My apologies to Maryanne Myers
Looks like I didn’t have enough information when I called her a spammer.
Her blog submitter is set up to only submit to her own list of blogs. I don’t know if they are tame blogs - owned by others who approved the postings, or by her herself. Either way, it’s technically not blogspam as it is defined that way, since the owners have approved it.
Life would have been much easier if you’d EXPLAINED this to the spam hunters, Maryanne! Without anyone having to sign up - which you know we’d never do.
However, there is one area where Maryanne, and the people who sign up, might have a problem. The problem is Google. The way they define search engine spam, then I believe this either falls within that definition, or they’re likely to expand it to incorporate what you guys are doing. More on Google and webmasters. And this warning at the bottom of the page here.
The likely outcome is that they’ll ban or weight all blogs they identify as being part of that network, and so any comments with links posted to them will not have any weight in Google. I’ve seen Google do a lot of stuff in the past, and this is - still pure speculation - something they’ll probably devote some thought to and come up with SOMETHING.
As a friend said: This is a new version of a linkfarm. Something Google already hates. I don’t know what they do to linkfarms, but they do …something. Look at a discussion on Webmaster world about link farms. And this article. Blogmysite is different from linkfarms, because as far as I know it’s not a reciprocal links scheme. That doesn’t insulate it against sanctions however, as all new techniques, it will be held to scrutiny.
Another problem is rel=”nofollow”. Blogger for instance, has that implemented. That means any comments with live links, will have code in the links (even though the commenter didn’t code them that way) that tells search engines (and not just Google) not to pay any attention to the links. It’s possible they’ll follow the links. It’s even possible they’ll index the pages linked to. But the links won’t count as backlinks. Most blog software has that implemented by default as well by now. The point was never to have people click on the links, but to get better rating in Google, right?
Updates
Here we go. The positioning has begun. I can’t remember having seen the sentences that are on top of blogmysite before. I won’t quote them directly, though, it’s probably not allowed by her TOS. Basically, she says the ads will be posted to two blog networks that are owned by her, and to blogs that have requested to be added. I would NOT have thought this was a spam submitter if that had been present on her page before!!!! So this must be very new. Oh yes, I found a cached affiliate ID page from May 22 (on MSN). It wasn’t there then.
The sentence on her page argueing that posting comments isn’t spam would be meaningless if the comments are meant to be posted to a network of blogs that have given permission. So it’s no wonder I thought she was going to spam me and others.
Hey, Maryanne, you may want to have your computer checked. There’s a string in your user agent that I suspect could mean you’re infected with something. Read more about it here.
I see she’s posted on usenet about this too. Maryanne, if Google was mistaken in banning you (because the software isn’t a blogspam submitter), then they will unban you. Simple as that. If however the ban is held, then it’s because they consider it search engine spamming (and I don’t know if they will or not). Wordpress got banned earlier this year, and was unbanned when they took down the linkfarm they got banned for. In high profile cases that get the attention of the top dogs (and this is certainly high profile enough), the status is often updated quickly.
There’s a link to my blog from her member login page. Some untruths on there about me. I am into truth. If I had to lie to win a fight, I’d back out. I call’em as I see em. And if I was wrong - through not having enough knowledge, I’ll admit to that, and make reparations.
last update:
I don’t see the logic in telling all her members about my site and my fight against webspam in general, and then saying she’s going to sue me. One of my pet peeves is search engine spam. It’s one of my categories on this blog. I was wrong about Maryanne’s program being blogspam. But as far as I can tell, it’s search engine spam. Which is something that I consider bad. No, not illegal. But since the search engines can do pretty much whatever they want - there’s no law that says they have to index or list your site, then laws don’t enter into it. They’ll do what they do, and we don’t know what that is. I was afraid I’d be banned myself for a while, and I could well have been, if the chips had fallen a bit differently. It happens quickly, and they don’t tell you why.
June 4th, 2005 at 5:51 am
(I am not the same Joe as Joe - The Iowa Dawg who was a member of the network)
What Maryann is doing may not be blog spam because its a permission based network, but its still making a mess of search engine results. Google punishes sites that are involved in link farms like these because they are hurting the relavancy of search resutls. Even with Google trying hard to keep top ranking sites relevant you can run almost any search and find several to lots of irrelevant sites promoted by various methods of spamdexing.
In her page she even admits Google doesn’t like FFA link sites. But Google doesn’t specifically target FFA sites, Google devalues all sites with a huge amounts of outgoing links unless they are well established high quality sites. She is basically making the sites in her blog network into FFA sites. Just because its a blog doesn’t mean it is anything special to Google. The reason Google likes blogs is because they have topical content that is frequently updated and they are interlinked with other higher profile blogs.
