Did OP do something wrong? Yes, definitely. Is being banned from all other Google-related activities forever without recourse proportional? No. The response - being the sum of all its direct consequences - is tyrannical, and worse, automatic and faceless. Unless you enjoy being A Perfectly Obedient Citizen (TM), the only real lesson here is to not put all your eggs in one basket. Use Google, use Apple, but beware of letting them have full control of important parts of your life.
Banned for Life
11–20 of 294 posts
Re: Banned for Life
#12> I continued to be an Apple fan until they announced the “walled garden” and the app review process for iOS. I am totally against having to get permission from a corporation to write and sell apps (...). All Apple products are banned in my household to make a statement about programmer freedom.
> Now my Google play account and Google Wallet account are both banned for life. I’m no longer able to write Android apps ever again, and my family and I can’t even use Google wallet to purchase from Google Play.
So much for programmer freedom. Apple is at least very explicit about its rules. Google seemingly lets you do whatever you want, but then bans you if you do something that they don't like. Now of course one can say that the ban is justified, as author clearly misused the Play store and didn't follow the guidelines.
If he did try to do that on the App Store his apps would be probably instantly rejected, but he would not be banned. The funny thing is that there's a big chance that he would then write a blog post about how App Store is a "walled garden" and that on Play store that would be OK.
Re: Banned for Life
#13After just skimming through the post, I have a question for OP. Why did you create 10 different apps? Why not just one app, that gave the user the ability to enter a channel name and check out all their videos? I think that's better, both in terms of not spamming — for the lack of a better work — the Play Store, as well as UX.
I'm afraid the actions taken by Google in this case can be justified, since publishing 10 apps a day is a dubious figure. However, I'll give it to you, they could've made the regulations regarding this a little more explicit and visible.
Re: Banned for Life
#14>1 app, 2 apps, 10 apps? Did it matter either way? I could have posted 50 apps if I wanted
>So I was using the app store as my beta testing platform.
>I was planning on taking all these apps down in a few weeks anyway.
>I thought I could get maybe 20-30 apps suspended without repercussions
>In this age of Google, it’s now “obey or face an instant lifetime ban.” This is progress? What does the future hold if we are forced to strictly obey and understand every legal gotcha in Google’s terms of service? I believe in freedom, not blind obedience. I made some mistakes and would have removed all my apps if I had known the true consequences.
He spammed the Google Play store with multiple unfinished versions of the same applications for "beta testing", received warnings which he chose to ignore and then got banned for his gross abuse of the service.
Instead of "I messed up, here's a warning to others" it's a case of "why don't Google let me mess around with their service as much as I like? This is oppression, this is America goddamnit, where's muh freedom?!?"
Zero sympathy. Well done to Google on taking down one of the many people spamming the Play store with junk.
Re: Banned for Life
#15Did OP do something wrong? Yes, definitely. Is being banned from all other Google-related activities forever without recourse proportional? No. The response - being the sum of all its direct consequences - is tyrannical, and worse, automatic and faceless. Unless you enjoy being A Perfectly Obedient Citizen (TM), the only real lesson here is to not put all your eggs in one basket. Use Google, use Apple, but beware of…
I use their devices... but my data I own, at least as much as possible. I don't know what I did before ownCloud...
Re: Banned for Life
#16Sure Google is a private company. Sure this means they have no formal responsibility to this developer. Programmatically, he seems to deserve to be sanctioned: he violated their policies for several weeks with several different apps.
I emailed Google back and asked them to tell me exactly what I need to change to be compliant with the rules. Is it the icon? The name? The disclaimer? What? Google refused to give me any additional information.
But if his story is true, he makes good faith efforts to be compliant. What, if any, is the social responsibility a company has that owns half the market of mobile development platforms to people that could potentially make a living using their platform? Monopolies/duopolies throw a wrench in the invisible hand, and I'm not sure there's a clear answer.
Re: Banned for Life
#17> I continued to be an Apple fan until they announced the “walled garden” and the app review process for iOS. I am totally against having to get permission from a corporation to write and sell apps (...). All Apple products are banned in my household to make a statement about programmer freedom. > Now my Google play account and Google Wallet account are both banned for life. I’m no longer able to write Android apps e…
The rule is explicit: it's called trademark law. You can't just copy the name and logo of another company, append " TV" and distribute it publicly.
This is an official app of The Verge: http://www.myappwiz.com/home/getapp?platform=Ios&appID=54251...
This is OP's unofficial app: http://www.myappwiz.com/home/getapp?platform=Android&appID=c...
It's pretty clear that this is prone to cause confusion, even with the disclaimer.
Re: Banned for Life
#18The author used other people's content, packaged them into an app, and then repeatedly submitted the same app (with one minor modification -- the use of someone else's content) to the Play store. 'Beta' apps or apps that you write for close friends/family can be distributed via other means than the main app market. This article admits that he ignored all of the warnings he was given, and now accuses Google of unfair…
The only thing I side with him on is this:
"I emailed Google back and asked them to tell me exactly what I need to change to be compliant with the rules. Is it the icon? The name? The disclaimer? What? Google refused to give me any additional information."
If you ask why, you should be told exactly what is wrong. Or better yet, be told exactly what is wrong right away. Obviously packaging other people's content is the issue here, but you should be told exactly what rules are being broken so there's no ambiguity.
Re: Banned for Life
#19...and thus, the natural consequences of walled-garden markets begin to rear their ugly heads.
It was all love and rainbows while the gold rush held it promise of instant richness and fame, wasn't it?
Re: Banned for Life
#20>1 app, 2 apps, 10 apps? Did it matter either way? I could have posted 50 apps if I wanted >So I was using the app store as my beta testing platform. >I was planning on taking all these apps down in a few weeks anyway. >I thought I could get maybe 20-30 apps suspended without repercussions >In this age of Google, it’s now “obey or face an instant lifetime ban.” This is progress? What does the future hold if we are fo…
Getting banned from publishing apps to the Play Store is reasonable and proportional. Getting banned from all Google services whether related or not seems a bit much imho.