Help! Being targeted by a site I wrote about D: how to block traffic?

1. 80

   Tealparadiseposted 10 years ago

   Ever since I published a hub about a certain website (which in my humble opinion is a scam) my hub has been slowly gaining traction in google.  When I wrote my hub, it was kind of in response to the top google result at the time being a hub that was obviously planted by the company themselves as a false positive review.  Pretty sure it was my fault that the positive hub is no longer indexed... which may be what caught their attention.  After that hub was taken down, I got some SCATHING communications, and the company tried to discredit my opinion by commenting on my own hub.  (Luckily hubpages tracks the IP of commenters so I could see what they were doing- I don't care if someone really disagrees with me, but if a company is just astroturfing I won't allow it on my hub)
   
   There has been some weird activity on my hub since then, but I didn't really pay attention.
   
   But now it's marked as receiving traffic from a traffic exchange!  Several of my hubs actually have this alert of traffic originating from a specific site. 
   
   I think the company is attempting to get me banned and thus have the negative review taken off of the web.  Is there anything I can do against this?  Can I block traffic from a certain source?  Will the Hubpages staff do it for me?
   
   That article isn't even a big earner for me, but the sleazier the company acts about it, the more I feel like the review NEEDS TO stay published!  The company obviously has no morals and is a straight up scam if this is how they deal with negative reviews.

   replyreport
   1. 73

      csmiravite-blogsposted 10 years agoin reply to this

      There is a need to inform Google Adsense about it. They would always suspect that you are the one doing it, PAA's account in Adsence was pulled out because of an attack like what you mentioned here. You need to act fast before your Adsense account gets deleted.

      replyreport
      1. 80

         Tealparadiseposted 10 years agoin reply to this

         Oh geez!  I didn't even think of that.  What a mess.  I can't believe all this over an article that doesn't even earn much.

         replyreport
   2. 86

      moonlakeposted 10 years agoin reply to this

      I would let Google know what is going on.

      replyreport
   3. 66

      relacheposted 10 years agoin reply to this

      1) Yes.  Several things.  Guides are all over the Internet and Google has advice.  Be careful, and you are going to need to act now and not later.
      
      2) If you are going to get into negative action consumer advocacy, you need to understand how everything works, be it websites or laws.  Educate yourself from good sources, instead of soliciting for random advice on forums.  For instance, the person warning you against slander is ignorant of the fact that refers explicitly to verbal/spoken statements.  Bad advice often leads to poor choices.
      
      3)  No.  This may come as a surprise to you, but you are legally responsible for your own content.

      replyreport
      1. 88

         Patty Inglish, MSposted 10 years agoin reply to this

         +1

         replyreport
      2. 80

         Tealparadiseposted 10 years agoin reply to this

         I don't know where this whole "legal" tangent is coming from.  I've received no legal threats at all.  I'm asking about hubpages blocking a traffic source, which is easy for any webmaster to do.  If this content were hosted on my own website, I'd check a box and be done with the issue forever.

         replyreport
   4. 81

      SpaceShantyposted 10 years agoin reply to this

      I would contact HP staff, explain what is happening, if your Hubs are being attacked like this, it will effect the whole HP site so I'm sure they will be more than happy to help/assist and give you advice on how to make sure your adsense account isn't placed at risk.

      replyreport
2. 73

   csmiravite-blogsposted 10 years ago

   PAA another portal that I write for, had the same experience and their Adsense was cancelled. You need to relay this incident to Google fast so they don't cancel yours as well. There maybe some other writers who would know about how to block bot attacks  and that I would want to know about as well.

   replyreport
3. 76

   Author Cherylposted 10 years ago

   You have to be careful of writing content that is negative about businesses.  Its called slander and it can get you in a lot of trouble.  I would just leave it alone for now and don't write anything else about them.

   replyreport
4. 88

   Patty Inglish, MSposted 10 years ago

   I write positive and negative reviews frequently about companies, products, and services -- I know that a negative review, if true and containing provable facts/events and documentation, is not libel at all ("slander" is the spoken word, "libel" is the written word) - attorneys have assured me about this.
   
   In addition, my local newspaper printed a story that reported that companies fining people for posting negative reviews of their products are not receiving any of the fines. The accuracy of that? - not sure.
   
