i just got an email from sarah from one click ventures. the email informed me that she is a representative from the fedora store and that they have recently been hit with a google penalty for the links going to some of their sites. Their consultant recommended that they try to remove some of the links on, you know, the internets that link to their site.

so she has asked me to remove a link from cindy’s blog where she linked the word “fedora” in her blog while talking about buying a fedora from said store.

after i got the email, i was incredulous and appalled. you want me to remove content from my personal blog? well, actually, it’s cindy’s blog, so you want me to ask someone to remove something from their PERSONAL BLOG? the crazy thing is that i think what cindy did was “the right thing”™. she correctly linked the word fedora to the place where, you know, they actually bought the FEDORA!

so, ok, i decide that i’m just going to ignore the email because i get all sorts of emails all the time asking me to do things that i don’t really want to do and that’s the end of that. but no. it isn’t the end of that. not at all.

instead, i’ve been getting emails from sarah almost every other day asking me if i’ve had a chance to remove the link. the first time around, sure, i’ll excuse it, because, you know, it doesn’t hurt to ask. but if you haven’t heard back, maybe the person doesn’t have anything to say? why? why would you keep writing asking for the same thing over and over again? is it because if you keep asking, you think something will change?

it was the third email she sent me that finally got me upset enough to reply because she told me in her email that she has been getting a lot of pressure from people above her to get this link removed. cindy, do you hear that? it is really important for the link to fedora on your blog dated two and a half years ago be removed!

so i decided to look up sarah and guess what? she’s a self-proclaimed SEO and social media specialist. and sarah does work for the parent company who owns the fedora store. so i guess she’s trying to do her job and all, but really? is this how the internets work now, people?

i don’t know why i’m so worked up about this. i think it’s because i feel like this is breaking internet etiquette. you don’t ask people to change their content. am i naive in thinking this?

maybe it’s because i feel like it’s a form of censorship. maybe it’s because i feel like whatever i decide to put on my blog is really my business. if you don’t like what you read, stop coming. it’s not like i have posted anything on this blog since the kids have been born anyway, so i don’t really anticipate that i would make much of an impact at all, but hey, if cindy’s post really is that big of a deal, then who knows?

i had flashbacks of the time when i was threatened by a pearl tea store owner to remove my review of their store from my site because it was unflattering. they said that they would sue me. by the way, banana crepe in japantown in downtown san jose, i still think your pearl tea is terrible and wouldn’t recommend anyone to go there for that. i hear your crepes are pretty good, but after that email from you, i promised never to bring my business there again.

so yay. i blogged a rant. about fedoras. *eyeroll*

did you know that this same company sells neck ties and scarves and hand bags and reading glasses and socks and sunglasses and travel products?

wait…am i helping them or hurting? i really feel like i’m doing “the right thing”™ here, right?