Oh yes! I think they are!
The saga of bloggers tagged as spam bloggers continues tonight. As you know, back about 3 weeks ago on Black Friday I was tagged by Google/Blogger as a spam blog on the original blogspot blog.
As the days have rolled by, more reports of bloggers having the same thing happen to them has been popping up and other bloggers have written to me scared it would happen to them and sick with worry. My advice was to vacate Blogspot and move as quickly as possible.
I wanted the old blog to stay active because of the 23 months worth of work that went into it and all of the backlinks and buttons around the blogosphere that were connecting it to me. I wanted to leave it up so that if anyone was looking for Attention Target Shoppers, they could find me with the new URL posted in the top post I had left on the blog.
Tonight the old blog was simply deleted by the wonderful folks over at Google. No email. No notice. Not one word even though I had requested a human review. SEVERAL TIMES I had requested a human review only to find that the review was canceled and I would request again. Well thank you and Merry Christmas to you too Google. NOT!!!!
About this blog’s title – should I be angry? Should I be sad? Should I be relieved? I think the real answer is I am all of the above. I am angry that there is NOT ONE IOTA of customer service with Google/Blogger. I am angry that there was not one smidgen of good will on their part to do the right thing and so much as answer an email. I’m very angry that all of my links, page rank and connection back to me have literally disappeared. I am angry that they closed my Adsense account and STOLE the earnings that was in it too. I’m angry at myself and sad that I wasn’t savvy or smart enough to get out sooner and get on a Wordpress blog. I am sad for all the hard work that I and many of you contributed is forever lost and currently owned by Google/Blogger. I am relieved it is over with and that I did backup the old blog and move it to Wordpress.
Now, I must basically start from scratch trying to get the holy grail of a decent page rank and be discovered by new readers – the only way for this blog to grow. I have been very upset and discouraged by everything that Google has done to me and have equated it to the IRS walking in and confiscating everything I own. It has been more stressful than anyone but another blogger could comprehend – I think.
I have to be D*O*N*E with it and move on to bigger and better things. I am sick to death of the worry, the dread and the anguish this has caused. It may sound crazy, but my blog is like one of my children and you just do not mess with my children – you mothers know what I mean.
For all of you bloggers – please backup your blogs. Please consider moving to Wordpress soon. I promise you won’t be sorry.
Ginger
Email me: Ginger@attentiontargetshoppers.com
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{ 20 comments… read them below or add one }
Better to move after 6 months than to move after almost two years. Did you see how my stats fell off the planet? I had 4300 subscribers and now less than 3000!!!! OH THE INSANITY OF IT ALL!!!!!!!!
Ginger
Reina,
Here is a good set of instructions: http://www.blogbulk.com/2008/10/back-up-your-blog-completely-posts.html
Domain names are cheap – like less than $10 most of the time. If you want to be found, get a domain name.
I can’t answer your question about a Mac. You’ll have to research that on a search engine and I am no longer recommending Google. Bing is my SE of choice!
Ginger
How do I back up a blogspot blog? And, I looked into Wordpress at one point when I started my blog, but as I’m not a huge blogger, I didn’t want to buy a domain name. Is that necessary? Does Wordpress work on a Mac?
Oh wow, I wasn’t aware you were going threw all of this… My blog is 6 months old and I have worked very hard to get where I’m at now and for this to be happening now its just unreal….
I can’t believe with all the bad spam that’s out there that gets threw still and your the one they delete… Oh my you are helping us with savings not creating problems.
Could Target of turned you in for spam… just a joke lol… I’m sorry for all of this but thank you for the tips… I’m going to start working on moving my stuff over to wordpress also… I have worked hard to get my buttons and links out there so I can just start over again… grrrrrrrrrrr….
hang in there Ginger
Chrissy
Happy Mom Of 5
Daisy! Oh I didn’t even know that site existed.
It was really pretty simple all things considered. The only thing that I can tell you is that to have the ability to use affiliate networks for your blog, you will have to make sure you set up your own hosting. I’ll have to check out that link you posted to see if there is anything I missed. And yes, you need to hurry up and get the move done. TRUST NOTHING! Back your blog up daily until you make the move. Archive any info you have in your sidebars or anything you have loads of time in so that you are working smart.
Good luck and happy holidays!
Ginger
From my perspective and even factoring out what has happened to me, it seems that it is a horrible move on their part to mistreat bloggers. Why? Their blog platform may be free but they earn billions with a “B” from all the ad revenue that comes in from their Adsense ads that run on all the blogs and even on the admin login/logout pages. That seems like a really bad move when it comes to income from ads.
