G'day.

Now I'm not suggesting that Nic is in any way responsible for what I'm about to raise or that there is anything he should or could do about it. OK!

I see questions coming up on the forum that leave me wondering about what's going on. Questions like:

I’m new to the Internet and am planning to go in for a web-page / web-site for my small business. I know nothing about internet marketing and therefore would like someone to suggest me about internet marketing?

Hello,
I am new on this forum.
Anyone tell to me How Can I Increase my PR?
Thanks

Hi guys,
I saw lot of advertisements for different courses and stuff about how to make money on the net. However, I feel much of it is just fraud. Can anyone here give me some genuine tips on how a beginner can start or where to look for the correct information?
Thanks!

I am confuse with this thing can any one suggest me.

Please tell which is the best search engine GOOGLE for SEO?

I need some help for internet marketing. How can I market products online? I am a fresher and I require detailed knowledge about this. Can any one tell me some information about internet marketing?

Hello,
I know the basic concept of Pay-per-click (PPC) but not know the practical implementation of PPC.

Please give idea and practical implementation of PPC.

Thanks

And the questions go..........................

The questions have several common threads:

*  From new members who don't come back.

*  Coming from other than the perspective of a web builder or web business person.

*  Similar idiosyncrasies of language.

*  Similar question format.

*  School project websites in their signature.

So what's the go here? Are we being used up?

My best guess:

A school teacher of an internet business class, possibly in a developing country, where English is a second language, sets his class homework to hit various forums to pick people's brains for their school projects.

I think we're dealing with kids of age 14 to 18, here or maybe young adults.

Now it's good that students are learning to use the net for research. It wouldn't hurt them to research the current and archived posts and articles, asking questions about things they don't understand.

Some of you might think I'm a bit funny, but, you see, I don't like being lied to. I suppose you could say that that's about the only thing I have in common with our good friend Terminator.

The poor little kid who got both barrels from Lynn was only doing what the teacher said. He won't be game to tell the teacher of the reaction he got to his charade, so nothing will change.

So here's a suggestion for a way to create a better situation for everybody concerned:

Start a new section for school projects where kids can ask for direction as to where on the forum they'll find helpful information on their homework question. Then, when they've made an attempt to get their head around the information and discussed it with the teacher and class, they can ask sensible, specific questions, either in the open forum or in the school forum.

Of course, some of you may be quite happy to play along with the act. That would make all this a non issue.

Like I say, I think the above is the most likely explanation. But here's another:

As I get around the blog social network I find any number of blogs dealing with web marketing issues. Often, when I read the author's profile, it's obvious that English isn't their primary language and that they have very little understanding of web business or web building. Yet their posts, to which they put their name, are well written, good grammar, logically thought out, dot point form, answering real questions, though often old hat answers repeated millions of times already. Clearly plagiarism.

Are these people setting up forum members for some "original" content?

So, matte's excellent answer to one of those questions a week or so back: I wonder how many blogs that has been copied and pasted into. Same with some of Gypsy's well developed responses.

Ah well! That's life. No good getting up 'em. It's plagiarism.

Regards,
Laurie.

Nice rant Laurie

I like the idea of a section for kids doing research for school, even those in college.

The biggest problem the way I see it is that people come into these forums and just start asking questions without taking time to review the rules or the suggestions about doing a search first.

I am sure I am not alone in the fact that when I have a question I come here and do a search regarding my question. About 95% of the time I find the answer. Might have to read several threads to get answers that come up after my first question but then I have my answers quick and don't have to hope/wait for a reply.

1)  Oh, dear! Did that come over like I was ranting? I'll have to lighten up a bit.

2)  Copyright theft is pretty low but plagiarism is the pits.

Ya know, in recent days I've seen stuff on SR that has the appearance of having been copied and pasted from somewhere else; perhaps another forum or someone's blog. Only the one person, mind you. Getting a few posts up and getting some accolades from those who don't realize the information comes from a doubtful source. You can see the two versions of English sticking out like a sore thumb.

3)  If students would come clean about their identity/status, they'd get much better targeted help. Several regulars on SR have a heart for young people having a go and would be delighted to mentor them. But not in a context of deception, I wouldn't think.

Suppose the question was like this:

Hi.

I'm a high school student studying internet marketing as part of my HSC (Higher School Certificate)

Would someone please point me to some information that would be helpful in writing my assignment.

I need to find out about where to find suitable products to sell, optimizing a website to get traffic from the search engines and PPC (pay per clic) advertising to get a site going.

Thanks,
Tom.

4)  Which brings me to the question: CE, you didn't tell us whether you're in the group that doesn't like being lied to or in the group that doesn't mind? Ya don't have to answer that.

5)  Yes, there's lots of good info on SR. I recently went back to the article that you wrote well over a year ago, on using javascript to cloak e-mail addresses. But it took a bit of finding. And of course I knew what I was looking for and I'm experienced in search. It might be a bit much for school kids or other nubees.

Anyway, that had better do for now or people will think I'm ranting.

