Stop Discussing About BlogCatalog
Ok, we had enough discussions on BlogCatalog and the PR issue. We should stop here.
Why?
Since I wrote the post BlogCatalog is not what it shows, there had been a lot of debate regarding this in my blog, other good blogs, different forums and other places. Some of them are really worthy but some are just a move to join the talk of the net.
But, in the process, knowingly or unknowingly, we are giving more mileage to Blogcatalog.
If you just look at the comments made by Daniel and Tony in different places, you will find that they are not trying to put an end to the whole debate – they are not trying to answer the issue clearly. They are just trying to gain more mileage out of the whole debate.
This needs to be stopped. Let people decide what they want.
As far as BlogCatalog is concerned, they are simply digging their own… I request all my good friends to stop talking about them, just ignore them or do not put a link to Blogcatalog in your writings.
And
To Daniel and Tony,
Please be clear about what you are offering – if you do not want to pass PR, it is OK – after all it is your business and you can do whatever you want with your site. But, internet is changing very fast. Within a few years, there will be a new rank parameter – Reputation Rank (don’t know who will implement it… if it is implementable at all), your site’s worth will be as good as your reputation.
You have all the capability to do something more worthy for the netizens – so do that. Rather than grabbing some flying bucks, try to build your reputation – that will offer you more business in future.
Now it’s all up to you…
What people had been saying on Blogcatalog: (I will update the list whenever I come across some other good post)
- BlogCatalog is not what it shows
- BlogCatalog.com scam - don’t waste your time
- Is Blogcatalog a Copycat of MyBlogLog
- Andy Beard
Forum Discussions:
- BlogCatalog - Blog Catalog Doesn’t Pass Pagerank
- BlogCatalog - Blog Catalog Doesn’t Pass Pagerank
- Blog Catalog Doesn’t Pass Pagerank (The last one from me)
Further Reading:
- Matt Cutts and Brian White on the “onclick behavior in the JavaScript“
Filed under: Uncategorized | Tagged: Blogging Tips, Link Building, Listing
If I can suggest one link to the list
sebastians-pamphlets.com
Sebastian is actually the first person to have suggested an alternative method of handling the tracking which is viable from a user perspective
There certainly isn’t proof beyond reasonable doubt because Google like to keep webmasters in doubt. Sebastian’s code is a much safer alternative.
BlogCatalog is a blogger social network and blog directory.
A primary focus of the BlogCatalog team is to continue to launch features that strengthen the community.
Each feature we launch focuses on getting bloggers to connect, communicate, learn and grow. The larger and stronger the community grows the more traffic flows to our member’s blogs.
BlogCatalog began life as a blog directory. The directory is designed to enable people to find blogs related to a specific subject. We have never marketed it as a place to pass page rank.
However since our focus is on building a strong blog community our aim is to assist bloggers in whatever way we can.
The fact that we may not be passing page rank because of our stats tracking system is something we were not aware of until now. When we purchased blogcatalog in January we removed all nofollows to blogs as we want to pass whatever benefits we can onto bloggers. It’s important to note that there is no proof that what we are doing now doesn’t pass page rank.
However, now that we know some “cleaner” linking methods we will change our link structure.
We do not market blogcatalog as a place whose primary goal is to pass page rank. While this may be a tertiary benefit to our community members we do not want to attract members who only care about PR. We want members who want to be part of a blogger community in which they can grow, learn and connect with other bloggers and in turn create strong communities on their own blogs.
Hello NoDoubts,
I would like to correct something here, that the link that should be used for correspondence is the following it was posted Sept14th and Rose Sphunn it right after which is where this debate takes place….
invision-graphics.com
As I first mentioned it — but was quickly dismissed at Sphinn.com by Andy Beard
It is the same method we use on our blog directory which is over a year old!
Shawn DesRochers
Tony this is not the first time you have heard of it, it was posted in June but you ignored the fact until others where made aware…
I so however, applaud your efforts to correct the issue, as it shows you’re willing to improve Blog Catalog for all users of your network.
Shawn DesRochers
Correction Sebastian may have mentioned it, but he was not the only one. Shawn mentioned it too on Invision Graphics. However, More Doubts here was the first to mention all this back in June and it was dismissed by both Tony and by Daniel. It was also dismissed by you Andy when Shawn and I brought it up.
Tony bull crap- It was mention to you in June and you replied to that thread where doubts here pointed it out.
(http://moredoubts.wordpress.com/2007/06/07/blogcatalog-is-not-what-it-shows/ )
Doubts I do agree with some of what you said, however I believe it is important to educate people who are being deceived by Tony and you did just that……….. We did just that………. I applaud you.
Ps: I love how BlogCatalog has passed my name around. The fact is those links were not passing PR. I did not get myself banned from Sphinn - I told Danny I was leaving and he deactivated my account.
I think that if anyone were to read both the initial post from June as well as the first half of the conversations in spinn it should be obvious that at the time there was not enough evidence to prove or disprove the the method used by blogcatalog was incorrect.
Blogcatalog has always and will always have the bloggers best interests at heart. In the end, we are only human, and we make mistakes.
