Top 11 Dumbest Web Site Decisions

Third Eye · 10-12-2007, 05:05 PM

OK, the article was originally called Top 10 Dumbest Web Site Decisions, but I felt the article couldn't be run without our own #11.

Kalena Jordan writes: Having worked with web sites for the past eleven years, I've seen a LOT of errors, poor judgment and embarrassing gaffs on the web. Sometimes they are the fault of the client, the web designer, the IT Manager, or the SEO, but human error is always to blame. The saddest thing is that the problems are usually preventable.

Here is a list of what I consider to be the Top 11 dumbest web site decisions ever, in reverse order, David Letterman style:

11) March 2003, Microsoft Speaks, site goes dark. In an uncommonly harsh application of a widely used Internet enforcement tool, a Windows news site was taken offline for nearly 24 hours after Microsoft accused the site of infringing its copyrights.

Neowin was shut down late Thursday and came back online Friday afternoon.

Microsoft's Internet investigator sent a takedown notice on Tuesday, alleging the site was infringing the company's copyrights relating to its recently released Windows XP Peer-to-Peer Software Development Kit (SDK), apparently due to a message posted by a reader in an online feedback forum. (Source: CNet)

In this instance, our host who shall remain nameless was so scared of Microsofts legal team that he deleted the entire Neowin website from their server. We were forced to use a 3 month old backup of the site. Needless to say, we back up more often now.

View: Full Article @ Site Pro News

Source: Neowin.net

Batistabomb · 10-12-2007, 05:25 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Third Eye

I've seen a LOT of errors, poor judgment and embarrassing gaffs on the web. Sometimes they are the fault of the client, the web designer, the IT Manager, or the SEO, but human error is always to blame. The saddest thing is that the problems are usually preventable.

No Web designer is perfect without bugs

goobimama · 10-12-2007, 05:33 PM

Quote:

5) Taking a Site Offline for Maintenance

I find it fascinating that very large sites run by intelligent people still get taken offline for maintenance on a regular basis. Search engines don't understand the "Back in 15 minutes" sign and the longer the site is down, the bigger the risk.

If search bots try and index a site while it is down, they will most likely assume the previously indexed pages have expired and remove them from the search index. This means that all your hard-earned rankings could be flushed down the toilet until search engines can successfully re-index your site. Surely a mirror site for maintenance periods isn't that difficult to set up?

This one's a common one. I've seen so many people do this and lose the search engine index.