Regards,
Laurie.

laurie wrote:

1)  Oh, dear! Did that come over like I was ranting? I'll have to lighten up a bit.

My remark was a little dry humor pointed at your earlier statement about stopping before someone thinks your ranting. But, ranting is OK , usually makes for a good, fruitful discussion.

Yes, there has been some plagiarism on here. some of it has been caught by the mods or admins.

laurie wrote:

4)  Which brings me to the question: CE, you didn't tell us whether you're in the group that doesn't like being lied to or in the group that doesn't mind? reta Ya don't have to answer that. lol

LOL, Put me in the first group there. However I have become accustomed to a certain amount of what I will consider lies and just shrug my shoulders to it and go on. Some of this in my real job as a security specialist and in different forums.

I agree with you with members willing to mentor kids, I am one of them.

Glad to hear that you got the scripts working.

I want to remind everyone, that if you find a post that you feel should have attention, use the report button at the bottom of the post. If it is found to be plagiarized it will be removed or edited to credit the original author.

About people claiming to be something that they're not:

I read an article the other day, (can't find it again), from Semantic. It talked about various issues relating to online identity. The writer spoke of young people having multiple online identities and their online identity being more about who they want to be rather than who they are.

I guess the school kid thing fits this pattern. But there is a problem, in my view, when people can live in environment where they say "What do you want the truth to be?" or "Who am I today?"

Regards,
Laurie.

Both barrels?! Moi?!

Ummm, I might be a tadbit protective, like you are a tadbit irked by folks lying. I am not happy with anyone, who gets good advice from talented people on here, like you, Nic, and others -- advice guaranteed to give them a month or two of reading, on this site alone -- and then they don't respond, but post another question that is so similar, they would do well with homework assignments for Semantics! Each person gave him/her a detailed answer, which was obviously totally ignored.

You think teachers are putting kids up to that? Teacher needs a new job! Kids need to heed Nancy Reagan's advice, "Just say 'no!'" (Can you tell what type of problems I had in school?! ) What purpose is there in having them do that?

A school assignment section sounds like a good idea! I'm not the type to want to help students with homework, since I think the most important concept students need to learn is how to find info when they need/want it. On the other hand, I'd peak in to try and figure out, what the purpose is.

I think a "stupid questions" section would be a good idea on this forum.

Every time someone asks a silly question we move it there

Then, members out of the goodness of their heart can post replies which should be links to relevant, existing posts

love it Northie

LOL @ North!

I think the real problem is that some people are just unbelievably lazy and unfortunately there’s no cure for that yet (except for maybe a swift kick in the ars).

There’s lot of good info out there but it still seems like some people are even too lazy to look for that.  As you guys pointed out it can be a bit hard to find it on occasion though…so any ideas on how we could improve that may help.

Overall though, I think you’ll always get that guy that wants to do nothing but asks “how do I make a million dollars online”? While we all know the answer to that is “to create a million dollar online business,” I agree it can be frustrating. To me it’s frustrating because I think for the most part a lot of us here are self-starters whom have worked hard and while we genuinely like helping people, we don’t want to either 1) build someone’s  business for a person who has no interest in helping others themselves or 2)  spend time helping someone that’s too lazy to use that knowledge anyways.

Most of the regulars here have helped a lot of people who fall in the above 2 categories. and i know that can be disheartening. My suggestion to the regulars…help a little bit at a time > if you’re the first one to reply to a post, don’t spend an hour explaining everything > throw out a few goodies and see if that person starts to actively participate.

My suggestions to newcomers > show some interest. People here spend a lot of time helping others and often all they want to know if that their time is being put to good use.

Northie wrote:

I think a "stupid questions" section would be a good idea on this forum.

Every time someone asks a silly question we move it there

Then, members out of the goodness of their heart can post replies which should be links to relevant, existing posts

As smart as you are, Northie, wouldn't you be placing 90% of the questions in that folder?

Nic wrote:

Most of the regulars here have helped a lot of people who fall in the above 2 categories. My suggestion to the regulars…help a little bit at a time > if you’re the first one to reply to a post, don’t spend an hour explaining everything > throw out a few goodies and see if that person starts to actively participate.

Are you trying to tell us (me) that it is possible to answer in less than an hour? Yeesh, half my answers take 2 hours! 

OMG! Love this thread.   I realize this is old, but I've been mostly away from the computer for a few weeks.  LOVE the "stupid questions" idea Northie - but really, that's where most of my questions would end up    As for the school projects area - that is a fantastic idea!  Seems like that would be a good answer for the issues you mentioned Laurie. 

Hey, for anyone out there that's still following this thread - just want you to know that some of us that ask dumb questions - really do appreciate all the time and energy you put into giving us good, professional advice - and at no cost.  For people like me with no budget - Free is the only way I can improve my site at all!  You guys/gals are the greatest, really!  Just wish I had more time to visit the forums.  Though I post rarely - I READ often!    You guys are my crash course in web design!

BasketLady

First up basketlady, let me say your questions are definitely not dumb questions. Basic, yes, but not dumb.

