BlogCatalog needs professional help
Roughly 24 hours later I was quite astonished as I received this email:
BlogCatalog – Submission Declined: Sebastian´s Pamphlets
Dear Sebastian,
Thank you for submitting your blog Sebastian`s Pamphlets (http://sebastians-pamphlets.com/) to BlogCatalog.
Unfortunately upon reviewing your blog we are unable to grant it access to the directory.
Your blog was declined for the following reason:
* You did not add a link back to Blog Catalog from your website.
To add a link visit: http://www.blogcatalog.com/buttons.phpIf you believe this to be a mistake, you can login to Blog Catalog ( http://www.blogcatalog.com/blogs/manage_blog.html ) and change anything which may have caused it to get declined. After updating your blog, it will be put back into the submission queue.
If you have any questions/comments/suggestions/ideas please feel free to contact us.
Thanks,
BlogCatalog
Crap on, I followed the instructions on http://www.blogcatalog.com/buttons.php:
Meta Tag Verification
Id you’d rather not add a link back to BlogCatalog you can alternatively copy the meta tag listed below and paste it in your site’s home page in the first <head> section of the page, before the first <body> section.
<meta name=”blogcatalog” content=”9BC8674180″ />
It’s laughable to talk about the “first HEAD section” because an HTML file can have only one. Also having more than one BODY section is certainly not compliant to any standard. But bullshit aside, they clearly state that they’re fine with a meta tag if a blogger refuses to add a reciprocal link or even a pile of server sided code that slows down each and every page.
If I remember correctly, BC folks accused of hoarding PageRank defended their policy with statements like
I should quickly clear up that we provide also widgets and meta tags to verify ownership for anyone who doesn’t want to link back to us. We understand PageRank is sacred to many of our bloggers and give them the options to preserve their PR. [emphasis mine, also I’ve removed typos]
Not that I care much about PageRank leaks, but I never link to directories. And why should I when they can verify my submission in other ways?
Obviously, BlogCatalog staff can’t be bothered to view my home page’s source code, and they’ve no scripts capable to find the meta tag
<meta name=”blogcatalog” content=”9BC8674180″ />
in my one and only and therefore first HEAD section.
The meta tag verification is somewhat buried on the policy page, it looks like BlogCatalog chases inbound links no matter what it costs. Dear BlogCatalog, in my case it costs reputation. You guys don’t really think that I send you a private message so that you can silently approve the declined sign up, don’t you? I’m pretty sure that you treat others the same way. Either dump the meta tag verification, or play by your very own rules.
It seems to me that BlogCatalog needs more professional advice from bright consultants (scroll down to Andy’s full disclosure).
Source: http://sebastians-pamphlets.com/blogcatalog-recip-policy-test-failed/
18/01/2008 at 6:44 pm Permalink
Removing BlogCatalog
I have decided to remove BlogCatalog from my blog. The performance is poor often, and it slows down my page load times because of it. I also find it of little value right now. There are some interesting blogs on the site, and nice people but for the most part it is filled with people pushing ‘make money with your blog’ type blogs and begging for link sharing, etc.
I am keeping mybloglog for now. I find it is a bit more social and interesting and has a larger user base I am not sure what the future will hold for it beyond a novelty. Yahoo may do something interesting… only time will tell.
http://www.usefulconcept.com/index.cfm/2007/4/18/Removing-BlogCatalog
18/01/2008 at 6:47 pm Permalink
Removing widgets to speed up site load
Earlier this evening I discovered that my sites were hanging. I could see that it was the blogcatalog widget that was hanging. I guess they had a problem with their site late in the evening.
That’s the trouble with widgets and badges and banners that have to pull data from another site. If the site is overloaded with visitors or is having a problem it can affect how your own site loads.
I’ve noticed many times that the mybloglog and the blogcatalog widgets have slowed my sites and others that I’ve visited, but it was the worst I’ve ever seen it tonight. So I took both widgets off of all my and my husbands blogs.
The sites seem to load much faster to me now. Well unless something else causes it to slow down. I’ve noticed that in the early morning hours Adbrite, Technorati, and the Truth Laid Bare codes can cause a bit of slow down in loading.
Have you removed your widgets or any other links to speed up the loading of your site? If so, which ones did you remove?
18/01/2008 at 7:05 pm Permalink
I stopped using MyBlogLog and BlogCatalog. I got fed up with all the people I don’t know who kept bugging me to make them friends. Most had never even clicked on my link to see my blog.
06/02/2008 at 9:35 am Permalink
Hello! Good Site! Thanks you! mtnbmtxhvwi
14/03/2009 at 5:44 am Permalink
It’s the first time I commented here and I must say you provide genuine, and quality information for other bloggers! Good job.
p.s. You have an awesome template . Where have you got it from?