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                         Your complete boating resource
                                        
I received this last week:

> From: MXXXXX XXXXX <XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX>
> To: sean@conman.org
> Subject: Website Inquiry
> Date: Tue, 12 Oct 2010 15:32:04 +0800
> 
> Dear Webmaster,
> 
> I recently discovered your "Uhg … sushi for breakfast" page here:
> 
> http://boston.conman.org/2002/05/03.4 [1]
> 
> I wanted to let you know that the “PublixDirect” link on your site points
> to a website (http://www.publixdirect.com/ [2]) that is no longer working.
> Would you please consider replacing it with a link to my website called
> Boating.com? It is a resource that provides hundreds of used and new boats
> for sale, as well as reviews, tips and buying guides for anyone interested
> in boating.
> 
> If you think it would be of use to your visitors, would you please consider
> adding a link to my website on your page here:
> 
> http://boston.conman.org/2002/05/03.4 [3]
> 
> Or in any of the pages of your site that will be most appropriate.
> 
> Here is the HTML link you could add: <a
> href="http://www.boating.com">Boating.com</a> - the complete boating
> resource.
> 
> Will look forward to hearing from you.
> 
> Thanks!
> 
> MXXXXX
> 
> Boating.com
>  www.boating.com
> 

My original thought was to post it immediately, but I thought better of it at
the time. I mean, it's nice that M pointed out a dead link on my site, but
given that that particular entry is eight years old that is to be expected
(also, PublixDirect was discontinued in August of 2003 [4]).

But I found it really odd to suggest replacing the PublixDirect link with a
site about boat sales. It doesn't make sense in the context of the entry and
it tells me that M probably has some piece of software that looks for sites
with broken links that have a certain page rank [5] and spams any address
found on the page asking to replace the dead link.

Nice, except I'm not a link farm. The links in each entry provide (or at
least, I hope they provide) a context for what I'm writing about and frankly,
having the text “PublixDirect” go to a site about boat sales doesn't serve
me, or my readers, any good purpose (hmm … but what to do about links that
have since changed since I wrote an entry … but that's another [DELETED-show-
DELETED] entry). It's also obvious that M never bothered to read the entry in
question or else M wouldn't have bothered to suggest replacing the
PublixDirect link with some spam site.

I replied to M (but without quite the snarkiness here) but have yet to
receive a reply, so a week later, it's fair game. And heck, if I'm lucky,
perhaps this entry will become the complete boating resource [6]; that'll
show M.

[1] gopher://gopher.conman.org/0Phlog:2002/05/03.4
[2] http://www.publixdirect.com/
[3] gopher://gopher.conman.org/0Phlog:2002/05/03.4
[4] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Publix#History
[5] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PageRank
[6] gopher://gopher.conman.org/0Phlog:2010/10/19.2

Email Sean Conner at sean@conman.org

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