Industry leader commit website suicide



  • The homepages of the biggest online poker room in the world, PokerStars (pokerstars.com & pokerstars.net), disappered off the face of Google earlier this week. The poker blogosphere was ablaze with suggestion as to the cause. Some suggest it was caused by Google penalizing the website for some violation of its rules, such as pay links. Some even go so far as to suggest it was caused by some new crackdown of online poker by the government.

     The truth were none of that, though equally exciting. It turns out some enterprising employee had decided to add "noindex, nofollow" tag to its .net homepage, while changing server settings for its .com website so that its (many) affiliate URLs were no longer returning a 301 but as a normal page of its own. Guess what happened when Google automatically selected a canonical URL that wasn't its homepage but one of its affiliate link, and one that doesn't rank very highly?



  • Heavens! First tamagochis, now this.



  • And it's Kiss me I'm Polish FTW!



  •  And this, ladies and gentlemen, is how you advertise your online poker site on thedailywtf and improve your google rank.

     

     

    Did I tell you about the configuration blunder I once made on http://modsbylaz.planetdiablo.gamespy.com?
    DEAR GOOGLEBOT LOOK HERE! THERE'S A LINK TO MY SITE FROM A HIGH TRAFFIC HIGH RANKING SITE! I'M FAMOUS!



  •  @Brother Laz said:

     And this, ladies and gentlemen, is how you advertise your online poker site on thedailywtf and improve your google rank.

    I'm absolutely sure that PokerStars has absolutely no reason to refer to such tactics.

    But, just for balance, here are some other sites that offer online poker:

    titanpoker.com

    partypoker.com

    bwin.com

    Of course you should only play poker for money if you have too much of it.

     



  • @Brother Laz said:

     And this, ladies and gentlemen, is how you advertise your online poker site on thedailywtf and improve your google rank.

     

     

    Did I tell you about the configuration blunder I once made on http://modsbylaz.planetdiablo.gamespy.com?
    DEAR GOOGLEBOT LOOK HERE! THERE'S A LINK TO MY SITE FROM A HIGH TRAFFIC HIGH RANKING SITE! I'M FAMOUS!

     

     With the exception that he didn't provide [i]links[/i] just domains. Not sure how googlebot handles that, but I guess a links is "worth more" than a mention. Not sure if it even follows adresses/domains that aren't in a link. 



  • @ammoQ said:

    But, just for balance, here are some other sites that offer online poker

    Hey, we have a different tactic to resort to in such situations!

    [url=http://pokerstars.com]cheaters en masse[/url]

    [url=http://pokerstars.net]fraud guaranteed[/url]

    Also, for inablilty to link properly, you are relieved of your forum deity position (won't count if you edit your links, wink wink).



  • @KTC said:

    The homepages of the biggest online porn room in the world, PornStars (pornstars.com & pornstars.net)

    Maybe I was just too sleepy, but that is how I originally read the OP.


  • @ammoQ said:

    I'm absolutely sure that PokerStars has absolutely no reason to refer to such tactics.

    Yeah! They can afford doing TV commercials here, why the hell should they try shady junk like linkspam that doesn't necessarily work?

    (Though they do net one WTF of their own even for the TV commercials: The commercials are in English, and refer to the .net website that is also in English... while they do have, apparently, a perfectly working .fi site in Finnish. So, um... ignore my remark above about promotion that isn't guaranteed to work and all that?)



  • @Brother Laz said:

     And this, ladies and gentlemen, is how you advertise your online poker site on thedailywtf and improve your google rank.

     

     

    Did I tell you about the configuration blunder I once made on http://modsbylaz.planetdiablo.gamespy.com?
    DEAR GOOGLEBOT LOOK HERE! THERE'S A LINK TO MY SITE FROM A HIGH TRAFFIC HIGH RANKING SITE! I'M FAMOUS!

    Absolute idiot.

