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Account disabled --- Confused

Discussion in 'Guidelines / Compliance' started by Abernus, Apr 10, 2006.

  1. #1
    Hi all,

    I run a site that is a Fansite/Guild SIte for a game I play called Guild Wars. Now I looked at various add programs to put on the site and Google seemed the best candidate, maby I was wrong.

    I got an email today (A bog standard Drafted type) saying my account was terminated due to one of the following reasons:

    - a publisher on his own web pages
    - a publisher encouraging others to click on his ads
    - automated clicking programs or any other deceptive software
    - a publisher altering any portion of the ad code or changing the layout, behavior, targeting, or delivery of ads for any reason

    After re-reading the email and the T&C of the program in my knowledge I have not broken any rules. THe only thing I can see wrong is on 1 day my guild got an influx of 20 members and this gave them full access to the site. I noticed my sites bandwidth usage shot up over the few days with the activity. Now all I can guess is these people clicked on my adds making it look like a bot or someting. I have email Google Adsense to ask why but am not holding my breath.

    If my poblem gets resolved I ask the following question, how do you stop the same person clicking on more that 1 add, or for that matter how do you stop people clicking on the adds. I fear that if my account gets re-enabled the same thing will happen again. So I need a way to stop people click on the adds, and only allow those who have a genuine interest in the advert click the add.

    You see the nature of the site will get young gamers who to my knowledge can get very click happy. I hope I have got my point accross and you understand my worries and I hope there is a solution to this problem.

    Thanks in advance.
    I would pot my site link but for the fear of anyone clicking on the adverts :p
     
    Abernus, Apr 10, 2006 IP
  2. lorien1973

    lorien1973 Notable Member

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    #2
    if you've been banned there are no adverts to click; so post up the url.
     
    lorien1973, Apr 10, 2006 IP
  3. iowadawg

    iowadawg Prominent Member

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    #3
    Yet another whine.
    Give the url so we can see this site.

    But if your site is clean, no violations, email google in a nice way and explain to them what is happening.
     
    iowadawg, Apr 10, 2006 IP
  4. TheNetCode

    TheNetCode Peon

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    #4
    They are right without something to look at it is hard to give an opinion. Need all the facts first.
     
    TheNetCode, Apr 10, 2006 IP
  5. fryman

    fryman Kiss my rep

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    #5

    *yawn*

    Once again we have someone who gets banned and first thing he does after being caught is run to a forum to try to fix the mess he has created.

    You are banned, get over it and learn your lesson. Cheating never pays.
     
    fryman, Apr 10, 2006 IP
  6. iowadawg

    iowadawg Prominent Member

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    #6
    That the ones who come in here crying and whining about being banned by adsense are first time posters?
    Like I do believe they hit all forums with the same bitch and moan act.

    Love it when someone gets banned by google!
    Because despite their gripes, google does give everyone one chance to clean up their acts.
     
    iowadawg, Apr 10, 2006 IP
  7. Abernus

    Abernus Peon

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    #7
    No The first thing he does is to send an email to Google, as stated in my original post. The site URL is www.loreofmythos.com. I always thought of forums full of mature people who are there to help the community, maby I was wrong. Just for your info iowadawg this is the first ever email I have had from Google about the programm, thats why I am supprised because they normally tell you there is a problem before terminating your account.
     
    Abernus, Apr 10, 2006 IP
  8. fryman

    fryman Kiss my rep

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    #8
    Whatever...

    You are banned. Move on.
     
    fryman, Apr 10, 2006 IP
  9. minstrel

    minstrel Illustrious Member

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    #9
    I don't see anything obviously wrong with the site - have you made any changes since the email?

    :confused:

    How much of a differemce did those 20 members make to your bandwidth? What do you mean by "full access"? Who were these people and what did they do while on your site?
     
    minstrel, Apr 10, 2006 IP
  10. minstrel

    minstrel Illustrious Member

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    #10
    I just checked the Google cache for the home page for March 27 - looks identical to now. When did your account get cancelled?

    Today your forum says:

    What happened to the 20?

    I'm also seeing Google Ads at http://loreofmythos.15.forumer.com/ :confused:
     
    minstrel, Apr 10, 2006 IP
  11. jackburton2006

    jackburton2006 Peon

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    #11
    Abernus,

    20 new members in one day is not a lot of traffic. So it's not because of that. Did you ask anyone to click on the ads say, in a post somewhere on your forum? You have very little traffic (according to Minstrel, only 14 members) so invalid clicks either came from you or one of your members. Purposeful click-bombing is out of the question, as no competitor would bother with someone with only 14 members.

