What If We Turn The Tables On Google

[Killer Joe]

I'm just thinking out loud here, but we're intelligent Internet Marketers and as a group we know as much about manipulating the internet as anybody.

Now I have no idea if this will work or not, this whole thing is too new to me to have gotten a handle on it. I've read most of the posts on this subject so if this has been covered in detail, my appologies.

It seems to me that an opportunity to create a 'long sales letter' type of 'corporate comment', the kind that sticks to the top of the comment list, is a good work-around for this dilema.

If a given page has a predetemined length to it as most do now, then filling up the entire comments area with your CC should limit the amount of space that can be used for abusive or spamatic comments.

So in essence, we would now be taking advantage of additional VRE that we could use to promote ourselves and our websites.

If we can, and I know we can, include videos in that section then that brings up another possibility if that bandwith is now sponsered by Google. Who doesn't want free video bandwith?

So the questions I would like to know the answers to are:

Is there a space/character/line limitation on the first (corporate) comment?

Can those Google comments run past the end of the webpage?

Will Google allow corporate promos in that space?

If the answers are NO, NO, Yes, then I know what strategy I will most likely adopt for the present. And that is to create full page promos for my sites.

Any thoughts?

KJ

[WritingMadwoman]

I thought about doing this, but from what I can tell the comments are shortened to just a few lines and you have to click "next" (or "read more", can't remember the exact wording). So no matter how long you make your comments, they'll abbreviate it and still show other comments below yours.

I would love to find a way to somehow manipulate the appearance of this thing though, maybe others have some good ideas.

Wendy

[Tsnyder]

Just a thought... If you find a way this probably isn't the
best place to talk about it. I think the folks at Google know
how to use Google... this thread will appear on the first
page for the right keywords...

So... if you devise a strategy that actually works it won't
take them long to find it and implement counter measures.

Tsnyder

[TheRichJerksNet]

Joe,
Remember though the comments also have sorting and you can send links to anybody about a "specific" post ... So spammer comments your site and sends it to his 100,000,000 spam mail list that he ripped from a warez group ...

James

[Killer Joe]

Originally Posted by Tsnyder

Just a thought... If you find a way this probably isn't the best place to talk about it. I think the folks at Google know how to use Google... this thread will appear on the first page for the right keywords...

So... if you devise a strategy that actually works it won't
take them long to find it and implement counter measures.

Tsnyder

I hear what your saying, but G seems to be hard on a path of its' own without much concern for what we want or do.

And...if they can read this thread they can all the rest. Not only here, but webwide.

And, if I/we do implement it they are going to find that out, as well.

I'm not sure silence is our best course of action here.

KJ

[TheRichJerksNet]

Originally Posted by Killer Joe

I hear what your saying, but G seems to be hard on a path of its' own without much concren for what we want or do.

And...if they can read this thread they can all the rest. Not only here, but webwide.

And, if I/we do implement it they are going to find that out, as well.

I'm not sure silence is our best course of action here.

KJ

I 100% agree there ... I added the complaint link to my forum and gave a tweet about it ...

We must stand up for our rights, otherwise others besides google will take more and more rights away from us...

Frankly I am with Dan on this one, I am tired of being pushed around by some oversized filthy rich company just because they think they can do it ..

James

[Killer Joe]

Originally Posted by TheRichJerksNet

Joe,
Remember though the comments also have sorting and you can send links to anybody about a "specific" post ... So spammer comments your site and sends it to his 100,000,000 spam mail list that he ripped from a warez group ...

James

James,

OK, I can understand taking a deep breath before I clam down, I've been doing that for over 40 years , but I'm not sure what you just told me.

If you care to elaborate, I'm all ears. I'm really trying to get a handle on this thing, and so far I don't like what I see.

So how will your scenario affect my site if you don't mind schooling me a little here.

Thanks,

KJ

[Dan C. Rinnert]

Originally Posted by TheRichJerksNet

Joe,
Remember though the comments also have sorting and you can send links to anybody about a "specific" post ... So spammer comments your site and sends it to his 100,000,000 spam mail list that he ripped from a warez group ...

James

What about frame busting code? Wouldn't that break your website out of the frame Google sticks you in?

[TheRichJerksNet]

Joe,
What I mean is this...

I go to your site and make a comment - "I say joe is a scam and a cheat and he does not deliver as he promised"

Now after I post I click on send link to twitter, send link to facebook, and send link to email (I email myself the direct link to that comment). Now I go grab up a spam mail list from anyplace and I toss that spam list into my email system and I add the link to a message and click on blast spam...

You may have your corp message on TOP but now all these people have a direct link to this actual comment which is hosted on google and they can all see my comment nomatter how long your corp message is..

James

[TheRichJerksNet]

Originally Posted by Dan C. Rinnert

What about frame busting code? Wouldn't that break your website out of the frame Google sticks you in?

No Dan will not work ... Remember the "TOOLBAR" has a wiki open box.. Besides that its not really a iframe, it looks like it but there is only one iframe and that is inside the code...

Your site is not in a iframe at all unless someone actually visits the "google" url and you can not control what is on google's server...

James

[WritingMadwoman]

Here's something interesting I just found on Squidoo's sidewiki. (Image below) The first entry appears to be pulled from a blog post (I remember someone reading that they might be doing that to help fill in the comments when there aren't yet many actual comments from people). The second is from Squidoo I guess.

