View Full Version : Threatened by SEO Company
thindenim
09-19-2008, 11:11 AM
Hi all,
Just looking for a bit of advice here.
I've had 2 phone calls now from an SEO Company, who I will not name at this stage. From what I can gather they are a decent size (certainly they claim to be).
I have told them each time that I am not interested in their service. I have examined the link profile of several sites they SEO and it would appear that the links come from basically a spam network of very low quality sites, all of which run from the same template and most of which do not appear to be even indexed by google.
When I advise them of this they immediately become aggresive and tell me that I know nothing about anything. They have been around for 10 years and will be here a lot longer than we ever will be, kind of a 'we could buy you out with our spare change' type attitude.
The thing that most concerns me though is that twice now they have said 'well, I'm going to add your link into our network now anyway and we'll see if it gets your site banned'. Surely this is a threat, which could potentially effect the performance of our business? To say I am angry at their business practices would be an understatement and I have already contacted trading standards for advice.
Has anyone had an experience like this before with an aggresive SEO company, or advice on how to proceed? Should I file a complaint with trading standards, or wait to see what transpires.
Obviously I am concerned that the hard work I have put in over the years using ethical, white hat SEO and building links naturally could be undone by this. There is a line of thinking that says you can't be penalised for who links to you, the worst it can do is pass no value, however, if there are suddenly 3,000 (and the rest by the looks of things) spammy links pointed at our site then it is certainly going to raise some flags somewhere and probably at best trigger a short term filter.
I am putting this in the google forum, as their entire sales pitch was based around google rankings and they obviously cold call based on searching ppc advertisers.
Any advice greatly appreciated.
Thanks,
David
crankydave
09-19-2008, 11:24 AM
Personally, I wouldn't give it a second thought. Keep working on your site and pay them no mind. It get calls all the time and simply tell them "not interested" and go about my business. I have far more important things to do.
Water always finds its own level.
Dave
I've had 2 phone calls now from an SEO Company, who I will not name at this stage. From what I can gather they are a decent size (certainly they claim to be).
Why not if you are sure? Give them your finger, and they take all of you. Power to online communities.
Hi all,
The thing that most concerns me though is that twice now they have said 'well, I'm going to add your link into our network now anyway and we'll see if it gets your site banned'. Surely this is a threat, which could potentially effect the performance of our business? To say I am angry at their business practices would be an understatement and I have already contacted trading standards for advice.
In my view that is threat that should be taken seriously. Contact the police.
Hi all,
Has anyone had an experience like this before with an aggresive SEO company, or advice on how to proceed?
Read here:
http://www.webproworld.com/internet-security-discussion-forum/68405-euro-european-city-guide-scam.html#post370559
They have got a cite: Stop The European City Guide! (http://www.stopecg.org/)
May be you should make one like that.
The European City Guide (ECG) is much worse. They have even threathened people on life.
Professional scammers try to build up credibility and when they have got their money, they will disappear. The European City Guide now send me a CD that I have not ordered.
Hi all,
Should I file a complaint with trading standards, or wait to see what transpires.
In my opinion yes.
Obviously I am concerned that the hard work I have put in over the years using ethical, white hat SEO and building links naturally could be undone by this. There is a line of thinking that says you can't be penalised for who links to you, the worst it can do is pass no value, however, if there are suddenly 3,000 (and the rest by the looks of things) spammy links pointed at our site then it is certainly going to raise some flags somewhere and probably at best trigger a short term filter.
My bolding. I have said that.
In red. If that was the case, again, wouldn't it be easy to destroy your company by making software to do that?
There are also companies that think negative ad is better than no ad. That will last as long as the potential income from negative ad is not higher than the costs.
Water always finds its own level.
Dave
And shit sinks to the bottom.
kevsta
09-19-2008, 03:32 PM
...just to add that according to Google (and several previous discussions on here) it is extremely difficult if not actually impossible to harm a site by pointing links at it.
as dave said, not another thought, there's idiots full of false threats everywhere you look.
ignore them and crack on as usual
webdesigntaxi
09-19-2008, 05:09 PM
I would ignore them, but at the same time report them to the proper authorities. Threatening is a bad sales tactic. What happened to ethical business practices and good manners?
