My own website (which is my hobby and well overdue for a complete overhaul)
is apparently blocked on windows live (search). To give Microsoft credit,
they do respond to emails about windows live, but do take a while and don't
give exactly open answers. They have now confirmed that there is a block on
my site, and they have said:

"At this time we will request that you check for Spam techniques such as Web
Farm and Ad network/Affiliate."

I assume by "Web Farm" they mean "Link Farm", which I've done my best to
avoid (although I do have a reciprocal links page.) I also carry ads, does
Microsoft have a thing about that? (I have emailed Microsoft but expect it
to be over a week before I receive a reply and suspect that it won't be any
clearer.)

If anyone can shed any light on this for me I'd be grateful. My website is
www.cryer.co.uk - no need to comment about the poor layout and colour
scheme, I'm aware of these things!!

TIA.
--
Brian Cryer
www.cryer.co.uk/brian

"Brian Cryer" <brian.cryer@remove.127.0.0.1.this.ntlworld.com> wrote:

>"At this time we will request that you check for Spam techniques such as Web
>Farm and Ad network/Affiliate."

It does look like nothing but links - which it would, being a
collection of resources!

Matt

--
The Probert Encyclopaedia
http://www.probertencyclopaedia.com

On Mar 4, 7:33 pm, "Brian Cryer" <brian.cr...@remove.
127.0.0.1.this.ntlworld.com> wrote:
> My own website (which is my hobby and well overdue for a complete overhaul)
> is apparently blocked on windows live (search). To give Microsoft credit,
> they do respond to emails about windows live, but do take a while and don't
> give exactly open answers. They have now confirmed that there is a block on
> my site, and they have said:
>
> "At this time we will request that you check for Spam techniques such as Web
> Farm and Ad network/Affiliate."
>
> I assume by "Web Farm" they mean "Link Farm", which I've done my best to
> avoid (although I do have a reciprocal links page.) I also carry ads, does
> Microsoft have a thing about that? (I have emailed Microsoft but expect it
> to be over a week before I receive a reply and suspect that it won't be any
> clearer.)
>
> If anyone can shed any light on this for me I'd be grateful. My website iswww.cryer.co.uk- no need to comment about the poor layout and colour
> scheme, I'm aware of these things!!
>
> TIA.
> --
> Brian Cryerwww.cryer.co.uk/brian

Hi,

It does seem (to me) that they are making a harsh judgment.

Do you know whether the site has been reviewed by a human eyes or just
by some algorithm, if the later then probably they're just looking at
links as a % of content.

Although your second level pages have a high number of links you do
have editorial comment which provides useful information.

I can only guess, an IS a guess, that they are looking at the home
page and seeing nothing but links. Maybe when you revise your site you
could try adding some editorial comment to the home page, perhaps
highlighting some webmaster management tips.

It's may not be much consolation but I have added your site to my
bookmarks.

Nickv

Brian Cryer wrote:
> My own website (which is my hobby and well overdue for a complete overhaul)
> is apparently blocked on windows live (search). To give Microsoft credit,
> they do respond to emails about windows live, but do take a while and don't
> give exactly open answers. They have now confirmed that there is a block on
> my site, and they have said:
>
> "At this time we will request that you check for Spam techniques such as Web
> Farm and Ad network/Affiliate."
>
> I assume by "Web Farm" they mean "Link Farm", which I've done my best to
> avoid (although I do have a reciprocal links page.) I also carry ads, does
> Microsoft have a thing about that? (I have emailed Microsoft but expect it
> to be over a week before I receive a reply and suspect that it won't be any
> clearer.)

The bulk of the links are internal, so I hope *that* isn't the problem!

(Unless they only manually *looked* at the Home page, saw links, and ran
away. I'm assuming they looked programatically, where they should have
seen links to your own site.)

Maybe they don't like the (form of) the whozontop links?


--
John

<Matt Probert> wrote in message
news:47ce472f.1028234@news.freenetname.co.uk...
> "Brian Cryer" <brian.cryer@remove.127.0.0.1.this.ntlworld.com> wrote:
>
>>"At this time we will request that you check for Spam techniques such as
>>Web
>>Farm and Ad network/Affiliate."
>
> It does look like nothing but links - which it would, being a
> collection of resources!

