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Is it really that dangerous? I know there are supposed to be fines etc, but I do wonder if its like the TPS, which is supposed to be a

Yep, our story is similar. Our UK directory went from a PR4 to a 3, but traffic actually increased along with the number of Google Page 1 listings.

Stopped worrying about PR a long time ago

I think the lack of market share is always going to be the stumbling block for bing ads. Small market, fewer conversions, is it worth the time to then manage 2 different PPC campaigns.

Hmm likewise been playing with the enhanced stuff, but at the moment our CPU has actually gone down. Shall watch it like a hawk though after your experience!

Moved you to a new thread as it was a bit off piste

But it's an interesting topic.

We blat out regular newsletters to our free sign ups, it's in the t&c's, you can opt out at any time, and if you don't like it, don't have a free listing. But we also send very occasional mails to our customers (approx every 6 months) but there's no hard and fast rule, and they can also obviously unsubscribe.

But with both hats on, business owners and consumers, do you also send out regular emails, but are sick of them yourselves? Do you never send them out, or are you not bothered by emails?

Be interesting to hear different views. My bug bear is receiving mails that I've unsubscribed from. One company in particular sends me one every month after about 5 unsubscribed and sarcastic responses.

Commercially for us mails work extremely well, with 25% of people who take up an email offer having had previously 4+ previous emails. Logically I don't understand this, but it works.

So lets hear any of your email stories, good, bad, business success stories or spammed to death out of control inboxes!

Good feedback, and just goes to show it can throw up surprises how customers come across your products!

Hiya Paul

To provide some context if it appeared to be outwardly harsh..

The mods deal with a virtual assault of spam behind the scenes, with countless gentle PM's and then more formal infractions to deter offenders. English language issues are one of the primary cause's of posts getting removed, as things are often lost in translation or the original thread meaning is completely misinterpreted.

Unfortunately whilst trying not to sterotype, the majority users that join from certain locations simply want a weblink to meet link building targets, which they can have after 10 posts. The timeout section was a bit of a loop hole, as these posts counted to the 10 posts rule. But not any more.

As for Roxy, she's had some polite correspondence explaining that we are primarily a UK and USA business forum, but she is very welcome to contribute, and I hope she continues to do so, but hopefully with more business related posts.

Humour can be easily misconstrued when it's only text, and moderation frustrations can also betaken as sarcasm from time to time. But moderating is a very fine line, and hopefully we get the balance about right, 99% of the time.

The alternative can be seen in various forums, from the draconian to the unmoderated sea of spam

It's about time PR got killed off once and for all...

It's an outdated Google marketing tool that is now pointless as a single measurable metric. It just causes worry, confusion, misleading information, and in reality the vast majority (ie users) are either unaware or uninterested.

If you have a high PR, pat yourself on the back, if you don't, chill out.

Concentrate on quality content, your products and services, customer service, and genuine marketing, rather than trying to game a system that only online marketeers care about

Apologies, Clive is aka Garde and is our customer services guru

As long as they keep making Salad Cream, I'll be happy, after threatening to pull it a few years ago!