Tech Manager
09-19-2008, 05:10 PM
While I wouldn't give it much concern, at least as it relates to your site(s), it sounds like they are engaging in illegal behavior. This type of threat could constitute, at the very least, blackmail. Blackmail across state lines could be investigated by the FBI. Record the calls and take steps with law enforcement.
blogdawg1
09-19-2008, 05:14 PM
I agree with cranky, just let it go. They will go away. But I must say it is hard to fathom why any company would say the things they said. That employee won't be there long.
webdesigntaxi
09-19-2008, 05:14 PM
Tech Manager, it looks like he is from Scotland so the FBI wouldn't be able to do anything, unless the harassing company is from the U.S.
Serrbiz
09-19-2008, 05:18 PM
Report them to the BBB and local authorities. Also, you might look into the Cyber Crimes laws in your state and theirs. I'm also a big fan of gripe sites, such as Ripoff Report: By Consumers, For Consumers (http://www.ripoffreport.com/).
a53mp
09-19-2008, 05:32 PM
Post the company name/website..
otherwise this is useless.
Big Juice
09-19-2008, 05:37 PM
Threats... the last act of a desperate man.
Report them to whom? Odds are pretty fair that anybody you report them to would be about as successful as a 90 year old man at high school dance.
The people you have to worry about are the ones who say nothing prior to exacting revenge.
GP200
09-19-2008, 05:47 PM
Hi Thin,
I would too ignore the timewasters it is probably just one gobshite on the phone.
But if he said stuff like this to you he said it to others so out them next time you get a spare 30mins setting up a blog on blogger or similar and covering your arse as you go.
Others will reply if its common practice.
Reporting them in the UK to Trading Standards was a wise move, at least you have dated your complaint/their threats and Trading Standards people generally get the web.
I've had to expalin how PayPal works to "Detectives" here in the UK sent to investigate online fraud.
If all that seems too much work (and it does to me) I'd take CD's advice.
(on edit: I would be interested to know if they are based in Manchester though or currently advertise on a national radio station)
Dinghus
09-19-2008, 05:48 PM
I wouldn't worry too much about the spammy links. If Google has already figured out the sites then they are not even looking at them.
BUT I would put the company name out there for all to see and tell them you are doing so.
ExtravagantMedia
09-19-2008, 06:05 PM
Grab all of the emails that they sent you along with the links and urls of their page rank inflating scheme and email all of the evidence to abuse@google.com and Matt Cutts. www.mattcutts.com (http://www.mattcutts.com)
Let us know what the name of the SEO scam firm is. We're a curious bunch over here at WebProWorld forums.
You could file an injunction against them to prevent them from linking to you if you believe that they are out to damage your reputation as well. It only costs $50 to file a lawsuit.
jdyndale
09-19-2008, 06:13 PM
Ok, so putting aside the completely a**hole attitude, and apparent lack of competence, this company showed the deal is this:
"We'd like you to buy SEO services from us. No? Well, if you're gonna be so foolish we'll just go ahead and give you our services anyway. For free."
Anyone else have trouble with this logic? Was the sales person really that stupid?
KateCB
09-19-2008, 06:35 PM
I think that the name of the company should be disclosed.....it would save us all from time wasting when they call us!
You are not doing anything wrong actually informing people of the company name;you are simply telling people that you had 'this' experience with this' company, which is fact.....we may have had the same experience, but although I think I would agree that ignoring them is probably the best course of action, it would be, I think only fair and helpful to your fellow members of this forum to let us know who this company is so that we can be prepared - forewarned is forearmed as they say!
Kate
karate-kid.co.uk
cbosleeds
09-19-2008, 06:54 PM
One more suggestion. If you have any emails from them then you can grab the IP address that their business broadband service is coming from out of the email header. You can block that IP address from being able to see your website. that one often gives people the jitters as it let's them suspect that you know where to find them - at very least it means that they can't even see your website anymore from within their workplace - this will make it at least slightly more awkward for them to attack your website in any way. I used this one on a guy who was sending abusive emails to our company from a webmail address but on a work's computer - he thought he was anonymous, but the IP let me track down the business name and location and block them from seeing our website.
If it gets more serious, look up the Director's name on Whois or Companies House and writer a letter. Say you'll go to the Guardian, the Financial Times, Google, Radio 4's Money Box, Trading Standards and anyone else you can think of. These are much more effective means of bringing about adverse publicity, and you hit them with this and any sensible company will back down very quickly.
