Can anyone help me?
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Hi, I’m a relatively new user (less than 1 month) and I made a big mistake by putting affiliate links in my blog and now I have been shut down. I was in a big hurry the day I signed up so I didn’t thoroughly read the Terms Of Service. I was having some problems putting up affiliate links and sent support a question about how to do it and whammo without warning now I can’t do anything. Actually, I’m not positive of who shut me down, but I feel especially if you are a newbie, they should warn you, give you a couple of days to clean it up, then freeze the blog. Yes, I did do wrong, but not knowingly.
Now, I realize what I did wrong – I have seen lots of blogs with affiliate links – so I saw no problem with it. I would never do anything intentionally, I was just in a big hurry to get a blog put together so I could get a feed going for a new partner.
I have sent about 6 emails to support apologizing and offering to clean up the blog, but no one will return my emails. Can anyone please help me??? I made up a new user name because I could not get into the system with my old one so I could write to the forum. All I really want to do is fix the posts up by taking out the affiliate links and only put one link on it to my website (that is allowed right?).
This upsets me terribly since I have a good reputation, and I feel as though they think I’m a spammer. This is something I would never intentionally do. Bottom line, I was in a hurry and didn’t bother to read everything before I signed on the dotted line.
If anyone can help, please email me at Scoutmaster0703 @ aol.com. [link broken to slow spam – Trent]
Many thanks.
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Unfortunately there’s nothing that we can do in the forum for you. We (like you) are mere mortals.
Be aware though that most of the Automattic staff are in San Fran this week following Wordcamp 2007. Be patient (I know, it can be hard!) and I am sure that one of the admins will get back to you soon.
Oh, and I very much doubt that anyone will email you. We have support forums so we can share information rather than enter into private discussion on something we have no control over.
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Cornell,
Thanks for responding to my problems. Yes, I do realize they are in San Francisco this week – I even left a message on someone’s blog (staff!!) hoping they would fix it for me. I’m sure it just takes a keystroke to get me unfrozen. The real bummer is that I contacted support for help about why all my affiliate links wouldn’t show up and without warning I just got shut down. They just needed to tell me that affiliate links are forbidden and I would have gotten rid of them. I didn’t even reap any sales from them!!!!
Thanks again Cornell – your response made me feel like less of a leper.
Your words are encouraging
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References:
Terms of Service (nb. section 2, 5th bullet)
http://wordpress.com/tos/
Affiliate links and advertising -
The blog is not GONE, it’s just offline. Staff have in the past restored blogs that get ToS’ed on condition the blogger remove the violation.
I guess they feel the ToS (plus the bajillion threads in the forum on advertising and commercialization) are enough warning. And they’re aware that the blog’s not necessarily dead. Doing it this way has the one benefit of being pretty much unforgettable to the individual blogger.
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Raincoaster
Do you think they will restore my blog and let me fix it? Anyone know when they’ll be back in the office – support – to help me out? Usually I read up on all the forums for any particular service I am a part of but this time I’m the idiot and I never took time to read the TOS.
I’ve seen several blogs on Word Press with affiliate links, that is why I put my links in my new blog. Obviously these other blogs have not been spotted or reported to the TOS police.
Yes, I am embarrassed and just want to be able to get into the blog to fix it now. I am completely locked out of it. I am also locked out of my other blog which is so innocent, no affiliate links, just editorial content.
Is there any blog network that does allow affiliate advertising?
Thanks,
Scoutmaster0703 -
Only staff can tell what they’re willing to do, but I will tell you that there is no possibility of using affiliate links here. Seriously, are they funding your retirement? I would give them up.
If you see WordPress.com blogs with affiliate links you need to report them as Spam under the About this Blog tab on the far right of your admin bar. If they are independently-hosted blogs using WP software, they are free of these restrictions (you’ll know because you won’t have the blue admin bar on their sites).
Staff is recovering from the Grand Bacchanal which was Wordcamp, so give them a couple of days. Nothing will become irrevocable in the meantime.
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Is there any blog network that does allow affiliate advertising?
As far as free services, I know Blogger.com does. It even allows you to sign up for AdSense (both are Google services). As raincoaster pointed out, you can also use a hosted service.
GoDaddy.com provides WordPress as an available app on the Linux hosting plan. They take care of the dirty work of installing it. You tell the system to install it through the hosting control panel. None of that FTP uploading, setting up database, etc, needed by you.
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To Raincoaster, Abbydonkrafts, Time Thief and Cornell,
I sincerely appreciate you all taking the time to get back to me regarding my blog getting frozen. I do have a blogger (google) account which I don’t often use but I’ll probably start using it again. No, I am not trying to fund my retirement, just was in a hurry to get a feed off to a new partner, and was too stupid to thoroughly read everything. Live and learn.
This kind of reminds me of the drunk driving laws in my state. If you get 2 DUI’s, you get a yellow plate. And, let me tell you when you see someone with that yellow plate you always want to look to see who is behind the wheel. When Word Press freezes your blog and puts up that statement, one feels like a real jerk!!! (kind of like that guy with the yellow plate!)