    PokerStars is already the number 1 online poker room in the world, with roughly twice as many customers than its nearest competition.
    Before this incident it was #2 for "poker" and #1 for "online poker" in Google, it doesn't need TDWTF help.
    Its .com site has an Alexa ranking of 3974, and its .net site is 27,480, where as TDWTF is down at 69,695. Who's the high traffic site?
    If I wanted to pomote a particular site, I would actually have to link to it. Just having it as text isn't going to help drive up Google pagerank.
    Even linking to it wouldn't help me as I have no finanical interest in said poker room, so a more likely situation would require me to link to it using an affiliate link that belong to me.
    A simple Google search with "google pokerstars penalty" will reveal a number of sites talking about the incident.

    Maybe you should engage brain before opening mouth.



  • @KTC said:

    Maybe you should engage brain before opening mouth.
    Goddammit, joke much?



  • @belgariontheking said:

    @KTC said:

    Maybe you should engage brain before opening mouth.
    Goddammit, joke much?

     

    Why would this bother/concern you in any way?  He was responding to someone else.  I think he has every right to be defensive -- he was basically accused of being a spammer.  Let's try to be welcoming to new members without insulting them right off the bat.  



  • @Jeff S said:

    @belgariontheking said:
    @KTC said:
    Maybe you should engage brain before opening mouth.
    Goddammit, joke much?
    Why would this bother/concern you in any way?  He was responding to someone else.  I think he has every right to be defensive -- he was basically accused of being a spammer.  Let's try to be welcoming to new members without insulting them right off the bat.
    Maybe when new users can understand jokes and not lash out when people make them.



  • @Jeff S said:

    Let's try to be welcoming to new members without insulting them right off the bat.  
     

    Then let the new members extend the same courtesy to us. KTC is the one who started his post "absolute idiot", and ended it with "Maybe you should engage brain before opening mouth.".  Perhaps you should spend your time reprimanding new members for starting off here as offensive and rude, instead of reprimanding regular visitors. KTC is the one who started off being rude - where did you correct him for the poor manners when posting?

    Or are you one of those parents who believes that their children should be allowed to behave in any manner they want no matter where they are, regardless of how annoying it is in the restaurant or market to other people? 

    Jeff, trying to establish some standards of behavior here is fine (though I think you go too far sometimes). If you're going to do so, however, you should do it equitably. Allowing the individuals whose first post is "You're a moron", or "Screw you" to do so without mention, while correcting the long-time posters, is absolutely one sided on your part.



  • @KenW said:

    KTC is the one who started off being rude - where did you correct him for the poor manners when posting?
     

    No, the user who accused him of spamming is the one who started off being "rude."

    @KenW said:

    If you're going to do so, however, you should do it equitably. Allowing the individuals whose first post is "You're a moron", or "Screw you" to do so without mention, while correcting the long-time posters, is absolutely one sided on your part.
     

    His first post wasn't "you're a moron". It was a decent WTF story.  He simply defended himself when someone accused him -- jokingly or not -- of being a spammer.  It was within his right to defend himself.  Maybe calling someone an "idiot" isn't very nice, but just about everyone here posts things that aren't "very nice", most long-time members included.  

    End of story.  Time to move on.  If we are claiming the new member should have a "thicker skin" and take the insult as a joke, then we all should have a thicker skin as well, right?  Even better -- don't worry about it if it's not directed at you.

    (update: added another quote + response ...)



  • @Brother Laz said:

     And this, ladies and gentlemen, is how you advertise your online poker site on thedailywtf and improve your google rank.

     

     

    Did I tell you about the configuration blunder I once made on http://modsbylaz.planetdiablo.gamespy.com?
    DEAR GOOGLEBOT LOOK HERE! THERE'S A LINK TO MY SITE FROM A HIGH TRAFFIC HIGH RANKING SITE! I'M FAMOUS!

    Pokerstars has as much need for more advertising as any site on the Vault and Planet networks, such as your own. Which is to say, not at all.



