Squidoo "Spam" List Growing Out of Control

[TiffanyDow]

Okay I understand that spammy lenses get built and that they're not okay. Spammy as in "I provide ZERO value for the customer and ALL I do is smack you in the face with links."

It happens in a MILLION niches.

However, the Spam list of topics they don't allow anymore is getting outta control in my opinion. Now they've nixed anything on credit, mortgages, weight loss and diet, ringtones, etc.

But here's the kicker - Squidoo allows PORN.

The biggest damned spammer industry on the Internet!!

I don't get it.

I believe all lenses should be approved and put into a review queue. That way if it was nothing but spam, they could delete it or make the owner clean it up. Problem solved.

There's a reason stuff like weight loss is being built at a rapid page - MILLIONS of people are FAT and searching the Internet for information on how to solve it. Squidoo would be a perfect place to educate people and present them with solutions.

[Kalidasa]

A lot of marketers are teaching to use web 2.0 sites to promote their products now. They don't use Hub Pages though because they keep it off. I agree, Squidoo needs to do something similar.

[david smithson]

Yes i agree too squidoo needs too do something simliar

Didnt know they allowed porn but do now .....

With the spam issue but people would get around this some way ...


Every program on the the internet is vulnerable too spam if people can get into it ...which does happen sometimes

David

[Teo]

I haven't use squidoo since google dropped their rankings few years ago due to spam. I dont know if google still consider them as an authority site. i would suggest just using ezine articles instead

[TiffanyDow]

Originally Posted by Teo

I haven't use squidoo since google dropped their rankings few years ago due to spam. I dont know if google still consider them as an authority site. i would suggest just using ezine articles instead

That's wayyyyy old news. Squidoo corrected that right away - shut down iframes, etc.

[Jeremy Kelsall]

Well, I'm off to Squidoo to find some porn

Tiffany, I agree. The problem though is that too many people are pushing the limits and creating 30 lenses -- one for each keyword that they are targeting and basically adding no value whatsoever.

I imagine that they are just cutting off the ones where the problem is the most visible.

[TMG Enterprises]

I haven't been a Squid yet but was thinking about it. Do they have an easily found list of topics that they no longer allow?

Tina G

[capriliz]

Tina,

The list of "forbidden" topics can be found in this lens by Megan Casey.

SquidDon't!

[pyrmontvillage]

Agreed all lenses should be approved and put into a review queue. The Only Prob is, what is spam is again such a very subjective concept. I can see a lot of heat developing, where such a policy implemented.

[rmholla]

Tiff,

What have you got against porn? It's why Al Gore invented the internet!!! LOL

[thefluffanutta]

While porn lenses are allowed on Squidoo, they must be correctly rated as R or X, which means that they can only be viewed by other members. This has effectively closed the door on visitors going to these lenses.

[Andyhenry]

Why worry about it at all?

Squidoo is hardly the most effective way to market anything anyway - just let them do whatever they need to in order to protect their business and play by their rules or use other systems.

It's not like Squidoo is going to make the difference between your marketing being successful or not.

[TiffanyDow]

Originally Posted by Andyhenry

Why worry about it at all?

Squidoo is hardly the most effective way to market anything anyway - just let them do whatever they need to in order to protect their business and play by their rules or use other systems.

It's not like Squidoo is going to make the difference between your marketing being successful or not.

Oh it directly affects me because of my buildmylens business - a LOT of my customers need lenses on credit/debt, mortgages, weight loss, you name it. But I create good content, so it's not spammy.

Besides that I have some lenses on these topics myself and I make affiliate sales via ClickBank - so it's like shutting off an income stream.

Trust me, if I knew how to build my own Squidoo, I would.


PS - someone replied why do I have a problem with them having porn. I don't - I have a problem with them allowing porn but not allowing a lens on losing weight.

[queenofdreamers]

Since I am new at this game, and a new Squidoo member, I find this topic very interesting. I had no idea this was happening but can see how some of this has come about. So what can we do to protect our lenses? Can we do this with original content? At this time mine are for online dating, but....I would like to go into the fianancial world and its contents.

[strategic]

This is ridiculous if it is taken totally to the extreme.

The fun and scope of squidoo will be affected and the people that have just started once again investing their time and effort back into squidoo after the google slap will close the door on squidoo for good if it's not careful.

I'm the biggest fan on the planet of squidoo, especially since it allows IM's to create landing page lenses for their articles about affiliate niche subjects and pre-sell the visitors before the go to the sales site landing pages.

The subjects of diet / credit cards / mortgage etc. are valid and worthy of a place in the squidoo niches when they have genuine content.

And if squidoo is about to clamp down on any lenses that are "affiliate" based, they will do themselves out of 90% of their current and future dedicated lensmasters.

Let's hope that common sense and human being logic and approval/elimination systems come into place instead of a fell swoop that will just alienate people without cause.