I am probably one of the most honest people you’ll ever come across and this was a huge lesson for me about always reading the instructions.
Again, thanks to all.
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Hi Everyone,
A couple of other questions:
1. Is Word Press Support in the UK or the USA?
2. If I am reading the rules correctly, can I have one link to my website at the bottom of the blog? Or is this a sin too?!!!Regarding the blogs that Raincoaster described that could be in possible violation, I’ll find them and figure out if they are using WP software or still have blue bar. I will probably send message to them suggesting to clean up and tell them what happened to my blog.
I got shut down after I asked support to help me, really don’t know if they shut me down or if someone else shut me down. Can someone virtually press the spam button and shut you down? Does support follow up and make sure it is valid complaint.
What about Squidoo? I am almost positive that there are some blogs out there with affiliate links. I guess I need to go through and thoroughly read everything in the future regarding all the different services.
This was a big sting to me because it caught me at a bad time (when Support is gone for a few days).
Enjoy your weekend. Monday will be better for me because hopefully I can get my blog back on line!!!
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1. WordPress Support is in both the UK and the US. Mark is UK based, but others pick up the support requests too.
2. Depends on what the website is for. If it’s a site specifically for revenue generation or SEO then I wouldn’t risk it. If you are using your WordPress.com blog just to drive traffic to your third-party website then again, I wouldn’t risk it. If it’s a personal page (Like a Scout Troop) then I think you’ll be ok.
If you got shut down then it’s wordpress.com’s administrators that did it. There’s no way that anybody else has access to it. As said previously (a number of times) be patient. the Automattic staff are recovering from WordCamp right now.
Squidoo? What is it? I don’t think it’s anything to do with wordpress.com and they have their own rules.
There are lots of blogs out there with affiliate links. You need to be clear whether they are hosted on wp.com or not though. I would bet that most of them aren’t and if they are then you know what to do!
I’ll keep my fingers crossed for you!
BTW – I note that you call yourself Scout Master. Where? I was a Scouter in the UK for more than 25 years. I’m 35 this year!
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This kind of reminds me of the drunk driving laws in my state. If you get 2 DUI’s, you get a yellow plate.
Whoa! Awesome. I’d love to see that here in GA. Public humiliation is a great deterrent.
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That would be fantastic over here too! Never heard of that before. Might go searching for that in a bit. :)
Little more difficult in the UK as we have fixed registrations which don’t get updated every year like the US. We have a disc in the windscreen instead. Perhaps we should have a big sign in the windscreen that says “WARNING: DRINK DRIVER INSIDE”.
Hmm, sorry for the Hijack!
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Thanks, again for your replies, yes I’ll be patient.
I used to be active in Scouts when my kids were younger, no I’m not presently a Scoutmaster, but I was a den mother once upon a time.
On my particular website, I think I best stay away from any linkage on Word Press blogs.
I think I learned my lesson already. Hopefully at Christmas time, I can laugh about this. I just hope it doesn’t hurt my website’s SERP.
Maybe, I’ll write a blog about stupidity. I can write a best seller on the topic.
Take care.
P.S. Regarding the yellow plates in my State – it is scary about how many people have them. Law went into affect about 18 months ago. Some people even try to cover it up by putting a plastic cover over the plate that is tinted so no one notices, but, these plates are unique because they consist of about 6-7 numbers in the center of the plate. Hard to conceal.
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What state are those in? I’d like to pull some stats and stuff to submit to legislators and so forth. I see the drunkards in the paper all the time, but you never know if you are behind one until they about run off the road. A yellow tag would definitely be helpful in warning people of a potential accident waiting to happen.
I think those tinted covers should be outlawed everywhere. They serve no purpose except to obscure the tag. I also don’t like the tinted covers that go over lights. I’ve seen some tail light ones that made the break lights almost invisible. I’ve come close to rear-ending those people.
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Abbydonkrafts –
I live in Ohio – I don’t know what the stats are on the reduction of drunk driving deaths, etc. with the yellow tags. But, everyone I’ve talked to regarding this subject thinks it was the best idea our state ever came up with.
I see where support put something up saying they are temporarily closed.
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Thanks. I’ll do more research on it. I think Google is my best friend. Work some magic on it and all sorts of stuff pops up. :-)
Yeah.. must’ve been one heck of a party at WordCamp. I hope you can get it straightened out. I understand your frustration. Most people don’t read the TOS on any site because they are usually so overwhelming. I agree that first-time offenders should get a warning and a grace period to clean it up, especially if it wasn’t a blatant standard violation such as porn or pirated content.
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abbydonkrafts –
I can’t thank you enough for your support – I too agree that they should give you a warning and then a grace period. The funny thing is that I would put in the html, it would show up on my draft but then only pieces of it would show up when I published it. That’s why I contacted support in the first place. Yes, they should shut people down who don’t follow the rules, but I agree with you – porn and piracy are far worse crimes.
All I can say is yes, I am guilty of not reading the rules, yes, I will clean it up immediately if I can be unfrozen, and yes I think they should have given me a warning.
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