We know that the Insiders View domain has a certain amount of authority with the search engines. We’ve never purchased linked, have never spammed other sites. We’ve been around for a few years and consistently produced content in some shape or form over that period. So we tend to be able to write a single post about a niche topic and achieve some decent SERP positions. Like our relatively modest ranking in Google for the Money Saving Expert Forum search term which shows our Disgruntled Members on the Money Saving Expert Forum page.
But it seems as though our visibility in the search engines, combined with our democratic point of view, has made us the target of attack from the blinkered Money Saving Expert forum fan boys. You see, we’ve just been through a server move within our host company. So we’ve been keeping an eye on traffic, uptime, visitor spikes and so on. So have they. Turns out, we’re an itch that the Money Saving Expert forum hardcore comment police can’t scratch!
It seems that our open and honest assessment of the censorship which goes on in the Money Saving Expert Forum isn’t to their liking. The comments section at the bottom of the Money Saving Expert forum page on Insiders View (which shows up for the "Money Saving Expert forum" search term – like the keyword stuffing going on here?!) will tell us that. But we didn’t anticipate the Denial of Service (DoS) attack targeting that particular Insiders View post!!
With a little digging, a sprinkling of IP addresses and some very basic tracing, it wasn’t hard (or surprising) to find that the culprits of the attacks wear the Money Saving Expert colours on their sleeve.
Now, you can tell by the tongue in cheek tone of this post that it’s not really a big bother to us. This blog doesn’t make us money so the only inconvenience to a DoS attack is down time – which is just a few minutes here and there restoring a back up. Big deal. But what the Money Saving Expert forum fans don’t consider is that it simply results in another post – with lots of keyword stuffing for the phrase: Money Saving Expert forum – and all of a sudden they’re now going to be faced with a double listing in the same Google SERP!!
Oh, and did we ever tell you the one about whether Martin Lewis is Gay or not? It’s a cracker and we know you like that post too, so we thought we’d link to it again! The Money Saving Expert forum fans who’ve been attacking our domain should now make an orderly queue in the comments box for the accusations of attention seeking, being jealous of people because they’re successful and general homophobia.
The Insurance IndustryAn Entrepreneur's Perspective
{ 16 comments… read them below or add one }
Your right about your decent SERP positioning – this post is already ranking sixth for Money Saving Expert Forum so they are only drawing attention to their antics. The big G must have a soft spot for you
It’s strange they’ve decided to target you seeing as this here blog seems pretty innocuous, just minding your own business, if you don’t mind me saying. Good luck with the keyboard warriors!
I don’t think Martin would be aware of this. The MSE forum is open, he does not control it. Plus his own site suffered a similar attack and he wrote how much he disapproved at the time on his blog.
@sarah johns, I definitely wouldn’t say that the MSE forum is ‘open’. Hence the popularity of the MSE forum post. If you are not aware, there are many rules and regulations in place that many think are too restrictive.
Moreover, instant bans and removal of posts that don’t put MSE in the best light are commonplace.
Finally, a link to this site from the forum normally lasts about 1 day before it’s pulled by an admin.
Funny funny. Keep it up.
The Money Saving Expert forum ? Do you mean the Money Saving Expert forum ?
Sorry I couldn’t resist!!!
I find it laughable that the people on the Money Saving Expert forum give people advice (Just go into the credit card section and pick any page) then when it goes wrong Lewis calls you an ilk and bans you. He hates people speaking out against him, hense your DDoS attack!
The Money Saving Expert Forum has some hardcore fans that can’t bear seeing lewis be bad mouthed
Great post and well done for standing up the UKs biggest Consumer site/forum.
Forums are there to give balance to a debate – if they have an itchy trigger finger that bans people for adding their opinion – then this site deserves some bad publicity!
I’m at my wits-end with Martin Lewis and his censored forum.
On every page within his form, he clearly states ‘This is an open forum – anyone can post.’ – If only this were true.
What’s totally frustrating is he offers no direct right-of-reply for any company that is discussed on his site. Instead, you have to send an email to his ‘abuse’ team requesting they investigate.
On two occassions now, innaccurate and defamatory information has been posted about my company. Whilst their ‘investigation’ is carried out, the rubbish remains published for all to see.
Finally, days later, when ‘the powers that be’ decide to act, they quietly remove the post. No apology, no correction, no statement.
So, thousands of readers get to read defamatory information about us, causing us damage and he simply does not care.
Hi,
Below is an email I sent to Martin Lewis website today.
Martin allowed a thread about our company to run for weeks while he tried to see the company brought to its knees, when its supporters replied to the comments made about the company and tried to offer explanations to a confused public, the site threw everyone that supported us off, barred our IP and then stripped the thread of our defence and then continued to let his lynch mob lie deceive and slander without recourse as thousands watched.
This website is a loose cannon and needs closing down now!!!
Sir,
You were sent an email by my company yesterday telling you that you had until this morning to remove the thread about us which was one sided slanderous and which had admissions of criminal activity.
You have failed to remove the thread and now having read the whole thread again with all of LRS originally initiated posts having been deleted it makes little sense and the attacks on us are still defamatory, unfounded and damaging and have no place on your site, there are still several quotations from our posts included in others posters’ posts and these – taken out of context – show a wholly distorted view of what LRS has said on this thread.
You have until 12pm today to remove this thread in its entirety or the whole copy file of the original 16 pages will be forwarded to our solicitors and the police to start civil and criminal proceeding against your company and its member posters that you are protecting.
Paul Routledge
Landlord Referencing Services
The site has now changed some of the last really derogatory comments but still will not remove the thread so now we will need to carry out our threats and sue them and report them to the police.
We have gone onto face book and searched martin Lewis and there are a couple of groups on their which a proving that this is not the first time his shoddy web site has done this to people.
The link to the forum is
http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.php?t=2630339&page=13
I lasted all of 2 days on MSE forum, it looked good and I read his bit about amazon being cheaper through his site. went through the links and realised it was actually 12.5% more expensive! I brought this up on the forum with screen shots and the thread was gone in 15 minutes and I was banned.
I’ve started using a new UK money saving forum: http://www.saverscene.com/
the guy’s cuter and as far as I know not gay!
Jen22.
Hi Jen22.
Feel free to contact us as we can publish it if you like.
Hi I was a member of the MSE site but hadn’t used it in ages. When I came to try and post I just get a message on the screen that I don’t have user privileges although it allows me to sign in. Have I been banned? Oh well never mind I will live without it althoughI have e-mailed them but got an auto response that they were too busy to reply which I found quite annoying.
I was miffed about the bank charges debacle as it actually cost me over a hundred quid to serve papers on my bank through the court only to have the whole thing frozen for months and months and in the end I let it go and cut my losses.
Perhaps I said something that wasn’t liked?!
Hello all! I like this forum, i found multifarious compelling people on this forum.!!!
Large Community, good all!
Hi,everybody,I’m new.welcome to help me towards the themes.I will thank you for you greatly.
And there was me feeling special for having been banned.
I didn’t realise it happened to every Tom, Dick or Harry…