| LED Digest 2295: Getting Audited...at Work |
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================================================== The LED Digest Moderated Discussion List "Effective Online Advertising, Since 1997" Data > Information > Knowledge > Wisdom pair Networks: The LED's Web Host Hosting and Domain Registration from a Trusted Leader pair.com for Hosting | pairNIC.com for Domains ================================================== List Moderator: Published by: Adam Audette LED Digest adam, led-digest.com http://www.led-digest.com .............................................. November 27, 2006 Issue no. 2295 .............................................. .....IN THIS DIGEST..... ====== NEW ====================== --== The Supplemental Index ==-- ~ Adam Audette "I've been getting some questions lately about Google's 'supplemental results' listings." ==== CONTINUING ================= --== Web Development Auditing ==-- ~ Cayley Vos "I have direct experience with being audited and it was no fun." --== Marketing Exclusivity ==-- ~ Nathan Holley "Now I chop up my contracted work into smaller pieces..." --== Make My Site Faster ==-- ~ Tom Anson "I don't fix my own car, and I certainly wouldn't be much good at building a store..." ==== BILLBOARD =================== --== Site Hijacking ==-- ~ James Haley ~ George Foss --== 301 Redirects ==-- ~ Dr. Mani Sivasubramanian ========== NEW =================================== <Moderator Comment> Greetings LEDer, I've been getting some questions lately about Google's "supplemental results" listings. I did some research to find out exactly what they use the supplemental index for and found an informative post by Adam Lasnik at the webmaster group Google runs. Here it is for anyone who's interested - not super revealing unfortunately. ------------------------ Hey there, I've been seeing many questions -- and especially many concerns -- about our supplemental index. This FAQ gives a nice albeit brief overview: http://www.google.com/support/webmasters/bin/answer.py?answer=34473 We may want to update that FAQ with some additional info later, but in the meantime, I thought I'd clear the air a bit: 1) Penalty? When your site has pages in our supplemental index, it does *not* indicate that your site has been penalized. In particular, we do not move a site's pages from our main to our supplemental index in response to any violations of our Webmaster Guidelines. 2) Freshness? You can expect to see a fresher supplemental index in the coming quarters. By the definition of "supplemental," however, I don't forsee it becoming as comprehensive or frequently updated as our main index. 3) Cure? Get more quality backlinks. This is a key way that our algorithms will view your pages as more valuable to retain in our main index. If you'd simply like to get some old pages OUT of our supplemental index (and out of Google altogether), then you can use our automated removal tool: http://www.google.com/support/webmasters/bin/topic.py?topic=8459 Beware: Once removed from our index, the pages will STAY removed for 6 months and won't be reincluded during that time, so remove carefully (and only use this tool if absolutely necessary). Regards, Adam ======== CONTINUING =============================== From: Cayley Vos Subject: Web dev auditing > ... are there many companies doing [auditing of Web > development firms], and how do you guys see this kind > of activity? Have you had your work audited any time? > Would you think of using this kind of auditing when > using the services of another party? - Joao Pereira, LED Digest 2294 - http://www.led-digest.com/content/view/1373/55/ I have direct experience with "being audited" and it was no fun. About 5 years ago we did a job for a company in Connecticut (i was based near Seattle at the time) it was a complex database programming job, and involved modifying existing code. This was a very tedious project, and took much longer than expected. After we successfully finished the project the owner had our work audited by a third party. He then took our bill and modified it using the Auditing company's recommendations. The end result is we were denied about 35% of our bill, and this company basically said "tough luck, what are you going to do about it". They knew that besides an inconvenient & expensive lawsuit there was absoultely nothing we could do. So having experienced the negative side of auditing i can say that there is huge potential for bad feelings. However, it could be of great use for projects that 'go bad' or are poorly executed. Cayley Vos -------- new post - new topic -------- From: Nathan Holley Subject: Marketing exclusively for certain clients The discussion on marketing exclusivity and non-competes has been interesting. My take on this issue is fairly similar to others I've read here. I don't feel it's reasonable to expect a non-compete to be relevant for, say, over 3 years (or 4 years as the SEO being sued disclosed in his post). It is really, really hard to enforce any kind of non-compete in my experience. When dealing with very short term contracts these kinds of contractual obligations can hold some legal sway, but in anything over 12-18 months they're pretty useless. I've worked with lots of contractors over the years. Only on two occasions was I concerned about competitive intelligence - both times I hired the people full-time! The