Not only do you ask sensible, basic questions but you put the advice to good use. I've seen your site improve, little by little, as you've implemented the suggestions. The first round of improvements did a little for the site as you began the learning process. But I had a look just now and nearly fell off my fabric upholstered, swivel chair. The improvement is amazing.

New template, I guess, or else you've built it yourself from scratch. Very pleasing to the eye and good navigation. I really like the clean lines of the strong white background.

I feel a sense of satisfaction and success when I see such gains. No doubt others who've helped will feel the same.

I recommend that all the new web builders go check out basketlady's site and get a feel for how a simple, beginners site can look and function. Well done!

Secondly, although this is quite an old post I'm glad it got revived. I'd like to make some new comment on the set of questions/members the I originally mentioned. I now think that neither of my possible explanations was correct, but I reckon it's a scam, all right, and a pretty low scam at that.

Many of the posts to which I originally referred fall into this pattern.

A search on a line from the question, in quotes, shows exactly the same question in up to a dozen forums. Different names, mind you, but exactly the same text.

There are about half a dozen of these people. Or at least, one or two people have half a dozen names on SR forum. Dozens of names overall.

The questions are always well optimized for the sites in the signature links. You'll see that the main keywords are repeated in the question and often appear in the signature link.

I reckon this is an offshore, paid, link link building scheme.

The posts come in waves. They jumped up again for a couple of days, a couple of weeks back. Now they've gone again.

What Nic says above,  about lazy people, is all true but this is a different group.

The scammers are not that hard to spot once you've cracked the code.

1)  Grasp of English doesn't match the quality of the sites in the sig.

2)  Basic nature of the question doesn't match the quality of the sites in the sig.

3)  Demanding and blunt nature of the language used for asking the question.

4)  Obvious optimization of keywords in the question and sig link anchor text.

5)  Repeat of the question in many forums.

6)  Lack of a response from the member after the answer.

7)  No sign of the use to which the answer will be put.

8)  A wave of these questions over a few hours or days.

This is quite a different profile from the people who have been sucked into believing that they'll easily get rich quick on the web and the other group who are just plain too lazy to look for themselves.

It's my typically rather harsh opinion that, for the sake of the integrity of the forum as well as for the sake of those they'll use up, that these scammers should be uprooted upon arrival.

Regards,
Laurie.

Like Nic says, give them a 120 second response of about three lines, wait and see what happens next.
Or, tell them to search the forum, generally ht e answer is there.
Either that or just ignore them.
Not worth getting upset over

Thanks Laurie,
Wish I could take credit - but everything came from the wisdom of minds greater than mine, lol.  And all of them from here!  You all are the greatest.
Someday I hope to have things more professional - but since I'm learning at a snails pace - maybe we'll check back in 6 mos or so, hehe.

It is frustrating that scammers of any type try to get in wherever possible.  Not sure how to prevent that - but I like the suggestions Matte & Nic have.  They're right, if someone is truly interested in getting information, they'll respond.

Have a great day!
BasketLady

Ah bugger, i missed this thread when it first popped up
Personally i think that giving these scammers what they want is the way forward. If they really want backlinks from SR give it to em, although they dont have to like em

What if we take that lil link from their anchor text (i would think that they are all no-follow links?) which is useless and then post a reply stating that you have heard about this company (sounding legit of course) and it completely destroyed and ruined "Whatever they do - probably SEO or marketing" of your online company. Add anchor text in the post for worst company ever etc. That way if anyone does google that link and finds them in the serps chances are fairly good that after looking around a bit they will find a very upset customer on the quality site called site reference.

I would imagine that fairly soon that would stop spamming the forums because their clients are getting a  bad rep from us, and we all know how bad news spreads (all theory of course, inspired by the ol google bombing - possibly wont work with new algos)

I fear a good few of my questions/suggestions would end up in the stupid question box, i do however search for ages before asking a question, amazingly though some really good online resources have vanished... php-mysql-tutorial.com (i think thats the url has vanished When i first started weeving my way through html, css, php etc i could find a mass of tutorials to choose from but they appear to be getting less and less, almost as if people are just taking em off the net, putting them in books and selling them off... sad really.

As far as im concerned with helping people though, i dont do site reviews often for obvious reasons aka bastards who only want a quick assessment. But when i do i try offer as much help as i can. I find the more vague you start out the better, that way one can tell if the person is curious and keen (cipher is an example of someone willing to give it a whirl) and it encourages others to jump in with the extra info - it doesnt  take that much time at all when you have different people filling in the gaps.

Basketlady, your questions are in the right format for most people... when someone needs to do something they wont search for "how do i synchronise two 240watt fixtures each emitting up to 100watts", i would imagine many people more likely to search for "how do i get to lights to switch on at the same time"  -  So you may find you are more spot on than you think.

at what cost - i would be shocked if your replies took any less than an hour as thats about how long it takes me to get through a few of them and they are always a good read

im not sure if im even on topic anymore? oh well....