This Belongs to Who

Saw this on the Facebook (thanks, Paul Mitchell).


[Google maps]

That's a lot fancier than the one I'm used to. I suppose I'll get caught up after a while.

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.

Undo

You've done it.

I've done it.

We've all done it.

Sent an email that we wish we could immediately take back, I mean. For example, hit "Reply to all" instead of just "Reply." Or noticed a mistake ... a big one ... right after sending. Or forgetting an attachment.

Google has added an "Undo" button to their Gmail application:

My theory (which others shared) was that even just five seconds would be enough time to catch most of those regrettable emails.

And now you can do just that. Turn on Undo Send in Gmail Labs under Settings, and you’ll see a new “Undo” link on every sent mail confirmation. Click “Undo,” and we’ll grab the message before it’s sent and take you right back to compose.

This feature can't pull back an email that's already gone; it just holds your message for five seconds so you have a chance to hit the panic button. And don't worry – if you close Gmail or your browser crashes in those few seconds, we'll still send your message.

Five seconds is a help. Might save me some embarrassment. Lord knows, I could use all the help I can get.

If only we could get an "Undo" button on the presidential election. I'm wondering how many people would hit it now?

And where else could we use an "Undo" button?