Comments on: SEO heaven

SEO heaven

madamjujujive — Wed, 16 May 2007 23:20:46 -0800

Is a domain an acceptable user name? Seems like it would be a perfectly good name without the .com on the end.

By: Jimbob

Jimbob — Wed, 16 May 2007 23:26:11 -0800

He ain't the only one and I've never heard anyone complain about her...

By: puke & cry

puke & cry — Wed, 16 May 2007 23:27:31 -0800

Sure. This guy does seem pretty shady though.

By: necessitas

necessitas — Wed, 16 May 2007 23:31:18 -0800

I'd be ok with the .com name if the profile didn't read like an ad. At least his participation seems legit even if his profile is over the top.

By: Mitheral

Mitheral — Wed, 16 May 2007 23:34:52 -0800

Also.

By: dg

dg — Wed, 16 May 2007 23:41:40 -0800

Often, people who run their own business have trouble separating work from play, especially when play is so closely related to work. Seems pretty much like the case here, to me. The user profile reading like an ad might be what throws things off here - fortunately, user pages are not indexed, so there is no advantage to the user in having his company info or domain there.

Would there be a significant advantage in having the user name appear on thread pages all over the place? Would it matter if the content of the pages was related to the content on the user's site? That could be good or bad, depending on the content of the threads in question.

By: madamjujujive

madamjujujive — Wed, 16 May 2007 23:51:25 -0800

hmm. I don't know why I never noted that on the other user names, both of which I have seen. Maybe because they never seemed commercial, and as you noted, dg, this person has a pitch on the user page. Let me be clear, I am not attributing any malice. Maybe domains don't count as "links back" in the search engines, but I was under the impression they did.

By: dg

dg — Thu, 17 May 2007 00:01:22 -0800

Well, the link on the thread page from the user name would go to the user page, which is not indexed, so I imagine the benefit would be negligible, but I am hardly an expert on this. I should probably just shut up until someone who is an expert wakes up.

On general principles, it would be a shame to have user names restricted, because the weird names are part of the charm here, I think. Although I remember the kerfuffle when ( . ) ( . ) joined, because people couldn't figure out how to pronounce it in their heads.

By: Jimbob

Jimbob — Thu, 17 May 2007 00:04:46 -0800

"Knockers". You pronounce it "Knockers".

By: UbuRoivas

UbuRoivas — Thu, 17 May 2007 00:28:59 -0800

Well, I dunno, madamjujujive.

After all, your activity here seems to be little more than a thinly-veiled attempt to direct business to your rag & bone shop.

By: stavrosthewonderchicken

stavrosthewonderchicken — Thu, 17 May 2007 00:44:22 -0800

There have been quite a few people over the years who have done this. One of the first I noticed like 6 years ago was tpoh.org. I always thought it was a bit dodgy to use your url as your username, but oh well.

This new fellow might be all about self-promotion, but it's too early to tell. Stock up on the torches and pitchforks, just in case.

Regardless, his thread was crap. I would like to reiterate my request for a flagging reason that basically says 'OK, this is just lame'.

By: Mitheral

Mitheral — Thu, 17 May 2007 00:54:06 -0800

"Breaks the guidelines" stavrosthewonderchicken.

By: dg

dg — Thu, 17 May 2007 01:09:38 -0800

Where's the fun in that?

By: stavrosthewonderchicken

stavrosthewonderchicken — Thu, 17 May 2007 01:29:43 -0800

That's what I use(d), of course. Totally unsatisfying.

By: Malor

Malor — Thu, 17 May 2007 01:32:02 -0800

Very, very shady.

By: maxwelton

maxwelton — Thu, 17 May 2007 01:40:54 -0800

I have no problem with the user name. With that, I remain sincerely yours,

i-read-a-book-about-web-promo-and-im-going-to-be-rich.com

By: Many bubbles

Many bubbles — Thu, 17 May 2007 02:21:27 -0800

I think it's going to have the unintended consequence of making chum out of the search results for that domain. The more he comments (especially on popular posts), the more Metafilter results will show up, eventually pushing down the actual site he has.

