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« White Hat Cloaking - Hamlet Batista | Main | What Is a Social Media ‘Expert’? »

Sphinn’s Sock Puppets Take Post to Frontpage

By Kimberly Bock | May 20, 2008

I am a regular participant in Sphinn, but lately I have been extremely disappointed in Sphinn’s quality (or lack thereof).

With the exception of Jeff Quipp (update: and Matt McGee), I am beginning to lose faith in their concern for administrative control there.

I see an large degree of partiality towards certain Sphinners, to the point where it seems Sphinn is just another networking site that is more concerned with promoting their pockets than offering quality unbiased services.

Making money is good and smart..but not if it sacrifices quality. Maybe I expected too much from them. There are still many Sphinners that I follow daily and enjoy their commentary, submissions, etc..but I am losing my lust for participation there quickly. I’m becoming more active in other fun places, such as Mixx, Digg, BloggingZoom, (and trying to get around to participating in Propeller)

The reason I decided to blog this today is due to the most recent ‘Hot’ story that made it to Sphinns homepage. In fact, it went hot in less than 8 hours. (which is not always easy to do) It was also Sphunn by several sock puppets which took it directly to the frontpage is zero time.

description:”I do have websites with traffic based on social media, others based on search engines and others combined. I have been doing a lot of research and comparisons between all of them. Of course it’s hard because of the niches, but I do have some that are on the same niche that are some based on search engines and some on social media.”

The post was obviously crap. For example, one of the statements the post made was, “a Digg front page is not so hard to reach”.

hmmm..

So I immediately checked the profile of those that Sphunn it: (I copy pasted each in case Sphinn decides to remove them before you can see for yourself. This is where you just quickly scroll through the visuals..Sidenote: hmm, not a surprise that Lyndon’s post was also Sphunn by a spammer.)

username sanki -

Topics: Controversy |

19 Responses to “Sphinn’s Sock Puppets Take Post to Frontpage”

1. Brian Turner Says:
   May 20th, 2008 at 7:03 pm

   *sigh*.

   You’ve just given some spammer a load of link love.

   May want to consider nofollow when linking to subject matter you don’t approve of.

2. Kimberly Bock Says:
   May 20th, 2008 at 7:07 pm

   you know what? der..i did. removing the love in a few minutes..i wrote this too early and before having enough coffee!!

   thanks.

3. Kimberly Bock Says:
   May 20th, 2008 at 7:21 pm

   fixed! thanks again for the reminder.

4. Gab Goldenberg Says:
   May 20th, 2008 at 10:24 pm

   Loving this post Kim! I’ve also been totally fed up with some Sphinn spam I’ve seen recently, and tried to make a contest on how to fight it. THere were some good ideas there.

   I want to contest your conclusion about Sphinn’s mods and admin though. Soon after my thread, Rob Kerry (aka evilgreenmonkey) made a thread about updates to Sphinn focusing on fighting spam. They’re aware and take notice. Also, as to reporting spam with the contact, I’ve done it a bunch of times and Michael Gray often responded quickly with a bunch of deletions.

   Perhaps we need to organize an anti-spam brigade and reward those who participate with juicy links. It’d be nice if Sphinn set up a tracking system to measure what Sphinners’ spam reports contributed to the most spam removals, and recognized them.

   Gab Goldenberg’s last blog post..What’s the ROI on SEO? (Hint: SEO Experts Are Underpaid, Opportunity Abounds !)

5. Kimberly Bock Says:
   May 20th, 2008 at 10:31 pm

   maybe i was a bit harsh..there have been other reasons for what i referenced in the beginning of the post..about partiality..but they also have been a good source of education that cannot be denied for sure..

   if they are doing what they can to improve their efforts in fighting spam there..so can i..

   thanks for commenting gab.

6. James Duthie Says:
   May 20th, 2008 at 11:14 pm

   Nice detective work Kim. The post has now been removed from the Sphinn home page.

   I am interested to read your comments about the dimishing quality of submissions though. This is the first spam submission I’ve seen make the front page of Sphinn. Interestingly, it’s on a topic I was just about to write on… D’oh!! I still believe there are a range of submitters with a high reputation for quality (yourself included).

   Having said that, I do agree that there is a heavy bias in voting habits between established members (ie. vote swapping).

   James Duthie’s last blog post..Reputation management isn’t just a personal issue

7. Kimberly Bock Says:
   May 20th, 2008 at 11:47 pm

   there is certainly partiality that exists as far as voting..but that is unavoidable..there’s a post right now though that was sitting at 13 sphinns after just 40 some minutes..i checked out the sphinners profiles and they have questionable histories as well..same story as above..i reported it through the contact page like they said to do and desphunn too..the post is still there, but no one else has sphunn it since i desphunn..we’ll see..if i had left it alone, i’m afraid it would have been another sock puppets going hot type of thing..it is happening too much and i have better things to do than perform a job of constantly moderating for them especially since they do not pay me to do so.

   the partiality happens with other issues i wont go into..its a bad week for me and i dont want to say things i will regret. we can only drop kick so many injustices at one time. i’m trying to be choosy about these.

   thanks for commenting james. i’m visiting your newest post after i click the send button.

