Are they ... hmmm... nuts or am I missing something?

[expertc]

I (well, my ISP) received weirdest complaint ever. To be honest, i would never expect anything like this from a UK company. I have a site where users share links, post ads, etc. Sort of a mixture between free classifieds and a forum. Now look at the complaint my ISP received:

We found that these links of your website ;

http://***.co.uk/***/***
http://****.co.uk/***/
http://***.co.uk/search/****


has a link to co***.co.uk. I request you to remove the link
immediately, as we never asked for a link from your site (WTF?). We don't authorize (UK company? authorize? Shame on you, people, at least hire a local law firm so they can type the word as it should be - authorise) you to show our website link on your website (WTF?x2), hence request you to remove all occurrence of co***.co.uk from your site within 7 days of receiving this mail.

Failing to do, so will result in a legal action against you / your company (are you kidding me?).

Regards
CO*** LTD.

I don't even want to tell what this company sells (let's say, cordless kettles). I still think that they either hired or employed a complete ... well ... underqaulified person. My ISP's email was something like: "Should we tell him to FO, or you can do it yourself?"

P.S. I am now worried about all my BBC links. Removing them as I type.
P.P.S. And PR of my site is higher then their :razz:

 

[Murray]

Seems like the company in question have hired an SEO to clean up their link profile

They must have identified your link to them as harmful. (not to say that it is, just in their opinion)

Probably the SEO outsourced emailing to ask for the removal of links to an indian company.

Where did the email come from? the official email of the site or somewhere else.

I might be wrong, but it sounds like this sort of typical scenario,

 

[expertc]

Seems like the company in question have hired an SEO to clean up their link profile

They must have identified your link to them as harmful. (not to say that it is, just in their opinion)

Probably the SEO outsourced emailing to ask for the removal of links to an indian company.

Where did the email come from? the official email of the site or somewhere else.

I might be wrong, but it sounds like this sort of typical scenario,

Could be... After reading the above I've checked - my page authority is 10 points higher To be honest, taking a legal action for a ... link, that is the most interesting point. What if... just what if it becomes ... a reality???

Asking my ISP for email headers, so I can tell you where it came from.

 

[newguy]

If they want the link removed fair enough but this is a bit heavy handed isn't it? I mean they could've just asked. All in all I feel like it's been a crappy year for the net. Bring back the good old days!

 

[expertc]

If they want the link removed fair enough but this is a bit heavy handed isn't it? I mean they could've just asked. All in all I feel like it's been a crappy year for the net. Bring back the good old days!

+1, mate! Couldn't agree more!

 

[GreyWing]

Could it be a competitor of that site that benefits from the link?

 

[Systreg]

I request you to remove the link
immediately, as we never asked for a link from your site (WTF?). We don't authorize (UK company? authorize? Shame on you, people, at least hire a local law firm so they can type the word as it should be - authorise) you to show our website link on your website (WTF?x2), hence request you to remove all occurrence of co***.co.uk from your site within 7 days of receiving this mail.

Pretty much the same comment posted here, scroll to last comment:

http://savingmoneyinsingapore.blogspot.ie/2010/02/look-out-for-warehouse-sales.html

Hello,

We found that your website (mentioned below) :

http://savingmoneyinsingapore.blogs...arehouse-sales.html?showComment=1331010142772

http://savingmoneyinsingapore.blogs...arehouse-sales.html?showComment=1329220244638

http://savingmoneyinsingapore.blogs...arehouse-sales.html?showComment=1329220059467

http://savingmoneyinsingapore.blogs...arehouse-sales.html?showComment=1273131340982

http://savingmoneyinsingapore.blogs...arehouse-sales.html?showComment=1329219878705

http://savingmoneyinsingapore.blogspot.in/2010/02/look-out-for-warehouse-sales.html

has a link to (http://www.creditandloan.com.sg). I request you to remove the link immediately, as we never asked for a link from your site. We don't authorize you to show our website link on your website, hence request you to remove all occurrence of creditandloan.com.sg from your site within 7 days of receiving this mail.


Regards
creditandloan.com.sg
[email protected]

 

[Murray]

Pretty much the same comment posted here, scroll to last comment:

http://savingmoneyinsingapore.blogspot.ie/2010/02/look-out-for-warehouse-sales.html

Good sleuthing

The comment they're asking to remove was left by this blog owner

http://web-marketing-experts-in-india.blogspot.co.uk/

They've obviously hired a rubbish SEO then got hit with some kind of penalty or algorithm and are now trying to remove the spam links.

Funny thing is they're doing a terrible job (ignoring the silly legal threats) about it because those links are NoFollow anyway and harmless.

Clueless.

 

[expertc]

@GreyWing: Don't know, to be honest. It was an absolutely harmless post on my site, something like: "Have you ever tried <this company>? Looks like they have OKish prices. Any comments about delivery?..."

@Systreg: Same letter - different company. What is going on!

I think GreyWing is right. Could be a new blackhat company on the market.

 

[Admin]

It's illegal to post a link to a website? I doubt it.

When I had to sit in front of a County Court Judge re an Acorn issue he didn't even know what a forum was and started by referring to it as a "nerdy case".

It does worry me that it seems some of the people who make judgements in UK law have no clue about the internet.

Admin

 

[aZooZa]

It's illegal to post a link to a website? I doubt it.

Absolutely right. Preposterous idea. Sounds like black hat bullcrap to me.

 

[Edwin]

US-centric but still interesting (and a good link to send to idiots)
http://www.chillingeffects.org/linking/faq.cgi

 

[retired_member33]

I get emails like this quite often and I only remove the link when the email comes from an address on the domain they want removed.

The last one i got was from Moneysupermarket.com who bought a link a while ago and want it now removed.. No problem

I have heard of people charging an "administration fee" for removing links, could be a lucrative market

 

[Blossom]

I have heard of people charging an "administration fee" for removing links, could be a lucrative market

Yeah except for the fact most people declare it to Google in their resubmission request. Of course they're very interested to know which websites are charging for the privilege.

 

[dashu1]

Who cares if they tell Google, it takes you time to fulfill their request, and that time has a cost, if they don't want to pay for your time why should you do some work for them?