The Ammon’s post that I linked to refers to viewing the bigger picture and persisting in using white hat techniques, when your competition is using black hat ones, which is contrary to what you have been saying, really.

Sounds like someone should take their own advice.

In closing, I’d like to say that I particularly enjoy your use of smiley faces. Not one, but two!!

“when warranted” = money is offered.

“rabidly puritanical attitude” = those who don’t NEED to lie, cheat and steal when marketing.

RE: “Likening blackhats to sheep?”

Yep, just tell all you buddies that a new directory has PR 7 or above and watch them flock

RE: “It is a huge mistake to assume that anyone who does or condones blackhat techniques is someone who must know no other method. It’s also a mistake to label any site using blackhat as a spammy site.”

1st statement is partly true, but ANY SEO “professional” who “condones blackhat techniques” is a SEO “professional” who the industry would be better off without.

2nd statement is totally false. SE decides and label sites that use spammy ways as “a spammy site”.

RE: “Dave, when you figure out how to say something that you think is funny without including “LOL!” well, maybe you can make a comment that I’ll take seriously.”

Sorry, no prize for 2nd, kiss my arse and run 3rd

I have to call a stop to this.

All this talk of chicken sacrificing and satan worshipping…

You’re giving away the secrets of top rankings and not charging the usual $500,000 fee. That pyramid scheme I so carefully built is going to be RUINED!

Therefore, before the entire SEO world goes broke because you’re giving away *all* the secrets, I suggest we stop this comment storm right here

I’m going to be a decent human being and eat my orange scone that I actually bought to give to someone else, then changed my mind when I saw that it had frosting on it.

I invite you all to calm down a bit, aside from Julie, who has indeed kept her cool and could be forgiven if she didn’t as she is a redhead. A fake one at that, but who am I to judge? This hue of blond is straight out of a bottle. The REST of you need to calm down and see past your own piousness. I suggest a good lay. Okay that WAS childish, but it really can help.

In a more serious vein, it would be healthy for us to remember that search engine guidelines are search engine guidelines and that they belong to–ahem–search engines. It isn’t a heart-palpitation-inducing moral issue, and this comes from a white hat who works for a white hat company that practices and recommends white hat SEO. I’m now going to do what really makes me a decent human being and go walk my dog.