We have a responsibility to our community to make decisions based upon the knowledge we have on hand. If you feel we are out of line for making a mistake then all we can do is apologize and move forward.
To quote daniel from the intial post in June it is obvious that we were interested in both passing PR and removing the nofollows.
“1. the reason we use the javascript is so that we can pass PageRank to our Bloggers. We require our bloggers to link back to us so why shouldn’t we link back to them. We made the switch to direct links in March, previously we did link directly to the tracking script.
2. We’re always open to suggestions as to alternate ways to track clicks out while still passing PR to our blogs. let us know what you had in mind. ”
As you can see, daniel admits that there were probably better options out there and asks if anyone has any suggestions… here is a difference between making a mistake and being deceitful.
No matter what the issue I think you will find that BC has always listened to ALL feedback good and bad, did its best to find the most reasonable solution at the time and make a solution that would best benifit the community.
Even now there is no definite answer as to the best solution to the problem but I can assure you that we have been discussing it vigorously and will do our best once again to cater to the community.
Rose,
Rose it would be great to have a constructive discussion with you however the fact is your agenda is to harm blogcatalog.
The bright side of your blogcatalog attacks is that you are clever enough to point out areas for us to improve.
I want to thank you for starting the Sphinn discussion. As a result of it we found a way to clean up our link structure.
Our overall purpose is to strengthen the blogcatalog community and provide as much value to blogcatalogers as we can. A small part of this is to pass google juice as long as it’s possible to do this without hampering our stats system.
Oscar ……………….Tony and Daryl were not even willing to look at it back in June.
Tony that is not my agenda and you know it. If it was our agenda why the hell would Shawn give you the code and point out what was wrong with the code? Think about it!
I have sent you numerous emails, however you sir have blocked all email from me and you were not willing to listen to me in the past. Now you have taken two of my suggestions and implemented them to improve BlogCatalog.
My arguments were never to debate with you, but to improve your services. You took it as a debate and then removed me.
You listened to a few of the members who did not like me instead of seeing that I was making suggestions to improve your site.
Here I am still pointing out mistakes. You take those mistakes and fix them yet instead of thanking me - I receive more criticism from you and a few of the blog catalog members.
You have my email address- feel free to mail me anytime if you would like to have a constructive discussion .
Guess what? I will give the advice for free!
Rose DesRochers
Rose,
So You are implying that Daniel read the original article, knew without any doubt that the links did not pass PR and then LIED when he posted what he believed to be a reasonable solution to the question?
Before the original article was even written we done as much research as possible to try and find what we believed was the best answer. You can see Daniel’s explanation of why the links were written in that manner, and you can see that he believed that it DID pass PR.
“Javascript does not pass PR. but search engines do not parse javascript nor do they know that the javascript action attached to the Anchor is a redirect. all they sees is the HREF and follow it. When they follow the link the javascript is not executed.
The reason these links pass PR is because the HREF is a direct link to the blog.
however, if we had made the link such as href=”javascript:o(’1234i-have-some-seo-doubts’)” , then we wouldnt pass PR since there would be no reference to the blog URL in question. a spider would not be able to crawl. Try turning off your browser’s javascript and clicking the link, it will still goto the blog. It’s called Unobtrusive Javascript.”
Reading through the heated discussion on SPHIN you can see that alot of people with a much deeper understanding of SEO than myself could not (and can still not) answer the same question 100% — 3 months later.
Tony and Daniel WERE willing to look back at it in JUNE and they did. All the research at that time pointed in a direction that had them believe that they were correct.
There is a reason that your emails to tony are blocked, there is a reason why you continue to be the only person to have ever been banned from blogcatalog, and there is a reason why every month you feel the need to “help” us by pointing out faults in a format/writing style that is less than objective.
I am positive that anyone reading your posts can see that your intentions for blogcatalog tend to be less about “helping” us and more of an attack on our credibility.
There is a really great reply that you posted on your blog in response to being banned from SPHINN where you say:
“it is said that there’s no such thing as bad publicity. :)”
http://rosedesrochers.todays-woman.net/2007/09/14/sphinn-dodging-arrows/#comment-31508
I think that sums up your position in all of this perfectly…
Blogcatalog on the other hand is not interested in receiving bad publicity for the sake of boosting statistics. We are genuinely concerned when we find any faults in our work because we pour our heart and souls into creating not just a website, but a community for our members.
In the end I can only thank you, because for each and every one of the faults that you find with our service, although sometimes possibly misguided, only help help us to create an even better service. I would love to see your helpful posts written in a less aggressive and more objective format in the future but I think we both know that wont be happening anytime soon.
With that, I think Mr. Doubts was correct to write this post although its slightly ironic that the comments have overflowed here as well, for that I apologize. These debates are not bringing us closer to solving the PR issue at hand and giving blogcatalog the type of “mileage” (as Mr.Doubts said) that we are not looking for.
As I have said before rose, I wish you nothing but the best but this will be the last response you will be receiving from me as we seem to only be running in circles. Feel free to respond however you would like but I find there is no use in commenting any further.
