WebmasterWorld
It seems like any time I do a search for a webmaster related query, a thread from WebmasterWorld is in the results. But when you click on a link, it just takes you to a payment page. They are obviously using IPs not user agents to do that, or else I could have gotten in if I had used Google's user agent. But that's beside the point.
Did any one here pay for a membership to WW? Was it worth it? There is this thread that I really want to read but I can't 'cause I don't have a membership. And there are a lot more threads I would like to read too. (I really wish Google would ban them for cloaking, so they would be force to allow the public to view threads)
pnelson posted this at 10:25 — 4th October 2006.
They have: 12 posts
Joined: Oct 2006
I guess they used to be free and then the webmasters of the webmasterforum decided to cash in on all the user contributions!
why dont you try to find similar threads on http://www.boardtracker.com/ the board search engine? 
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JeevesBond posted this at 16:36 — 6th October 2006.
He has: 3,956 posts
Joined: Jun 2002
Google really should ban them for cloaking, but they probably don't even realise there's something wrong. Unless someone were to report them to Google.
I agree that what they're doing is pretty wrong, why are they allowed to play God with Google? Anyone else trying those sorts of black hat tactics would be banned.
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codeberg posted this at 13:30 — 8th October 2006.
They have: 19 posts
Joined: Oct 2006
It really annoys me.
They have some big clients who post on there. But that doesnt give them any reason to rip off people by making them pay.
Megan posted this at 12:59 — 10th October 2006.
She has: 11,421 posts
Joined: Jun 1999
I love how they don't even have the price on that redirect page you get. That has got to take the cake. You want me to subscribe but won't even tell me how much it costs??? And the "Why should I subscribe" link just takes you to another redirect page!
I wonder if they're actually getting anywhere with this strategy. It would be a way to keep a forum to an exclusive, professional audience but also a surefire way to scare away the newbies. I also don't buy the "we'll buy advertising if we get favorable treatment in the forums" excuse. We haven't experienced that at all, and many other forums do very well with advertising. Not to mention traditional media like newspapers and magazines. Not that they wouldn't get advertisers expecting favourable treatment but they have found a way to deal with it.
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Megan posted this at 16:44 — 26th October 2006.
She has: 11,421 posts
Joined: Jun 1999
Well, it turns out that you don't need to pay at all. You just need to click that little registration link. See this explaination on Matt Cutts' blog.
I still don't get why they're able to get away with cloaking like that. And obviously google has no problem with that.
The usability on there is really bad - if you type in an incorrect username/password it just reloads the page. And obviously many of us assumed that you had to pay to see anything, which is not the case.
Megan
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teammatt3 posted this at 19:04 — 26th October 2006.
He has: 2,102 posts
Joined: Sep 2003
Thanks a lot Megan! That just made my day.
That's pretty flakey of Google and Matt Cutts; picking and choosing which sites they won't ban.
Megan posted this at 15:18 — 7th March 2007.
She has: 11,421 posts
Joined: Jun 1999
There is some discussion going around now about Webmaster World and cloaking:
http://www.mattcutts.com/blog/a-quick-word-about-cloaking/ (from Matt Cutts)
http://searchengineland.com/070304-231603.php (from Danny Sullivan)
Basically, they are (and have been) under investigation by Google.
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