By: hoverboards don't work on water

hoverboards don't work on water — Thu, 17 May 2007 02:30:14 -0800

So will this domain get Google-credit for being mentioned on MetaFilter, even though it was linked to a different URL?

By: Ethereal Bligh

Ethereal Bligh — Thu, 17 May 2007 02:31:18 -0800

We basically talked about this before with someone whose username was some kind of product and their userpage was about the product. I was hostile to them, but the admin response was that this was fine up to and until they started self-linking or being a nuisance.

By: amberglow

amberglow — Thu, 17 May 2007 03:01:06 -0800

sure it's ok--why not?

we have brandnames as usernames, real names as usernames, celeb names as usernames, ...

By: infini

infini — Thu, 17 May 2007 04:07:15 -0800

I'd be ok with the .com name if the profile didn't read like an ad. At least his participation seems legit even if his profile is over the top.
posted by necessitas at 11:31 PM on May 16 [+]
[!]

Imho, neither defending or attacking this, but throwing in my 2 rupees worth, possibly he's just taken the whole web 2.0 collaborative social networking gooey goodness literally and done what any noob in today's web world would - put his USD 5 down [approx Rupees 250.00] and linked to his work page. I'm guessing sheer ignorance of "netiquette" than any malicious intent here. Most of us post from home or during leisure, but that kind of bandwidth isn't that common in India and could just be surfing at work, trying to blog, putting toe in the water kind of thing.

I could be wrong of course, in which case you're welcome to come back and flame me ;p

By: BeerFilter

BeerFilter — Thu, 17 May 2007 04:52:03 -0800

I should have totally put the .com in my username.

By: Lentrohamsanin

Lentrohamsanin — Thu, 17 May 2007 04:52:12 -0800

Most of us post from home or during leisure

BWAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!

That is to say: yes, I think you're wrong on this part. Most of the userbase is in the States, and the site appears to be most active during daytime business hours here.

By: cillit bang

cillit bang — Thu, 17 May 2007 04:52:20 -0800

we have brandnames as usernames, real names as usernames, celeb names as usernames, ...

dance crazes as usernames, ...

By: breezeway

breezeway — Thu, 17 May 2007 05:07:11 -0800

Architectural features, too.

By: infini

infini — Thu, 17 May 2007 05:08:37 -0800

That is to say: yes, I think you're wrong on this part. Most of the userbase is in the States, and the site appears to be most active during daytime business hours here.
posted by Lentrohamsanin 14 minutes ago

er.. I live in San Francisco

By: Lentrohamsanin

Lentrohamsanin — Thu, 17 May 2007 05:21:59 -0800

er.. I live in San Francisco

I don't see how that changes my point.

By: infini

infini — Thu, 17 May 2007 05:32:29 -0800

maybe I'm not too good at your language yet, I don't understand the two points you make - that I might be wrong and that most users live in the US. How does this correlate to our discussion on the user with the URL based name who is based in Chennai, India, if you check his profile?

By: Item

Item — Thu, 17 May 2007 05:44:41 -0800

Could all this be settled if we invited the user in question to this thread to explain themselves ? They could even post a link to their services , so readers could then get a visual example of what they're all about space space space ! Example of a " link " :

http://www.webpagesthatsuck.com/dailysucker/

Surely this would all end well and good then
space
space
space

wait for it...

!

By: smackfu

smackfu — Thu, 17 May 2007 05:53:00 -0800

Why would Google pay special attention to a non-linked domain name?

By: Blazecock Pileon

Blazecock Pileon — Thu, 17 May 2007 06:07:15 -0800

Blazecock.com was already registered, surprisingly.

By: The Deej

The Deej — Thu, 17 May 2007 06:17:52 -0800

This user's name is the same as her website address.

And I almost made mine the same, but I decided not to use my real name for MeFi.

By: cortex

cortex — Thu, 17 May 2007 06:25:55 -0800

Yeah, without corresponding bad behavior, I'm not sure what the big deal is.