Seriously though I wouldn't worry about these guys - if you're an SEO company that relies so desperately on telephone sales for new business then there's obviously something wrong for a start - trying to sell through threats is just obscene, not even a blackhat would do that - we all build up our reputations and that reputation is a selling point. If they are prepared to destroy their own business image with one phone call, then marketing of any sort is really not their forte.
microtekblue
09-19-2008, 07:32 PM
Just relax.
No SEO company has the time to start creating back links for you, for no reason.
And if you can identify their spam sites. complain about them to google.
rickvidallon
09-19-2008, 07:37 PM
If they post your link w/o your permission and continue with threats then join the Google webmaster forum and report them their. Mention their name and URL.. pull no punches. Google employees monitor their forums. :rolleyes:
deepsand
09-19-2008, 08:33 PM
If they post your link w/o your permission ...
Permission is not needed in order to link to another on-line resource.
MajorTom
09-19-2008, 09:29 PM
Post the company name/website..
otherwise this is useless.
I was thinking the same thing. No sense wasting my time on this. Basicly, if they harm your business, slap them with a lawsuit especially if they have money.
Niche
09-20-2008, 02:35 AM
If the above story is true then the company needs to be reported to bbbonline
Also post their email here so people can advise :rolleyes:
This is a company that people should not be in business with
cbosleeds
09-20-2008, 02:37 AM
Just relax.
No SEO company has the time to start creating back links for you, for no reason.
And if you can identify their spam sites. complain about them to google.
With one database/cms on one webserver and a few hundred websites on other webservers pulling info from it, then it takes about 2 mins to add in 100s of links - nasty link farming practice, but if that's what these guys are doing then it really wouldn't take any time at all unfortunately. I'm not saying that this is at all likely to happen btw.
microtekblue
09-20-2008, 04:52 AM
You seem to know some about spam link building...care to share your secrets ? :p
davidweb
09-20-2008, 05:59 AM
1) The effect of bad links is completely nullified by Google. Therefore they have entered the "DOES NOT EXIST" list of Google. They will neither pass any positive or negative energy to any of the sites promoted
2) Search engines are hunting for those websites which purchase links on high ranking websites ( They have already nullified bad link networks,link exchanges etc). The thing is working in the reverse mode and not in the manner in which this SEO company is explaining.
If they would have said that they have around 1000 high PR directories, and all of a sudden they will include your link, then it "could" put your website into SANDBOX for that particular keyword (No fixed rules here, just an assumption).
In your case Google wont give a damn about the links whether they exist or not. However it could be possible that you might gain some benefit on Yahoo/MSN, because yahoo/msn still give weightage to the "Number of Links" pointing back to your url.
Since their network links are poor quality and havent been crawled by Google, it will have almost no impact. If it was possible this way, then almost each and every competitor of some SEO company would have got penalised.
If things like these are possible then spammers would have have penalised Google on Google.com :)
thindenim
09-20-2008, 06:26 AM
Thanks for the quick feedback all.
The reason I am unsure whether to give out their web site address, is simply I don't want to potentially harm (indirectly) other businesses who are using their services. For example, there is a web site that they have used on both occassions to brag about how good they are. The site does indeed rank highly for a very competitive keyword. If I was to point you at the sites link profile on yahoo though then I'm sure it would quickly get some spam reports filed and be banned (or demoted) quicker than you can say "Hello Matt Cutts, look at me". In fact, it amazes me that none of their competitors have done anything about it already.
Funnily enough though, I looked at some of the other sites that were linked from the same sites as this site and they don't seem to be ranking for their keywords. Like I kept saying to the woman on the phone, just because you get away with something today, doesn't mean you will tomorrow.
Like cbosleeds says, the whole thing will running off a big database, so they could probably add thousands of links in seconds. lol, and they say it's not spam! Incidentally, they also kept saying "google is not as clever as you think it is" and "you've been reading too many forums" :-p
If it escalates and they do add the links, I think yes, the media route would be a good way to go. Also, the thing they forget is that, as I know which sites they are using for the links I basically have a full list of their clients. Wouldn't take much for the whole house of cards (and their £2 Million profit she kept going on about) to come tumbling down.
I think I may make a call and ask to speak to their Managing Director, see what they have to say about this.
