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Make Frontpage of Slashdot, Reddit, Hacker News == Google Disables AdSense

hizook.com

131–140 of 164 posts

Re: Make Frontpage of Slashdot, Reddit, Hacker News == Google Disables AdSense

#131
post #25

Two points: 1. This is not a problem with Google's Customer Service, it is a problem with their vendor relations. When Google publishes ads on your site, you are selling that space to them. Google is your customer and isn't obligated to tell you a damn thing except that they don't want to buy from you anymore. 2. There is a market opportunity here for an ad network that is willing to find good sites dropped from Goog…

I don't think #1 is as cut-and-dry as you're making it out to be. It depends on how you squint - you could just as easily say that you're selling it to the companies who are paying for the ads, and that both parties are hiring Google to mediate that relationship.

Re: Make Frontpage of Slashdot, Reddit, Hacker News == Google Disables AdSense

#132

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Google and PayPal both fall into the category of not putting enough profits into customer support. This is what most fear from market consolidation and extremely large companies. They squeeze more profits from doing things that a company without monopoly-like characteristics could not get away with. To me, when you cross this line, you have become evil. fyi, I spent more than 2 hours last night getting my PayPal pers…

It's great to see this discussion here and especially to have Matt Cutts weighing in. It does seem like this is an endemic problem in Google and comes right from the top. Some startups focus on customer service and use it as a differentiator. Others focus on product and believe they can build their way out of support. Google is and always has been in the second category. The mindset is from what I understand firmly h…

Yes, this does seem to be a top-down problem and not a result of incompetence.

I'm guessing they won't change until they see their profits effected. As to PayPal, I have chosen other providers. So I only have to deal with them if some vendor only accepts PayPal and I really want to use that vendor.

As for Google, for now, I don't need to serve up ads. If and when I do, I will spend time to see if alternate ad brokers can give me equal or better returns. Google knows that their hold on the ad market stays as long as buyers and publishers do not move in sync. That is, its very hard for a publisher to use a different brokerage when all the buyers feel they need to use Google (and vice verse). This movement is probably best done by market segment. Specialty brokers ("we only do blogs", "we do sports very well", etc) should be the ones to disrupt this space. I guess this is already being done, but it certainly isn't happening fast enough. Ideas?

Re: Make Frontpage of Slashdot, Reddit, Hacker News == Google Disables AdSense

#134
post #55

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Given the hundreds of millions of users, tens of millions of webmasters, and many advertisers and publishers that Google interacts with, it would be difficult to have one-on-one conversations with all of them even if everyone at Google did nothing but try to provide that support. Not saying it is easy or free to get there, but the same arguments can mostly be said for Microsoft and they seem to be doing pretty OK. I'…

Your last sentence is dead-on. Microsoft ascribes to the traditional enterprise-y business model. The products work okay but often need support, and if you pay enough you get great support (and if you don't pay enough you get passable support). This has made them (and many other companies) a ton of money, but Google is absolutely killing all competition by following a very different path. It's hard to say how much of…

Collateral damage? Well, then it appears Google's experiencing some blow back, and deservedly so. It shouldn't matter what trails your blazing, you can't leave your customers burning in the blaze behind you.

Re: Make Frontpage of Slashdot, Reddit, Hacker News == Google Disables AdSense

#136
post #72

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm not saying the poster is necessarily faking, but how should we know that someone who chose the name MattCutts is the Matt Cutts he claims to be? Do we assume he's not an impersonator because we like his answer? This comment is the very first activity on that account.

I like the way you think! I tweeted to you to prove this account is really me: http://twitter.com/mattcutts/status/3603379916

And of course anybody who hacked your HN account couldn't possibly have hacked your Twitter account (assuming they are both really u, and u'r the Google Matt Cubbs). :=)

Re: Make Frontpage of Slashdot, Reddit, Hacker News == Google Disables AdSense

#137
post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As happy as I am that you're Google's unofficial ombudsman, Matt, you're a big billion dollar company who many of us are intensely reliant on for our businesses. There needs to be a support channel other than "make a PR issue for Google and Matt Cutts will swoop by to save the day". I had a big issue with AdWords earlier this month. Google made it all but impossible for me to reach anyone about it. Earlier this year,…

There is a support channel for appeals, and it sounds like hizook.com submitted an appeal via that channel earlier this week. My guess is that the Google team is already looking into it; I just wanted to let people know that I'd ask the relevant team from my side as well. Given the hundreds of millions of users, tens of millions of webmasters, and many advertisers and publishers that Google interacts with, it would b…

Maybe someday your super sophisticated fraud detection software could be made to check and see if someone got slashdotted.

I understand this would involve knowing the content of billions of websites and figuring out which ones link to each other.

Who could possibly be expected to keep track of all that information?

So keep your pants on everyone. The scope of this problem is insurmountable especially since there are only thirty days in the month (or six) before you get paid for your clicks and impressions to discover fraud.

Re: Make Frontpage of Slashdot, Reddit, Hacker News == Google Disables AdSense

#138
post #81

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The difference is that Apple is just being Apple while they try to figure out how to handle the App Store. I'm not saying it is right, but there's a certain intelligence and style behind the way Apple ignores people. Google, on the other hand, is just incompetent. (And PayPal is, too, but they seem to be slowly learning.)

I disagree. Google is just being Google. They've always been a company that does very cool (and non-evil) projects, but doesn't really bend over backwards to listen to customers. I always get the impression that they're too busy working on their latest game-changing scheme to be bothered with little details like keeping customers happy.

Not bending over backwards for customers is the action of an incompetent company. Whether by choice or not.

Re: Make Frontpage of Slashdot, Reddit, Hacker News == Google Disables AdSense

#139
post #80

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If your customers have to invoke the "legal system" to get around your incompetence, you've failed in every way that matters.

unfortunately, I do not see this as incompetence. Google has made a choice to not put "enough" of their profits in customer service.

That is the action of an incompetent company.

Re: Make Frontpage of Slashdot, Reddit, Hacker News == Google Disables AdSense

#140
post #90

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah. Don't pay people to do customer service is still more profitable than losing a few customers a they are not many search and Adsense/Adwords alternatives that can really compete when it comes to reach.

That's walking a very tight rope as the way you put it sounds very much like monopolistic behavior. I would suggest that it does not make business sense to have the government looking over you as being an evil monster, which, is most probably what will occur if the horror stories continue.

Governments move slowly, and execs (and shareholders) rarely look past the next quarter.
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