How to Shut Down a Splog (Spam Blog)

(www.businessandblogging.com)
For those of you who have been following my string of posts on the Spam Blog that has been stealing posts from Laura and me (and many other bloggers), and posting them without attribution, I have this news:

The Spam Blog is gone!

That’s right! The last time I checked to see whether they were still stealing our posts I found – nothing!!  They’re gone – disappeared – like they never existed!

You can see for yourself here. 

So what happened to them?

In truth – I’m not sure.

I was really only trying to get them to leave Laura and me alone. I never actually thought they’d go away completely.   But as you can see, it was more than just blog abandonment, or there would still be old posts up there.  Instead, everything has been wiped out, as though their blog host deleted them.

So – here’s what I did in case it had anything to do with it.

 1) wrote a post complaining about them as a splog – which anyone with power and influence could have read and acted upon

2) reported the blog to some blog hosts (I couldn’t tell precisely who their host was – Wordpress, Blogger, Typepad, etc.)

3) reported the blog to Google

4) added a link back to our site from all of our posts to lessen the impact of their theft

 So there you have it. 

Did those steps shut them down?  

Not sure. 

Will they be back under a different name?  

Most likely.

Will they skim articles again from Laura and me?  

hmmmm….. maybe not!

Regardless, it’s put a smile on my face and a spring in my step for the day – hope it’s made you feel a little more optimistic as well!!

What have been your experiences with splogs? Any luck in fighting them?

photo credit: Two Roses