I received three substantially identical emails beginning
"Hi,
I took a look at your site a couple of hours ago...
and I want to tell you that I'd really love to trade links with you. I think
your site has some really good stuff related to my site's topic of (topic)"

(topic) is different in each of the messages, "radar detectors",
"driving school", and "criminal records"; these are vaguely related
to my page http://www.mit.edu/~jfc/laws.html about traffic law.
The mail goes on to say that the site links to mine and invites me
to put a reverse link on my page to www.(topic)hq.com. Obviously
the text is a computer-expanded template but the placement of the
links to my site seems to have been done by computer rather than
manually.

The body is base64 encoded plain text which makes me think there is
an attempt to get past a filter.

What's up with this? Legitimate directory site, attempt to trick
search engines, or something else? I'm asking here because I'm
betting on the second, and I wonder if this sort of trick is common.

--
John Carr (jfc@mit.edu)

On 12 Mar 2005 18:48:39 GMT, jfc@mit.edu (John F. Carr) wrote:


[snip]
>What's up with this? Legitimate directory site, attempt to trick
>search engines, or something else? I'm asking here because I'm
>betting on the second, and I wonder if this sort of trick is common.

Looking at the site; it appears to be a student of MIT's personal-like
site. Looking on the front page they share
"I am a member of the National Motorists Association, the only
national group supporting motorists rights and the use of engineering
standards instead of politics for traffic control."
So that explains the small sub-section of their personal site about
speeding and speeding laws - which they contacted you about for a link
exchange.

I don't think, at first glance, they are into tricking the search
engines. Very plain and basic pages that appear 1993 in looks [devoid
of color, background images, images, etc] so more into sharing links
and information. But right now I wouldn't classify it as a
directory-site either; maybe in time if the person spins that section
out to a stand alone site and then beefs it up some but right now it
is just one informational subsection of a larger site.

Carol

"Carol W" <from_you@nomail.com> wrote in message
news:bb57319vhbraqctuqgij0kn60m03gu2h9o@4ax.com...
> On 12 Mar 2005 18:48:39 GMT, jfc@mit.edu (John F. Carr) wrote:
>
>
> [snip]
>>What's up with this? Legitimate directory site, attempt to trick
>>search engines, or something else? I'm asking here because I'm
>>betting on the second, and I wonder if this sort of trick is common.
>
> Looking at the site; it appears to be a student of MIT's personal-like
> site. Looking on the front page they share
> "I am a member of the National Motorists Association, the only
> national group supporting motorists rights and the use of engineering
> standards instead of politics for traffic control."
> So that explains the small sub-section of their personal site about
> speeding and speeding laws - which they contacted you about for a link
> exchange.
>
> I don't think, at first glance, they are into tricking the search
> engines. Very plain and basic pages that appear 1993 in looks [devoid
> of color, background images, images, etc] so more into sharing links
> and information. But right now I wouldn't classify it as a
> directory-site either; maybe in time if the person spins that section
> out to a stand alone site and then beefs it up some but right now it
> is just one informational subsection of a larger site.
>
> Carol

I think you will find the site you are talking about is the OP's site
not the one he is referring to asking for the link.

"John F. Carr" <jfc@mit.edu> wrote in message
news:42333987$0$562$b45e6eb0@senator-bedfellow.mit.edu...
>
> I received three substantially identical emails beginning
> "Hi,
> I took a look at your site a couple of hours ago...
> and I want to tell you that I'd really love to trade links with you. I
> think
> your site has some really good stuff related to my site's topic of
> (topic)"
>
> (topic) is different in each of the messages, "radar detectors",
> "driving school", and "criminal records"; these are vaguely related
> to my page http://www.mit.edu/~jfc/laws.html about traffic law.
> The mail goes on to say that the site links to mine and invites me
> to put a reverse link on my page to www.(topic)hq.com. Obviously
> the text is a computer-expanded template but the placement of the
> links to my site seems to have been done by computer rather than
> manually.
>
> The body is base64 encoded plain text which makes me think there is
> an attempt to get past a filter.
>
> What's up with this? Legitimate directory site, attempt to trick
> search engines, or something else? I'm asking here because I'm
> betting on the second, and I wonder if this sort of trick is common.
>
> --
> John Carr (jfc@mit.edu)

Count your self lucky if this is the first time you have received a request
like this. When you start getting half a dozen a day you will soon
be able to spot them and just trash them.
Most of the time they are just affiliate pages put up with adsense and
amazon links on them.

