June 10, 2008 at 12:13 am
Been a bit busy the past few days working on my U2 book, but had some time today to get more involved on mixx, digg, sphinn, etc. Here’s what I shared over the past 24 hours or so.
mixx
digg
Sphinn
Not a single iPhone story submitted. 
But I did vote for a couple. And I do plan to buy the new one next month. But you knew that….
May 28, 2008 at 9:32 am
Being a moderator at Sphinn is pretty time-consuming, but it’s also fun! I’ve killed thousands of submissions and accounts from users spammers trying to game the site for exposure, a free and followed link, or whatever else they’re trying to accomplish. As Danny (I think) once said, “Nothing smells better than fresh killspam in the morning.” Hehehehe, so true.
Sphinn’s guidelines seem pretty straightforward to me. The primary rule is use common sense. Well, judging from the amount of spam that gets submitted every day, common sense isn’t very common.
So, in an effort to help those who need it, here are one moderator’s examples of signs that you’re spamming or gaming Sphinn. (I’ve blurred out the names of the guilty; the point isn’t to call them out individually, it’s to help… really. (And to make you roll your eyes at the crap we see.))
1.) Your submission has 61 words in the title.
(Note: Sphinn has no specific rule about how long a headline can be. But really, 61 words? Takeaway: Use common sense.)
2.) The URL you’re submitting has the phrase “for sale” in it.
3.) The article you wrote is filled with affiliate links.
(Note: As a moderator, I’ll overlook it if you have a good article that has an affiliate link at the end. But the example above? Spam.)
4.) You repeat your keyword four times in the headline.
5.) You repeat your keyword six times in the headline. (And once more in the description, because too much is never enough!)
6.) I click to read your article, and before the page loads, you hit me with a pop-up window selling your products, your services, your newsletter … anything.
(Note: Sphinn has no rule against submitting articles with pop-ups. This is not spam by definition. It’s just annoying, and looks spammy. Takeaway: Use common sense.)
7.) Your submission gets 19 votes in less than 40 minutes, while every other submission before and after yours only has 1-2 votes.
(Note: I know people have friends/co-workers who help vote up each other’s stories. We decide on a case-by-case basis if these are spam/gaming the site. And I know there’s only one submission from a recognizable user in the screenshot above, but still … 19 votes in less than 40 minutes? Please.)
8.) You submitted your home page.
(No image necessary. Point is, 99 times out of 100, people submit a home page for self-promotional spamming purposes. Submit your articles/blog posts, instead; not your home page.)
9.) Your story is off-topic, and you wrote the headline in ALL FREAKIN’ CAPS.
(Note: Off-topic = spam. ALL CAPS = annoying.)
10.) You have a public, open-to-anyone Facebook group called “I Sphinn Your Back – You Sphinn My Back.”
If I missed any, feel free to add them in the comments!
March 27, 2008 at 5:08 pm
If you browse through the Greatest Hits section on Sphinn, you’ll see the charts dominated by many of the most familiar names in SEO and Social Media: Tamar, Danny Sullivan, Lyndon, Lee Odden, Vanessa Fox, Rand, John Andrews, and I snuck in there, too.
In each case, these are people who have been on Sphinn for a long time and have a measure of name recognition — they’re on the charts a lot, their submissions go hot on a consistent basis. But like any Greatest Hits chart, it wouldn’t be complete without the obligatory One-Hit Wonder. And Sphinn has its own one-hit wonder right here:
That’s currently the fourth-hottest hit in Sphinn history, and it comes from a user with the name KangoTraveler. Here are a few things to know about KangoTraveler:
- This is his only “gone hot” submission. (the very definition of a one-hit wonder!)
- He’s only submitted three other times, none in the last month-plus.
- He’s only shared two comments on Sphinn, the most recent being 163 days ago.
- He’s only voted on 11 other articles, none since December.
In other words, KangoTraveler is Sphinn’s very own Gary Numan, A-Ha, and Toni Basil all rolled into one. Somehow, Sphinn’s Greatest Hits just wouldn’t seem right without him.
So with that in mind, a quick note to KangoTraveler, wherever he is: Keep your feet on the ground, and keep reaching for the stars.
