Last week when I read Ed Bott's
Dear Google: Please take pay sites out of search results, I was pleased to see that I am not the only person who has been frustrated with finding that the search results link led to the
Experts Exchange. I have always thought that the site is a sad joke. Why? Because they tickle the search engines with the right information to show up fairly high in the search results. The problem is what the person faces when landing on the site. I agreed with what Ed wrote:
"And it’s apparent from the structure of the replies that there’s no “expert” involved, just a bunch of other (paid) user/members."
That was why I was rather surprised when viewing recent analytics for
Security Garden to see a link from ExpertsExchange.
Why, I wondered, would there be a referral link to one of my blog posts from a subscription site? Then I remembered the comments posted by one of Ed's readers indicating that by scrolling to the bottom of the page, the answers are displayed. So I decided to give it a try.
Sure enough, after going past a link to "
Start your free trial to view this solution", followed by a block of information relating to the "Question Stats" and then another solicitation to enroll,
a bunch of this nonsense
followed by a long, drawn out category listing what did I discover? Why the answer of course. What really irks me though is that the "Accepted Solution" was none other than a link to a Microsoft Help document, one of my articles and that of another website.
An article from MS on setting up a home network in Vista (and you have to set up a home network, you can't just share a folder, then access it from another Vista pc):
http://windowshelp.microsoft.com/Windows/en-US/Help/76174f4a-7522-425a-9424-324dd299265e1033.mspx
And just in case you need more information, or need to have it explained differently, here are two other articles on the same subject:
http://securitygarden.blogspot.com/2007/10/setting-up-home-network-with-windows.html
http://www.windvis.com/how-to-create-a-network-in-windows-vista"
It is bad enough that the ExpertsExchange is playing games with people, their time and their intelligence. However, it is worse that all of that enticement to obtain a subscription leads to FREE information, publicly available.
Try searching the site or clicking on the Trial Membership link and learn that these scam artists are charging an outrageous fee for information provided/collected by other people.
The self-description at
Alexa is that of a
"Premium content subscription site where users collaborate with each other to solve their technology problems."
I disagree. Experts Exchange are scam artists.
Edit Note (Mar2010): It has been almost two years since this topic was posted. The content of the comments continues to repeat between those who support EE and those people who feel they were scammed. It is up to each person to make their own decision.
Comments closed.
Remember - "A day without laughter is a day wasted."May the wind sing to you and the sun rise in your heart...
Long time members of the security community will remember his dancing avatar. Björn gave so much of himself to every person he helped. There was always a personal touch. I have many memories of Björn and shall miss him. He has been given a place of honor here at