Ads on user profiles

February 9, 2006 4:00 PM

Has anyone ever been propositioned to put ads on their Mefi profile page? I was shocked. Well, not really. (mi)
posted by mrgrimm to MetaFilter-Related at 4:00 PM (3 comments total)

I got this message below at my Mefi email address yesterday. Has anyone else been propositioned by Solotus? Is anyone already a shill? There may already be Mefi tricks to avoid such marketing tactics ... if so, clue me in.

Hi,

My name is Grant and I'm a website analyst for Solotus, a specialized search marketing company. I apologize for having to contact you out of the blue, so I will try to be as succinct as possible as to why I'm contacting you.

We have a client in the poker business who we are currently assisting with their marketing. I saw on your work blog that you were a poker player yourself and thus may be receptive to what we have to say, as our client has an educational poker site that teaches players how to play solid poker. Instead of mass marketing, we like to target smart traffic.

We're looking for poker players that would be willing to send traffic through their websites through non-banner links. I realize your company blog is a long shot for placement, but would still like to ask. In the likely event that it is not possible, we would also be willing to work with you for space on your Mefi profile. We see ourselves liking Mefi traffic and think you make intelligent posts that would attract what we are looking for. Given your interest in poker, we would think that you would especially have good comments about poker related news.

Anyhow, we realize our requests are sometimes peculiar, so we do pay well for your assistance and are very flexible in accommodating your needs and answering any questions you may have. If you are interested in our proposal, simply reply that you are and I will fill you in on the details.

Thank you *very* much for your time Peter, I really appreciate it and hope to hear back from you.

Grant
Solotus Consulting
posted by mrgrimm at 4:02 PM on February 9, 2006

see here
posted by puke & cry at 4:04 PM on February 9, 2006

It was covered here yesterday.

"Grant" says he only emailed two users, but don't worry, I've blocked the account they were using and added nofollow tags to any link on a userpage, so search engine scammers will not bother you in the future.
posted by mathowie (staff) at 4:05 PM on February 9, 2006