June 4th, 2005 at 9:00 am
blogmysite.com
Looks like Ann Elisabeth got in a bit of a quarrel with Maryanne Myers of blogmysite.com with the latter now threatening to sue the former.
June 4th, 2005 at 12:55 pm
Okay, I have lifted the link to your site on my site so we can call a truce if possible… yes i didnt say this (about permission based) before because I never thought it was needed… I never imagined people posting this stuff about me and so made SURE all blogs were permission blogs and changed this wording on the website so it is very clear a week or so ago - we use four networks now and many want their individual blogs in there too.
But can we call it a truce here? Believe me, when the others come out and are not permission based - they will be hurting my site also by flooding everything to the point it will get crazy I am sure. I dont want that and like I said before, it is capable of serious submittting/flooding and so I hold the script.
-Maryanne
June 4th, 2005 at 2:01 pm
A truce is fine by me, on the issue of blogspam. I have no idea what Google will do, on the issue of search engine spam. I suspect you have a battle to fight there. And where Google is concerned, you’re very likely to lose. They do whatever they like, and will continue to do so. Anything they consider search spam, they will react to one way or another. I want you to understand that. I’ve already said search spam is one of my pet peeves too. So I don’t LIKE your program. Doesn’t mean I’ll spread misconceptions about it - mine or others. So on this basis, let’s call a truce.
My reaction was based on blogspam, and that’s where I’ve apologized.
Also, yours was not the first submitter software. There are several before it - of the type you are afraid will be commissioned. So our collective misjudgement of you was founded on many experiences before this. Most of the software we’ve seen so far is either windows based or general unix based. One was service based like yours. Most of them have faded into the night for various reasons. One still remains (that one is technically not a submitter, though for sure spam software), the rest seem to have been pulled.
Yours was the first to appeal to newbies, and or people who came from other environments - safelists and free for all. And yours was promoted more heavily to anyone who heard of it, while the others were mainly promoted to SEOs or spammers. With that shift, you also fell prey to misconceptions about what to expect from the program. As evidenced by the Dawg, who had misunderstood the whole thing.
March 1st, 2006 at 10:49 am
If you do a Google search on this ‘woman’, there are pages upon pages of links to sites where she is trying to make money. She is nothing but Internet marketing scum and search engine spammer. It looks like she even dabbles in horror writing….I’m sure THAT’S good.
I, too, have had a run-in with her regarding spam - just in the last week. If you read her TOS, there is a good, long paragraph involving people who threaten her and all the legal actions she’ll take against them. Apparently it’s happened quite a bit (her getting threatened). Hmmm… However, in an email to me she threatened to add my blog to her submitter. Go figure! For someone who’s trying to run a ‘legitimate’ business, she goes about it in all the wrong ways.
Her latest spam scam is now involving ‘tagging’ and getting sites listed in Technorati and Digg.com, etc. I let her know I thought maybe she should get a conscience regarding what she’s doing on the Internet and her response back involved me ‘getting a boyfriend’. As you can see, she is a class act. I wonder if all the gals there in Brownsburg, IN were raised that way or if Maryanne is just a peach on her own?
May 26th, 2006 at 9:15 am
Hey!
Maybe Maryanne got round that one. How about asking her to explain the apparent scam on her kenohits.com site!
It seems that if you happen to get lucky and win, then suddenly you lose everything and are immediately banned from access to any of her sites or seeking any form of redress.
What happens is you are accussed of “Suspected Cheating” and she says this gives her a right to zap you.
As this happened to me I asked her what was going on! To say the least she was not forthcoming in help or explanation. In a series of emails she called me a liar, a cheat, that I was high on drugs, etc.
She said NOBODY could win four times in a row without cheating.
I lost more than four times in a row several times. I never won even twice consecutively.
If they can not win consecutively without cheating then surely her game is RIGGED. When I asked her this she never denied it - just sent more abuse.
I think sites like yours are needed to warn the public of such possible scams
She also accused me of being someone else that I had never heard of and said I had no right visiting any of her sites unless I paid her site fees and paid her personally an hourly rate! (Despite I had paid her money to buy some of her offerings.)
Maybe you can show that if technically you were incorrect in that first instance, you were not unjustified in querying her activities.
By all means use my name and say I am making accusations against her, and ask if she would like to try defending her actions and libelous and slanderous statements to her customers.
In my opinion she reacted to my emails as if I had sussed her out and so went balistic. She seems a dangerous and unstable woman.
Frankie.
May 28th, 2006 at 3:47 pm
Update.
