I am not a happy camper this AM "Welcome to Attracta!"

[dave g]

Good Day fellow VPS owners.

If you haven't looked at your customers cPanel's I recommend you do as you will note there is a new icon bar "FREE Search Engine Optimization (SEO) Tools" this is connected to "Attracta" and was installed by WHM/cPanel or HG I'm not sure which.
If you don't see it now you will, more than likely, see it soon.

I personally recommend you ask HG to remove/turn off this for the following reasons:

As a VPS owner I was not notified to this being installed AND turned on for my customers to use I would think with the limited amount of VPS owners HG could have at least emailed us on this change/update and offered a opt-in/opt-out.

With the trouble I have seen posted on this forum about "Attracta" I don't want my customers to be using it and I end up having to clean up the mess.

If this is a way for WHM/cPanel or (I hope not) HG to make a extra buck via kick back's shame on you.

I have requested HG to remove the offending tool bar ticket # HAY 17243974

And Yes I know I can turn it off my self but that's not the point here it should have never been turned on in the first place. I should have been told it was available and given the option to enable it my self. Why should I give away something I charge my customers for!!!

A disappointed Dave G

[dave g]

Update

Apparently this can not be removed from the system completely so to disable it go to Main >> Packages >> Feature Manager and uncheck the following:

FREE Search Engine Optimization (SEO) Tools
Facebook Traffic
Get In Google
Google Sitemap
Increase Website Traffic
Link Building
SEO Tips
SEO Tools

(not required but I did anyway)
Search Engine Submit Tool — Legacy feature for cPanel x and x2 themes

Dave G

[dave g]

I posed the question to HG support as to whom was responsible for adding the Attracta tool bar to the cPanels after a 4 hour wait here is there reply and I quote.

"These were installed by HostGator due to rising demand for them on VPS and Dedicated server customers."

Now I'm not sure about the "rising demand" I know it didn't come from me and if I was asked if I wanted it I would have said No Thank You!!! as all I ever read on this forum was how it messed with peoples web sites or am I missing something?

This should be my last rant on this I just hope the HG upper management takes note and thinks twice about installing something new, defaulting it to be turned on/live on a VPS or dedicated server in the future without telling the owners of the servers Not Good!!!!

Dave G

[dave g]

And here I thought I say the last of it, well now I am receiving CRAP mail from Attracta as I see others have so as a warning DO NOT CLICK ANY BUTTONS on the "FREE Search Engine Optimization (SEO) Tools" tool bar the only button I clicked was the More Info(was not very help full) this apparently created an account WITH OUT EVEN ASKING, DAM IT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I am now going to black list *@attracta.com from my VPS server Just more freak-en work caused by something that should have never happened.

Dave G

[gbh]

Yeah, this Attracta thing is a real tar baby. I clicked on one of the icons, just to see what it does, and ever since then, I have received multiple emails per day, thanking me for being a valued Attracta customer, and asking me why I haven't used any of the functions yet.

Who the heck thought this would be a good idea? Attracta's behavior is clearly more scam-like than a legitimate feature would be. There has been a very serious case of poor judgement at HG.

GBH

[ldearing]

What's more puzzeling is HG's lack of action to "harness" their new found partner in light of all the complaints of attracta's behavior.

[GatorJMartin]

Greetings

I just wanted to follow up with everyone regarding the concerns noted in this thread. First and foremost I'd like to offer our apologies for the lack of notification when this feature was introduced recently. We are certainly listening however to the feedback, so I'm happy to inform everyone that we've been in contact with Attracta to arrange a better solution for it's integration due to the concerns. I'd like to also clarify that decision to add Attracta to our cPanel as there's actually more at work here then everyone may be aware.

While there is not a set ETA at this point, in the very near future cPanel will actually be fully integrating Attracta with the cPanel. Further information is available as well here: http://www.cpanel.net/2011/10/cpanel...-attracta.html

Response to the service has been generally great so far in our experience with the shared environments, so I think this will be a good addition. That's also the reason you received confirmation of it's popularity in the ticket response as to why it was added. We do apologize for the alarm that may have resulted from it's appearance just recently, as that was absolutely not our intention.

The other concern I wanted to discuss quickly is regarding the current functionality of the icons in cPanel. As you're all very aware if you click those icons, cPanel will enroll you with the service at which point you start receiving emails. That's awfully aggressive behavior and ultimately something we'd requested a solution for as feedback in that regard was not good. I do certainly have good news regarding this issue though! As of Friday this week we'll be providing an update to Attracta which instead of auto-enrolling, will simply provide a splash page discussing the feature and services offered. From there you'll have the option to opt-in and use the service.

I think this will make far better sense for most client's, though if there should be any feedback to this change once it's introduced or anything Attracta related, please do let me know. I'm more then happy to continue communicating any concerns there may be with Attracta directly so we can resolve them prior to cPanel introducing this as part of their offering.

