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Nik Richie – thedirty.com

We reported last week that thedirty.com was a victim of hackers taking it down due to DOS attacks. It seems the site has gone live now and Nik Richie has improved his servers and technology. He posted a message on thedirty stating:

“TheDirty.com is back online. We are still under DDoS attack and other attacks, but I’ve put a stronger team in place and rebuilt the infrastructure from scratch. I’m not going anywhere. This year the DIRTY ARMY will rise — I implore you to join.

As you can see the new design is in place. I’m 35% complete and there are many bugs. The castle wall is strong and with your help I’m hoping to build Malbork. So please use this comment section to give us guidance on what you like, don’t like, what to build in your favor, any fixes/bugs to kill and suggestions.

We will win. DIRTY ARMY Strong!- nik”

A speed analysis at Google Insights shows that the site is still a bit slow and this could be because they are still under attack.

If you have been listed on thedirty.com and require removal of your post, please contact us for pricing and details. You can complete the contact form on the right side of this page.

Nik Richie – thedirty.com

A judge just awarded $1.25 million over defamatory comments on Thedirty.com brought by a woman who says comments on the site stated that her 3 children were from 3 different men because she wanted to collect child support and the owner Nik Richie refused to remove them when she requested.

The judgement was awarded against Dirty World Entertainment Recordings. However, TheDirty attorney states that thedirty.com is not owned by that entity and Nik Richie has nothing to do with it. The correct entity that owns Thedirty.com is called the Dirty World, LLC.

The attorney stated that the Sarah Jones judgment last year was also awarded towards the wrong company!

This is what Attorney David Gingras stated:

“In short, Ms. Stewart certainly has obtained a judgment against Dirty World Entertainment Recordings, but that company has nothing whatsoever to do with Dirty World, LLC or TheDirty.com. She is welcome to try to collect that judgment, bearing in mind that the plaintiff in the Sarah Jones case also has an $11 million default judgment against the same entity (see attached copy). However, to the extent that Ms. Stewart claims that she has a judgment against TheDirty.com or Dirty World, LLC, those claims are completely false.”

You can read more details here.

We just reported that thedirty.com was down due to hacker DOS attacks.  Apparantly they also hacked Nik Richie’s icloud account and a personal message from it was posted online showing Nik trying to make a deal with girl or prostitute to sleep with his friends so then he could remove a post…funny stuff.  We have no way of knowing the authenticity of this, so we leave the judgment up to you.

Read below the full messages.

Thedirty.com has been down for the past 2 weeks apparently hit by a group of hackers. The group “Anonymous” seems to be behind it and FBI is currently investigating. However, another group called Justice Squad took credit on youtube as well.

TMZ Reports that the owner Nik Richie has lost over $250K-$300K already in ad revenue due to the hack.

It seems this is a Denial of Service Attack (AKA DOS Attack), which means even if the servers are moved the attack will follow. These hackers are doing some serious attacking because Nik has not been able to put the site back up for the last 2 weeks!

Similar attacks often are launched against ripoffreport.com as well.

TMZ quoted Nik as saying: “These hackers are hypocrites. My website promotes free speech. F****** losers.”

Apparently Nik also had his iCloud account hacked and some personal messages were posted online showing attempts of post removal in return for sex. Read it here.

There is a video of Anonymous from June 2012 that threatens to take down Thedirty, which you can see below.

Here is a screen shot of the post by Justice Squad on Twitter.

Yelp was created to try and help users familiarize themselves with amazing spots in a city they thought they were familiar with. It used the opinions of friends to try and source these recommendations. At a small scale, this worked very well. Reviews were honest and people used the check-in feature to add authenticity. As Yelp scaled, it failed to deal with the underlying of problem of transparency. CEO of Reputation Stars, Pierre Zarokian, understands this problem all to well. Reputation Stars helps businesses develop strategies to fight negative reviews on Yelp.

The State of Yelp

Yelp has added some new features that may help with the authenticity of a review. Users have been able to add photos for some time, but videos will be coming soon. Until then, Yelp still has issues identifying who the real reviewers are. They ran a recent sting operation to weed some of these fakers out, but there is a very real problem that exists with Yelp’s transparency. Business owners aren’t feeling very much more confident after a recent ruling that declared Yelp was free to reorder its reviews.

Yelp doesn’t require check-ins or proof that a transaction actually occurred. Yelp can rearrange reviews the way it sees fit, affecting the reputation of countless businesses without publishing any kind of standards or style guide to help real reviews stick. Businesses are powerless against Yelp too, as the company outs those who incentivize or pay for reviews with an embarrassing banner.

Fighting Yelp

The key to fighting Yelp, says Pierre Zarokian, is to engage customers and get more positive reviews. Stop paying for a temporary fix. This video contains important information businesses need to know about how to fight Yelp.

