Report Hijacks, Dead Links, Inappropriate DMOZ Content, and other issues here ONLY

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gckorn

Member
Joined
Feb 18, 2004
Messages
158
Dead Link - Maine/Trav/Ogunquit/Motel

There is a dead link in the following category. I've researched and located the correct, new link for you:

http://dmoz.org/Regional/North_America/United_States/Maine/Localities/O/Ogunquit/Travel_and_Tourism/Lodging/Hotels_and_Motels/

Town Lyne Motel
http://home.maine.rr.com/townelynemotel/ - The correct URL is http://www.townelynemotel.com Also, note that the name of the motel is "Towne" with an "e" (and the same in the URL, for absence of the "e" brings up a different motel in a different city/state, remarkably enough).

gckorn
 
B

brmehlman

Member
Joined
Nov 6, 2002
Messages
3,080
Re: Dead Links - Maine Arts & Entertainment

#66536 is done.

I took out all the subpage listings and added the Maine page (pun intended) to replace them.
 
G

gckorn

Member
Joined
Feb 18, 2004
Messages
158
G

gckorn

Member
Joined
Feb 18, 2004
Messages
158
Dead Link - Mainet/Trav/Saco/Hotel

The following category contains a dead link (only a human would find this, because at first blush everything seems fine):

http://dmoz.org/Regional/North_America/United_States/Maine/Localities/S/Saco/Travel_and_Tourism/Lodging/Hotels_and_Motels/

Exit 5 Motel and Cottages
http://www.mallofmaine.com/exit-5.htm - Interestingly, the first click on the link seems okay. It is not until the next click that the error becomes apparent. Anyway, the link is dead. The correct URL is http://www.exit5motel.com

gckorn
 
G

gckorn

Member
Joined
Feb 18, 2004
Messages
158
G

gckorn

Member
Joined
Feb 18, 2004
Messages
158
Dead Links - Maine/Trav/S.Portland/Hotel

The following category contains a dead link:

http://dmoz.org/Regional/North_America/United_States/Maine/Localities/S/South_Portland/Travel_and_Tourism/Lodging/Hotels_and_Motels/

Marriott - Portland
http://www.marriott.com/marriott/PWMAP/ - It would appear that the correct link is http://marriott.com/property/propertyPage.mi?marshaCode=PWMAP (Note that the new URL bears the same "PWMAP" code at the end)

gckorn
P.S. These hotel "flags" seem to change the internal URL's of their properties on occasion. There must be a better linking mechanism, or perhaps a different rule should be imposed, else it is somewhat like sticking a finger in the damn, for every leak that is plugged two more seem to open. Also as noted before, the hotels themselves sometimes change "flags," so a link to the flag becomes dead.
 
G

gckorn

Member
Joined
Feb 18, 2004
Messages
158
G

gckorn

Member
Joined
Feb 18, 2004
Messages
158
Dead & Misplaced Links - Maine/Trav/Wells/Hotels

The following category contains dead & misplaced links:

http://dmoz.org/Regional/North_America/United_States/Maine/Localities/W/Wells/Travel_and_Tourism/Lodging/Hotels_and_Motels/

Blue Horizon Motel and Restaurant
http://home.maine.rr.com/bluehorizon/ - I called the proprietor and they thought this was the correct address, but it is dead. The next step would be to call Roadrunner (Time Warner Cable).

Seacoast Motel - The link is correct, but according to the website this motel is located in Ogunquit. So, the listing would seem to be better placed in the following category:

http://dmoz.org/Regional/North_America/United_States/Maine/Localities/O/Ogunquit/Travel_and_Tourism/Lodging/Hotels_and_Motels/

Wells-Moody Motel
Once again, the link is okay, but this motel is located in Moody and, per the language of the website, is near Ogunquit. Per Mapquest, Moody, ME is 1.8 miles from Ogunquit, but almost twice that distance to Wells. So, and given the content of the site, the following category is more accurate:
http://dmoz.org/Regional/North_America/United_States/Maine/Localities/O/Ogunquit/Travel_and_Tourism/Lodging/Hotels_and_Motels/

gckorn
 
G

gckorn

Member
Joined
Feb 18, 2004
Messages
158
Dead Links - Maine/EcoTour/Whales

The following category contains a dead link:

http://dmoz.org/Recreation/Travel/Specialty_Travel/Ecotourism/Dolphins,_Manatees,_and_Whales/Regional/North_America/United_States/Maine/

(Tried to correct above many times, but Forum will not hyperlink the entire URL of this category. . . it keeps cutting if off . . . perhaps the "_" causes this.)

Bar Harbor Whale Watch Co. (this is listing #2)
http://www.acadia.net/~humpback/ - You can delete this listing. It is already included as listing #1. In fact, if you click on listing #1, you'll see that its company title is exactly as stated in dead listing #2.