  • @belgariontheking said:

    @KTC said:

    Maybe you should engage brain before opening mouth.
    Goddammit, joke much?


    If it was a joke, I didn't get it. Several other members didn't get it either. Must be a special kind of humor.



  • @Jeff S said:

    don't worry about it if it's not directed at you.
     

    Ahhh... Got it. Jeff S can post to any thread he wants, even responding to things that weren't directed at him, because he's the almighty moderator. Those of us who are mere peons can't.

    You seem to have missed my whole point, which was that if you're going to keep posting about people having good manners when posting, you should do it equitably. You don't. You seem to ignore that point, even though it's been made repeatedly. No, not by me, either. 

    Jeff, being a mod and all is really great... until you let it go to your head.

    I remember when you actually used to show some intelligence and common sense. I've read dozens of your blog posts and the forum posts you've made at SQL Team. What happened to you? Oh, right. You became a moderator here. Remember: Absolute power corrupts.

    Oh, damn! Now I've done it. I've criticized Jeff. Time for my posts to start getting deleted for no reason, and if I'm not really really careful after that I'll end up getting banned. 



  • @KenW said:

    You seem to have missed my whole point, which was that if you're going to keep posting about people having good manners when posting, you should do it equitably. You don't. You seem to ignore that point, even though it's been made repeatedly. No, not by me, either. 

    Jeff, being a mod and all is really great... until you let it go to your head.

    I remember when you actually used to show some intelligence and common sense. I've read dozens of your blog posts and the forum posts you've made at SQL Team. What happened to you? Oh, right. You became a moderator here. Remember: Absolute power corrupts.

    Oh, damn! Now I've done it. I've criticized Jeff. Time for my posts to start getting deleted for no reason, and if I'm not really really careful after that I'll end up getting banned.

    I see what you are doing here, Ken.  You are projecting the feelings of incompetent moderation you hold for yourself towards Jeff.  Everything you've said about absolute power corrupting a somewhat intelligent person after they obtain moderation privileges really just applies to you.  You are the one who is going to start deleting posts for no reason and banning yourself.  I hope you can stop being a bad moderator soon, Ken.  You are better than this.  My Canadian psychologist/pastry chef wife said so.



  • @morbiuswilters said:

    Wait... how does my wife know you so well??

    Damn! I was hoping you wouldn't think about that!



  • @KenW said:

    @Jeff S said:

    don't worry about it if it's not directed at you.
     

    Ahhh... Got it. Jeff S can post to any thread he wants, even responding to things that weren't directed at him, because he's the almighty moderator. Those of us who are mere peons can't.

    You seem to have missed my whole point, which was that if you're going to keep posting about people having good manners when posting, you should do it equitably. You don't. You seem to ignore that point, even though it's been made repeatedly. No, not by me, either. 

    Jeff, being a mod and all is really great... until you let it go to your head.

    I remember when you actually used to show some intelligence and common sense. I've read dozens of your blog posts and the forum posts you've made at SQL Team. What happened to you? Oh, right. You became a moderator here. Remember: Absolute power corrupts.

    Oh, damn! Now I've done it. I've criticized Jeff. Time for my posts to start getting deleted for no reason, and if I'm not really really careful after that I'll end up getting banned. 


    It's funny -- this whole thing started because I simply wrote "I think he had a right to defend himself" and "let's be welcoming to new members".  That's it.  If that's an "abuse of my mod powers", then I guess I apologize.  I didn't moderate or censor anything.  I didn't insult anyone. I didn't delete anything.  I didn't critize anyone. I just made some suggestions.




  • @KenW said:

    You seem to have missed my whole point, which was that if you're going to keep posting about people having good manners when posting, you should do it equitably. You don't. You seem to ignore that point, even though it's been made repeatedly. No, not by me, either. 

    Ken -- PM me some examples of where I have been "unfair".  I would be happy to discuss things publicly, but not in this thread.

