@All - bigger to both issues is the fact that duplicate content is a major issue online and even publications that are endorsed by  industry veterans are guilty of it. In fact, it could be argued, that the whole social media phenomenon has only added to it by facilitating the process of propagating it. There was in fact a Sphinn chicklet on the SMS page to begin with, does this mean the Sphinn community endorsed the dupe page? More over does it mean the Sphinn management team does?

These are important questions. Where does the line get drawn? Are we going to draw one? This issue is not unique to our industry by the way, eBay, and other online auction sites, have been dealing with similar issues for years. Who is responsible for executing change and enforcing best practices for an industry? I believe it starts with the community, but as people are emotional, it needs to be enforced by a governing body.

PropertyRoom.com, a company I am associated with, feels it is the community, in this case the auctioneer, that is responsible - this guarantee has allowed them to secure business relationships with over 1,000 police departments.

Further thinking on measuring value

@Danny - you questioned my posts value yet numerous members of your community spun it and I have now received numerous e-mails regarding it (which I why I am writing this) - no doubt about it, the post has received a lot of attention (as was the purpose of my posting it, I am a marketer by the way - as is pretty much everyone in this community, including, I would argrue, the editorial people). This attention adds value to the community by reminding people that the event is only weeks away. Moreover I personally believe, as do the thousands of others who have registered for SES London this year that additional value will be garnered by all those who attend. So is my communication to them, many who are members of the Sphinn community, spam? Even if all it did was remind them to attend?

I agree, this was not the best Sphinn I have ever Sphunn (can I coin that phrase? It doesn’t look like anyone has ever used it before), in fact I am not a prolific Sphinner - at least when it comes to Sphinn.com - that said, I am consistent. SES is a topic and an event that the Search community is passionate about and something that all people in our space should be exposed to at some point in their career… we who have attended more than one, should consider ourselves lucky to have had the opportunity to do so.