About a day and a half ago I released an article asking for EC members to place a link in the comments to their Stumble accounts so others could easily connect with them. To be sure they were EC members, I also asked for a link to their blog. I knew StumbleUpon love-ins were allowed by their TOS because I have seen it done many times. The TOS says nothing about sharing SU accounts being disallowed.
After about 10 minutes, the first comment arrived from a fellow EC member. This person said nothing about his Stumble account, but instead gave the advice of deleting the post since Entrecard.com is banned from StumbleUpon (which it is). I deleted the comment while still in moderation because I felt the commenter had no relevance. I thought, “Why would StumbleUpon ban a group of people for being part of a blogging community?”
Several minutes later, other comments came in. By night, there were eight SU accounts listed on the post. Since I have comment moderation on if there is at least one link or it is is a new commenter, these would be the last comments listed.
In the morning, I checked the comment moderation link. There were several more Stumble accounts list with an additional message. One commenter states, “My StumbleUpon account has been frozen, it might have something to do with this post…”. After reading that, I had to check if mine or others were banned. Indeed, we were. Luckily the majority of comments were still in moderation.
I start a new thread in the Entrecard forums titled StumbleUpon Bannings. Nothing new came out, just that the possibility of affiliation with Entrecard seemed like the real reason, no matter what support stated.
I email support asking why I was banned and some others to do the same. I get a somewhat general response, then respond again. I continue the conversation with others who were banned. Every response gave to them about their ban had something to do with ‘promoting a business’.
I receive another response, this time it states it is against the rules to encourage others to promote their businesses on StumbleUpon. I thought this was ridiculous, what does that have to do with anything?
Although the SU support wouldn’t state it directly, the love-in was against the rules either because 1) love-ins are against the rules even though there are hundreds daily. Or 2) The love-in was against the rule because I asked for EC accounts to be listed.
If 1) is correct, then StumbleUpon loves to pick on the ‘little guy’. Why has my account along with the commenters been banned while several other larger lists go unbanned? I know of several which have many more accounts listed.
If 2) is correct, the support has misunderstood it to mean other Stumblers should Stumble their blogs, but this was not what was meant by the love-in. I only wanted ECers the ability to connect with each other through StumbleUpon.
As well, it turns out Problogger.com was indeed banned for two hours for his StumbleUpon love-in. However, after being on Digg they unbanned his website. impNERD.com is not banned from StumbleUpon, only the accounts of members who participated in the link-in.
It is possible that impNERD was just found quicker than the other lists. I receive a few hundred SU visitors daily, so it is possible one of them quickly reported the post while other lists which have been around for days, weeks, and months never were/are.
There is no reason to believe the bannings occurred because of an association with Entrecard. I was quick to judgment and it will never happen again.
Whatever the real answer is, I fully apologize to my visitors. It is my fault and my fault alone that your accounts were deleted. I take full responsibility.
Written: Oct 7, 2008
Tags: entrecard, stumbleupon
Lyndi
October 7, 2008 @ 3:12 pm | Reply
No need to apologise, how were you to know what could happen. My comment and SU URL was on the mentioned post but my account is still fine. I think the reason for ECs banning is the Stumble Exchanges that were available in the Shop. These no longer exist so SU has no reason to complain anymore, unless there is something else going on that we are not aware of.
fragileheart
October 7, 2008 @ 7:54 pm | Reply
I think its great of you to apologise, but I agree with Lyndi that its unncessary: everyone knows you meant no harm in what you were doing. Its unfortunate that you’re being made an example by SU. I hope they realise they’re making a mistake and reinstate your account soon.
Texas Wanderer
October 7, 2008 @ 10:45 pm | Reply
I joined SU but there has been something that made me uncomfortable about the site since the first day I laid my eyes on it, so I’ve never signed back in. What it is I don’t know. But after spending years in law enforcement and special ops in the army, I have a “hokie meter” that is usually quite accurate. There’s just something about it….
As this Web2 stuff (or whatever its called) continues to grow, a lot of people will find themselves banned from more and more sites. The users must remember that these sites are in competition with one another and they do NOT want to share the slice of pie. A perfect example of this can be found when Google dropped the PR of any blog doing other ads. To the blogger that is nonsense, but to Google, every ad on that blog that doesn’t belong to them is one that would, were there not other options.
Bill Masson
October 8, 2008 @ 12:03 am | Reply
As soon as they see you as a business or harvesting votes they slam the door in your face. I found this out to my cost, but my situation probably warranted it. I was doing a review on “SU Traffic Generator” and set up the script on my blog, of course it only took one complainer and i was out on my ear. I have gone through the same routine as you sending emails back & forth with the usual company response. So I guess i will have to wait while they come to a decision.
Does EC get a lot of bad feedback from the wider online community?
I recently joined EC and am unsure whether to continue.
Shepherdfamilyvalues (SFV)
October 8, 2008 @ 9:24 am | Reply
We have started to marketing our message to internet prospects! I have heard of StumpUpon and was concerned about joining. Thanks for the update. Still sitting back and wait to join!
Gunnar
October 10, 2008 @ 3:31 am | Reply
I love their bi-polarity… since they allow for you to pay to show your site on SU, but you aren’t allowed to “promote your business”