    By the way -- you seemed to miss this part of my post:

     @Jeff S said:

    @KenW said:

    If you're going to do so, however, you should do it equitably. Allowing the individuals whose first post is "You're a moron", or "Screw you" to do so without mention, while correcting the long-time posters, is absolutely one sided on your part.
     

    His first post wasn't "you're a moron". It was a decent WTF story.  He simply defended himself when someone accused him -- jokingly or not -- of being a spammer.  It was within his right to defend himself.  Maybe calling someone an "idiot" isn't very nice, but just about everyone here posts things that aren't "very nice", most long-time members included.   

    (edit: added a quote)



  • @Jeff S said:

    Ken -- PM me some examples of where I have been "unfair".  I would be happy to discuss things publicly, but not in this thread.
     

    Will do, once I have time to wade through the last few weeks of posts again to collect the links, and when I can PM (can't do that from work - proxy kills it). Off the top of my head, you can review any of the posts where you criticized morbius wilters or MPS for posting what you called "abusive" responses to people who had made their first posts in order to attack someone. You should remember them; they resulted in a couple of threads complaining about your level of moderation that were pretty long.

    Not a big deal anyway. I just disagree with double standards, which is the way your post appeared to me. If I was wrong (probably the case), I apologize. 




  • @KenW said:

    @Jeff S said:

    Ken -- PM me some examples of where I have been "unfair".  I would be happy to discuss things publicly, but not in this thread.
     

    Will do, once I have time to wade through the last few weeks of posts again to collect the links, and when I can PM (can't do that from work - proxy kills it). Off the top of my head, you can review any of the posts where you criticized morbius wilters or MPS for posting what you called "abusive" responses to people who had made their first posts in order to attack someone. You should remember them; they resulted in a couple of threads complaining about your level of moderation that were pretty long.

    Not a big deal anyway. I just disagree with double standards, which is the way your post appeared to me. If I was wrong (probably the case), I apologize. 


     

    You can PM using the forum software.  (just click on the CONTACT button on this post)  Also, be sure you really read all of that stuff carefully and focus on facts that came out, not vague accusations.  Thanks!  Looking forward to hearing from you, and as always, I am happy to apologize and/or admit where I screwed up and answer any questions completely honestly.  


  • Banned

    This post is deleted!

  • Winner of the 2016 Presidential Election

    @KenW said in Industry leader commit website sucide:

    Jeff, trying to establish some standards of behavior here is fine (though I think you go too far sometimes). If you're going to do so, however, you should do it equitably. Allowing the individuals whose first post is "You're a moron", or "Screw you" to do so without mention, while correcting the long-time posters, is absolutely one sided on your part.

    @KenW said in Industry leader commit website sucide:

    @Jeff Ssaid:

    don't worry about it if it's not directed at you.
     

    Ahhh... Got it. Jeff Scan post to any thread he wants, even responding to things that weren't directed at him, because he's the almighty moderator. Those of us who are mere peons can't.

    You seem to have missed my whole point, which was that if you're going to keep posting about people having good manners when posting, you should do it equitably. You don't. You seem to ignore that point, even though it's been made repeatedly. No, not by me, either. 

    Jeff, being a mod and all is really great... until you let it go to your head.

    I remember when you actually used to show some intelligence and common sense. I've read dozens of your blog posts and the forum posts you've made at SQL TeamStack Exchange. What happened to you? Oh, right. You became a moderator here. Remember: Absolute power corrupts.

    Oh, damn! Now I've done it. I've criticized Jeff. Time for my posts to start getting deleted for no reason, and if I'm not really really careful after that I'll end up getting banned. 

    So a link spammer (oh irony!) found this thread, and I couldn't help but notice certain similarities to recent events.


  • Notification Spam Recipient

    Yay for Necro topics!


  • ♿ (Parody)

    @KenW said in Industry leader commit website sucide:

    You became a moderator here. Remember: Absolute power corrupts.