By: jessamyn

jessamyn — Thu, 17 May 2007 06:29:44 -0800

I did the URL as username wihtout the dotcom on it and I have to say it's worked out okay for me so far. If the user turns out to be a lameo spammer, they'll wind up out of here for those reasons anyhow.

By: klangklangston

klangklangston — Thu, 17 May 2007 06:38:19 -0800

"Regardless, his thread was crap. I would like to reiterate my request for a flagging reason that basically says 'OK, this is just lame'."

Noise, man. No signal=noise.

By: madamjujujive

madamjujujive — Thu, 17 May 2007 07:07:29 -0800

I did the URL as username wihtout the dotcom on it
Well the .com is indeed my point. I would guess there are a lot of users here with a user name that is the same name they use for their website, but it isn't readily apparent. We make a big deal out of no self promotion and no self linking on the blue, and this seemed to me to be a bad precedent in that direction. I'm not questioning anyone's integrity or intent here, it's just a policy question.

But I get the point, with more than 50,000 user names, if it hasn't been a problem yet, then I guess it's a non-issue.

Here's my Emily Litella voice: never mind.

By: quonsar

quonsar — Thu, 17 May 2007 07:11:48 -0800

EMILYLITELLA.COM

By: ORthey

ORthey — Thu, 17 May 2007 07:43:15 -0800

This strikes me as a great opportunity for all us MeFites who have never done so to see if our usernames are also URLs!

I'll go:

By: chundo

chundo — Thu, 17 May 2007 08:02:51 -0800

He also favorites his own comments. Strange.

By: chundo

chundo — Thu, 17 May 2007 08:04:11 -0800

Here's mine. Apparently my business is link farming.

By: peacay

peacay — Thu, 17 May 2007 08:15:19 -0800

It is stealth marketing regardless of whether it provides googlejuice or not. Isn't the 'no self-linking' rule meant to stop shilling, self marketing and blatant commericalisation? Well then. *prods Emily with pointy stick* "Wake up!"
[personally speaking I've just never really liked them for aesthetic reasons which would be no reason to ban them of course]

By: cortex

cortex — Thu, 17 May 2007 08:37:07 -0800

Well, it's not really stealth marketing. Hell, it's hammer-over-the-head ObviousTown marketing. Makes it seem a little less insidious to me.

By: Divine_Wino

Divine_Wino — Thu, 17 May 2007 08:38:16 -0800

It's corny. Which is not a crime. Although (to borrow from the Mayor) when I am Stalin... Well, let's just say I hope he likes eating soup made out of mattress stuffing and losing toes to frostbite.

By: Otis

Otis — Thu, 17 May 2007 08:40:54 -0800

PHP? Bah. I shape the friggin' world we live in.

By: DevilsAdvocate

DevilsAdvocate — Thu, 17 May 2007 08:44:26 -0800

Isn't the 'no self-linking' rule

Since the username isn't actually a link to the domain, I don't think he's breaking the "no self-linking" rule. It's not a "no self-domain-naming" rule.

By: peacay

peacay — Thu, 17 May 2007 08:59:00 -0800

It may not be clickable but it is in fact a link. A written link. Or is the hairsplitting argument supposed to be that a URL is only a link when it is framed by the correct markup?
This is the equivalent of product placement in movies. It's getting eyeballs onto the site name to gain familiarity and recognition. I bet some people look these sites up just because they are in their field of vision. So yeah, cortex, you're probably right to say that it's overt and not stealth.

By: Skot

Skot — Thu, 17 May 2007 08:59:27 -0800

This was sort of an awesome way to find out that "skot.com" is owned by Bangbros.

By: nola

nola — Thu, 17 May 2007 09:36:20 -0800

Mine

By: IronLizard

IronLizard — Thu, 17 May 2007 09:45:54 -0800

I need to register a better domain to cash in on all this glorious self-linkage.

By: wendell

wendell — Thu, 17 May 2007 09:51:06 -0800

Wendell.com redirects to WendellAugust.com, makers of "unique American-made giftware", which is probably the only reason they outrank me on Google in searches for "wendell". I try to be Wendell wherever on the web I go, but if I don't sign up very early, I don't get it; so, I use WendellWit, which is my .com, but without the ".com".

