google Has Disabled My Acount!

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
1

I don’t know WHY they did this, and I ALWAYS had a warning that my posts were meant for adults only, but I reached $101.45 recently, and reported it, so that I could get a check meant for Paulding Humane Society and Alzheimer’s Research, but they sent me this:

==========================================================

Hello,

While going through our records recently, we found that your AdSense
account has posed a significant risk to our AdWords advertisers. Since
keeping your account in our publisher network may financially damage our
advertisers in the future, we’ve decided to disable your account.

Please understand that we consider this a necessary step to protect the
interests of both our advertisers and our other AdSense publishers. We
realize the inconvenience this may cause you, and we thank you in advance
for your understanding and cooperation.

If you have any questions about your account or the actions we’ve taken,
please do not reply to this email. You can find more information by
visiting
AdSense account disabled for invalid traffic - Google AdSense Help.

Sincerely,

The Google AdSense Team

These funds were NOT meant for me, and I even sent an e-mail after reaching my goal to make sure everything was okay, and this is the response I got:

"SwtRose has posted an answer to the question “I need someone to look at my blog please”:

Bill, you are fine! By the way, I did click. ;-)"

===================================================

Y’all know this money was meant to go to my local Humane Society and to Alzheimer’s Research!

I never to my knowledge indicated otherwise, and this was to be a Christmas Present from me and D to them.

To the animals and to AD Research!

Godammit, it was just $50.00 to each! A fucking “drop in the bucket” compared to what they need!

I’ll pay it myself.

I made a promise.

Bill

2

I have a hard time parsing the post. Google suspended your Ad Sense account because you have a dodgy blog and you had $100 you reported to the Humane Society??!

May be it’s just because it’s late here, but I don’t get it.

3

Nope, it’s bright and early here, and the post still doesn’t make sense.

Quasi, take a deep breath and try again. Maybe get D. to check the post before you hit submit. What you’re saying here doesn’t make sense, and we can’t help if we don’t know what you’re talking about.

4

I followed the link that Google provided in the email, and it looks like pretty much the only reason they would disable an account is due to “invalid click activity,” meaning that they detected that a lot of the clicks on the ads on Quasi’s site were not people who were actually interested in the ads, but people who were clicking in order to raise money or whatever.

There is an online appeal form here that Quasi can use to try to convince them to reinstate his account. He would probably have to assure them that invalid click activity is not going to be a problem in the future.

It is highly unlikely that the account was closed due to the content of the blog, the stated purpose for the funds, or any other reason besides “invalid click activity.”

Sorry, Quasi.

5

Unless they changed their rules, you can’t use adsense on “adult” or “porn” sites. They will suspend it.

I don’t like Google at all for such things. I used to design and help people with their websites, and I have seen Google do “dodgy things.”

Especially Google Checkout is horrible. I would never recommend that, but that’s another thread.

One thing about Google is, when you first open an adsense account they will examine the first site you put adsense on. If that site is OK and passes muster, all is fine.

Then you can use your adsense code on any site you want. Or you can change your original site. Google doesn’t follow up. That is they don’t follow up till you put in a claim for money. Everytime you do this, then they examine your sites against their TOS (terms of service) and if you are in violation, you’re out.

So this is why it seems Google suspends accounts just when they have to pay out. It seems like a scam, but it’s just Google doesn’t care UNTIL they have to pay. So in the end it just works out that they often suspsend accounts just as they have to pay out

6

Quasi’s site isn’t really an ‘adult’ site, and it isn’t a porn site. It’s a frank blog about his illness, and the warning (based on what I’ve read there) is basically that Quasi sometimes uses ‘harsh language’. There’s less cursing there than there is here.

7

What in particular doesn’t make sense, twickster?

google has a thing that’s called “Adsense” and everytime someone clicks on an ad one’s blog makes money. Maybe just a penny here and there, but it adds up, and I reached $101.45.

Those funds were meant to go to my two favorite charities, and now they won’t, EVEN after I asked a google rep to check the site!

Finally, twickster: WHY must we two continually be at each other’s throats?

WHAT have I done to offend you???

“Take a deep breath”?

How about YOU smelling the roses and taking one?

8

Quasi, twickster’s post seemed really mild and unoffensive to me. I think you may be reading intent that wasn’t there.

