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Clarence Briggs & corp AIT.COM reputedly involved in SEARCHENGINE SPAMMING: REPORT: Clarence Briggs company AIT.COM reputedly involved in SEARCHENGINE SPAMMING Activities

Advanced Internet Technologies alleged to have directed employees to orchestrate a massive campaign of blog spam .

Reported May 1 2006: http://www.projectparadox.com/web-design/web-development/advanced-internet-technologies.php

Stephen W.:

"I have been awaiting this day for quite some time with eager anticipation. Today marks exactly six months since I left employment at what I consider to be the worst web hosting company in the world. It marks the end of my joke of a contract, which had a number of stipulations extending six months after the end of my employment. Now that it is no longer in effect, I am completely out from under AIT?s thumb and free to speak out about them as I have wanted to for so long.

AIT stands for Advanced Internet Technologies, Inc., and is a web hosting company based in Fayetteville, NC. I had the misfortune of working there for approximately nine months in 2005. I consider it ironic now that I was thrilled at the prospect of working there when I started. Even in retrospect, I acknowledge that a lousy employment opportunity was better than none at all, and that my experience with them allowed me to springboard to a much better job. Still, the more I think it over, the more I feel sickened at AIT?s business practices.

The majority of my time at AIT I spent as a web developer, creating and updating websites for customers. As someone who loves web design, I truly enjoyed the technical aspects of the job. Management, however, was another matter altogether. I answered to no less than five bosses, a nightmare not unlike the movie Office Space. Thankfully, my immediate supervisor, who managed most of my day-to-day activities, was a great guy who I still miss working with.

The rest, unfortunately, I found to be incompetent, overbearing, and reckless. Few, in my opinion, had enough technical savvy to speak intelligently about web design, making me wonder why they were allowed to head up my department. My father always said that, ?To be in management, you have to know nothing.? They took it upon themselves to boss us around, set unreasonable timetables, and generally make our lives a living hell. Many of us were chastised for not working late every night, despite the fact that we didn?t earn overtime.

This is to say nothing of the fact that I was underpaid. I was hired at a grossly insufficient salary, never receiving bonuses or raises during my tenure. In fact, I earned less than half of normal web developer salaries according to every source I?ve come across, even on the state- and metro-specific level. Their ?benefits? (I use the term loosely) didn?t do anything to make up for this, either. On the contrary, I paid more than 30% of my pay every month for family healthcare through AIT?s group coverage, which is probably more than if I had gotten it independently. While I was working there, I didn?t even earn enough for my family and I to live on our own.

Still, I put up with it. I even swallowed my morals when I became AIT?s search engine optimization specialist. Granted, this was a position for which I volunteered. I knew nothing about the practice and jumped at the chance to learn something new. Unfortunately, I was in for hell when I realized that they expected immediate results and were willing to use any means necessary to obtain them. Can anyone say black hat?

In fact, it was my displeasure to head up AIT?s blog spamming initiative. Unfortunately, many of the sites that resulted from this practice are still polluting the blogosphere (e.g. Internet Shopping, Business on the Internet, and Make?n Money, just to name a few). Hopefully the blogging community at large can forgive me for playing my part in the whole mess. My only defense is that I was doing my job and had no choice but to go along with it.

Given my experiences on the inside, it comes as no surprise to me that AIT has a bad name among its customers. One quick search on the web revealed many outspoken AIT customer testimonials, complaints about AIT?s services, negative AIT customer reviews, and countless horror stories of AIT?s business conduct. Customers frequently complain about overpricing, poor customer support, and rampant billing errors. Many cite AIT as harrassing their customers with lawsuits and threats of credit agency reporting in the event that their obfuscated cancellation procedures aren?t followed to the letter. To hear some of them, one can?t help but imagine a tick holding on tenaciously as it drains the life out of you.

Perhaps the most compelling evidence, however, is the AIT Sucks website. This is a website created by one of AIT?s former resellers and dedicated to showing people the truth of AIT?s business practices. Just imagine how bad you have to be to make people preach against you this zealously.

I, for one, look forward to the day that I hear AIT has gone out of business. I think it?s inevitable, given the way I?ve seen them treat their employees and their customers. I look back on my time there as a bad experience that is best forgotten. If you?re involved with AIT to any extent, be it as an employee, customer, or business partner, my advice is to sever ties with them. Otherwise, you may end up feeling as violated as I do for ever having known them."

- Stephen W.

http://www.projectparadox.com/web-design/web-development/advanced-internet-technologies.php

Evidence Examples of AIT BLOGSPAMMING:

http://increaseyourincome.blogspot.com/
http://businessinternet.blogspot.com/
http://shoponweb.blogspot.com/

(Hundreds of Phony tech articles all posted by AIT.COM and its staff with links seeded to point back to AIT's own corporate business web hosting signup website.)

http://www.projectparadox.com/web-design/web-development/advanced-internet-technologies.php

[ Advanced Internet Technologies alleged to have directed employees to orchestrate a massive campaign of blog spam .]; Posted by: NewsReport Posted on: 12/15/06 You are currently: a Guest | Members login | Terms of Use