IMO, adding the ".com" to your MeFi username is just tacky, and if tacky was not allowed here, the moderators would not be able to keep up.

sock-puppert.net is available. Just sayin'.

By: mr_crash_davis

mr_crash_davis — Thu, 17 May 2007 10:03:17 -0800

WTF is a sock puppert?

By: madamjujujive

madamjujujive — Thu, 17 May 2007 10:04:55 -0800

wendell, you've got to buy that company and take over this town and then you will own the Google returns. Look at nola - he owns a city! Get on it.

By: jacquilynne

jacquilynne — Thu, 17 May 2007 10:23:19 -0800

jacquilynne.com is a domain. It's my domain, mind you, so that came as no real surprise to me.

By: DevilsAdvocate

DevilsAdvocate — Thu, 17 May 2007 10:36:01 -0800

It may not be clickable but it is in fact a link. A written link.

"Email is in fact postal mail. Written on a computer instead of on paper, and without postage."

"Light is in fact sound. With electromagnetic waves instead of pressure waves."

"The Empire State Building is in fact a tomato. A tomato without skin and flesh and juice and seeds, and with lots of limestone and steel and glass."

Or is the hairsplitting argument supposed to be that a URL is only a link when it is framed by the correct markup?

That is precisely the argument, and deriding it as "hairsplitting" does not make it any less correct.

By: cortex

cortex — Thu, 17 May 2007 11:19:16 -0800

Man, cortex.com is lame. Here's a flickr screencap—the page itself doesn't have anything further to offer but popups.

By: quin

quin — Thu, 17 May 2007 11:32:01 -0800

Apparently I'm a link farmer as well.

By: smackfu

smackfu — Thu, 17 May 2007 12:18:37 -0800

I own my .com but foolishly passed up the .org.

By: grapefruitmoon

grapefruitmoon — Thu, 17 May 2007 12:35:48 -0800

Wow. grapefruitmoon dot com is the Ultimate Guide to What's On in Coventry and Warwickshire.

My mind, it is blown.

I was expecting a Tom Waits fanclub. Or porn. Or *shudder* both.

By: Skorgu

Skorgu — Thu, 17 May 2007 12:36:19 -0800

One one hand its sort of a skeevy vibe, but on the other it's probably a good early warning sign to be vigilant for some more nefarious purpose. I bought up all my .*s a while ago, it's nice having a unique name.

By: bobobox

bobobox — Thu, 17 May 2007 12:52:19 -0800

I've been keeping it pretty quiet but HEY, Bubbletext! Good for the Web & Mobile! Open to the World! (really just try it today...) check out this awesome Text Messaging Provider- #1 TEXT SERVICE in customer satisfaction!

By: Greg Nog

Greg Nog — Thu, 17 May 2007 13:28:15 -0800

Oh, wow! My username, followed by a dot com, is already a website! And it's run by some dude who looks just like me! And it seems to have stories about my life on it! This is kind of freaky.

By: IndigoRain

IndigoRain — Thu, 17 May 2007 13:38:50 -0800

I don't get it. IndigoRain.com Weirdo.

By: idest

idest — Thu, 17 May 2007 13:43:17 -0800

Huh. idest.com is kinda odd.

By: davy

davy — Thu, 17 May 2007 14:04:32 -0800

Is there a "Hitler"? Or a "Goliath"?

By: Mitheral

Mitheral — Thu, 17 May 2007 14:20:15 -0800

Greg Nog writes "And it seems to have stories about my life on it! This is kind of freaky."

OMG Stalker!

By: nerdcore

nerdcore — Thu, 17 May 2007 14:40:20 -0800

I am forever saddened that nerdcore.com is just parked.

By: kosem

kosem — Thu, 17 May 2007 15:16:59 -0800

What you need, when you need it.

By: champthom

champthom — Thu, 17 May 2007 15:17:32 -0800

Maybe they're pulling a Billy Witchdoctordotcom.

By: kosem

kosem — Thu, 17 May 2007 15:19:02 -0800

Not so fast, champthom. Loses meaning.

