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

hizook.com

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

#141

Post by jonah »

stanleydrew wrote: post #129
ahoyhere wrote: post #117

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I love your characterization. Except it's not just breaking up with you, it's breaking up with you -- and stealing your TV, your sofa, and your cat!

Not really. In Google's eyes (or Google's algorithm's eyes) you "earned" your Adsense credits in a way that was unfair to the advertisers. So basically Google's returning the TV, sofa and cat that you "stole" from advertisers in the Adsense network in the first place. Obviously the process by which Google decides what accounts are fraudulent is imperfect, so some of the time legitimate accounts will get flagged. I do…

"So basically Google's returning the TV, sofa and cat that you "stole" from advertisers in the Adsense network in the first place."

I haven't heard either way but if you're an advertiser, does goog credit your account - "we believe these x number of clicks you paid for were fraudulent, so we're not charging/crediting you for them."

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

#142

Post by netsp »

MattCutts wrote: post #105
Ardit20 wrote: post #88

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"Given the hundreds of millions of users" - I doubt that anyone who is using Google for search purposes will need to contact customer support. Tens of millions of webmasters - I would suggest that only a fraction of them would need to call customer support, same with the publishers and advertisers. Banks also have millions of customers, just when the call center is busy, they are put on hold. I think the best investm…

"I doubt that anyone who is using Google for search purposes will need to contact customer support." You'd be surprised. There's still some people who think that when they type in a query, people at Google manually decide which results to show. For every result on the page. For every query. Hundreds of millions of times a day. A lot of those searchers do a search for "John Smith" and then want to talk about why their…

I have heard answers of that nature coming from Google before. I think they are avoiding the question. Searchers? Fine. They are using a free, take it or leave it service. Almost anyone would understand that they will be shuffled in to some sort of 'scalable communication method.' Webmasters in your index? You have no commercial relationship with them. They may rely on Google. But there is still no real commercial relationship.

Adwords/Adsense customers/vendors? That is a different story. As I have mentioned several times on this topic, I have encountered shocking responses from Google regarding large ($100k+) accounts.

Google does not have that many customers & vendors.

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

#143

Post by spc476 »

olefoo wrote: 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…

Point 1---true enough, but if I decide to drop BellSouth phone service, I'm still liable for any outstanding amounts I owe them. Why does Google get to walk away without paying what it owes the website owner who hosted the ads?

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

#144

Post by zaphar »

dcurtis wrote: post #138
youngian wrote: post #95

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

under which definition Apple is not just being Apple but is incompetent since they are doing the same thing you point to Google as doing. You can't have it one way for Apple and another for Google.

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

#145

Post by andreyf »

silencio wrote: post #46
pg wrote: post #40

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Though it may not be a complete answer, it is encouraging that people from Google will reply on public forums. You'd never see an Apple employee posting on a thread about someone whose iPhone app had been sitting in the pipeline for months, or a Paypal employee posting on a thread about someone whose account had been summarily frozen.

On the other hand, the Google employee who has answered here is Matt Cutts. I doubt many lesser-known employees at Google have the luxury of replying outside of official company forums and sites in such a manner. From personal experience, finding an Apple employee who can even find out what is going on with an iPhone app waiting for review for months can be difficult if not impossible without connections inside the c…

FWIW, I've seen "lesser-known" Google employees get people in touch with the right teams.

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

#146

Post by andreyf »

calambrac wrote: post #118
MattCutts wrote: post #94

Earlier quoted context omitted.

calambrac, I personally agree with you about the wording/tone of the current letter. I would like them to take a look at changing that, although no one will ever be delighted to get that letter.

That's true, it's always going to be a hard letter to get, and I'm sure that most of the time it's being sent to people who deserve to get it. I think a rewrite should simply dispense with the dire accusations, the fake politeness, and the implication that there's a significant human presence behind the individual decision. Don't waste people's time or patronize them, be direct about what's happening and acknowledge…

I'm sure that most of the time it's being sent to people who deserve to get it

Bingo. It's optimized to stop spammers, not be inoffensive to false positives.

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

#147

Post by andreyf »

MattCutts wrote: post #105
Ardit20 wrote: post #88

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"Given the hundreds of millions of users" - I doubt that anyone who is using Google for search purposes will need to contact customer support. Tens of millions of webmasters - I would suggest that only a fraction of them would need to call customer support, same with the publishers and advertisers. Banks also have millions of customers, just when the call center is busy, they are put on hold. I think the best investm…

"I doubt that anyone who is using Google for search purposes will need to contact customer support." You'd be surprised. There's still some people who think that when they type in a query, people at Google manually decide which results to show. For every result on the page. For every query. Hundreds of millions of times a day. A lot of those searchers do a search for "John Smith" and then want to talk about why their…

Why not just charge $80/hour for support, and refund it for when people call in to fix false positives in the fraud detector? Seems like a win/win - make money off scammers trying to cheat you, and give people an easy way to re-enable their account.

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

#148

Post by bricestacey »

dan_the_welder wrote: post #137
MattCutts wrote: post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

I can't tell if your comment is sarcastic, but I imagine Google, the masters of search, keep track of all that information already. And checking major aggregate news sites is far from "super sophisticated". I wouldn't be surprised if most false-positive frauds were attributed to sudden spikes attributed to slashdot, digg, or HN.

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

#149

Post by shiranaihito »

Tangurena wrote: post #65
shiranaihito wrote: post #30

Didn't anyone else notice that Google's "explanation" for disabling the account was the same as in another recent story: While going through our records recently, we found that your AdSense account has posed a significant risk to our AdWords advertisers. This was on HN a while ago: http://news.ycombinator.org/item?id=781751

That is one of those empty, formulaic phrases that mean the exact opposite of what they say. Like when a company says for your convenience which really means for this company's convenience or more commonly we're about to make things harder for you . These formulaic phrases are spit out by the form letter generator and have no meaning.

I realize it's meaningless bullshit - I was just surprised that they're using the same excuse all the time.

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

#150

Post by wensing »

pg wrote: post #40
patio11 wrote: 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,…

Though it may not be a complete answer, it is encouraging that people from Google will reply on public forums. You'd never see an Apple employee posting on a thread about someone whose iPhone app had been sitting in the pipeline for months, or a Paypal employee posting on a thread about someone whose account had been summarily frozen.

Startup idea: hack customer service into a product that scales.
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