anything immoral or illegal about black hat?

the_punisher · Feb 6, 2008

im a noob so be gentle

ok so ive been doing my researching on seo.

i eventually found out that there are 2 main types of SEO.

- White Hat - Much slower, way slower, but is permanent, keep at it and you get good positions....eventually.

- Black Hat - much quicker but frowned upon and you get banned from all search engines.

as black hat is much quicker, and gives immediate results, so it is best if you want to get your message or product to a lot of users quick, but eventually will be banned after 2 months.

now what I am asking is that suppose i go with black hat, then is there anything immoral or illegal, or just generally bad with that???

loreen · Feb 6, 2008

cookie stuffing, for example, is both immoral and illegal

Yukinari84 · Feb 7, 2008

the_punisher said:
im a noob so be gentle

ok so ive been doing my researching on seo.

i eventually found out that there are 2 main types of SEO.

- White Hat - Much slower, way slower, but is permanent, keep at it and you get good positions....eventually.

- Black Hat - much quicker but frowned upon and you get banned from all search engines.

as black hat is much quicker, and gives immediate results, so it is best if you want to get your message or product to a lot of users quick, but eventually will be banned after 2 months.

now what I am asking is that suppose i go with black hat, then is there anything immoral or illegal, or just generally bad with that???

it depends on how you look at it and also the methods you use.

portillo · Feb 7, 2008

Punisher, you are missing a few other hats but for the purpose of your question i will just include gray hat. Gray hat is the one that allows you to sleep at night lol. It balances the good with the bad. Illegal? Doesnt have to be at all, Immoral not neccessarily if all of the parties involved are getting what they want. Good question though, but just a forewarning, theres no way to be part time in this business, you have to be "balls to the wall" if you know what I mean, otherwise you are wasting your time.

indianfreak · Feb 7, 2008

Just don't get caught!

the_punisher · Feb 7, 2008

thanks for the reply guys.

I dont want gray hat, I want to jump in completely, so thus my research into blackhat.

I have this website for 8 months now: softmall.org

and have been using white hat methods for 8 months, but i have not made a single sale.

Im just tired now and would like some sales.

portlillo understood my question, i wanted income from a place that will allow me to sleep at night

(rep added)

so the general reply that I get is that it is completely legal and also moral. is that right?

I got this reply from another black hat user from another forum, I'll quote it here:

There is nothing illegal, but we do break the rules in the "webmaster guidelines" for google. As we both know that a "guideline" is simply a suggestion and not a law or rule.

the_punisher · Feb 7, 2008

is there something wrong??

why cat i post here?

i just replied to this post and it does not show up, and my post counter still shows a 1

Your posts are moderated

Butler · Feb 7, 2008

indianfreak said:
Just don't get caught!

Easier said than done. But, if you do your research and do things properly then you shouldn't get caught.

Riposte · Feb 7, 2008

the_punisher said:
I have this website for 8 months now: softmall.org

and have been using white hat methods for 8 months, but i have not made a single sale.

8 months, and you only have 169 inbound links (according to Yahoo)?

What the hell have you been doing for those 8 months? Are you relying exclusively on PPC for traffic?

I don't think black hat methods are the solution to your problem.

The OA · Feb 7, 2008

Guess the question to be asked is: how bad do u want it...? and do you REALLY think any person, business, entity, faction, or web marketing guru was ever 100% totally "by the books"?.

Think u can answer that question.

Uptownbulker · Feb 7, 2008

loreen said:
cookie stuffing, for example, is both immoral and illegal

Only if the cookie you're stuffing is a Girl Scout!

HoodFigure · Feb 7, 2008

While only some blackhat stuff is illegal, most of it is probably immoral. But hey, we're not on this site because we're trying to get sainthood, we're trying to make easy money.

gts6 · Feb 7, 2008

i think technically, maybe it actually COULD be illegal.

it IS a slight form of fraud. i highly doubt anyones ever been arrested for it, plus it could be
hard to prove in court.

i wonder if there are anyone with any legal experience here at bhw lurking about that can answer this question. but if i had to guess, i would say yeah maybe it is slightly illegal in the same way ripping a tag off a mattress is.

Uptownbulker · Feb 7, 2008

worldly panther said:
Can you get arrested for doing it?

Stuffing Girl Scouts, yes.

Stuffing cookies, no.

Uptownbulker · Feb 7, 2008

Actually, data mining may or may not be illegal, depending on how you get the info, what kind of info you get and what you do with the info after you've got it!

I would be much more concerned about clearly illegal data mining by governmental agencies than blackhatters!

If you Google "data mining + illegal" you will get about a zillion results, most of which refer to illegal DM by the FBI, NSA, CIA and other gov groups but there is the occasional private group which turns up for having misused mined info, so the best that I can say is that the situation is very much in flux so it's kind of a "Do what you think you can get away with 'til someone tells you that you can't!"

Blackhat techniques are clearly NOT illegal though, so I would not be concerned.

the_punisher · Feb 9, 2008

LOL, This basically answers all of my questions regarding blackhats and white hats.

hXXp**://ww**w.*bluehatseo.*com**/parabole-whitehat-vs-blackhat/

Mark_Rain · Feb 9, 2008

Black hat isn't really "illegal", but some techniques are immoral such as cookie stuffing, which is "illegal" by the terms of condition of some affiliate merchant/programs, anything else I wouldn't consider illegal to a point where you are going to go to real life jail for it.

Sincerely Yours,
Markus

idenguy · Feb 9, 2008

Someone once told me that the Rockefellers, Kennedys, and several other wealthy POWER families made their money during prohibition ... by rum running. Which is the equivalent of drug dealing today. It seems like the issues comes down to personal desire and the weight of the risk. I don't think I haveever heard of anyone getting arrested for this type of stuff. But I am new here and i will learn more as I go.

BTW- thanks for all the great info to everyone.. MY HEAD IS GOING TO EXPLODE!!!

Mark_Rain · Feb 9, 2008

Idenguy, I know what you mean, no government, police, FBI, can defeat utmost intelligence. If you can smuggle drugs well, you can profit, if you can commit fraud well, you can profit, not saying this for you to do, but for my point. I believe when companies are at their utmost dept, they go the fraduster?s way to ?borrow? a loan, then fund their legit business and leave behind the fraudster?s way of doing stuff. I personally believe that?s how every intelligent family begins, they took a shortcut somewhere down the line, and they invest that money to jump over those who really worked hard, and by investing, the seal their wealth.

Sincerely Yours,
Markus

concentustech · Feb 9, 2008

White hat, Black hat, who cares as both share opportunities to make money so come over to the dark side..

anything immoral or illegal about black hat?

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