   I do know that it is becoming less and less effective to write a complaint letter directly to a company about poor products or service. I find that I must attack these problems in the store and talk loudly about it, which can drive customers away, thus managers take care of the problem. If they did not do so, I could go to two TV news stations that will gladly but the problem on the air and show up at the store as well.

   replyreport
   1. 86

      moonlakeposted 10 years agoin reply to this

      You are right complaints online are not working like they should. People that need to handle the complaints don't and they leave it up to managers and they take up for the people they work with instead of the customer.

      replyreport
      1. 88

         Patty Inglish, MSposted 10 years agoin reply to this

         After a second unanswered or lame email response from a Company HQ, I stop shopping at the particular store involved and inform all my acquaintances about the problem store and/or I post a review.

         replyreport
5. 76

   Author Cherylposted 10 years ago

   I always email the corporate office about their stores who are not giving good customer service.  I have never had one not contact me about it.  I either got coupons for free goods or a very apologetic email.  I kept complaining about how the betta fish were being kept in Walmart.  It took me three emails to corporate about this issue.  After that the manager of the store contacted me and assured me they would be kept the way they were supposed too.  I check every single time I go there and they are in fact in very good condition.

   replyreport
   1. 88

      Patty Inglish, MSposted 10 years agoin reply to this

      Several company HQ have given inappropriate responses to emails in the last two months, so I will handle problems on the spot. I can also add these stores to my mystery shopping list and report through those channels.
      
      I caught a cashier stealing a sizable amount from the drawer (to her pocket) recently and both the store mgr. and corporate HQ seemed afraid to take action, despite having video footage of the crime. Next time in that store and I see the offense, I will take a photo and call the police. When I saw a like incident at McDonald's, the manager called the police. Kudos to McD.
      
      That final WM action you mention is the kind of customer service response that it and other companies should perform at the first complaint. Thanks for telling us all about it!

      replyreport
6. 75

   Shyron E Shenkoposted 10 years ago

   I agree with moonlake, let Google know not just what is going on, write is in detail from the very beginning.

   replyreport
7. 60

   medsimpleposted 10 years ago

   For me, i believe you have the right to express your mind on the internet no matter what other people may feel about it. Posting a negative review about any product or company is for information purposes only and the company has no right to go against you nor any of your hubs.

   replyreport
8. 46

   Joe Cinoccaposted 10 years ago

   Will Hubpages even respond to you about this? Can you alert them to what is happening or does it fall on deaf ears? Only experience I've had with staff at sites like this one are non-existent. Good luck. Please keep us posted. Not good.

   replyreport
   1. 66

      relacheposted 10 years agoin reply to this

      1) Your content issues are NOT their legal responsibility.   In fact, if it comes to legalities, they will throw you under the bus.  This shouldn't surprise you, after all, you agreed that you legally understood and accepted these terms when you joined the site.
      
      2) Again, you being legally attacked for libeling some website or company or product is something towards which HubPages has ZERO RESPONSIBILITY, and in fact, if you cause legal or content problems for them, they will take the most decisive action on their part and protect themselves by deleting your account.  As clearly stated in the site terms.

      replyreport
9. 80

   Tealparadiseposted 10 years ago

   UPDATE.
   
   There was no contact info or anything on the traffic exchange website that it was all coming from.  However, via some sleuthing I was able to track down the Facebook page of the owner and send a professional message saying basically "take my domain OUT OF your rotations and do not add any new pages from it." 
   
   And in the last day the traffic from it has dropped to zero.  So hopefully I'm out of the woods.  I'll just have to keep a closer watch on my HP account from now on and make sure it doesn't pop up again.

   replyreport
10. 95

    SmartAndFunposted 10 years ago

    Hi Tealparadise,
    
    I read what I assume is the article in question and boy, does that website sound like a scam. I am glad you are exposing it, but I'm sorry you're getting hassled over it. I had heard of this company before, maybe a couple of years ago, and people then were blasting it for being a scam. It seems like a big-time rip-off.
    
    I don't think emailing the corporate office or writing a letter to the general manager is not going to help in this case, as I wouldn't be surprised if the entire scam/website is run by one person.
    
    Anyway, I think what you're doing is a good service for possible scam victims. I hope you are able to keep the article up and possibly save some people some money, trouble and aggravation.

    replyreport