MSN Live's New Algo Should Be Named Site Sniper

MSN Live is anything but subtle when it comes to algorithmic tweaking (a.k.a., site sniping). About two weeks ago I noticed they bumped one of my new sites from their index. I figured it was a short-term "adjustment" and would correct itself. It never did. Early last week they erased one of my large sites - a site that has been indexed for nearly a year and that dominated positions 1 - 5 for several keywords.

After they sniped my large site, I contacted them using their email form. I received an automated response stating:

"Occasionally, a website may disappear from search results as we change our website-ranking algorithms. In some cases, search results may change considerably as we test new algorithms. If the placement of your web site changes you should check back in two weeks. It can take a couple of weeks for changes to stabilize...We may remove a website from the index if the website was reported as spam. If you think your site may have been mistakenly marked as spam, please reply to this message."

Following their advice, I replied to their automated message with a brief email stating, "I think my site(s) were mistakenly marked as spam and removed."

The next day I received a response from Arlene with Live Search Technical Support stating, "I want to let you know that your inquiry is quite isolated and unique. I will be forwarding this case to our product specialists, who will then engage additional resources to further investigate this matter."

Three days later I received a response from James with Microsoft Global Escalations stating, "I have been assigned to help you with your issue, and my records indicate that the issue you are experiencing is with Live Search and indexing of your page...We are aware of this issue and are diligently working to resolve this. Please check back in 48hrs."

Although I initially thought I was the only target, it appears others have been sniped as well.

I'll provide a follow-up once I've been re-indexed.

Unique Blog Designs - Or Broken Blog Designs?

Today I was listening to the first of two podcasts in which John Chow hosted the Shoemoney Show. One of his guests was Nate Whitehill from Unique Blog Designs. Nate is known for redesigning both Chow and Shoemoney's blogs. Although his work is unquestionably great, I was a bit shocked to discover that many of his designs render horribly in IE6 (see pics below). Based on stats from my own sites, the majority of my visitors are still using IE6. Given the $750 price tag Nate charges for a new skin, I would expect the design to be cross-browser compatible.

HostMonster

I've been looking for a new hosting provider. I currently have it narrowed down to GoDaddy and HostMonster, but think HostMonster might be the better deal (see below). Let me know which one you would pick.

Host Unlimited Domains On 1 Hosting Account

Bullet for My Valentine

Bullet for My Valentine fricken rocks!!! I bought their cd this afternoon titled The Poison.It is easily the best CD I've purchased in a very long time.

I first discovered Bullet for My Valentine yesterday while surfing YouTube. Check 'em out!

Smoley, IRB Approval, Data Collection, ASP.NET

It's been too long since my last post. Hmmm...that's beginning to sound like this site's mantra. Things have been busy...travel during the holidays...a sick child...IRB "exemption" granted from my employer...a sick Child...thesis data collection...Skype...and so the story goes.

I got a new ASP book in November, but haven't had time to delve into it. It's ASP.NET 2.0 Unleashedby Stephen Walther. It might become more of a reference book rather than a cover-to-cover read, being it's 1963 pages. Nonetheless, the first time I cracked it open I learned something new (i.e., cross-page postbacks).

Anyway, that's it for now. My New Year's resolution (albeit almost a month late), will be to blog at least once a week.

Cheers,

Terry