What I wondered is if we added several corporate messages and kept them just short enough that they wouldn't be abbreviated, and . . . ahem . . . gave them plenty of weight by approving them to death, all other less weighty (i.e. less desirable) comments might sink below the fold so to speak?

Though James brought up a good point about spammers being able to give plenty of weight to their comments. But still . . .

Wendy

[Tsnyder]

Originally Posted by Killer Joe

I hear what your saying, but G seems to be hard on a path of its' own without much concren for what we want or do.

And...if they can read this thread they can all the rest. Not only here, but webwide.

And, if I/we do implement it they are going to find that out, as well.

I'm not sure silence is our best course of action here.

KJ

Who said anything about silence? Surely there are ways
and places that afford groups of people the opportunity to
discuss things that aren't accessible to google.

And... you're right... as soon as you implement a counter measure
they will counter that so what's the point?

tecHead probably offered the best answer in the other thread...
program your site to sniff out the toolbar and redirect them to
a secure page.

I know we shouldn't have to do that but what difference does that make?

Tsnyder

[TheRichJerksNet]

Joe (and anyone else that cares to listen),
I will give you my best advice for something of this nature...

Post your corp message if you choose to do so. But also using services such as Authenticated Testimonials <--- I know this is not talked about much but this can prove your testimonials are "REAL" ,with bad comments from unkown and unverified people this may help thos possible visits understand how trustworthy you are...

Is that site free ... well first 2 are but then gets a little expensive.

Point is though fight bad comments with true and real verified testimonials may be a good option for some.

Keep in mind even using SSL, google could very well unlock that as all this content is on their servers not yours. So you may waste $1,000's on SSL for no reason..

James

[Killer Joe]

Originally Posted by Tsnyder

tecHead probably offered the best answer in the other thread...program your site to sniff out the toolbar and redirect them to a secure page.

Tsnyder

OK, thanks for that, I'll have to go back and read/understand tecHeads' post.

And... you're right... as soon as you implement a counter measure they will counter that so what's the point?

This presupposes G's geeks haven't thought this through.

In all reality we may just be seeing the skin on the pig without getting to taste the meat on this issue. There could be some other reason G is implementing this, and although at this stage of the game it eludes me as to what if any hidden agenda will surface, I'm having trouble justifing this as a stand alone app.

I guess we'll see...

KJ

[George Wright]

Originally Posted by Killer Joe

I'm having trouble justifing this as a stand alone app.

I guess we'll see...

KJ

Well, Here you go Killer Joe,

Your statement struck like lightening. Ya know how the Internet levels the playing field and all that. Little guys can compete with big guys, yada yada yada.

Now, there has not been a lot of talk about this in the past year or so, however I remember back when a common forum topic was the big Corporations taking over the Internet and acing out the little guys.

Now the big guys can pay to opt out even if it cost a million dollars. A million a year and even more is just a cool little tax write off for Coca Cola, General Motors etc.

On Google's side wiki page they say "currently there is no way to opt out." I bet if someone offered them a million a year to figure it out it would be done tomorrow. Multiply that by all the big corporations and businesses and they will provide that "opt out service."

Now, when the big companies buy adwords to be placed on sidewiki, we are stuck with Google ads and spam comments and the big corporations and other companies who can pay to opt out have nice clean spam free sites.

Oh, and if the big guys want to use sidewiki to their advantage they simply pay big bucks to moderate and edit the comments and leave them on thier sites. Either way money talks and wiki walks.

You know in my whole life I've never talked about any kind of conspiracies before. It's not my nature. This is so out of character for me.

I usually don't like the law makers to get involved with the Internet, in this case, there ought to be a law.

If there is a bright side to this at all it is that the spam comments on side wiki will probably be so common that most people will become wiki blind like they are now banner blind. Who really notices the ads inside each and every google mail.

Another bright side might be that after a while people will want to see the whole screen view and simply turn the thing off.

Remember frames. People hated frames. Even though side wiki is not a frame it looks just like one.

George Wright

[Killer Joe]

George,

AT&T is suing Google over net neutrality. I can't imagine this stunt will be left off the table even though it has nothing to do with the case.

This will be like watching your mother-in-law duke it out with your wife's new boyfriend for me.

I'm not sure I like either of those companies all that much at this point in time...

KJ

[Dan C. Rinnert]

Originally Posted by Killer Joe

AT&T is suing Google over net neutrality. I can't imagine this stunt will be left off the table even though it has nothing to do with the case.

Especially since AT&T has a website.

[pcpupil]

What if someone was to take a whole load of articles,PLR that you purchased.
Put it into your auto responder or auto blog,or whatever you guys call it.
Then just have it loaded to the wikisidebar every 4 hrs,8,or whatever and just keep the wiki thing loading itself up so noone can even post.
Would it give you any link juice also.
Im still new at this.
Matt

[timpears]

So can I ask a dumb question? What is to stop a slew of people from using the tool to leave comments on all of Google's pages? Give them a taste of what we are all afraid of, a lot of vicious SPAM comments in their own tool, along side of their own pages.
.
I see two possible outcomes to that scenario. 1. They will shut this project down. 2. They will find a way to disallow the comments on their site, and I would think that some bright person will be able to reverse engineer it.