Maryanne appears to have two major problems so far as I can see:
A mental blockage
Her threats are all wind an P.
I directed her to this site and pleaded with her to sue me….
As I said: To me she is all wind and P and mentally unstable.
May 28th, 2006 at 11:36 pm
FANAN - YOU WERE DELETED FOR CHEATING MY SITE AND MEMBERS.
and I did NOT accuse you of being someone else. I kept thinking “foran” instead of “fanan” and your IP matched.
You are a liar trying to smear me - but I guess cheaters ARE liars.
I have the right to delete cheaters and YOU threatened ME about “stealing” your paid for property.
A) you did not pay for it. You did not even buy a pro membership.
B) you just signed up and started cheating my system in that same hour. I STILL HAVE THE PROOF OF YOU DOING SO.
C) you said I had “7 days” to put you back there or else and was going to sue ME for libel for asking you if you had a substance abuse problem (too many absurd threats out of you) - and you also have no idea what libel is so YOUR threat of some laywer sitting over there with you - is totally laughable.
You know what, you can totally kiss my -ss with your lies and trying to cheat my website AND its members - and then have the audacity to try and manipulate spamhuntress here.
I am sending your IP, your entire name (frankie?), and your website about 16 year olds to as many people as I can and let them know you are probably cheating their sites also.
And spamhuntress… geesus… are you still on that or is that someone else posting?
I can post my OWN blog networks if I want to. I dont know so reved up about us posting ads to my own networks. This looks really look bad here, to the 10,000’s (or more) who DO know better and do know what is what.
-maryanne
May 29th, 2006 at 5:32 am
“FANAN - YOU WERE DELETED FOR CHEATING MY SITE AND MEMBERS.”
THIS statement is what got you into all the trouble. It is untrue and there is NO WAY you can prove it is.
If you STILL continue to libel me, here is a simple request: You say,
“I STILL HAVE THE PROOF OF YOU DOING SO.” Please reproduce your “PROOF” on here.
“you said I had “7 days” to put you back there or else and was going to sue ME ” - Simply another incorrect statement Ms. MYERS.
What I DID state was that in no way was I cheating. Nor was I the person you stated I was. Nor had I won more than ONE TIME consecutively. At no time did I insist on ‘being put back’.
So far as I was concerned you were running another scam to cheat the public.
The ONLY defence you could offer in defense of your accusation against me was:
“NOBODY CAN WIN FOUR TIMES IN A ROW WITHOUT CHEATING”.
My reply to this was to say that if it WAS IMPOSSIBLE to WIN on your ‘game’ four consecutive times - but WAS possible to LOSE four consecutive times (as I had done more than once), then the game was not randomly generated, BUT MUST BE RIGGED.
I asked you if this was so. YOU NEVER ANSWERED THAT - just produced further abuse.
You stated I had been removed because I had won four times in a row. THIS WAS ANOTHER LIE. Please try producing any records showing that. In fact I NEVER EVEN WON TWICE CONSECUTIVELY.
You are being sued for LIBEL.
You keep saying I don’t know what libel IS, Ms. MYERS. Well ask your lawyer to check what you just published on here. THEN PUBLISH THEIR ANSWER ON HERE.
You are being sued for “Redress and compensation for publishing world-wide (as you have just done on here) defamatory lies and totally untrue libellous statements with intent to cause injury to my good name and character, and circulating these lies world-wide to intentionally cause me financial loss and affect the websites I run (unlike some people) HONESTLY, LEGITIMATELY, AND TOTALLY FREE OF CHARGE TO VISITORS OR MEMBERS. (My revenue comes from a few advertisers only.)
The plain facts are:
1/. Your ’system’ is faulty in that it showed me to be someone else and that I had cheated by winning four times consecutively.
2/ To “have to cheat by winning four times in a row” is proof that your ‘game’ is not random but ‘RIGGED TO CHEAT THE UNSUSPECTING PUNTER.
3/ You did not deny this, or the suggestion that if one of your ’systems’ was a ’scam’ to trap the innocent punter, then ALL THE OTHER SCHEMES AND SYSTEMS YOU RUN MAY ALSO BE RIGGED SCAMS.
4/ Some of the libellous statements (apart from what you just posted on here) include stating
I am a liar.
I am a cheat.
I am a drug addict high on drugs.
I write under the influence of liquour.
I am a criminal using someone else’s name.
I am harrassing you.
I am threatening you.
I will paraphrase some of my replies to you:
“You CANNOT go around making such statements simply because there is a flaw in the program you use that feeds you false information. (in this case saying I was cheating and I was someone I am not.)”
