We have had plenty of SEOmoz haters/critics who, rather than take a direct approach and call or email us with their issue, they’ll just write a post and will either get mad if we respond to that post or get mad if we don’t respond to that post. I’ve been guilty of getting sucked into a thread and slinging retorts back and forth, but ultimately I’ve found that direct communication works best, and unfortunately not many people in our industry choose to take that approach.

There’s a difference when someone takes a stance over actual emotional or concern and when they’re doing it just to get links. And your audience can tell the difference.

Mmm… Lisa, not always. I have spoken up on issues in the past, calling people out merely because I believed they were doing others wrong, and yet was accused of doing it for link bait. People will often project what their motives would have been when reading what others have written, which may indeed have nothing whatsoever to do with the authors intentions. They voice their opinions on the purpose of the post, and then others will read those comments and the sentiments can spread. It’s not always a cut and dried issue.

Truth be told, if Google would finally come clean and give a level playing field that can be looked on as Gospel for all parties, I would happily redirect all those links I have received for the paid links debate to a charity site, possibly using a single static page inbetween explaining why I am transferring the juice.

Sure the links are good for traffic and getting the word out, but I don’t honestly care too much about long-term rankings, even for terms such as PageRank that I could monetise.
If I ever launch an SEO product or service, there are plenty of other ways to get traffic.

One important aspect overlooked, not all posts are popular with core readers, and it is possible to statistically prove it.

When companies attack or knock others, it is often taken with great reservation by the receiving audience…I don’t think that really matters whether you are on or offline. We tend to view such moves with great skepticism.

While the general public may not fully understand the concept of linkbait, they also don’t have to…if the message isn’t something they identify with or resonate as “true,” then the net effect may be zero, or even less than zero (great book/movie…but I digress) and more damaging than the traffic gained.

It also won’t take too long for the web to finally get caught up with other legal status…opinion vs. libel.