For anyone else reading, our email address, phone number and contact information are on the blogcatalog website, if you have any suggestions on a Page Rank/Tracking solution or just feel like chatting feel free to call or email anytime.
Oscar My comments with regards to there is no such thing as bad publicity was regarding someone calling me a Dumb ass on their blog. You took that out of content, but then you , Tony and Andy Beard do that a lot don’t you?
I just love how you read into it what you want and more than what is there. Instead of reading into things perhaps you should take a closer look at the things being pointed out to you.
You and Tony are making some pretty serious remarks and allegations regarding my intentions and shall I remind you that on your very discussion forum you have a link to an anti Rose blog.
This blog makes some pretty serious libel comments about me and my family and the blogger in question even went as far as to email you.
Now this is being discussed on your blog how I’m this horrible person.
Comments on your forum are bordering very close to libel.
To make the allegation that we commented on your links not passing Pagerank because we have our own blogging forum is pretty serious, pathetic and down right sad.
Can you not admit that you screwed up. You are passing the blame on to me.
I am an active member at various blog forums including Bloggerforum.com and blogger help group.
There is no agenda behind any of this and if you stop to think for a second most of the discussion took place at Sphinn.
So you keep reading into things, but the truth is that those links were not passing PR and it took 58 comments before you would listen and now instead of admitting it - you rather say that there is some motive.
Well I’m not the first person to blog about BlogCatalog or point out things.
ns4w.org
I will stop commenting on things as I’m sure someone else will point things out to you in the future.
I’ll sit back while you bury yourself.
Hello Oscar and Tony,
Sorry that I was late to join the commenting tournament.
Let me introduce myself to you –
I work hard to maintain a Forum of 89,342 registered members (as on today and I am not disclosing daily visits – hope you can imagine that number). And this forum has a blog directory attached to it too. I know very well, what it takes to maintain such a b-i-g thing.
Tony says, “However, now that we know some “cleaner” linking methods we will change our link structure.” – What took you so long? I don’t think you have any shortage of manpower or brain. Did you discover anything new? (Please share it with us)…
My initial question was far from being a PR Issue. The PR was an element of my concern. I have said many times, you can do whatever you want with your site but please be clear and open to what you are offering – this is for your own sake.
Do you claim that you would have worked on this issue unless I had pointed that out?
My only objective is to make web a better place to live… I personally do not want to have two different places offering a similar product – there is no need for that. Rather I would love to see a great combination of MBL and BC – nothing can combat a collaborative project in the internet industry.
If MBL and BC move at their own pace, than the target audience is getting divided in two places (some are common in both the places).
Can’t we think about creating a BIG community of Bloggers?
MrDoubts,
Unfortunately, we are still no closer to any truth about this whole debate. No one has proven whether our links do or do not pass PageRank. We just have a lot more speculation and interpretations now than we had 3 months ago. It was only recently that someone came forward with a reasonable and less “sneaky” solution. There have been maybe half a dozen other articles making the same javascript/pagerank claims as you, but no one ever offered a better solution and that’s just poor blogging.
We are truly under the impression that our current links do pass some page rank juice, however, there are also those who believe they don’t. Can you say without a doubt who is right? I wish i could but I still can’t.
However, someone on sphinn dug up an interesting solution using the DOM to register the click quickly and easily with a dynamic image. And while this new method still has a lot of the same blurry SEO issues that our current one has, it does come across as less “sneaky” and it never hurts to play it safe. you can read more about the solution at: smart-it-consulting.com
you may also want to include this link in your post:
sebastians-pamphlets.com
Anyhow, Sorry about all the ruckus, we really are working as fast as we can to test and roll out the new click tracking to put everyone with doubts at ease. However, we do actually have a shortage of manpower, you may not know that the BlogCatalog team is really only Tony, Oscar, and myself. And with only one programmer, our priorities tend to lean towards building community features.
Rumor has it that a third world country search engine is interested in buying BlogCatalog. Mind you, this is a rumor at this point. Chances are BlogCatalog doesn’t even know about it.
Remember, this is a rumor only. Do not go spreading vicious rumors. That’s vicious.
So did the rumor come about?
[...] Source: http://moredoubts.wordpress.com/2007/09/15/stop-discussing-about-blogcatalog/ [...]
Please add this to your listing
http://www.blogcatalog1.blogspot.com
It details the bias, bullying and harrassment of members by other members with little to support from admin.
What you left out Creative Blogger was the fact that you started more trouble in the BC threads and now you want to whine about being banned… for the 2nd time actually. They shouldn’t have given you a second chance in my opinion.
Another liar I see
It was the first time I was banned actually not 2nd.
I was banned for making a public complaint, saved the entire thread so easy to prove. I got a LOT of support from members in that same thread. BC bans anyone who criticises them as far as I can tell. I wasnt the first and won’t be the last.
for more critics of BC see here: http://www.blogcatalog1.blogspot.com
Oh and I forgot to add, next time you post a claim, prove it.
Link to the thread I caused trouble in. I saved the threads that were deleted so can prove it wasn’t me causing trouble in those. So using the remaining threads find a single ONE where I started trouble. Just ONE.
You can’t.