Even large companies make really bad decisions. If they see all of us bloggers who are in it for the same reasons I am or similar as competition and feel threatened …. Well then I have the power. ROFL
Ginger
Hi Karen,
I never thought that a person had reported me for spam. I suppose that is a possibility. I blamed the whole mess on the Google bots that crawl the sites and the algorthym they used for the code as the root cause. This does not answer for why they continually have canceled my request for a review. Shame on them. If I didn’t answer my email and comments I would be out of business. Hmmm….I can see the train a comin’ on this one. Even great empires fall.
Thanks for your comment!
Ginger
Hi Kristi,
Working with Wordpress is not difficult at all. It is a bit different but not something that has really given me any problems at all. The thing to remember with Wordpress is that if you can’t seem to find how to do something that you did on Blogger, just search for a plug-in. When you install plug-ins, do one per day and see how the blog reacts. If it does well add another one. If you have problems after an installation, then you know there is a conflict and can uninstall without ripping your hair out. So far, no problems and I have about a dozen plug-ins working in the background. Simply, a plug-in equals way less coding in the template which is yet another time saver. It’s all pretty easy actually and I love how the comments work. From the admin side it is a dream come true.
Ginger
Thanks April! I thought long and hard (well as much as I could given I had little time) about even changing the name of the blog and getting a new domain name to try to cure the damage. But, I felt like that was me caving in and giving up my blog identity. For now, I have opted to stick with the same blog name and URL. Since I own my own content and have the name on about 1500 posts now, well it seemed like the lesser of two evils. Thanks for your comment!
Ginger
Thanks Stacie! I appreciate your comment!
Ginger
I sure appreciate the offer to assist. The best thing that anyone can do for me( or any other blogger for that matter) is to link, have up a button, share what we do in any way that you find that works for you. Links are supposed to help build page rank. And, the anger is subsiding. That is a conscious choice to not give Google any power over me. I hope you start your move to WP soon and not delay. One of the emails I received this past week told of a new blogger who was tagged as a spammer. Seemingly size of a blog has nothing to do with it.
Merry Christmas to you too!
Ginger
I didn’t know you mentioned me. I am so sorry but I do thank you! Since the blog doesn’t show up in alerts, I had no idea. I’m hanging in and hope that I can only improve and continue to somehow grow. I do appreciate you carrying the news that I exist and sharing with others. Thanks so much!
Ginger, I have mentioned your blog to several people and even on a piece I did for the news.
Sometimes technology gets too big for itself. Such is the case with what happened to you.
I’m so sorry. Hang in there!
Ginger-
I am so sorry that this is a nightmare and now I am going to move to wordpress with my blog. I don’t have a large readership yet but I am afraid that if I do get a large one my blog will lock also. I have your button attached to my blog so that you can get some readers also. This is just a hobby for me and I don’t make any ad money or do this to make money. Should you need anything let me know I will gladly help. I really hope this gets better for you and that the anger subsides soon. It’s the holidays and we love you and your site. Have a great holiday with your family!
Oh Ginger, I am so sorry. That is really awful. You are so right about Wordpress.
Hopefully things will build back up for you quickly!
So sorry to hear of your ordeal. =0( I am glad you are moving forward. I have noticed this happening to several other bloggers and not really sure why the crusade against bloggers is happening, but rest assured. I would have found you no matter where you moved to! =0)
Thanks so much for writing about this. I am in the process of having my blog redesigned (professionally) and am thinking about making the switch because I have seen sooooo many people get locked out/ deleted. I have only used blogger & no experience w/ wordpress. Is it much harder to use?
Ginger,
You are entitled to feel all of the above and then be done with it. Obviously they are having loads of problems your not being the only one. Some sad jealous person reported you and hopefully the move is the better outcome. If this is how they handle any problems then you should see a bunch of bloggers making the mad dash and moving. Eventually they will get the message hopefully it will be too late and you will be laughing last. Enjoy your holidays! Your blog is great your doing a wonderful job!
So is this an issue where Google felt these coupon blogs (and advertisements, PR etc) were perhaps in competition with Google?
It’s starting to sound like Google is kicking out the couponers.
Oh Ginger,
This makes my tummy sick as well! I have already planned my move but because of all the bloggers that I have been reading about too, I must move up that day.
I’m seriously considering http://bit.ly/7h95Kx any thoughts?