When I advise them of this they immediately become aggresive and tell me that I know nothing about anything. They have been around for 10 years and will be here a lot longer than we ever will be, kind of a 'we could buy you out with our spare change' type attitude.
My bolding. So they are no newcomers.
The thing that most concerns me though is that twice now they have said 'well, I'm going to add your link into our network now anyway and we'll see if it gets your site banned'. Surely this is a threat, which could potentially effect the performance of our business? To say I am angry at their business practices would be an understatement and I have already contacted trading standards for advice.
You can stand by those words in read?
The reason I am unsure whether to give out their web site address, is simply I don't want to potentially harm (indirectly) other businesses who are using their services.
Do you think it can be of interest to some of their clients knowing how they operate?
cbosleeds
09-20-2008, 07:10 AM
You seem to know some about spam link building...care to share your secrets ? :p
LOL - I'm afraid not, just an educated guess, based mostly on the fact that we have some web design customers with db driven websites where we host the db for them and that is used to populate some of there web site content (not links I might add). I try to be not even 'off-white' in my link building practices if I can help it - I might come up with a few cheeky link building strategies now and again, but nothing as mechanistic and scurrilous as that. But hell, it doesn't take a genius to be black hat - you just have to put up with the risk that, as thindemin mentioned, your entire house of cards might come crumbling down and your entire customer base go tits up especially when you put all your eggs in one link farm. I'm too risk averse for that sort of thing.
Ok, so putting aside the completely a**hole attitude, and apparent lack of competence, this company showed the deal is this:
"We'd like you to buy SEO services from us. No? Well, if you're gonna be so foolish we'll just go ahead and give you our services anyway. For free."
Anyone else have trouble with this logic? Was the sales person really that stupid?
Some questions / remarks:
What has the link in your signature to do with web design? Note that this forum claims to be a forum for eBusiness professionals.
Your signature link has an id that indicates that it is an affiliate link. I would personally not recommend that online virus scanner. This Trend Micro HouseCall - Free Online Virus and Spyware Scan - Trend Micro Europe, Middle East and Africa (http://housecall.trendmicro.com/emea/) is definitely better among the many free online scanners. That is my opinion.
The link in your profile is broken.
freetutes
09-20-2008, 08:23 AM
I would like you to shout out what SEO company it is. So people like us would be careful when choosing an SEO company.
I am collecting links and if the site is in my link collection it may be deleted. So I am definitely interested in knowing the site.
jglogau
09-20-2008, 12:14 PM
Matt Cutts has said a number of time at SES, SMX, etc. that this "reverse" SEO stuff can't really work. Sounds like a disgruntled salesperson being silly, just ignore it.
deepsand
09-20-2008, 03:10 PM
Some questions / remarks:
What has the link in your signature to do with web design? Note that this forum claims to be a forum for eBusiness professionals.
Your signature link has an id that indicates that it is an affiliate link. I would personally not recommend that online virus scanner. This Trend Micro HouseCall - Free Online Virus and Spyware Scan - Trend Micro Europe, Middle East and Africa (http://housecall.trendmicro.com/emea/) is definitely better among the many free online scanners. That is my opinion.
The link in your profile is broken.
jdyndale's link is to a drive-by downloader, and should be avoided at all cost. I've run into this particular "scanner" on multiple occasions before, and have neither a reason to trust it nor the inclination to toy with it to see if it's legitimate or not.
TechEvangelist
09-20-2008, 03:15 PM
I don't think they can do you any harm. Even if they could, I don't think they would waste the time trying.
The next time they call, just tell them that you are recording the conversation and plan to report them. Then just say, "Now what would you like to talk about?"
There was a domain registrar scammer that used to call the UK office for the company I used to work for. They repeatedly tried to get them to register company-related domain names for about 150 pounds each under the guise of trying to help them protect their trademarked name. They claimed that they had inside information that one of the company's' competitors was trying to register the names and they were "just trying to help us". At one point, they even sent invoices for registrations that we never applied for. I advised the people in the office to use the recorded message trick. The next time the company called was the last time they called.
tenkiya
09-20-2008, 06:31 PM
Name and shame is the only way to deal with such scum.
hostchecker
09-21-2008, 12:56 AM
Forward the letter to the FBI
http://www.hostchecker.info/aiwi.jpg
deepsand
09-21-2008, 03:40 PM
Once more we see how many fail to take the time to read.