9

Thanks, MsWhatsit – you’re right – that was not intended to be a criticism of Quasi, let alone an “at his throat” attack. Your OP didn’t make sense to me, and I was trying to suggest that you might be able to present it more clearly. Apparently it did make enough sense for other people to be able to provide suggestions for what you might do – so hopefully you can straighten this out.

Quasi, I’m sorry if you felt I was being rude or hostile, neither one was my intention.

10

I am not sure what the problem is, but I’ve always gotten prompt payment from my Google Adsense account. I get a direct deposit every month, usually between the 20th and the 28th or so. This is actually my primary source of income. I don’t think they’re scamming anyone.

Does your blog say anywhere that you want people to click the ads to raise money? If so, that may be it. That goes against their TOS. You can tell people to support the companies that advertise/buy their products/etc. but you can’t recommend that people click just for the click-through money.

11

No, I never told them that in the blog, OpalCat, but my friends and family knew that when and if they clicked, some money would go into my AdSense account and then that money would go to where I said it would.

But that is excactly why I had a google staffer review it, to make sure everything was all right.

I have heard stories about people not getting paid at the time they reached their threshold and I didn’t want that to happen to me.

Also, everyone, please?

Sometimes, when I get pissed off, it isn’t always because of the dementia. My family makes “allowances” for this till I’m sick of it.

Sometimes I get pissed off just like normal folks do. :wink:

I am forgetful and many times unclear, but sometimes that too, is the result of just getting mad.

And twicks, I regret and am sorry for speaking harshly to you in my post.

The AdSense money was a major, major thing to me, especially at this time of year, because it was something that I could do even though I’m jobless, about to be bankrupt, and sick in the head.

I made a promise, and I WILL keep it, even though I do not believe that this was anything I could control.

Thanks y’all!:slight_smile:

Bill

12

Quasi, the problem here seems to be not the content of the blog, but the nature of the clicks. Regardless of the Google staffer’s approval of the content, if people are hammering the links, then it will trip a “click fraud” switch.

Most of Google’s systems are highly automated, and have an algorithm that identifies suspicious clicking behaviours. So if a bunch of family, friends, and/or Dopers went on your blog and clicked copiously and merrily away at the ads to raise money, but with no intention of buying, then Google’s systems will notice this and suspend your payments.

Because it’s so automated, it has no moral compass regarding charitable donations, etc. - it just behaves according to the commercial rules by which it runs. In other words, bad luck. :frowning:

13

That would be my guess. If one or more of your friends were trying to help and were giving you a disproportionate number of clicks from IP addresses in the same zip code, Google probably couldn’t tell that you weren’t dropping down to the web café and doing it yourself.

14

Okay, I don’t want to run into the same problem that Twicks had, so I’m going to outline this in a little more detail than I would otherwise.

  • Apparently Google has issues with AdSense being used on Adult accounts… that’s quite clear in their FAQ. No problem; your blog doesn’t really fall into their definition of adult anyway, so yank the ‘adult’ designation and just put a disclaimer in your profile that sometimes you use naughty words.

  • Their reasoning is indeed tied to the ‘invalid clicks.’ On their FAQ, they list that under the following:

I’ve bolded what I believe to be the relevant portion. Take a look at one of your posts from Nov. 18th:

Again, relevant portion bolded. Now, I am aware that the Shelter Challenge is completely different from the AdSense stuff (which I believe is tied to the other links, like the HS ones), but is it possible that Google glanced at your account, saw that you had several posts that had comments similar to the one above, and decided it violated their ToS?

MsWhatsit linked to the online appeal form; I would strongly recommend you follow through on that, explaining the confusion between the Shelter Challenge and actual Google ads, and saying you’ll change the adult designation. Hopefully that will change their minds.

15

Moot point.

Just needed to “vent” to my buds.

I’m over it. On to other things to help the four-footed ones.

Thanks

Q

16

[polite suggestion]
Then you may want to consider asking that this be closed, since it’s evidently served its purpose and to keep having it bumped by people offering advice will only be a constant reminder of this rather frustrating turn of events.
[/polite suggestion]

17

Close it, then!!!

Jesus!

Q

18

If your friends are clicking with no intention of buying anything, this is clickfraud and against the Google TOS. If this was the case, they were absolutely right in banning you.

19

Closed at OP’s request.

twickster, MPSIMS moderator

20

Closed at OP’s request.

twickster, MPSIMS moderator