I got an email

I got an email today, after I click the link. It
asks for payment. could please someone check it out
what's going on there? any relationship between this
site and dmoz.org?

Could you please be so kind as to check your madhunting.com listing, if you don't mind, at:
http://top--sites.net/update.htm?d=madhunting.com&v=1436&e=i

We can only list you if you click the update button by Saturday (even if your listing is fine).

Your updated listing will also appear to the left of Yahoo, MSN, Google, Go, AOL, Netscape, Lycos, AltaVista, and Excite searches by AutoSearch users in Internet Explorer's Search window.

Thanks,

John Kennedy

P.S. Please also review our translations of your website into seven languages. And don't miss our reports on your website's popularity and your server's uptime.

You can unsubscribe at: http://top--sites.net/cancel.htm?d=madhunting.com&v=1436&e=i

It's a legal scam. I get them several time a month for all my sites. Effectively, they are asking for money, for having your site in DMOZ. But I think it's worded so that they've done nothing wrong. They use ODP data to create their index, and do that legally. The implication is that they will remove you if you don't pay, but are they really going to spend the time and trouble to do that - I doubt it.

It's like the bills I get that look like they come from the Yellow Pages. Read the small print, and you find it's a private phone directory, and the payment is voluntary. But in a busy office, nobody notices, and they get the money.

>>They use ODP data to create their index, and do that legally.

Actually, technically they're not complying correctly with the attribution so they're in violation of the licensing terms.

>>The implication is that they will remove you if you don't pay, but are they really going to spend the time and trouble to do that - I doubt it.

They will if you write them a pissy letter telling them to go jump in a lake (yes, yes, I did that ).

>> They will if you write them a pissy letter telling them to go jump in a lake (yes, yes, I did that ). <<


LOL. Somehow, I mighta guessed you'd do something like that.

Nice one.

Here's a good site on the subject -- Foe

It was also featured in last week's Ask Jack column in the Guardian newspaper.