The OP made no mention of any contact other than by telephone. Why, then, the various mentions of mail or e-mail?
One need not labor much to read "I've had 2 phone calls ... "
thindenim
09-21-2008, 04:31 PM
Yes, to clarify all contact has been by telephone.
copywriter39
09-21-2008, 08:49 PM
They can't hurt you with link building, but they could start using social web sites to harm your companies reputation. I would definitely keep track of all correspondence. And if you haven't already set up google alerts to see where your site is being listed.
Peter (IMC)
09-22-2008, 01:59 AM
Just ignore them!!!
What do you care anyway? Like said in the first reply on your post, just focus on your own business.
The less attention you give them, the less they'll be interested in bothering you. A simple "I'm not interested" followed by hanging up the phone will likely make it end. Why would they care anyway about you? Not saying you´re not important, but I don't see why a company would waste it's time and money on somebody that's not responding. (unless there's more going on than you´re telling of course.)
You´re in controll of how this escalates. If you keep interacting with them, it will probably escalate.
Peter
09-22-2008, 04:37 AM
I have often had the misfortune to be called by the "too good to be true" salesman. You will problably find its someone who is either new at company, or has failed to reach end of month targets. These type of sales reps should be fired.
Often these reps do not represent the views of the entire company or follow the company lines.
So get the persons name and number, and send in a complaint posted letter (recorded) to the company stating the facts and asking to be removed from thier contact lists. This will highlight to the company concerned that they may have a rogue employee.
If you can prove communication is all one way, and they continue their practices, if anything should happen then you have a proven written record of non co-operation from the other business, which will then put you in a good posistion.
However the advice given very early in thread is, ignore them. But I do wish you would name them so everyone knows to be wary.
sofomor
09-22-2008, 04:40 AM
Clear harassment, take note of that. You definitely don't want this to happen to anybody else. It would be better if you talk to them, get their complete info (the person calling you as well) and REPORT!!
he thing that most concerns me though is that twice now they have said 'well, I'm going to add your link into our network now anyway and we'll see if it gets your site banned'.
Impossible, as an SEO yourself you must be knowing that getting banned is only possible if YOU link, not THEY link. If it was true then no competitor would ever exist!!
Thank you
ShaunParkerHP
09-22-2008, 05:10 AM
I would not worry,
put together a profile of their bad practice and quietly get it into Google as a spam link report.
then quietly go about your business, if they place a ton of links to you it wont hurt so long as you are not linking back.
The worst that will happen is Google will ignore any benefit the links could present.
deepsand
09-22-2008, 01:04 PM
To all who advise to file a "spam" report with Google, note that this is not an issue regarding spam; rather, it is one of harassment.
There is no evidence that the company in question is actually engaging in any activities which might be frowned on by Google or any other SE, only the specific threat of employing such against the OP in particular.
Google is not a babysitter charged with making sure that all of the kids play nice with each other. They have neither the authority nor the desire to intervene here.
incrediblehelp
09-22-2008, 02:12 PM
Report them to whom? Odds are pretty fair that anybody you report them to would be about as successful as a 90 year old man at high school dance.
LOL, nice one.
Jaan, note his complete post.
Threats... the last act of a desperate man.
Report them to whom? Odds are pretty fair that anybody you report them to would be about as successful as a 90 year old man at high school dance.
The people you have to worry about are the ones who say nothing prior to exacting revenge.
"The people you have to worry about are the ones who say nothing prior to exacting revenge."
Revenge for what (in this case)?
RichAtVNS
09-22-2008, 07:23 PM
The two telling things in all this are
1) The person who called orignally to tell you they did 2 Mill in profit last year did not say what the ROI for there customers were.
2) You all put to much weight on online advertising, I know your all SEO experts (and I am certainly not). But I have found all my biggest sales (6 and 7 digit ones) initial contacts did not come from online. They came from offline networking or trade shows.
So the next time one of these people call up simply say I'm sorry I'm very busy right now could you call back in 3 to 4 weeks. 95% won't and the ones that do you can do the same thing with again.
If your anything like me ... Don't waste your time on the phone conversing with them your time is to valuable for them, you will never convince the telemarketer...
;-)
lcoughey
09-23-2008, 08:55 AM
I enjoy getting calls from SEO companies that promise a front page listing. When I ask if they are sure they can do it, they show me examples of their success. (usually for keywords that nobody would ever use.)