The guy is probably trying to get reciprocal links in order to increase his
search engine ranking. Part of a site's ranking comes from how many
relevant sites are linked too and from it.

It will be worth doing the link exchange if the site is half decent as your
site will benefit as well. But if it has no worthwhile content then don't
bother.

Sir Ben.

"T.J." <no1@home.invalid> wrote in message
news:d116j2$pbm$1@newsg4.svr.pol.co.uk...
>
> "John F. Carr" <jfc@mit.edu> wrote in message
> news:42333987$0$562$b45e6eb0@senator-bedfellow.mit.edu...
>>
>> I received three substantially identical emails beginning
>> "Hi,
>> I took a look at your site a couple of hours ago...
>> and I want to tell you that I'd really love to trade links with you. I
>> think
>> your site has some really good stuff related to my site's topic of
>> (topic)"
>>
>> (topic) is different in each of the messages, "radar detectors",
>> "driving school", and "criminal records"; these are vaguely related
>> to my page http://www.mit.edu/~jfc/laws.html about traffic law.
>> The mail goes on to say that the site links to mine and invites me
>> to put a reverse link on my page to www.(topic)hq.com. Obviously
>> the text is a computer-expanded template but the placement of the
>> links to my site seems to have been done by computer rather than
>> manually.
>>
>> The body is base64 encoded plain text which makes me think there is
>> an attempt to get past a filter.
>>
>> What's up with this? Legitimate directory site, attempt to trick
>> search engines, or something else? I'm asking here because I'm
>> betting on the second, and I wonder if this sort of trick is common.
>>
>> --
>> John Carr (jfc@mit.edu)
>
> Count your self lucky if this is the first time you have received a
> request
> like this. When you start getting half a dozen a day you will soon
> be able to spot them and just trash them.
> Most of the time they are just affiliate pages put up with adsense and
> amazon links on them.
>

On Sun, 13 Mar 2005 10:53:52 -0000, "T.J." <no1@home.invalid> wrote:

>I think you will find the site you are talking about is the OP's site
>not the one he is referring to asking for the link.

*duh* you are right; I misread and thought he as sharing the link of
the site in question and asking if it was a legit directory or
whatever.

Wonder if Stacey has unburied her coffee maker yet so I can snag a
quick cuppa ...

Carol

"Carol W" <from_you@nomail.com> wrote in message
news:ge3931la6qshquthbnb1pc58n50i5rdg8v@4ax.com...
> On Sun, 13 Mar 2005 10:53:52 -0000, "T.J." <no1@home.invalid> wrote:
>
>>I think you will find the site you are talking about is the OP's site
>>not the one he is referring to asking for the link.
>
> *duh* you are right; I misread and thought he as sharing the link of
> the site in question and asking if it was a legit directory or
> whatever.
>
> Wonder if Stacey has unburied her coffee maker yet so I can snag a
> quick cuppa ...

Nope!:-( I have no sink in now. And the refrigerator is in front of the
counter with all the stuff covered. Can't get to it. I am about ready to
just have some tea...........as I need some caffeine I just need to untape
the old cabinet doors to get a cup and get water from the bathroom!!!
Remember I quit smoking, last Aug. so I can't stop all my addictions.:-)

Stacey

Well it sounds like you received a automatic email from a system
designed to scan the internet and email sites with matching keywords.

As a publisher that operates a network of over 50 sites, we get several
per day. We never reply.

Link exchanges are subjective.