Thanks Matt. Not exactly what I wanted to hear (its more than links -
honest), but I accept the point that "it does look like nothing but links".
Clearly something I need to work on. TA.
--
Brian Cryer
www.cryer.co.uk/brian

<nickvnet@googlemail.com> wrote in message
news:1bc9edf2-123f-4e05-b294-0129ccd3a1a2@n77g2000hse.googlegroups.com...
> On Mar 4, 7:33 pm, "Brian Cryer" <brian.cr...@remove.
> 127.0.0.1.this.ntlworld.com> wrote:
>> My own website (which is my hobby and well overdue for a complete
>> overhaul)
>> is apparently blocked on windows live (search). To give Microsoft credit,
>> they do respond to emails about windows live, but do take a while and
>> don't
>> give exactly open answers. They have now confirmed that there is a block
>> on
>> my site, and they have said:
>>
>> "At this time we will request that you check for Spam techniques such as
>> Web
>> Farm and Ad network/Affiliate."
>>
>> I assume by "Web Farm" they mean "Link Farm", which I've done my best to
>> avoid (although I do have a reciprocal links page.) I also carry ads,
>> does
>> Microsoft have a thing about that? (I have emailed Microsoft but expect
>> it
>> to be over a week before I receive a reply and suspect that it won't be
>> any
>> clearer.)
>>
>> If anyone can shed any light on this for me I'd be grateful. My website
>> iswww.cryer.co.uk- no need to comment about the poor layout and colour
>> scheme, I'm aware of these things!!
>>
>> TIA.
>> --
>> Brian Cryerwww.cryer.co.uk/brian
>
> Hi,
>
> It does seem (to me) that they are making a harsh judgment.
>
> Do you know whether the site has been reviewed by a human eyes or just
> by some algorithm, if the later then probably they're just looking at
> links as a % of content.
>
> Although your second level pages have a high number of links you do
> have editorial comment which provides useful information.
>
> I can only guess, an IS a guess, that they are looking at the home
> page and seeing nothing but links. Maybe when you revise your site you
> could try adding some editorial comment to the home page, perhaps
> highlighting some webmaster management tips.
>
> It's may not be much consolation but I have added your site to my
> bookmarks.
>
> Nickv

Thanks Nickv.

I've taken your comments on board and will start a revamp. Many thanks.
--
Brian Cryer
www.cryer.co.uk/brian

"John Hosking" <John@DELETE.Hosking.name.INVALID> wrote in message
news:47d090e0$1_7@news.bluewin.ch...
> Brian Cryer wrote:
>> My own website (which is my hobby and well overdue for a complete
>> overhaul) is apparently blocked on windows live (search). To give
>> Microsoft credit, they do respond to emails about windows live, but do
>> take a while and don't give exactly open answers. They have now confirmed
>> that there is a block on my site, and they have said:
>>
>> "At this time we will request that you check for Spam techniques such as
>> Web Farm and Ad network/Affiliate."
>>
>> I assume by "Web Farm" they mean "Link Farm", which I've done my best to
>> avoid (although I do have a reciprocal links page.) I also carry ads,
>> does Microsoft have a thing about that? (I have emailed Microsoft but
>> expect it to be over a week before I receive a reply and suspect that it
>> won't be any clearer.)
>
> The bulk of the links are internal, so I hope *that* isn't the problem!
>
> (Unless they only manually *looked* at the Home page, saw links, and ran
> away. I'm assuming they looked programatically, where they should have
> seen links to your own site.)
>
> Maybe they don't like the (form of) the whozontop links?

Thanks John.

I hadn't thought of whozontop. Interesting point. It doesn't really add
anything. The only reason I have it there is because I use their tracking
stats and have to have their logo on my home page. Maybe I should bite the
bullet and drop it. I'll think about that as part of my home-page review.
--
Brian Cryer
www.cryer.co.uk/brian