I really had fun with one company that didn't even come up when I searched for SEO and variations. They told me that I had to search for "ethical seo", like anyone in this world would search for that.
My next move is to let the SEO company know that I work based on being successful at fulfilling my promise. That is, in the world of data recovery (http://www.recoveryforce.com), we only get paid when we successfully get the client's data back at the agreed price quote. So, I ask the sales rep to tell me how much it will cost me when they achieve my first page ranking. They come back with a reply that they can't do it that way, as they really can't promise anything and need to be paid for the work that they do.
In my mind, if I'm paying someone to fulfill their promise of getting me a front page listing in a specific amount of time, then I shouldn't have to pay if they can't keep that promise. Usually, by this time, they decide that their time is being wasted and that they may do better to find an easier sale.
emeraldisle
09-25-2008, 09:55 PM
You could try reporting them to the FCC, FTC and the Better Business Bureau. Even if the agencies don't take action, it would go on their record. If any of these threats were by email, then include that documentation.
emeraldisle
09-25-2008, 10:07 PM
The two telling things in all this are
1) The person who called orignally to tell you they did 2 Mill in profit last year did not say what the ROI for there customers were.
2) You all put to much weight on online advertising, I know your all SEO experts (and I am certainly not). But I have found all my biggest sales (6 and 7 digit ones) initial contacts did not come from online. They came from offline networking or trade shows.
So the next time one of these people call up simply say I'm sorry I'm very busy right now could you call back in 3 to 4 weeks. 95% won't and the ones that do you can do the same thing with again.
If your anything like me ... Don't waste your time on the phone conversing with them your time is to valuable for them, you will never convince the telemarketer...
;-)
I am a marketing manager, and what works fantastic for one type of business can be a total flop for another. Yellow pages, for example, is a star performer for catering services, direct markeing useless. For graphic design services, Yellow pages is a flop and direct marketing is the way to go. Each company has to find the right marketing mix for its specific offering. For some companies the web will be highly important, less important for others.
dharrison
10-02-2008, 02:13 AM
Hi thindenim
So I also sound the "Name and Shame" bell because this sounds like the outfit that I got a call from on a clients site a few years back.
Although they were a web design company, I wonder if they now flatter themselves as SEO's as well (as everyone now knows they can't design websites either). It does sound similar.
JenKumar
10-02-2008, 11:38 AM
I would ignore them, but at the same time report them to the Google, Yahoo and Windows Live in detail complaint email
nickyoung
10-02-2008, 12:04 PM
Time is flyin', hangup and smile.
A Phoenix SEO
10-05-2008, 10:07 PM
Personally, I wouldn't give it a second thought. Keep working on your site and pay them no mind. It get calls all the time and simply tell them "not interested" and go about my business. I have far more important things to do.
Water always finds its own level.
Dave
I would agree... We have encountered a few wacko's along the way... We have found it is best not to engage these people and move on.
I get these calls and emails and we are an SEO provider... Go figure!
full house
10-07-2008, 01:40 AM
where does the company based? In my opinion. . .just ignore them, don't be threatened.
I would ignore them, but at the same time report them to the Google, Yahoo and Windows Live in detail complaint email
I concur!
deepsand
10-08-2008, 03:38 PM
To repeat, report what? Egregious sales tactics?
The SEs don't give a rat's ass about such, as that's not their's to police.
RosieD
10-09-2008, 02:20 AM
I read the first twenty replies but then gave up-this is long! Just wanted to add that the way I understand it, Google realises that you cannot help who links back to your site. So if the links back are crappy or spammy, you don't get penalised for it.
full house
10-13-2008, 02:50 AM
what does this thing all about? is it about SEO company or google impact to your site? I'm really confuse.
jdyndale's link is to a drive-by downloader, and should be avoided at all cost. I've run into this particular "scanner" on multiple occasions before, and have neither a reason to trust it nor the inclination to toy with it to see if it's legitimate or not.
Yes a small? Norwegian criminal that immediately edited / removed his signature link.
deepsand
10-31-2008, 08:46 PM
Yes a small? Norwegian criminal that immediately edited / removed his signature link.
Or, it may be that WPW management quickly responded to my having reported said link.
The more troubling aspect is that such links are rapidly proliferating, and that Google is actually indexing them, as evidenced by Google Alerts.