The world has come to a funny point wherein some people will try to sell you anything. Literally anything. Even those things that you already own. Yes, i know it’s funny, but a recent incident from a premium domain name seller certainly proves my point.

It so happened that a so-called premium domain seller company recently sent me a mail regarding a domain “negar-khan.com”. At first my impression was, well that’s a nice domain, but two seconds later, i was shocked and realized that i am the actual owner of this domain, anyways. The domain is for an actress and a model called Negar Khan. I guess she needs a little introduction as she is pretty famous already, because of her film career, television appearances, modeling and modeling incidents. Anyways, the point is how can this domain company list my domain for sale, without any rights or without any kinda ownership. I am still wondering how will they go ahead with the transaction if someone actually does buy the domain from their website.

I ain’t pointing fingers at this hour. Maybe it’s a mistake, maybe they previously held the domain and somehow forgot renewing it, or maybe it could really be a scam. I really don’t know. I guess i really had to inform you all about this incident, maybe because if it wasn’t for this domain and if had been a mailed about some other domain like abcd.com, then i could have fallen for such thing. I could have paid the domain seller an amount of $200 as mentioned on the site. And really got nothing. So in true sense, a heads up for all of you who deal in domains market.

I stick the point again that i ain’t blaming this company as on now, until i know the facts clearly. But thinking about it, first of all this company sends me emails without my consent. I never asked for offers or signed in for any such promotions. So basically they are using my email address without my consent. Secondly they are offering my domain for sale without ownership and again without my consent. You know what, i think i am going to sue this company now. What do you say?

Just in case if i am asked for proof in the future if such thing actually happened, well here are some screenshots to hold my story:

(Click on thumbnails for full sized image)

As for tips, i guess it’s best to check who is records for the domain from DomainTools. Any suspicion or irregularities in the data is worth inquiring about. And it would be pretty cool if you do not buy a domain just for pagerank. Remember my words “Pagerank: Here today, Gone tomorrow”. I don’t know why i am mentioning Google pagerank here, but i guess i just had to bring it up someway or the other.

I am actually disappointed by the techniques people use for link exchange and stuff. Firstly, i don’t believe much in link exchange, yet i constantly get emails regarding the same. The most irritating thing is that all emails have the common tag line that says “We found you website on net and we see it as a highly related niche. We would request a link exchange and we have added your link already to our site. We expect the same from you”. Huh? Firstly, these people should notice that sites like AllyDirectory and few others do not have a single homepage or a sitewide link. So it should be a complete waste of effort mailing such sites. Secondly, when i check their sites, it turns out that both the sites have no relation by far. For my directories, sometime i get emails from fishing based sites, some from golf, some from Malaga travel and so on. Frankly, i am very disappointed with them.

However, this time around i got a unique email for the link exchange which actually made me very very angry.

Here is the copy of the mail:

Hello,

Recently I visited your website AllyDirectory.com ; while visiting your site I noticed that you link to WebDe.biz at this address: (Had the AllyDirectory’s link here). As we are closely related to them, I would love to exchange links with your website, currently there are about 5,000 – 7,000 people per day that go to my site and search for information, Therefore I would to link to an excellent site like yours.

I have taken the liberty of adding your site to my home page: (His Site’s Address) to determine if it is of any benefit to you, if you have a stats program you can check it and let me know. By looking at my stats, it looks like today I have sent you 33 visitors but it may change by the time you receive this email.

Some website owners do not like when other sites link to them so I thought I might ask first. I think the information on your website could be useful to my visitors; and maybe you could receive some extra relevant traffic if you want. Please get back to me when you have a chance to let me know if its ok to link to your website like this.

Have a good week,

Mark (Cannot reveal his full name as i respect his privacy)

The mail technique is surely very unique. But hell no. I haven’t had such stupid mail in long time. Firstly, AllyDirectory and WebDe are both sites owned by me. So his relation technique failed miserably. Secondly 5000-7000 visitors a day, well i had a in depth look at the forum and honestly, i do think he meant 500-700 visitors. Then he says i sent you 33 visitors, well i use awstats and webalizer and i didn’t receive a single visitor from that site. So another failure in the technique. Amazingly in the same mail he contradicts his own sating. First he says that i have taken the liberty to add you link to my forum And in next paragraph he says that some website owners do not appreciate linking this way, so he thoughth he might ask me first. Lol. Please, some one pinch me as i cannot believe this stuff.

What really fumed me is that the concerned site of his is actually a poker forum. That’s right. A gambling forum. And my Ally Directory is right up there, linked sitewide from his forum and that too without a “no follow” attribute. How can someone do this to me, specially when we have never talked even. Now you all know Google. Their stupid algorithms and bots are going to visit that poker forum, see my link over there and penalize me for purchasing link on that forum. nd a link to a good site, from a gambling site is never good. They are considered bad neighbours. Another problem is, that i received the mail on 4th March. Very likely the link was added on the same day. Ten minutes after receiving the mail, i replied him back, politely refusing for the link exchange and requesting him to remove Ally Directory‘s link from his forum. After 48 hours i still see my link there

I am not sure what to say. Sometime i do feel powerless because of such marketing techniques. Google already has made our life pretty miserable. Last i wanted to see were guys like these. Shame on people who use such techniques for their success and killing my site in the process.