Read some articles Pierre Zarokian wrote in Search Engine Journal about Yelp here.

Anyone whose web site appears in response to an online search might need ORM. Consumer generated media offers the public an opportunity to express their views. This information can be found in search engine results. The more a product, brand or company is exposed to public attention and scrutiny, the greater the likelihood that someone will want to challenge their reputation. This can include dissatisfied clients, customers and competitors, who may have legitimate complaints, but can also include rumor mongers, and irresponsible, vindictive web site wizards, whose sole purpose is to challenge another website’s integrity.

Consider the search results for the following “name brand” web sites:

* Walmart – 2 of the first 10 Google listings is negative:

* McDonalds – 1 of the first 10 Google listings is negative;

* Coca Cola – 1 of the first 10 listings is negative;

The problem is universal. Thousands of companies like these can have the effect of their web sites neutralized by stories appearing on the search engines. And its not limited to companies. People of high profile are convenient targets; celebrities, high-power business people, government as well as individuals from all walks of life, regardless of gender, national background and social status are being victimized and insulted. If you have a company, a brand name or product, which someone could or did find fault with; or if you have ever been written about in the media in a less than flattering vein, or if you monitor your Google listing and a negative listing appears, you must realize that the negative story will not disappear on its own.

Negative reviews are there to stay and may even multiply until you retain the services of a professional online reputation management professional. Reputation management is vitally important for all organizations. Both on a personal and corporate level, everyone should be concerned about their online image. On a personal level, having a damaged reputation can result in not being eligible for employment. For businesses a bad reputation can mean tremendous financial loss. As a result of a tarnished reputation, businesses have lost millions, have replaced trusted CEO’s, and have even ceased operating within months of negative publicity.

Yelp, the online review database that has become an ubiquitous part of the Web, is being accused of shielding companies who pay premiums from bad reviews. Yelp’s sales team has been using poor reviews as a sales tool, implying that businesses can pay their way out of hot water caused by user reviews. Since 2008, some 2,000 complaints have been filed by businesses and consumers.

Yelp also has several problems with anonymous reviews, and currently faces a court order demanding they reveal the identity of users who posted on their website. Yelp has states in its FAQ that pay to play is out, but 2,000 complaints don’t come out of thin air. Something is wrong, and the CEO of our company, Pierre Zarokian, has the latest news on this recent development from his new article featured on Search Engine Journal.

Yelp is one of the most important destinations on the Web. Its database of user-generated reviews can offer potential shoppers a quality source to vet a business before they shop. But faked reviews are threatening to dilute that landscape, eating away at the purity that a service like Yelp needs in order to be successful. In response, the company has announced new and aggressive steps to remove these false reviews.

The CEO of Yelp, Jeremy Stoppleman, is creating something of a firestorm with the announcement. Companies caught “soliciting” reviews by paying their reviewers will now get a kind of badge that designates their business as one that paid for reviews. This messages comes as a popup that the user cannot avoid clicking on. With Yelp reputation already being such a hot commodity, businesses will need to exercise even more caution when asking for reviews.

Our CEO, Pierre Zarokian, wrote about this change in policy. You can read the entire article at Search Engine Watch.

Pierre Zarokian, CEO of Reputation Stars

Our CEO “Pierre Zarokian” will be speaking about Reputation Management on Feb 19, 2014 in Orange County, CA at an event organized by TechBiz Connection.

Jack Bicer the president of TechBiz Connection stated: “If you are a professional intrigued by today’s evolving world of social media, personal online identities, and online business branding, you need to learn what it means to have an online presence and what this says about you (or your business, brand).  After all, your online reputation IS your reputation.”

For more info, see the official press release here.

A ruling from a Virginia Court of Appeals has rendered anonymous reviews unprotected, at least in Virginia. The popular online review website Yelp is at the center of litigation regarding the legitimacy of anonymous reviews. On one side is Yelp, whose terms of service explicitly ban users from posting faked reviews that are negative or positive. On the other side are the businesses hurt by these reviews.

This landmark case will shape the landscape of online reviews for some time to come. The plaintiff’s case seems to mirror the plight of so many businesses with reputation and image problems. Yelp uses an automated system to deal with spoofed reviews, which it claims is capable of dealing with these fakes. Yet the fact remains that fake reviews have become an industry in and of themselves. While this court ruling does little to improve these conditions, it does set the precedent for future cases.

In a new article for Search Engine Journal, Our CEO Pierre Zarokian explores the ruling and asks the question: will online reviews ever be safe again? Or have the courts made a terrible mistake, relying on outdated case law to render a verdict with far-reaching consequences?