Several days ago, the following listing was active:

First Chance Whale Watch
http://www.firstchancewhalewatch.com/1stchanc.html - First, it would be better to drop the /1stchanc.html part of the listing. When done, it appears that the hosting has been temporarily disabled. However, the business phone still answers, so my guess is that they are still in business. I'm following up with them and will report. Please don't delete (though you may wish to pend it, or include a phone contact).

gckorn
 
B

brmehlman

Member
Joined
Nov 6, 2002
Messages
3,080
Re: Dead Links - Maine/EcoTour/Whales

Long urls are broken at underscores to try (without much success in this case, it seems) to prevent thread stretch. You can use the URL link in the Instant UBB Code section of the posting screen to get those. Like this:

Maine marine mammals category
 
E

ecomcity

Re: Hijacks & Other Content Changes - Report Here ONLY

This Russian Moffia group has purchased multiple domains with DMOZ listing and then use them to as doorway/cloaked pages to get high Google rankings. The do blind redirects to 500 affiliate enabled merchants using merchant datafeeds stuffed with keywords to set commission cookies.

www.fedscope.com (was part of USA Govt SCOPE project)
www.EBUSINESSISBUSINESS.COM
www.MICHIGANENSIAN.COM

sample #1 listing in Google for popular search term Reebok G Unit http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&q=Reebok+G+Unit&btnG=Google+Search

I saw that some of the sites connected to the ones listed here had DMOZ descriptions showing when I looked them up in Google. Seems they've been buying up dead DMOZ-listed domains and changing them, making use of DMOZ's notoriously slow updating. Then the DMOZ turbo-charged domains are linked into the System for a PR powerhouse. Link text (in some cases) along with whatever "content" is on the cloaked pages tells G-bot where to list 'em.

The use of old domains is an EZ Joe old PR-raising trick that used to be fouled up by a Google algo change from a year or so ago. Looks like G decided to remove that part of the algo--sometimes they do that if it's catching too many innocent sites along with the junk. Either that or the rumors of the trick not working anymore were highly overrated all along!
 
mcoupal

mcoupal

Curlie Meta
Joined
Oct 1, 2002
Messages
408
Re: Hijacks & Other Content Changes - Report Here

EcomCity, thanks for the notice! It looks like none of them are listed at DMOZ. If you find some that are, please let us know :)
 
G

gckorn

Member
Joined
Feb 18, 2004
Messages
158
T

tschild

kEditall/kCatmv
Curlie Meta
Joined
May 3, 2002
Messages
124
Re: Dead Links - Maine/Animal Welfare

#67279 (Golden Retriever Rescue of Maine) done; thank you for your help.
 
B

brmehlman

Member
Joined
Nov 6, 2002
Messages
3,080
Re: Dead Links - Maine/Animal Welfare

#66905 and #66949 done.

Thanks, and especially thanks for the ones where you find a replacement. We really appreciate those.
 
G

gckorn

Member
Joined
Feb 18, 2004
Messages
158
Dead Links - Maine/Culture/Orgs

The following category contains 7 dead links:

http://dmoz.org/Regional/North_America/United_States/Maine/Society_and_Culture/Organizations/

Commission of Community Service
http://www.state.me.us/spo/mccs/ - The correct link is: http://www.state.me.us/communityservice/ Note also that the title is "Commission for Community Serivce" (not "of").

Franco-American Women's Institute
http://members.aol.com/FAWI2000/index.html - The correct URL is: http://www.fawi.net/

Maine Coast Men
http://www.mainemen.org/mcm/ - The correct URL is: http://www.mainecoastmen.org/

Maine Horticulture
http://janus.state.me.us/agriculture/plantind/homepage.htm - Given the old URL and given the title, the likely correct new URL is: http://www.state.me.us/agriculture/pi/horticulture.htm
or, to go up a level, it could be: http://www.state.me.us/agriculture/pi/index.html (but then the topic title would be better stated as "Maine Division of Plant Industry," of which the horticulture program is one element).

Maine State Federation of Firefighters Convention
http://www.bairnet.org/organizations/msfff/1999/ - First, the URL for this organization is http://www.msfff.org Second, I would delete the word "Convention" in the title, as this category is for orgs, not for specific events within orgs. Linking to a 1999 convention makes no sense.

Paved Shoulders for Bicycles Maine
http://www.bikemaine.org/pavedshoulders.htm - This appears to be less an organization than a cause within an organization, so shouldn't be listed at all. If it is to be listed, should be http://www.bikemaine.org/shoulders.htm (not /pavedshoulders.htm)

Penobscot River Keepers 2000
http://www.bairnet.org/organizations/riverkeepers/PRK2000.HTM - If you call the number for this org listed at the following URL, you'll find that it has been disconnected: http://www.mainerivers.org/penobscot.htm

gckorn
 
thehelper

thehelper

Member
Joined
Mar 26, 2002
Messages
4,996
Re: Hijacked Link

It appears the whole dmv domain was hijacked. Thanks for the report and it is taken care of.
 
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