    Muahahahaha!


  • Discourse touched me in a no-no place




  • Discourse touched me in a no-no place

    @ben_lubar Not representing [SFLN]? Tsk.



  • @Dreikin That's pretty cool!


  • Notification Spam Recipient

    We never did learn if necroing a post 4096 days old would say 4096 days or 4k day in the toaster :( :|


  • FoxDev

    @DogsB said in Industry leader commit website sucide:

    We never did learn if necroing a post 4096 days old would say 4096 days or 4k day in the toaster :( :|

    nothing stopping you from installing discourse and artificially making ancient topics to necro and find out what the toaster* says.

    * Mine says: "*#$%#ing poptarts again?! i'm a toaster not a poptarter!"


  • Notification Spam Recipient

    @accalia said in Industry leader commit website sucide:

    @DogsB said in Industry leader commit website sucide:

    We never did learn if necroing a post 4096 days old would say 4096 days or 4k day in the toaster :( :|

    nothing stopping you from installing discourse and artificially making ancient topics to necro and find out what the toaster* says.

    * Mine says: "*#$%#ing poptarts again?! i'm a toaster not a poptarter!"

    I have rather drink lead based paint.


  • FoxDev

    @DogsB i expected as much, nevertheless it is not per se preventing you from performing the act.


  • Notification Spam Recipient

    @accalia said in Industry leader commit website sucide:

    @DogsB i expected as much, nevertheless it is not per se preventing you from performing the act.

    While you're doing that you can also tell us how lead based paint affects the human body by drinking it. Some of us rather not willfully retard ourselves.


  • FoxDev

    @DogsB said in Industry leader commit website sucide:

    tell us how lead based paint affects the human body by drinking it.

    well lead is a poison. so yeah it's not good to the body.


  • Notification Spam Recipient

    @accalia said in Industry leader commit website sucide:

    @DogsB said in Industry leader commit website sucide:

    tell us how lead based paint affects the human body by drinking it.

    well lead is a poison. so yeah it's not good to the body.

    And you're willing to drink it! 🚎


  • FoxDev

    @DogsB not i.

    i said nothing was preventing you from drinking it.

    yeah it's bad and terribly toxic, but the only thing stopping you from drinking it is yourself.


  • Notification Spam Recipient

    @accalia said in Industry leader commit website sucide:

    @DogsB not i.

    i said nothing was preventing you from drinking it.

    yeah it's bad and terribly toxic, but the only thing stopping you from drinking it is yourself.

    :whoosh:


  • FoxDev

    @DogsB -_-

    YIP BARK KYON! GROWL!


  • Discourse touched me in a no-no place

    @accalia said in Industry leader commit website sucide:

    nothing stopping you from installing discourse and artificially making ancient topics to necro and find out what the toaster* says.

    I went to try it on Riking's forum, and...

    0_1462392700546_upload-a9e78843-4c65-4043-8c61-bc9ebb4c5a96

    Figures.



  • @loopback0 CLOSED, WONT_FIX, WORK_AS_DESIGNED



  • @loopback0 Good ol' N-gine Darkness 5000 Ultra X


  • Discourse touched me in a no-no place

    @accalia said in Industry leader commit website sucide:

    YIP BARK KYON! GROWL!

    I thought you were over that.


  • FoxDev

    @FrostCat said in Industry leader commit website sucide:

    @accalia said in Industry leader commit website sucide:

    YIP BARK KYON! GROWL!

    I thought you were over that.

    YIP KYON!


  • Discourse touched me in a no-no place

    @accalia said in Industry leader commit website sucide:

    YIP KYON!

    *snort*



  • @FrostCat said in Industry leader commit website sucide:

    *snort*

    So you're a pig now?


  • Discourse touched me in a no-no place

    @abarker said in Industry leader commit website sucide:

    So you're a pig now?

    I can't help it if I have an embarrassing laugh, you microaggressor!


Log in to reply