“All you are asked is that you admit you made an error in accusing me wrongly, and apologise.”
“NOBODY CALLS ME A LIAR.
NOBODY CALLS ME A CHEAT,
NOBODY CALLS ME A DRUGGY AND SAYS I’M HIGH ON DRUGS,
NOBODY SAYS I’M CRAZY
NOBODY SAYS I’M SAYING THINGS BECAUSE OF LIQUOR (I happen to be teetotal because I have a medical condition which precludes the use of alcohol.)
NOBODY SAYS I’M SOMEBODY ELSE AND IMPOSTING.
No Maryanne, nobody accuses or publishes statements of that ilk without apologising VERY smartly. Or suffering the consequences. ”
“”So stop harrassing me” - FAR from HARASSING you - although you accused me wrongly and treated me like shit - I’ve given you every chance to withdraw your accusations and libellous statements. You just don’t know when someone is being generous and giving you chance to redress your errors.”
“Bear in mind every one of these emails will be produced in evidence. The Courts will see I gave you EVERY CHANCE to avoid litigation. On each occasion your reply has been crude insulting and libellous as if you have a mental blockage.
I really do feel sorry for you Maryanne - but you can not be allowed to get away with it.
Is your pride worth it????????? You made a booby accusing me wrongly and apparently have neither the guts nor sense to see that and say sorry.”
(How different from the owner of this thread who ADMITTED her evidence had proved to be flawed and did not hesitate to give YOU a full public apology.)
Well this RSS is being syndicated around the world Ms. MYERS. I’m sure there must be many millions awaiting your reply and efforts to defend the scurrilous statements you make.
Many others will be wondering just HOW LEGITIMATE and honest the various schemes you run are - despite all your ‘inspiring blurb’.
Here is your chance to defend the indefensible.
Methinks this RSS link and others following may well sound the deathknell to the little empire of surefast, get-rich-quick webpages you have built.
Nobody CAN treat people the way you do, or cheat them for long Ms. MYERS without eventually losing the faith that the unsuspecting public put in them.
Readers that may be concerned that they too may fall victim to one of her schemes as I did should type “MARYANNE MYERS” into GOOGLE, then avoid everything from her “WEBSTARS2K” schemes onwards.
Please fee free to copy this and re-transmit it to your friends and place it on your websites, in your newsletters etc., as a warning to all to beware, and check out who they are dealing with before parting with their cash.
FANON
May 30th, 2006 at 6:03 am
“”MARYANNE MYERS - dated 30th May 2006
I MARYANNE MYERS hereby WITHDRAW UNRESERVEDLY any and all statements I have published on the world-wide web and anywhere else in any form and in any verbal statements concerning the character and integrity of FANON.
I apologise to FANON unreservedly for publishing TOTALLY UNTRUE libellous statements - NONE of which were based on any shred of evidence of fact whatsoever.
My ONLY basis for making such TOTALLY UNFOUNDED scurrilous statements was a FAULTY SYSTEM I use to ensure NOBODY can have a winning streak of four consecutive wins on my KENOHITS site without cheating, because THE GAME IS RIGGED TO LIMIT, WINS WHILST ALLOWING ENDLESS LOSING SEQUENCES.
Anyone actually having such a winning streak is immediately banned by me from ALL my sites and any tokens, monies or other aquisitions the person who got lucky may have won or accumulated on ANY of my similar “GET RICH QUICK SITES” reverts to me - MARYANNE MYERS.
TOTALLY ERONEOUSLY, I BELIEVED FANON HAD ACTUALLY WON FOUR TIMES IN A ROW. As my game is rigged to ensure this can not happen, I DEEPLY REGRET having ACCUSED FANON of having cheated. I now accept FANON only had a winning streak of ONE WIN at any time.
I also deeply regret having stated - among other things that FANON was high on drugs, that FANON was under the influence of liquor, that FANON was a liar and cheat and imposter. ALL THOSE STATEMENTS ARE TOTALLY UNTRUE AND ONCE AGAIN I - MARYANNE MYERS - CONFIRM I DEEPLY REGRET HAVING MADE THEM.
I ask FANON to accept this apology knowing that only a person with a mental block would do repeatedly what I did.
PLEASE FANON ACCEPT THIS PUBLIC APOLOGY AND IN TURN I PROMISE TO SEEK PROFESSIONAL HELP SO I DO NOT EVER ACT SO WILDLY AND WITHOUT PROVOCATION SIMPLY BECAUSE SOMEONE ACTUALLY HAS A LUCKY WIN ON ONE OF MY SITES - DESPITE THE FACT THAT THEY ARE FIXED TO PREVENT SUCH A THING BEING POSSIBLE.”"
