Banned and Blacklisted
Those who follow me on Twitter (and on G+) figured out this morning that I’ve finally been banned from Google+. My profile has been removed. The other Google products that I currently use affiliated with the blog gmail address work (calendar, docs, etc) and that’s as far as I’ve looked. My profile photo was somewhat tame. I originally had my name in there as “Dangerous Lilly” so that others would recognize me better, but I ended up changing it to the name I have gone by on many sites: Lilly Dangeroux. I did have public links in my profile (where you enter in your sites – be they your sites, your twitter, or just sites you like) to my blog, to elust, and wanton wednesday. I list in my public profile that I’m a sex blogger.
Then I see profiles like this still active on G+ and wonder what I did to catch their attention and get banned first:
Violet Blue has written a lot about this subject, both on her G+ account and elsewhere. Here’s her ZDnet article about Google deleting others.
Another article on ZDnet.com talked about how Google was handling the “fake name” thing and as I re-read it, this bit stands out:
Specifically, Google will give:
users a warning and a chance to correct their name in advance of any suspension. (Of course whenever we review a profile, if we determine that the account is violating other policies like spam or abuse we’ll suspend the account immediately.)
Source: ZDnet Blog
So….I guess it wasn’t my name. Because I’ve received no email, no warning, nothing. It’s got to be the adult content. Which means…a lot of fellow bloggers who are on there are your blogger self, even if you’re using a real name, should prepare for your trip to Googleberia. Links to your sex blog on your profile will do it. Links to your sex blog posts will do it. Of course, If you don’t have links available publicly, only to friends….will Google know? Will you then be safe?
After being in my blog gmail account and still seeing that I’m getting G+ notifications (how annoying!) I try to go over to the settings of it. At first I thought perhaps I’d been reinstated. But no. I finally then saw the official warning. And yet it’s so generic that I don’t know what the issue is, my name or my sexuality blog that I link to.
UPDATE 1: It was my name. After finally seeing the profile suspension notice when I viewed my own profile on G+, I clicked the link to submit it for reconsideration. I checked back on my profile today and see that they finally gave a definitive answer. It’s my name. Again, I can submit it for reconsideration and provide either a photo ID with that name or links to “reputable sites” where I am listed as that name.
UPDATE 2: This time they actually emailed me to tell me again that my name violates their community standards. So no, it doesn’t matter that I can show that I go by that name in multiple places online.
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G+ isn’t the only placed I’ve been removed from. I don’t remember to list my posts on Adult Blog Hub because well, I have to remember to do it. So imagine my surprise when I go there last month to add in a post and then I noticed that it doesn’t show up. Well actually it was because I went the next day to add another post and that’s when I noticed. I saw the posts that were listed and know that mine was added before these ones and after these ones. Not there. My blog wasn’t listed. I hop on over to their “Top List” and…..I’m no longer there, either. I hop over to another of their sites, SexPress and…..you guessed it. I don’t show up there, either. I’m registered. I’ve never received an email from them telling me I was being banned so I’ve still got my requisite links to them in the sidebar. I’ve sent 4 emails now to various ABH email addresses and have not once received a reply (yes I’ve given them enough time, it’s been a month since I first emailed). I thought it was a problem with my account.
Then I tried setting up a new account with ABH. I disabled the old one (removed my blog from the profile) and created anew. I added in a post. At first, it showed up on the ABH home page. Later that day, it was gone.
They are actively blacklisting me from their sites, and won’t even respond to tell me why. I’m upset, I’m confused, I’m angry. What the hell did I do wrong? The fact that they are actively blacklisting me from every one of their sites and will not respond to polite inquiries is surprising and upsetting.
Update: I even tried the personal emails for the owners and still, no response. Fuck em, then.
Google can be rather draconian. I signed up for adsense a few years ago. After a couple of months I was dropped. I didn’t get much traffic so I was really surprised to get dropped. No explanation, no reason why, just so long and don’t come back. Google really are a bunch of douches.
~ Pfft I tried adsense on my Blogspot blog but was already too “adult content” for them. This was years ago.
I think the most disturbing thing is that you can’t even get a response as to why. I got banned from twitpic the very night I signed up – I assume because there was a little bit of nipple in one picture. But I’ve found explicit sexual photos on there, sent them an email asking WTF?! and received no response. Random censorship is twice as bad as regular censorship.
“Censorship is telling a man he can’t have a steak just because a baby can’t chew it.” Other good quotes here: http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Censorship.
ABH (and LicList, which they also own) are always removing me, even when I’m active. I can’t imagine they removed you because they found you to be offensive.
There’s always some “reason” where they say there was a suspicious bump in traffic or something. It’s a PIA, but they usually (after several days) put you back if you send them an email.
~ yeah but I mentioned up there that i HAVE emailed them. 4 times, in fact. no response, over a month’s time and multiple emails means they’re doing this on purpose.
Ugh, I am so bummed to hear about your G+ situation. My partner and I decided to self-delete our profiles awhile back. I was hoping that our decision was premature and a bit frantic but it doesn’t seem like it was at all.
What kills me the most is that sex blogs are *routinely* censored by various public firewalls. My blog is already inaccessible in most workplaces, coffee shops, and public spaces. I imagine that yours is too.
Writing about sex *isn’t* wrong and the only way we can show that is to keep writing about it. Keep on rockin’ with your bad self. :0)
My two cents:
I’m not sure being banned from TwitPic is censorship.
TwitPic have a right to decide who they provide their service to, just like any business does.
If you violate the T&Cs by posting adult content (I’m not saying you did) then they can ban you with no worries, but even if they just ban at random, it’s not good business or marketing sense perhaps, but it is something they are perfectly entitled to do.
Same with G+. If they want people to use real names, then if you want to use the G+ service then you play by Google’s requirements, the same way you’d obey the requests of any other business you were dealing with.
I see censorship as things like blanket control of the media, or of people being afraid to talk in public – I think not being able to use a web service is nothing like censorship, in my opinion at least.
Hello Lil-
Long time, how’ve you been?
I think Google is playing bully on the block because they can. This site and many like really have no recourse because of the free nature of Google’s services.
Because there are so many websites out there, automatic screening occurs and no one will actually ever review the auto-decision. Sucks to be us, basically.
Blue
Honestly, I’m about to get rid of my google+ profile for my blog alias anyway, simply because I don’t really use it.
Honestly, I gave up on ABH. I got next to no traffic from them anyway, and they banned me over and over no matter how much I protested. In my case, they took issue with my usage of ads and affiliate links… Well, screw ’em. I’m not about to ditch anything that stands a chance of recouping some of the investments (both time and money) that I’ve put into my wirting!
NK x
~ Well at least you got answers from them as to what as up!! They’re not ones to talk about ads and aff links. They’ve got plenty of both.
I was also banned from Google plus for about a day. It was because of my name and the fact that it was not tied to an account they felt belonged to a “real” person.
I got a hold of their support team and explained. I was also told that I was band because others there flagged me. Now Google is responding back to the people flagging me that I am in compliance….
It was ugly…