through complaints in the forums because the bottomline is that money talks. Goodbye ethics, and hello money. Best of luck to all those who continue to list with iWebtools, and those who have delisted by choice. When you think a permanent link for $5 is too good to be true, you had better run because there’s never a free lunch in this world except getting listed in FatInfo directory.

Update 08/20/2006: Directory Ngey deleted all regular listings in their switch to a paid directory. I am just going to repeat what I stated in the discussion forums on such behavior by the directory owners. It sucks that quality submissions are deleted in the process. Now that Ngey have a lot of empty categories, Google may tag them for duplicate content. I still find it shocking that the Ngey directory complained about spam, even though they had no spam filters turned on in the submissions page. Use captcha you fool. As a compromise of wiping out 3000 listings, they will accept 100 listings from the DigitalPoint forums community. Not a lot of stuff worth noting, but if this site is currently getting a free link from your directory - go ahead and delete them as they have already deleted the listings you submitted to their site.