Some people just have no class, and a person like that who runs the kind of site he does — well, this sort of aggressive/arrogant behavior is how they survive and get by in the world (ie, part parasite and part scavenger) and rather then engage them, it may be best to simply have compassion for them since it is clear that their sense their of place in the world and their relationship to other human beings is poisoned and dysfunctional — probably due to having a distant father and an overbearing mother. And for all the criticisms he leveled, I didn’t see him actually give any “do this” examples of his own, nor actually address your responses and engage in a real discussion of the sort you were criticized for not starting.

I for one found the article worthwhile and while it did not give explicit do this instructions, pointed me in the direction of researching these issues further, and that’s what it was aimed at doing.

PEACE

Anyway time fot a beer and to enjoy the weekend

All the best to everyone

I was not trying to attack hooperman, and I would not have said anything if it were not that this is about the 20th time she has received such obviously self promotional comments. If I were going to be mean, I can think of 10,000 better texts to put together. As you can see in hooperman’s last comment, he even suggests SitePoint use someone besides Mihaela to do SEO for people who want to learn. This is pretty damned personal if you ask me, especially from someone using SitePoint as a launch pad for their own little cyber SEO rocket ship.

If we are here to get all “real”, then perhaps I should put my two cents worth in with regard to the tone and value of the SitePoint community as a whole. The people who own and run this site are quite extraordinary, kind and knowledgeable. Never the less, like so many other “hubs”, they are ruled by the “tone” and “timber” of their communities at large. When I was writing here I was accused of everything from shameless self promotion to being down right idiotic by people who could not even put two sentences together to make a coherent idea. All I have is my thoughts, intent and values to defend against extremely prejudiced people. One gets sick of it to be honest.

I could take the time to defend all these statements, but as you said, it is the weekend and we have other pursuits, and Mihaela needs no defending from me. I just don’t like rude people, it is the Internet after all, and my opinion counts. It is interesting that the author of these SEO comments has an Alexa ranking of over 1 million, while all but one of our six websites is under 200,000. We never have time to do SEO to the N’th degree on our own for doing it for other people. Any way, thanks for reminding us Spanish, please forgive my interjection as well.

Always,
Phil

Being relatively knew to SEO I really apprectiate your and other peoples input into blogs like these. I also follow you on twitter (but if I am honest dont have the time to read all your posts) and other people because someone new like me wants to get as much knowledge as possible and personal experience of forums is if your shot down you might not post again which would be very sad.

theres no perfect forumula for anything as I learnt this week just by changing our Meta description on our home page i managed to get the site from 5 to 11 and when i put it back how it was it went back to 5 again but I have gone off topic, just to let you know there are some people who value your contribution as well as I have valued contributions from other posters who havent 100% agreed with you

That is for now and I look forward to your next contribution

Everyone have a great weekend

love and hugs from Sunny Spain

Also, no “u-turn” as you say. In the past SEOs made good money ranking people for irrelevant keywords. Obviously you have no idea how many people got burned, and how many still pay for fake SEO. No matter how many times the white hat SEOs say don’t fall for “guaranteed ranking promises” people still do. My job is to tell people who don’t know SEO how to avoid such things. People still do it, yes, and in the past it was also easy to get traffic and conversions – loads of – by simply inserting keywords (no matter how irrelevant) in the keywords meta tag and in the body text. I’ve been there, done that when I first started, in 2002. The technique simply doesn’t work anymore.

Link baiting: anything you do to get links is SEO. Period. If the links happen to be in social networks/social media, it is still SEO. Even writing good content is SEO. What is SEO if not optimizing content (text,images, etc)?

As for your last observation: our site has a new design and code by people who are not so knowledgeable, and we haven’t finished it. There is still a lot of content to be uploaded and many issues to be addressed, including those you mention. Be so kind and keep my private business out of this. You do not want me to start on yours, and this is NOT the place.

Can you defend at all the mistakes that Mihaela made in her article? I’m guessing that you can’t, as your comments were of a more personal nature. I’m sure that Mihaela is a very nice person and I wouldn’t want to upset her, but the criticism of the article stands.

Without going into a flaming war, or a dissertation on who is who and what is what, I hope some readers will understand that Mihaela is one of the most respected SEO people there is. These statements are, of course, rather arbitrary as you all know too. But, if I wanted to take the time and effort, I expect I could summon any number of those she learned from to suggest the same. That being one contention, and putting the “credibility issue” a little behind us, perhaps we can examine just why anyone would want to make a comment so rude and inappropriate.

I was a writer for SitePoint some time back, and enjoyed most of the feedback here a great deal. There are so many talented people here, like others of us, who want to learn and build a great community. But then…..well, I expect all of you know the other kind of self serving people intent on building themselves up at any cost. Every time I read the comments here I am a little appalled at the number of “comment hounds” who think that demeaning other experts and iserting themselves is good business. As for hooperman here, his own Web site is about nothing other than making money off SitePoint. Not such a bad idea, and much of the advice is sound too, but it is mercenary to the core. Let me reveal just one “snippet” taken directly from his site which might reveal all that needs to be said here:

“Contributing good and useful information is an effective way to advertise your services and the way that you conduct yourself on Sitepoint gives a good indication of your professional business manner.”

As far as conducting one’s self in a manner befitting good business practices, if I have to explain here, well frankly, anyone who does not glean propriety should probably go back to WOW or their toasted oats. Another SitePoint Forums “celebrity” came to down Mihaela the other day (ironically a friend in the community of hooperman here), and in a totally inappropriate way. Well, I am not employed by SitePoint any longer, am only subject to the general rules of conduct, and will say what I think is right, not just for Mihaela but for other authors (which I can prove I have done). This business of 12 year old “nannie nannie boo boo – I am better than you” is far too transparent and juvenile. If anyone this ambivalent can be trusted to help anyone but themselves make money? UGH! You get the point.

These writers make a little dough and get some links to their businesses, they want to help people do the things they are trying to do, they are nice people. Everyone who reads these SEO posts is not the God Almighty SEO wizard hooperman here is, they are people who want to develop greats sites, and who may not have the inclination, time or money to be EXPERT at SEO. So, Mihaela is providing a service for the readers here. Not every reader, certainly, but the ones how do not know as much as she does.

Well, there is is, just defending what is good and right for what it is worth. As for you hooperman, you can praddle on with whatever infantile meanness you can think of, I will not be back to comment again. No wait! I changed my mind, let me show the Sitepoint community a little more of your “pretty clumsy” strategy in practice, from your very own “expert” site:

Tout For Business – The More Direct Way

Fortunately, for those who don’t have time to build up a reputation as a guru in their chosen field, there is a quicker and more direct way to advertise their services. You could create a listing in the Advertise Your Services forum.
Tout For Business – The Clumsy Way

Tout For Business – The Clumsy Way

And if you don’t have the time or money, you could always barge into an irrelevant thread and proposition anyone who’ll listen with improper suggestions to buy your cheap SEO services. My sneaking suspicion is that this technique doesn’t win much business.

I can add one suggestion for you sir, maybe tell your loyal readers how to come to SitePoint or 100 other such sites, find an article with lots of comments, and then interject your form of bestiality upon the readers and the author. You sir are a cad, look that one up.

Always,
Phil Butler