I apologise for taking a liberty and posting here but this stuff makes my blood boil

Selected answers from the Dumb SEO Questions Facebook & G+ community.

• 
  Jim Munro: Why hide stuff like this?
  
  I think everybody should hear what's going on. ;
  
  Google has condoned Negative SEO for years. If past inaction is any guide, they will continue to ignore it until they regard it as a problem.
  
  I think Google might have to do the right thing if this fiasco proceeds to its logical conclusion. At that point it will become Google's problem, not just ours.
  
  Negative SEO is possible because Google introduced upper limit thresholds. Worse, Google accepts that every algorithm update damages a percentage of innocent, blameless sites. It's built into their system.
  
  There is no level playing field. This is wrong and it's up to Google to fix it.
  
  ====================
  I apologise for taking a liberty and posting here but this stuff makes my blood boil.
• 
  Jim Munro: Why hide stuff like this?
  
  I think everybody should hear what's going on. ;
  
  Google has condoned Negative SEO for years. If past inaction is any guide, they will continue to ignore it until they regard it as a problem.
  
  I think Google might have to do the right thing if this fiasco proceeds to it's logical conclusion. At that point it will become Google's problem, not just ours.
  
  Negative SEO is possible because Google introduced upper limit thresholds. Worse, Google accepts that every algorithm update damages a percentage of innocent, blameless sites. It's built into their system.
  
  There is no level playing field. This is wrong and it's up to Google to fix it.
• 
  Mark Traphagen: That's a parody site.....right?
• 
  Jim Munro: I don't think so, Mark, but if it is, you can find any number of willing practitioners over on seoclerks(dot)com and similar sites. The pricing on the site above is comparative to the other offers readily-available.
  
  That link was an attempted drop in our community this morning and it's been tried before so I have every reason to believe it's kosher.
  
  https://plus.google.com/u/0/115930388191976019900/posts/U3SqaU7AXHB
• 
  Mark Traphagen: Oh I know they exist all right, and are not hard to find. That site just seems a little over the top. But then, in this business it's not like we haven't seen over the top things that are for real ;-)
• 
  Rotimi Orimoloye: Wow! That's so ugly!
  And I bet quite a few people would seek their services too!
  
  And yeah. I remember seeing a similar link dropped in another SEO community a while back, while I was a stand-in mod for a week or so.
  You can bet the blackhat forums are teeming with this kind of stuff.
• 
  Tony McCreath: Argh, so the guy attacking me probably only paid $10 for it!
• 
  Jim Munro: I'd be arguing that $10 worth might be helping you, Tony. :)
  You should figure out who it is and send them a thank you note. :)
• 
  Tony McCreath: LOL. We'll it's not hurting, but I am disavowing at every corner. 200 odd domains so far. ;Not that the disavow tool does anything Jim ;-)
  
  If I do find the bugger I might just 301 the page targeted and give them back all their love.
• 
  Peter Fitzer: This is appalling. ;
• 
  Jim Munro: I am probably wrong about the disavow tool, Tony. I was just over-ruled by +Adriano Di Palma ;who said he thinks it works.
  
  I think I'll have a bet each way. I'll respect Adriano's opinion but not use the tool. :)
• 
  Jim Munro: I agree with you, +Peter Fitzer ;.
• 
  Adriano Di Palma: Hehe I could be totally off Jim, stick with your gut :)
• 
  Jim Munro: On reflection, Adriano, I think you are more likely to be right, but not enough to convince me to spend time on it again just yet. :)
• 
  Tony McCreath: If anyone want's to experiment I've got a highly link spammed page with all links disavowed that I can redirect to somewhere. ;
  
  Otherwise I'm just going to shut it down, 404 style.
• 
  Jim Munro: I think it would make a good case study, Tony.
  
  (please consider posting it here first. :) )
• 
  Jim Munro: Check this out +Tony McCreath, posted a few minutes ago.
  
  How about coming onto the DSQ HOA this week to talk about your experiences.
  http://moz.com/ugc/a-startling-case-study-of-manual-penalties-and-negative-seo
• 
  Tony McCreath: +Jim Munro ;I keep trying to join in. This week I'm meeting up with some fellow SEOs in the Garden Of Unearthly Delights. Next week I'm heading your way again!
• 
  Jim Munro: Call in on your way past, mate. :)
• 
  Tony McCreath: I'll see what I can do.  ;I'm just a chauffeur over there then a guest in Surfers Paradise for a few days. Will keep you posted. p.s. that article was interesting. Makes my little ol' attack seem insignificant.
• 
  Sasch Mayer: Face it... all those ineffectual SEO Eggspurts who lost their jobs needed to find new careers, and one unicorn is as good as another.
• 
  Jim Munro: It must be different over there, Sasch, I haven't heard anyone over here reducing staff.
  
  Dan just opened a new office.
• 
  Jim Munro: What did you mean by "unicorn", mate, surely you are not denying the existence of Negative SEO?
• 
  Sasch Mayer: I didn't know +Dan Petrovic ;did Negative SEO, or indeed that he fell into the SEO Eggspurt category. I always thought of him as one of the few practitioners who actually know what they're doing.
  
  Do you not remember the almost universal panic caused among the world's SEOs in April of 2012, when Penguin caused mass unemployment in every SEO Outsource Bastion around the globe? At the same time any number of SEO firms based in supposedly reputable locations also went belly-up. Some of these people have now chosen the new career path of NSEO, without ever actually altering their techniques.
  
  There's some irony in there somewhere... :-D
  
  But anyway, no, I'm not denying the existence of NSEO. I am, however, denying that it's as easy as most people seem to think it is. What I'm calling a unicorn is the kind of Garbage SEO now being offered as NSEO by so many companies and individuals. Sure, it's possible to sink your competitor's site, but you won't do it with the sort of kindergarten tactics used by the vast majority of these jokers.
• 
  Jim Munro: I'm not sure that I agree with that, mate. Links alone will do it as evidenced by the example posted on Moz an hour or two ago.
  
  http://moz.com/ugc/a-startling-case-study-of-manual-penalties-and-negative-seo
  
  I'm guessing upper limit thresholds have been used by Google since at least 2007 because we've been impacted by Negative SEO since then.
  
  I wonder how many sites smashed by the first Penguin were innocent victims?
• 
  Sasch Mayer: "The ability to agree is not essential. The ability to think for yourself is."
  - Some wise person
  
  Moz is entitled to its own opinion, as are we all. It's just that I have my own stock of wisdom on this subject. :-)
• 
  Jim Munro: Hmm - that wasn't Moz wisdom though, mate. It was a simple case study which included a confirmation from John Mueller.
  
  I don't doubt that links are enough, we were hit hardest by links alone. The reputation damage and sending of clickfarms came later. They work too.
• 
  Sasch Mayer: OK, I'll bite... Link please. :-)
• 
  Jim Munro: There you go, mate:
  http://moz.com/ugc/a-startling-case-study-of-manual-penalties-and-negative-seo
• 
  Sasch Mayer: Incidentally, I haven't forgotten or Deep Sixed this; I got caught with a client and a couple of server glitches. I'll go through the case-study tomorrow. :-)
• 
  Jim Munro: In your own time, Sasch. :)