Great story to share. Yeah, I have also reached out to a quite a few, some of them even conferences, and like you, nicely explained the situation. A few did come back and say the same thing, and made the effort to change.

Unfortunately, as many as I have, a very small amount has responded or made the move to change thing. I believe they know exactly what they are doing and are looking for a little extra SEO juice, which is really too bad.