kind of work I was doing demanded some research and knowledge that I had earned over the course of several years. These people knew my niche inside and out. It would have been disgustingly simple for them to take that intelligence and market in a competing field and probably do very well against me. I continue to hold them on retainer and have for the last several years. This kind of situation scalded me on the whole arrangement. Now I "chop up" my contracted work into smaller pieces to avoid giving lots of specific knowledge to any one firm or part time employee. I'm getting much more specialised in the duties I outsource and it's nice to keep things simple and not have to worry about non competes and all that bother. Cheers Nathan Holley invisible online since '97 -------- new post - new topic -------- From: Tom Anson Subject: Faster site > I won't go into a deep critique but highlight this example > to bring us all back to basics... I don't fix my own car, nor > build my own store... so why does everyone believe they > can build their own website as well as a professional? - Mark Abouzeid, LED Digest 2288 - http://www.led-digest.com/content/view/1361/55/ I'd like to make a quick response to Mark Abouzeid's comments about Val Waldeck's website (LED Digest 2288). First of all, I agree entirely about what is wrong with the website (and have contacted Val concerning these things). I also agree that FrontPage is terrible for creating websites. The code is so bloated, it's incomprehensible to me how it can display well on a page. However, Mark's conclusion is a little out-of-line, I think. I don't fix my own car, and I certainly wouldn't be much good at building a store -- beyond some of the basics. However, I could have something useful to say about how that store will look; and if there was a storefront construction tool equivalent to Dreamweaver (and revisions were as inexpensive to make), I wouldn't hesitate to take on the task of building my own store. Looking at Val's site, and understanding something of what she is trying to accomplish, I think she is very capable of building an effective website, given the right tools (Dreamweaver) and some tips on what should and should not be on the site -- or how it should be presented. Could a "professional" do it better? Quite likely. Would it matter to her target audience? Not as likely. To me, it seems that comments to specific questions should address those questions, instead of needlessly undercutting the efforts of those trying to participate in the online community. I started at zero when I joined this forum, and the things I learned from you -- and the resources you recommended -- have been invaluable. I'm not sure how I would have done back then if Mark had told me it was futile and that I needed to hire a professional to get the job done. Tom Anson Anson Aromatic Essentials http://www.therapeutic-grade.com ==== BILLBOARD =================================== From: Dr. Mani Sivasubramanian Subject: 301 redirects > Are multiple 301's pointing to the > same base URL a problem? - Moderator Comment, LED Digest 2293 - http://www.led-digest.com/content/view/1372/55/ Adam, I'm using folder level 301 redirects which impact all files in that folder - this may not really apply to your situation - and had not thought about this issue being a potential problem. One *might* argue that if a search engine found 100's of pages with 301s to one single URL, they would feel there was no way that many pages could all be replaced by one single RELEVANT URL - ergo, the single URL is *not* a relevant one (and attract a penalty?!) Or worse, that those 100s of pages were originally set up mainly as 'spider bait' to get links into the indexes! Uh-oh - I don't like the way I'm going with this line of reasoning - someone tell me (and Adam) it ain't so :) > ... (my niece told me last week that no one > says "cool" any more. - John Smart, LED Digest 2293 My, just look at what we learn from this list. Coo... oops, I mean, NEAT-o! All success Dr.Mani, Author The UnMANIfesto http://ezinemarketingcenter.com/unmanifesto.pdf -------- new post - new topic -------- From: James Haley Subject: Hijacked > I know this thread has been overlaid by many other threads since > I posted my problem back on 15 August this year. Essentially, the > space I had with my host server, seanic.net, was hacked... - Peter D'Aprix, LED Digest 2252 - http://www.led-digest.com/content/view/1071/55/ > I had this same problem with my site > in which it ruined my business... - Ray Nicholson, LED Digest 2294 - http://www.led-digest.com/content/view/1373/55/ Ray your post could be very helpful to others in determining how this is being done to a site. Could you give us more detail on what you've tried to do to limit these intruders. I also have some suggestions and I'm sure a lot of the pro's visiting this site could add to them to help you and others like you. I noticed you've moved to PHP for your boards, maybe you could beef up your code or even monitor your site from a home PC to keep an eye on things. Some suggestions - use PHP to limit the size and number of posts put on the board by an individual user, or IP address - limit the FTP access to your site - don't allow a user to see the files on any directory or folder - have your PC monitor your database with another program to compare its previous data (this PC should be different then the one you use, and firewalled) - make sure your posting forms don't allow code to be put into them to easily hack your site - have your home PC monitor your directories and the number of files in them - change your password everyday or if possible have your firewalled PC changed it every few hours - research other methods to stop the intruders - use those picture number generators that need to be typed in before posting I'm sure the LED'ers could add to this list for the good of all. James Haley Keeping the connections alive. 