An open letter to link spammers

If you use Google, you've doubtless inhaled a new form of Internet pollution that I'll call Link Spam. It consists of pseudo-reference sites, painstakingly constructed by writers-for-hire, all with the objective of fooling Google into serving them up as the answer to your web search. The sites look amazingly real, and often are very nicely designed, but their content leaves you with a feeling that you've seen it before.

And you have! Because the writers usually crib from all the honest-to-goodness websites that good people have poured all their energy into writing and creating. Problem is, you often can't find these real sites anymore, because the smog of Link Bait has crept into every Internet nook and cranny. Worse, the phony sites are often better at gaming Google's search technology.

Anyhow, I thought I was thoroughly jaded by Link Spammers... until yesterday. That's when I received an email that pushed me over the edge. I was amazed, enraged, agog at their chutzpah. I gotta share it.

I'll let our exchange speak for itself.

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-----Original Message---
From: Annie Lee
Sent: Friday, January 06, 2012 11:54 AM
Subject: Question regarding the Resources section to www.wine-people.com

Hello there,

I understand that this may seem out of the blue but I wanted to compliment you in all the hard work that you had put into this website! My name is Annie and I am a Library Assistant for [I'm blanking the name here in case it's actually legit.] Book Club.

Our club primarily focuses on classic literature but recently, there has been a craze for health foods and benefits. I'm not sure if it's because of the Biggest Loser (probably) but we try to talk about different health tidbits that we run into. I've been doing research on wine too when I came across your website and I think your research page is awesome! Throughout my research though, I found a page that combined both health and wine! ( http://www.wineclub.org/2011/12/health-benefits-of-wine/) I knew that wine was good for you (granted, it is consumed moderately) but I didn't realize how many health benefits it had! I think it would make a great resource for your website and I hope it helps people change their views on wine in the long run. Please let me know if you think my suggestion is something that you would like to add to your resources page!

Thank you so much for taking the time to read my e-mail. Please let me know if there's anything else I can help you out with! Hope you have a good start to the new year!

Sincerely,
Annie Lee

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MY REPLY:

Sent: Friday, January 06, 2012 3:54 PM
To: 'Annie Lee'
Subject: RE: Question regarding the Resources section to www.wine-people.com

Many thanks for your kind words about wine-people.com, Annie. I actually don’t have a research page and have little to say about health on this website, so I’m a bit mystified by your comment, but I’m glad you found my work informative.

I did take a look at the page you recommended – wineclub.org aka Wine Love.

It’s attractively designed, but to be frank, I wasn’t that impressed with its content. It all kind of reads like it was hastily written by one person who is new to the subject. I also noticed that about a third of its screen real estate is occupied by banners and sidebars for one and only one client, [a wine-of-the-month club] and that the site makes use of Google Analytics in a fairly sophisticated way. All of this leaves me with the strong suspicion that wineclub.org was created by a web-placement agency to serve as link bait. Wineclub.org would therefore not have qualified for my links page.

In any case, Wine People has been in mothballs for quite some time, and I couldn’t post a link even if I wanted to. When you visited, you may have noticed the last post was made two years ago. I keep Wine People going strictly as a reference and as a courtesy for the wine folks I interviewed.

I wish you a very happy and healthy New Year and thank you again for your interest in wine-people.com.

Thanks again, Arthur P. Johnson

P.S. Feel free to email me again about my new website, http://techtakes.net

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DISCLAIMER: I haven't heard back from Annie. Her email was so artful in its flattery that even I almost believed it for a few minutes. I'm still stunned by the amount of sheer grunt work that must have gone into writing wineclub.org. I leave open the possibility that it may actually be legit, and of course I'd love to hear from anyone who has received similar-sounding emails.