    Did you do anything to even hint at visitors clicking on your ads? One of those "help me out" posts or text anywhere on your site?
     
    jackburton2006, Apr 10, 2006 IP
  12. Abernus

    Abernus Peon

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    #12
    jackburton2006, thank you for a constructive reply, and a prompt one. I can honestly say that I didn't ask anyone to click as I wanted to stay with the program. I did get an email asking why the adverts as when the site first went live to the members only there were no adverts (I was still looking into them at this point) so I replied as a blanket post via email saying that they were there to help the site. I didn't for 1 moment think any of my members would of blanket clicked (looks like I was wrong).

    I have since put up a post explaning to all members explaning whats been going on, and not to click on the adverts (as for some reason they still show). If Google would of contacted me first and warned me I could of hopefully sorted the problem out. Well I will just have to wait a couple of days for Google to get back to me.
     
    Abernus, Apr 10, 2006 IP
  13. jackburton2006

    jackburton2006 Peon

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    #13
    So you replied to a member asking about the ads via email? Not on the forum itself? It could very well be that this member wanted to help you out so clicked on it multiple times whenever he was at your forum. If this is the case, and it could very well be, it will be hard to get your account back. What you should do is email that person back and ask him if he was clicking on the ads. Don't make it accusatory, but rather just a general, offhand question, or else he might think he's done something wrong and lie. The faster you find out the reason for the banning, the better you can accept it and move on. Besides Adsense, there are plenty of other alternatives. Just do a search on the forum for "alternative to Adsense".
     
    jackburton2006, Apr 10, 2006 IP
  14. themlife

    themlife Peon

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    #14
    Unfortunately it looks like your vistors were trying to help you out but maybe got a little carried away with it.

    The google ads will continue to display however, you will not continue to earn anything from them.
     
    themlife, Apr 10, 2006 IP
  15. projectw3

    projectw3 Banned

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    #15
    Cheating or no cheating, it's unfortunate that it happened.
    Moving on seems to be the only decent thing that I would say to you right now. If you've emailed google, you'll just have to be patient until you get a reply. If they refuse to re-enable your account and you need the ads there, here's what I suggest:

    1) Look at alternative ads. (e.g. bidvertiser, YPN etc.)
    2) Setup another account under a trusted person's name
    3) Monetize your site through other ways (e.g. link sales, affiliate links, etc)

    If you happen to get adsense working again, just remember to prevent any invalid clicks according to adsense TOS. You'll have to figure that one out.

    Hope that helps.
    Good luck to getting your account back!
     
    projectw3, Apr 11, 2006 IP
  16. Abernus

    Abernus Peon

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    #16
    I have emailed the people who were a member at the time and will see what responce I get, as they are all 30+ I don't a see a problem with them owning up if they did. Minstrel about the 14 Member all you can see is the fansite forums, as Guild Wars is a PvP as well as co-op game we have a private forum on the site and this has about 27 members at the moment (after weeding out the kids)

    Projectw3 I did originally look at bidvertiser and had them on my site for 2 days but wasn't impressed as I was getting adverts on my site for on-line gambling, and this is not what I wanted and didn't think it was appropriate for a game that is amied at 12+. If I was to set up another account under a trusted persons name would this not be frowned upon by Google Adsence?
     
    Abernus, Apr 11, 2006 IP
  17. jackburton2006

    jackburton2006 Peon

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    #17
    I would advise against doing this. The pitfalls and problems far, far, far outweighs the potential benefits. Better to simply look at other alternatives. At this point, with your forum/site still at its early stages (correct?) I would spend my time improving the forum and attracting more visitors. To be very honest, Abernus, it's not worth it to spend any real time thinking about advertising revenue. When you talk about sites that make good money with programs like Adsense, we are talking about sites that get impressions in the 100s of 1000s a day. This is very much the case with your site, which is a games forum, and will not get any high-paying keywords.

    I would put all this aside and spend time building up your site and getting more traffic. As with most things on the net, earning money almost always depends on high traffic.
     
    jackburton2006, Apr 11, 2006 IP
  18. Abernus

    Abernus Peon

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    #18
    O.K I will continue to expand my site (a never ending task) and just wait till my site gets added at the end of the month to www.guildwars.com official site. If my traffic grows then maby I will consider looking at this again, but for now will just see what comes of the email from Google.

    For those who gave constructive help I thank you very much, you are a credit to this forum, just sorry for those who feel the need to flame people.
     
    Abernus, Apr 11, 2006 IP
  19. jackburton2006

    jackburton2006 Peon

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    #19
    Good luck. And don't forget other avenues of revenue. CPM ads, if you're with the right network, still brings in a good sum of money, especially if you have the traffic for them.
     
    jackburton2006, Apr 11, 2006 IP
  20. lorien1973

    lorien1973 Notable Member

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    #20
    I dont see how the site is banned? It shows PSA's, but usually when someone is banned, it shows a 403 error where the adsense block would be.
     
    lorien1973, Apr 11, 2006 IP