**********************************************************************************************************
As you didn’t immediately reply with a torrent of abuse as usual, I figured you may be at a loss as to how best word an apology that would be acceptable to me now. Well something worded like the above sample will certainly be accepted by me as an apology, Ms. Myers. I now accept you have a definate problem to have behaved as you did.
I will leave the actual final wording to you. The important thing is that you clear my name.
Of course a simple acknowledgement of your error and just saying ‘Sorry’ would have sufficed in the first place - but you were incapable of that, so resorted to your libellous ranting.
I’m aware such action and threats by you intimidated others, and this may well have built your ego and self-confidence to such a pitch that you believed you could spam, scam, and scare anybody. And that you could zap anyone that actually won on your sites with impunity the moment you felt like it. And if they made so bold as to query the unfairness of your action you could berate and libel them with impunity until they timidly departed. The trouble is -”there’s ALWAYS one….”
As I say, I will leave the actual wording up to you, and save labouring the point further for another twenty-four hours, to give you time to consider, rather than take any futher action to get my point across to the world concerning your misguided behaviour.
FANON
June 2nd, 2006 at 3:42 am
It does not what tactic you keep pulling, it wont work.
Threats and lies - wont work.
I have the right to delete anyone off of my sites.
I have the right to bar any IP from my sites.
If I owned a store or a club and they caused a scene or stole from it - they would be leaving too.
YOU made this public by posting outright lies about me and strange, off the mark, assessments about me first.
Again - You do not own any “property” on my sites, as you say. You never even bought a thing so where you get that idea - who knows. You do not pay these server bills, the programmers, my time, the advertising and my registars.
It’s about 31-36 grand a year with the servers, programmers and advertising alone - so if you want to cough that up then please do… then you can tell me that part of it is your property.
Deal?
You never were on it for “a long time” and made alot of credits [said here or in my email box]. Not true - You were there for an hour or less?
I have loads of members who have cashed in credits for alot of ads and others for money and was paid - and they can attest to it and would.
SO the claim of that I have people signup, earn these and then I take it away from people - is total BS. I also have another program like this that has 7600+ members and they get paid all the time for clicking. They have been with me for YEARS on it.
And BTW, harrassing me constantly in my email box day after day after day - even when I do not answer you - plus posting lies against me and saying you are about to “RSS” it -
will NOT make me change my mind either.
Threatening to contact network solutions [and whatever else] unless I do what you want… still will not make me change my mind. And they wont do anything either as they are fully aware that I have the right to ban someone also.
It is rarely done - but seems I hit the mark on who to ban!
And I can ask you I you are high in my email to you if I want to - because they way you harrass me, threaten me, try your best to hunt information down about me and then send it to me in my email box makes me think something is definately wrong with you. Especially with the dollar figures you keep ending me on how you threaten to sue me for and the “168 hours” thing… and whatever else (too busy to read all of the numerous paragraphs you send me each time)….
I think you get a kick out of it and this is the last response you will get out of me because I have a real life to attend to.
-maryanne
June 3rd, 2006 at 4:21 am
“”It is rarely done - but seems I hit the mark on who to ban!”"
Well THAT is at least partly true: That you rarely get to ban the right person - and you didn’t this time either.
FAR FROM IT - you banned the WRONG person - and chose the wrong one to libel, Ms. MYERS.
As you accept by default that what I put in your apology is correct, I will indeed circulate it as coming from you.
Regarding the other garbled inaccuracies and mixed up jumble of words you just wrote I would say:
From the number of comments made on here and elsewhere on the web regarding your sites and actions you deserve all the bad publicity you get.
REMEMBER: IT WAS YOU STARTED ALL THE FALSE ACCUSATIONS AND UNWARRANTED TIRADES OF LIES AND LIBEL.
And you lied through your teeth saying you had (non-existant) proof.
IF YOU HAD ANY PROOF YOU WOULD HAVE PRODUCED IT AS REQUESTED ON HERE AND ELSEWHERE.
You are not fit to kiss the shoes of the lady who runs this page.
You haven’t the sense to, or think you are above apologising for your false accusations. As a result I in turn WILL publish everywhere your apology to me just as it is written (and you agreed with by default). Just as if it came DIRECT from you - rather than by proxy.
People AND searchengine proprietors SHOULD be warned how you are using and manipulating them to the detriment of honest merchants and webmasters.
PLEASE NOTE: ANYTIME you feel like withdrawing your false accusations and lies and libel and promise NOT to spam and scam the public I’ll be here to accept it.