SQUIDOO NEWS FLASH
POLICY CHANGES JULY 20 or Later
BE READY SO YOUR LENSES ARE NOT SUSPENDED
I received this email today along with every Squidoo Lensmaster in the world. But, in case you are new to Squidoo or didn’t get your email, here’s the policy information.
This can really effect network marketers so I recommend if have business lenses, you go check your link count and make sure you’re not to saleszy.
1. No Spam. This one’s not new, but it’s worth saying again.
It’s simple: given our pedigree, our point of view and our dyed-in-the-wool, we-will-never-change-our-mind conviction on this issue, spam is not okay at Squidoo. For a few years now we have had a very strict and enforced stance against spam. That’s staying the same, and if anything, getting even more rigorous. If you actively spam people with your Squidoo lenses (by email, in blog comments, by stalking and harassing people on Twitter, by tricking people with the content in your lenses, and more) we’ll lock your entire account.
2. No more X-rated or Porn lenses
If you came to Squidoo to create X-rated or pornographic content, the time has come to say farewell. We’re not discontinuing these lenses because we’ve suddenly grown shy, or because we no longer believe in the freedom to publish what you want. We do. Practically though, supporting X-rated pages no longer makes sense, and it invites more spam and empty traffic and wasted overhead than anything. Find out more about why we’re making this very hard decision, and what it means for your X-rated lenses. (Don’t panic! You can export your content and take it with you).
3. No Junk Topics from our “SquidDon’t” List
Lenses on free movie downloads. Toenail fungus cures. LoseBellyFatNow promotions. Reverse Phone Lookup 4U. You know junk when you see it. And lots more examples.
Unforunately, topics like these are overwhelmingly conditioned and proven to attract spammers. If a topic has displayed enough trickery and spam and bad activity, we choose not to support it. If we find a lens on a SquidDon’t topic or something very similar to it, we’ll lock it. For good. Our best recommendation: Don’t bother with topics like these. There’s plenty of incredible stuff to write about and recommend online without having to go near the edges of what we’re got going here.
4. A new limit on overly promotional lenses
Making a lens to promote or recommend something is a terrific endeavor. It’s a big part of why a lot of our people are here. But: Less is more! Sales lenses far too often turn into junk lenses, as described by the relentless number of outbound links to the same exact domain. Being overly promotional rarely works. “Buy here buy here buy here!” never does.
So to help you focus your lenses, and sell even better–and to help surfers find our pages more useful overall–we’re introducing a limit to the number of outbound links to the same domain that you can have on a lens. If you have more than 9 links to the SAME domain on a single lens, your lens will get locked for review. Of course we’ll have domains that are whitelisted out of this (meaning, you can have as many outbound links to them as you like), as well as sites that are blacklisted (meaning, even a single link to that domain will get your lens locked).
What now? First, take a deep breath.
We won’t be flipping the switch on these new policies until July 20, 2009 or later. So you’ve got more than a month to review your lenses to make sure they’re playing by the rules.
In the meantime, here are 4 things you can do to get ready for these changes.
Thanks, guys.
Thanks for reading this far. And thanks for caring about the quality, community and infinite possibility that is Squidoo.
Live long and prosper.
–The SquidTeam
Squidoo.com
I appreciate your comments. If you have updated news or information to share, please post it. Thanks. I value your input.