By: tellurian

tellurian — Thu, 17 May 2007 17:09:59 -0800

2 posts, 2 deletes. chrisranjana can't seem to take a trick. Maybe he's playing misere.
I'm a hoster and a human services provider.

By: stavrosthewonderchicken

stavrosthewonderchicken — Thu, 17 May 2007 17:33:30 -0800

wonderchicken.com is indeed mine. I figured there weren't that many wonderchickens around, so I could lose the stavrosthe part.

By: cortex

cortex — Thu, 17 May 2007 17:42:35 -0800

stavrosthe. would make a lovely subdomain, though.

By: maxwelton

maxwelton — Thu, 17 May 2007 18:28:24 -0800

I should change my user name to one of my many domains, I guess.

(I didn't use my professional name because, as cabinet member, former runway model, central African dictator, vice-president of a major software company, county sheriff and best-selling author I cannot risk having my real identity revealed.)

By: quonsar

quonsar — Thu, 17 May 2007 18:34:57 -0800

quonsar.com
quonsar.net
quonsar.org
quonsar.info

By: IronLizard

IronLizard — Thu, 17 May 2007 18:53:36 -0800

Nice monopoly you have there, quonsar.

By: The Deej

The Deej — Thu, 17 May 2007 18:56:30 -0800

quonsar.com
quonsar.net
quonsar.org
quonsar.info
posted by quonsar

webwhore

By: klangklangston

klangklangston — Thu, 17 May 2007 19:00:54 -0800

When I find time and money and sobriety, I'm gonna register quonsar.biz and .tv and that'll show you!

By: grapefruitmoon

grapefruitmoon — Thu, 17 May 2007 19:17:24 -0800

Apropos of nothing, but I figured this thread was as good as any: today when I was driving to work, I saw a car with the vanity plate "SMOCK" and laughed so hard I nearly hurt myself.

I was imaging the car as belonging to quonsar, who I imagine as being purple.

By: stavrosthewonderchicken

stavrosthewonderchicken — Thu, 17 May 2007 19:20:00 -0800

stavrosthe. would make a lovely subdomain, though.

Why the heck didn't I think of that? Dreamhost allows me unlimited subdomains, and I was thinking of playing around with building a personal aggregator thingy just to learn how, and wasn't sure where to put it.

Thank you, sir.

By: cortex

cortex — Thu, 17 May 2007 19:21:52 -0800

I'll bill you.

By: quonsar

quonsar — Thu, 17 May 2007 19:25:17 -0800

webwhore

nappy-headed webwhore to you.

By: The Deej

The Deej — Thu, 17 May 2007 19:43:51 -0800

HEY!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I am OFFENDED!!!!!!

I use Jheri curl

By: IronLizard

IronLizard — Thu, 17 May 2007 20:35:48 -0800

While we're on usernames, wtf is this? [FLASH]

By: meech

meech — Thu, 17 May 2007 20:47:03 -0800

You got problems with static electricity control (and who doesn't)? meech.com has the answer.

By: tellurian

tellurian — Thu, 17 May 2007 20:56:29 -0800

That was pretty neat IronLizard. So is his birdythingy.

By: IronLizard

IronLizard — Fri, 18 May 2007 00:03:15 -0800

I think the birdthingy was much cooler than the iron_lizard comic, but I may be biased.

By: davy

davy — Fri, 18 May 2007 08:41:17 -0800

I want to know all about Chia Pets.

By: Penks

Penks — Fri, 18 May 2007 09:19:12 -0800

Apparently I'm a restaurant. In London.

And I thought I was unique.

By: dhartung

dhartung — Fri, 18 May 2007 17:18:07 -0800

*sigh* I used to own my username dot com. It got lost during the chaos that was my unexpected ejection from the IT industry (I hear I wasn't the only one).

By: faster than a speeding bulette

faster than a speeding bulette — Fri, 18 May 2007 20:01:39 -0800

faster.com -- something about cars
than.com -- linkfarm
a.com -- reserved name
speeding.com -- linkfarm
bulette.com -- parked at Godaddy

Well, at least I'm still porn-free.