911dating.com -------- new post - same topic -------- From: George Foss Subject: Hijacked I think your situation as gone past the do it yourself point. I don't have any simple slam dunk solutions to your problems, however you do have several options. Find another company to host your website Although you mention a problem with your bulletin boards, the problem as you describe is more serious. Your current company hasn't met your needs for security or offered assitance as to your situation. Dot Easy hasn't been very helpful (they are taking your money) other than saying "as long as I have the HTML boards they could not control who got in." Obviously there is some security breach that these parasites who are attacking your site (and breaking the law) are exploiting to get into the rest of your website. This is your Web Host's fault. I once had a online retail site provider that when I would connect by telnet, I could actually access other websites files hosted on that Unix server. I dropped them like a hot potato, and transferred my Domain elsewhere. If a non-hacker and only marginally computer literate person like myself could find this back door into other peoples webpages, imagine what damage a real pro can do. Go and look up all those website URLs that are being posted. Go to both www.internic.com and to www.godaddy.com under the whois search option. You have little if any hope of using law enforcement or any CANSPAM state laws will help you; it is an international problem. Most sucessful Porn companies have gone to Eastern Europe, Russia, or any third world country to foil any efforts to bring them to court. Go to www.networksolutions.com and look up their contact information. General Support 1.888.642.9675 and ask how to file a complaint. Also mention that their response and helpfulness will be reported to the Better Business Bureas online (they are members). This may help get the offending site off the internet. Say that someone has been attacking your webpages. Ask your fellow Billboard users (Navy Veterans) if any one of them is a retired attornery who would want to help the website Pro Bono. You will need an attornery to sue, send cease and desist letters, and to help you contact law enforcement to act against the websites that are being posted. (Who ever is posting is getting some form of payment from the website. You want the website banned from the webhost.) (If your site has been over run, their is a good chance these slimebags are using your mail server to send spam. You should investigate this before your Domain is banned for spamming). Now repeat this process for every website URL that posts to your site. There goes your every waking minute's time as many of the URL's posted do not come up as being legimate registries. You site has been discovered by a multitude of moral cretins that have found an easy mark to sell everything from Porn to Prescription Pain Medicine. Set up your Bulletin Board so that it is permission only (you will have to approve each and every individual), You can set the posts not to go online automatically, but require approval each one individually. Instead of internet handles have your poster's email address as his user name. This will slow your adversaries (and you down, too). As anyone can get a free email address, this may not work so well. However screening each and every post will eliminate these spammers. Again, there goes your free time, however when the revenues to the posters drop, they will be forced to post elsewhere. (Part of the URL posted must have a way to track where their hits are coming from). Employ a former hacker to look your site over, determine who is attacking your site. Have the hacker do his worst to everyone of the posted websites in retaliation. Essentially, sweet revenge. I am joking here, although it is tempting. Other LED members might be able to suggest internet services that would help your situation. Discontinue having a Bulletin Board service, and find another avenue (advertising offline in magazines, advertising at other websites, etc) Sounds rather extreme, however the time you are spending unsuccessfully to counter these parties could be spent elsewhere with a better ROI. Since your website won't be supplying them traffic, they will go onto other victims. After several months, try offering your bulletin board service. again. In any case, I would find another web host. Regards, George Foss, retired webmaster (internetnutrition.com from 1997 to 2002) ------------------------------------------------------- The LED Digest is sponsored by pair Networks: pair.com for Hosting | pairNIC.com for Domains Copyright 1995-2006 Orange Wheel, LLC. All Rights Reserved. ----------------------------------------------------------------- "Use only that which works, and take it from any place you can find it." - Bruce Lee |
