Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Sacked by a Google algorithm

duckworksmagazine.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

21–30 of 300 posts

Re: Sacked by a Google algorithm

#21

Post by mpk »

Gidion wrote: post #4

I'm a big fan of the "let's find an algorithmic solution" approach to everything (because it scales), but if the so called specialists (still assuming they are human specialists) are already involved, would it have hurt to send a little more information about the issue that just a link to the FAQ? You know, the human factor...

> would it have hurt to send a little more information about the issue [..]

Call me a cynic but I think they don't send any information on purpose.

They're not required to send information and Legal probably doesn't want anything sent out in these cases that involves writing from a non-lawyer.

Re: Sacked by a Google algorithm

#22

Post by mattmcknight »

irinotecan wrote: post #6

Moral of the story: Don't make too much ad revenue with AdSense or you will be accused of click fraud, and have no recourse.

Actually the moral is "don't have too high of a click through rate". In the article he admits he told the viewers to click on the ads to get money to him from advertisers (violating the ToS). The viewers liked him and likely committed the click fraud for him. The money was returned to the advertisers.

Re: Sacked by a Google algorithm

#23

Post by locopati »

So basically, Google has written the rules so they can call you on it at any time and if they deem they're paying you too much money, they kill your account? Seems to weigh the playing field pretty heavily in their favor - they're getting the benefits of your direction of traffic to their advertisers, while reserving the right to arbitrarily kill your revenue. Given their more-or-less monopoly status on search (80% or more - too lazy to check the stats), this should probably be investigated by the FTC or DOJ.

Re: Sacked by a Google algorithm

#24

Post by arn »

locopati wrote: post #23

So basically, Google has written the rules so they can call you on it at any time and if they deem they're paying you too much money, they kill your account? Seems to weigh the playing field pretty heavily in their favor - they're getting the benefits of your direction of traffic to their advertisers, while reserving the right to arbitrarily kill your revenue. Given their more-or-less monopoly status on search (80% o…

This is ridiculous. Google makes more money when they pay you more money. The income is tied together. They get a cut. So, it's not that they feel like they are paying you too much. Many sites/individuals make a lot more money than this guy did on Adsense. In this case, they felt the guy was sending fraudulent clicks through the program.

Re: Sacked by a Google algorithm

#26

Post by locopati »

wildmXranat wrote: post #15

Tough luck. Yes, that might come across as crass, but did they bother reading Google's terms of service? So they will bitch and moan about it, try the appeal process and not a dent will be made in their case. What it boils down to is: if you rely on those earnings to sustain your business, guard against anything that tosses you into a suspicious category. And that is a moving target as well. I do empathize with him,…

Doesn't seem like you have a ton of control over the situation, seeing as the rules as written are almost impossible to break in some manner, the rules are only partially declared, and you cannot police your users who may think they're doing you a favor (note: he did actually discourage his users from clicking).

Re: Sacked by a Google algorithm

#27

Post by ceejayoz »

archgoon wrote: post #11
iwwr wrote: post #2

The disease of PayPalism is spreading.

Hi! I'm sorry to be dense, but could you explain what encompasses PayPalism? I'm guessing you're referring to: -Excessively complex user agreements -Ability to arbitrarily suspend accounts -Ability to void credited funds Are there any other aspects that you (or anyone else) feel should be included?

The inability to reach and speak to a person, as well.

Re: Sacked by a Google algorithm

#28

Post by locopati »

arn wrote: post #24
locopati wrote: post #23

So basically, Google has written the rules so they can call you on it at any time and if they deem they're paying you too much money, they kill your account? Seems to weigh the playing field pretty heavily in their favor - they're getting the benefits of your direction of traffic to their advertisers, while reserving the right to arbitrarily kill your revenue. Given their more-or-less monopoly status on search (80% o…

This is ridiculous. Google makes more money when they pay you more money. The income is tied together. They get a cut. So, it's not that they feel like they are paying you too much. Many sites/individuals make a lot more money than this guy did on Adsense. In this case, they felt the guy was sending fraudulent clicks through the program.

Do you think the one-strike and you're out policy, with little chance of direct human-contact in resolving disputes is reasonable? For Google, they get to have their cake and eat it too - to them it probably doesn't matter if they lose a small revenue stream like this (yet they're still putting ads on his YouTube videos and search results), but the little guy gets hammered.

Re: Sacked by a Google algorithm

#29

Post by meterplech »

arn wrote: post #14

...long story... Oh yes, I was also running little blocks of adverts provided by Adsense and, yes, I told my subscribers that I got some money if they visited the websites of those advertisers – all of whom were interested in selling stuff to sailors. ...long story... In the end it was click-fraud-ish. There's a huge fear for those dependent on google adsense that they will get terminated out of the blue like this. T…

You are completely right- I think the general feeling is that Google needs to do a better job of communicating that to content creators. This guy clearly didn't realize the extent of the damage, and said he would return adsense revenue from the website. They could fairly disable adsense on the website, but knocking the YouTube revenue just seems unnecessary after giving a very stern warning. People find it troubling that a monolithic algorithmic arbiter makes these decision that change people's lives

Re: Sacked by a Google algorithm

#30

Post by lynx44 »

This sucks, but telling your visitors to click on ads indirectly is a clear violation of the ToS.

I too got fired by Google's algorithm and didn't do anything whatsoever wrong. They are heartless.

Worse of all, this article does not mention the monopoly they have. They own the online ad market. No one else exists that is anywhere as good.

It's straight-up monopoly, and if you get on their black list, you're out.

Post reply on HN