Unfortunately, the renewal for the domain name “stopsylviabrowne.com” came due during the first weeks after Robert’s stroke, and it expired. A domain squatter noticed this fact, and snatched up the domain before anyone noticed. So now that domain contains non-skeptical content that we should not be endorsing via hyperlink.

I’ve written up what we all need to do here:
http://skeptools.wordpress.com/2008/11/01/skeptics-load-your-google-bombs/

But to quickly summarize:

DO: Start using STOPSYLVIA.COM in all links to the site including buttons and so on.

DO NOT: Use any .NET or .US or other domains you may have heard of, even if they work. For google ranking purposes it is important we all link to the same address.

DO: Include “Sylvia Browne” in the text part of your hyperlink.

DO NOT: Include the word “Stop” in the hyperlink. Google will already rank this site well for searches for “Stop Sylvia Browne” because of the content. We need it to be boosted for searches for “Sylvia Browne”.

DO: VERY IMPORTANT! Go back and revise any old posts or content you have on your site to reflect the new link. This will simultaneously boost the correct site and hurt the bad guy who stole the domain.

DO: Consider adding a link like this to your signature file on any forums you frequent.

DO NOT: Bother linking in places like blog comments or Wikipedia where they use the rel=”nofollow” attribute on all user-submitted links.

Again, all the gory details are in that blog post above.

I thank you for your attention to this, and I’m sure Robert and Susan Lancaster thank you too.

–Tim Farley
http://whatstheharm.net

Good to see you back on the moose though. Shame it wasn’t for better reasons.