Best Regards,

[dave g]

Joshua

What you say is all well and fine but for me, and I'm sure others it's closing the the gate after the cows have wandered out of the field.
This has certainly left a bad taste in my mouth I purchased a VPS in part so I would not be, for the lack of a better way to put it "forced to use stuff I don't to" If I had not caught this I would have been losing part of my income as I charge for doing SEO/SEF stuff.

Again all I request is that an email be sent or it be posted in this forum "Linux VPS Support" and I will subscribe before this kind of new feature be added to my VPS or dedicated servers AND certainly by NO MEANS should things like this be installed and turned on for my customers to see.

I also think WHM/cPanel should make this a plugin so if I want I can install at my will not theirs.

Dave G

[dave g]

So after re-reading...

Originally Posted by GatorJMartin

I'm more then happy to continue communicating any concerns there may be with Attracta directly so we can resolve them prior to cPanel introducing this as part of their offering.

...were we test subjects?

As you can tell this has really raised my dander.

Dave G

[eacollin]

Originally Posted by dave g

Joshua

What you say is all well and fine but for me, and I'm sure others it's closing the the gate after the cows have wandered out of the field.
This has certainly left a bad taste in my mouth I purchased a VPS in part so I would not be, for the lack of a better way to put it "forced to use stuff I don't to" If I had not caught this I would have been losing part of my income as I charge for doing SEO/SEF stuff.

Again all I request is that an email be sent or it be posted in this forum "Linux VPS Support" and I will subscribe before this kind of new feature be added to my VPS or dedicated servers AND certainly by NO MEANS should things like this be installed and turned on for my customers to see.

I also think WHM/cPanel should make this a plugin so if I want I can install at my will not theirs.

Dave G

I am looking get a VPS in the near future and don't need this service, am with Dave on this this should be an optional plugin period!

A man pays for what he wants, not what you tell him he should have.
Make it optional.

[GatorJMartin]

Hello,

First and foremost I'd again like to offer our apologies for the delay that occurred with the announcement of this. That certainly should have been provided earlier as was noted here on the forums. Going forward we'll ensure that does take place as changes or new features are implemented.

Beyond the announcement delay I'd like to offer additional clarification regarding Attracta and it's implementation into cPanel. While I understand the frustration this may cause as it's clear some users aren't interested in the product, ultimately cPanel will be incorporating the offering across the board in their control panel very soon.

As for the inquiry regarding being 'test subjects' we've been offering Attracta to our shared and reseller customers for quite some time. While it's true that there may be the occasional complaint on the forums or that we receive directly regarding the way Attracta is currently auto-signing up users, as I'd noted we're listening to this feedback and have arranged a solution to that problem. The fact that this was offered this week to VPS/Dedicated In that regard while I'd not consider the implementation of this as a 'test' we have certainly been working hand in hand with Attracta directly to make this the best possible product it can be.

Best Regards,

[gbh]

Now that I am in the Attracta database and they are emailing me regularly, telling me that I signed-up for their service (a flat-out lie), the only way to avoid them is to put their criteria in the spam filter. They don't seem to have a one-click unsubscribe function.

Thanks a lot, HostGator.

[freeman]

Originally Posted by gbh

Now that I am in the Attracta database and they are emailing me regularly, telling me that I signed-up for their service (a flat-out lie), the only way to avoid them is to put their criteria in the spam filter. They don't seem to have a one-click unsubscribe function.

Thanks a lot, HostGator.

When US Government will give a law to put down all the companies that are sending possible customers advertising spam? I guess more than 80% of US business will be close. So, if a big company like Attracta is sending me an email (without me to ask them for this) is not a spam no? Maybe you have to report Attracta to spam to black list their IP (i guess this is not possible with big companies).

[dave g]

Apparently this part has been forgotten unless you clicked a icon prior to 1/27/12 as this is when the splash page was supposed to take effect?

GatorJMartin is the splash page up and running??

Originally Posted by GatorJMartin

Greetings
The other concern I wanted to discuss quickly is regarding the current functionality of the icons in cPanel. As you're all very aware if you click those icons, cPanel will enroll you with the service at which point you start receiving emails. That's awfully aggressive behavior and ultimately something we'd requested a solution for as feedback in that regard was not good. I do certainly have good news regarding this issue though! As of Friday this week we'll be providing an update to Attracta which instead of auto-enrolling, will simply provide a splash page discussing the feature and services offered. From there you'll have the option to opt-in and use the service.

[GatorJMartin]

Greetings,

The splash page is in fact configured and live at this point. Reviewing the account however, I'm fairly certain his email was one of the final to be affected just prior to the splash introduction unfortunately. I definitely understand the inconvenience this may cause though and have PM'd the forum user to address this for them. I don't believe it should be a concern however as of 1/27 when the splash page went live.

If anyone else should notice they're receiving these emails and don't want the emails or service, please feel free to contact me here on the forums. If you have any other questions, comments or concerns please let me know.

Best Regards,

[hernanadc]

I'm very disappointed with HG and the "deal" with Attracta, thumbs down