Monday, February 22, 2010

Whiskey Tango Foxtrot?

It began simply enough. I was up way too late, surfing them Internets, leaving a comment on someone's blog post. And an email arrived.

Getting an email at some un-Godly hour isn't unusual. I get them all the time. Most, I don't want. But the subject of this one caught my eye: http://www.basilsblog.net/ has been deleted

Whiskey Tango Foxtrot?

I opened this one.
Hello,

Your blog at http://www.basilsblog.net/ has been reviewed and confirmed as in violation of our Terms of Service for: SPAM. In accordance to these terms, we've removed the blog and the URL is no longer accessible.

For more information, please review the following resources:

Blogger Terms of Service: http://blogger.com/terms.g
Blogger Content Policy: http://blogger.com/content.g


-The Blogger Team

I immediately went to my blog. It was down.

I opened the Blogger Dashboard. Or tried. It wouldn't let me open it.

Okay, this is not a good thing.

I looked at the email again. "violation of our Terms of Service for: SPAM"?

Spam? Me? My little blog? A splog?

Yeah, I don't think so.

But, when you get right down to it, it doesn't matter what I think. The actual hosting is on Google/Blogger's servers. And if they think it's spam, that's what I have to deal with.

Google/Blogger has a 4-step process for dealing with having a blog removed for TOS violations.
  1. Read the articles listed.
  2. Submit a review request.
  3. Submit an appeal.
  4. Post a report in Blogger Help Forum: Something Is Broken.
Took me nearly an hour to read all the documents, to get back into my Dashboard -- I had to have a special unlock code sent to my cell phone -- then to submit the requests for review.

Within minutes, the first review of this little blog began. I know, because it was still all there inside the Google/Blogger mystic ethernet. Including my Site Meter, which operated still, allowing me to see when and who was viewing the blog. So, I knew they were looking it over.

I kept up with it for a couple of hours, but, being way past my bedtime (and I do need my beauty sleep).

After several more hours, I woke up and checked it out. Still being reviewed, until a little before 7:00 AM. That's when the blog showed up as active on the Dashboard. I had to repeat the custom domain again (http://basils.blogspot.com/ was working, but I wanted http://www.basilsblog.net/ to work, too.)

Got that all squared away, and everything was back to normal.

Or abnormal, depending on your view.

8 comments:

  1. I was wondering why I had not gotten a Buzz from you in two days. Three on the blog.

    Quit spamming, Basil!!!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Yeah, I get distracted easily.

    And, if you don't believe teh Google knows everything about you... I have a couple of cans of SPAM in the kitchen.

    They just got confused.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Sorry, but I reported you. Obama told me to report anyone who wasn't hope and changey enough. Also something about putting peanuts in Coke.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Paul: You got some sick puppies for friends. But you already know that, don't you.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Basil, if my blog hasn't gotten reported and locked down yet for anything, chances are it never will. Despite those rubes in East Tejas.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Paul: Yeah, you get a pass, ripping them like a bathroom scene in Scarface, and I get booted for ... SPAM? [see title of post]

    ReplyDelete
  7. Told you, you are one of the big boys. I have no radar shadow.

    ReplyDelete

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