Help....

[Web Witch]

....I had this prospective customer whom never came on board, I never registared any website/page in her name, then today I get this email from her "When I type my legal name, some name, into anyNet search engine I get linked to your Soft Designs website.". I'm really not sure what she is yapping about though I did do a search on her legal name at Lycos and got back a link to a page which I removerd over a month ago from name.

I did not registar her with any search engine, she now demands that I remove her. My reply to her was "I have not submitted any site with you name on it to search engines, so I have no idea what you are talking about. If this matter needs to be rectified immediately why don't you contact the search engine that supposedly is picking up some sort of link to SoftDesigns, it's their problem not mine.".

How would you handle something like this?

I think I know why the demo page for her is showing up as "Page Not Found" at Lycos search because I have a sub-directory called 'some name' at Atlanta. Is this the reason Lycos is picking it up? She wants me to "Please rectify this situation immediately. I will continue checking to make sure this change has taken place right away.". She' a some name which rhymes with Witch so for the time being I'll let her try to fathom out what is going on and if I'm correct there is no reason why I can't have a sub-directory called 'some name' and it's Lycos's fault for picking up on this sub-directory. I guess if it causes her to much grief I could charge her for the removal of the sub-directory from my server <grin>.

:scattered

[ihelpyou]

Nothing you can really do. The search engines pick up all and anything they please.

Do a search on anyones name and any site could come up at anytime.

Do a search on Doug Heil at Google. :)

Besides, how many times does she really think someone may do a search for her EXACT name at any search engine at all. :eek:

[Web Witch]

Besides, how many times does she really think someone may do a search for her EXACT name at any search engine at all. Ah-h-h-h but she's an artist who makes one-of-a-kind pottery; I should have been more alerted that the first email address was name@iiitttkkk.com see she's already a Digital Diva:square:

Maybe this thread should be moved to "Website Promotion":bandit:

[ihelpyou]

Oh, I see.

Well, all she can try to do is contact the search engine directly and ask them to remove it. Other than that, you can make sure the page comes up a 404 when a search result is clicked. Then it is a matter of time before the search engine will drop the page.

Not much anyone can do as the engines do their own thing. We have virtually NO control over what they find.

[Web Witch]

....on the string some name just sent me two blank consulation forms from SoftDesigns website; so I searched Google for the same string and the website which isn't there got TOP horors:eek: and they were coming in on prestige.net the service that I use so I'll bet ya they live in Cherokee County here in GA.

I wonder, am I being harrassed by the Diva or one of her friends now?8)

[Blue]

Is there a specific reason you have the sub-dir "some name"? Maybe you could rename it (how about some name? LOL).

Well, I 'm of the mind that unless she starts some official legal proceedings against you or your firm, not to worry about it. After all, unless she could prove that you were trying to be malicious towards her, she doesn't have a case. Unless her name is a legal trademark like some "stars" names are.

OT, how was you're vacation? (And glad to have you back... :) ).

[Web Witch]

Is there a specific reason you have the sub-dir "name"? Maybe you could rename it (how about some name? LOL). S-s-s-s-shee-e-e-esh:) The reason being is that the some name husband had sent me the graphics for the pages and I created a sub-directory at one of my sites to see how they'd set up....during this time the some name didn't want to view her web pages at www.iiitttkkk.com she wanted them at www.iiitttwww.com, so I got her the domain name and told the "DD" :square: I charge her $25/yr, $10 less than Network Solutions....she decided not to go with me for web development so I told her I would transfer the name over to her once I received $25, needless to say the "DD" :square: demanded it to happen over a weekend:3: next contact she said she would secure herself a new domain name....guess you could say she's a some name now:circle:

To tell you the truth the thought of using the domain and putting a picture of a cracked pot on it, I would have paid to see her expression when she went to the URL:thebomb:

WW

[Web Witch]

Hey . . ., morons. The next time you have the inclination to refer to propective customers as a "some name" or "other name" in correspondense (Web Witch (7-08-01 - 7-09-01), you may want to have that deleted before it goes world wide for all to read.

Oh, I forgot. You idiots don't know how to do any of that. By the way, you two may also want to go to your local business college and enroll in "Customer Relations for Complete Incompetents -101" as well.

P.S. Maybe you should change your business names to SoftBrainDesigns and Designs. Suits your intelligence level.
***********************

DELETE it before it goes world wide for all to read. Guess it has gone WW and it's called free speech! Do a search on Google for some name and the only thing that comes up is this thread.

Doug you must be working overtime:scattered Do you feel a need to delete this thread?

To name:bouncy: do you feel a little:5:

WW

[ihelpyou]

Well, no forum anywhere could possibly help that any search engine picks up any particular page. They are robots and discussion forums have no control of what they index. As long as the forums do not have a brand name or personal name in the meta tags, all is fine.

These forums are being picked up by all engines right now. No control at all.

But I will delete the name in this thread if they wish me to.





Please tell her all instances of her name are deleted from here.

[Web Witch]

I don't think that was really necessary Doug everything I said was a statement of fact and I was courious how search engines kept finding my sub-directory called Batson.

On second thought maybe you should have left the thread in tact so future people that could become involved with her would know what they are up against, and of course it was all in fun:) The thread is now lacking that oomph!

WW

[ihelpyou]

Yes. I know that and so do we know it was in fun but all these pages get indexed by Google and they did not want their name in it, so I simply deleted the name so next time Google indexes the name will be removed.

Just trying to be nice, is all. :)

We love to kid and have fun, but some people just do not see it that way.


But, it is a fact that no one really searches for a name of someone unless that name is popular. Look at my name in Google. Type that in and I look like I am associated with many different industries and web sites. Thousands of them. :)

[MazY]

Whoo hooo. I get to sail against the wind again then...

How long has this one been going on and how did it escape my beady eye?

I understand both sides perfectly well here, I think.

Your side being that you are not quite sure how it got indexed and the client's side being the fact that it did.

The client has every right to be more than a little miffed, especially if her name is part of her artistic productions. I suspect that it is. In most art forms, the name goes a long way and is all part of the branding.

Clearly, a lesson that should be learned from this is that public forums are not the place to exercise customer relations.

I hate to be the stick in the mud but I tend to lean towards the client's view in this case - maybe because I'm an art fan, maybe because I come from a strong customer service working background but I do understand her plight and am not quite sure that addressing the particular case in the public eye was the right way to go.

As for the reply "I have not submitted any site with you name on it to search engines, so I have no idea what you are talking about. If this matter needs to be rectified immediately why don't you contact the search engine that supposedly is picking up some sort of link to SoftDesigns, it's their problem not mine." - wow, you are either one very brave person or have too many clients on your hands, if that was in fact your actual response.

Could you not have just apologised and advise that you would look into it?

To argue with a client, regardless of whether they are right or wrong is an absolute no-no. Though you may well contest that she is not your client as it never got that far, your reputation is only as good as the person telling others about you.

Doug - you say that the search engines pick up anything and everything that they like - not strictly the case is it? That is why we have Disallow.

[ihelpyou]

Oh sure, but I would not disallow an entire forum because names are posted in it. There would not be any disussion forums anywhere if that was the case.

[MazY]

Oh right, sorry. I thought you meant in the case of WW's original problem, which was not, I gather, forum based.