I am really really pissed off with Google. And frankly, i had enough from them. So i am taking out my frustration in here. Coz in any case, if i talk to google, all my talks are going to fall on deaf ears.

For those of who know me as a webmaster. I have four major directories. I do not have much Adsense income and really rely on my directories for my needs. Consider these directories to be my source of bread and butter. About these four directories,  AllyDirectory is the top most but other than that i really love to work on Strongest-Directory.com, XHII.com and TopDirectoryList.Org. I have  built these directories from scratch. Never sold a sitewide or any link. And i just charge for a normal listing, that being the review price. And believe me, these four directories are pretty good. In fact better than million crappy directories that come up everyday.

But you know what. Google just penalized one of these directories. Why? Google knows!

I am really tired of Google right now.And i really want to say lot of small little nice words at the moment. But this blog is supposed to family friendly, so i am just containing my anger for the moment. But you should know, if something happens to me, or if die of hunger someday, blame Google for it. And not me, there are many webmasters who feels the same way.

Directories are websites that really became popular few years back. But as we know it, popularity attracts lot more webmasters. So there came hundreds of directories on daily basis.  But 99% of them are crappy. Useless and a simple way to earn money. On the other hand, we webmasters who really worked on our directories gets insulted by Google, stripped off our pageranks and lose all our rankings. Why? Because Google can’t differentiate good from bad. Because Google lacks the basic knowledge of directories. Why it’s own directory is a copy of DMOZ. And still they go around penalizing most for duplicate content. Huh!

I did discuss these issues with some fellow webmasters. And you would have to believe one thing that everyone said. Google is a monster who wants to be fed with money every single moment. They have and will go to any limits, to make every single webmaster to advertise using Adwords and publish via Adsense.  They don’t give a damn about your life. They don’t care if you are a human being and working hard. They just want money, money and money even if they have to lay thier wall on a webmaster’s grave!

I am sorry but i really think this is very unfair. Had i been rich i would have definitely taught Google some lessons, in some way or the other. And i am almost sure that my blog is going to disappear from Google search engine after few days when someone from Google reads this post. You know, they love to crush every voice that comes up against them. They love to hide thier mistakes. So this next Pagerank update, if all my directories are stripped of ranking and pageranks and if my personal blogs is treated in same way, then you all should know, what exactly happened!

Ah! That feels good. I really needed to take out this frustration, anger, etc. And sorry if you found it boring!

Wonder why?

Well here goes the simple explanation. I am kinda privileged customer as i have hundreds of domain at GoDaddy.com, which many of you might be knowing, is a leading domain registrar. Since i have signed for hot deals and discount coupons from GoDaddy, i often receive their mail with the discount coupons. But this time around, probably a typo or non-deliberate mistake made them look a little foolish

Here is the part of mail i got:

“Save on the products YOU want! Whether you’re just getting started on the Web or want to make your existing site even better, GoDaddy.com has everything you need — including 24/7 service and support that’s second to none. If you act now, you’ll save even more off our already low prices!

Don’t miss your chance to SAVE 15% on your order!* Visit GoDaddy.com today or call (GoDaddy’s number) and use source code *********  to take advantage of this exclusive post-game deal. This special offer expires February 14, 2008, so act now!”

I am sorry. But did they say the year 2008. Oh yes they did. And in that case, i can’t act now as i am already an year too late.

I really wanted to buy some domains today. But i guess i will have to wait till GoDaddy rectify this error. As even the coupon ain’t working.

By the way, this is not an abuse or anything. I just found it to be a good humor for today. I am sure everyone including GoDaddy staff will take it in a supportive way. I know such typos/mistakes happen and can happen to anyone, anywhere, anytime. It’s just that big companies are least expected to commit such errors

I got up early, switched on television an hour later, while having a nice cup of morning coffee! Pretty excited about yesterday’s news of cricket match wherein India beat SriLanka which was a comprehensive win. And then i heard the news that the fuel prices got slashed. Petrol got cheaper by INR 5.00 and diesel got cheaper by INR 2.00. Even LPG cyclinders got a price cut of INR 25. Now that’s a good news for everyone. Even for me. But still i felt bad. Very bad.

Reason being that i own two cars. One petrol based and one diesel based. And i got their fuel tanks filled up, right up to the brim, yesterday morning. Damn! Only if i had knew i would have waited for another day. There was really no urgency. But…my bad luck!!

Moral of the Story: Keep up with the latest news and save some pennies!