8. Darren Says:
   May 22nd, 2008 at 11:07 am

   Kimberly, thanks for pointing out what is relatively obvious to even the most casual observer. Sphinn is 1) small and 2) dominated by search marketers. Sounds like a spam-pit no matter who moderates it.

   Darren’s last blog post..Sometimes When Google Updates, The Conversions Disappear

9. Streko Says:
   May 22nd, 2008 at 11:10 am

   you really have to much time on your hands.

   Streko’s last blog post..Make a popular SEO blog in 6 simple steps - the secret revealed!

10. Kimberly Bock Says:
    May 22nd, 2008 at 11:50 am

    darren, i am beginning to see that there are far too many that are cruel, callous, unreasonable ego stroking partners in crime that dont seem to mind they are selling their soul (or anyone elses) for a dollar. no wonder SU hates us. i wish i could protect the innocent ones from having to be seen as this way. is it really that difficult to use what we do to make the world a better place? why are injustices not only approved of, but encouraged? i just dont understand.

    streko, when i do what i do, i try not to be half-assed. it took much time away from other things that i do. i dont have the time to play sphinn moderator. i do it to prevent them from becoming the low grade site that they seem to be rapidly becoming. i used to love it there. i have referred people there which means whatever happens there, i take seriously. if they need more mods it is their responsibility to recruit them, not mine to do be their unappreciated slave.

    ps, if you dropped by to be hurtful to someone, then i dont think I’M the one with too much time on my hands. if not, thanks for dropping by.

    thanks to you BOTH for commenting..

11. rishil Says:
    May 22nd, 2008 at 11:51 am

    I have seen a huge amount of spam entering sphinn - and infact I did contact sphinn about 3 people who were obviously affiliates and kept sphinning one another and every spam post. I no longer see their profiles live, which I take as a positive reaction.

    Infact I recall one particular day when you and I desphunn and commented on some simply to call notice to a whole block of them.

    However, vote returns etc, are a normal situation on any social network.

    rishil’s last blog post..Treatment Search

12. Marc Says:
    May 22nd, 2008 at 2:16 pm

    those horrible link bait stories polluting sphinn make the companies and marketers look stupid. Not the whole industry, cause there are idiots involved in everything across the globe.

    it does not even matter if you followed their links on this page. how many links can they possibly get for garbage? u should consider lifting the nofollow and giving them some help cause they definitely need it.

    Sphinn, your moderation kinda sucks. If you can monetize that site enough to afford a dedicated moderator then SEL “has some splaining to do”

    the overall value to the community as whole overrides your overall need for content.

    Marc’s last blog post..Kennedy, Edward M.- (D - MA) Senate

13. Streko Says:
    May 22nd, 2008 at 4:05 pm

    @Kim

    dude if sphinn makes you feel like you have to “play sphinn moderator” then don’t go on it.

    is it a big surprise that a site full of marketers, marketing their marketing blogs about marketing to other marketers gets “spammed” or ends up with just pure link bait on the front page?

    sphinn jumped the shark a long time ago - people need to realize.

14. Malte Landwehr Says:
    May 27th, 2008 at 10:52 am

    You are absolutely right Streko! Marketers will market their goods (in this case websites) whenever they get the chance to do so.

    Malte Landwehr’s last blog post..Wie StudiVZ der Jungen Union zum Verhängnis wurde

15. Kimberly Bock Says:
    May 27th, 2008 at 11:11 am

    to both, that’s one of the reasons i barely participate there anymore. its not just the fact that they are neglectful, making sphinners responsible for doing there job when they should be adding extra mods. the egos there override any ethical business sense. but then again, they dont really care. they know they have the power of their greed and manipulation to keep them going.

16. streko Says:
    May 27th, 2008 at 4:50 pm

    Kim, as much as we have not seen eye to eye on things & have argued here and there. I will say this…
    “the egos there override any ethical business sense. but then again, they dont really care.”
    is hands down the best & to the point thing I have ever heard ya say. i am giving you a golf clap right now.

    this is what i when I say “jump the shark”

    drop me an email - i am in Delaware 3 or 4 times a month - would love to have coffee with you and B.

    streko’s last blog post..Make a popular SEO blog in 6 simple steps - the secret revealed!

17. Kimberly Bock Says:
    May 27th, 2008 at 4:53 pm

    au contraire my fine friend..redirection isnt equal to ‘hands down’ to be continued..

    coffee? would love to.

18. The Two Faces of the Ethical Coin Says:
    June 28th, 2008 at 6:23 am

    [...] Sphinn’s Sock Puppets Take Post to Frontpage [...]

19. The Two Faces of the Ethical Coin Says:
    June 28th, 2008 at 6:23 am

    [...] Sphinn’s Sock Puppets Take Post to Frontpage [...]

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