i was hopeful for a minute

after seeing this guy's blog online, i thought that he had been lucky and got it restored within a week.

after reading this entire entry, my heart began to sink
he did get his content up and running again,
but ah...

it was on Wordpress now!

* sigh *

An Open Letter to Blogger / Blogspot

By another user who's just as fed up with the just-delete-it-without-tellin-em-and-it's-okay-to-treat-them-like-shit spree as i am:

Blogger/Blogspot,

I, a Blogger Publisher together with those who will support me, kindly request Blogger/Blogspot to increase your efforts to improve your services, particularly the Blogger Help and Support Team. This is in relation to blogs that are locked due to possible errors of your "spam detection bots" that classified some Blogger/Blogspot blogs as spam blogs.

I do not discourage your continuous attempts to fight spam blogs, and I understand that your spam detection system is not perfect. However, I and those who are victims of this erroneous lock-up, asked you to please act swiftly and fulfill your promise of (4 business days) waiting period for our blogs to get reviewed and reactivated.

After I've read some complaints posted in the Blogger Help Group, about blogs that were locked for almost "two months" already, I became very concerned. I visited those said blogs and found out that they were definitely not some spam blogs. What's worse is that those posted complaints didn't even get a response from anyone in the Blogger Support Team.

I consider myself somewhat fortunate that my main blog, which is where I'm posting right now, was not affected. Although, I fear that someday those buggy spam detection bots will also take down this blog by accident, and Blogger/Blogspot will let me wait in vain, again. Still, I want my locked blog to be reactivated as soon as possible as with others who are also tired of waiting and wishing to get their blogs back.

I ask all Blogger Publishers, whether you are affected by the lock-up or not, to support this open letter by leaving a comment here. Let's hope against all hope that someone from Blogger/Blogspot will get to read this letter and will take necessary actions.


Sincerely,
Blogger/Blogspot Publisher

Source: Tech Source from Bohol


Well, you might be pissed already by Blogger's support (or lack of), but at least you got an email allowing you to file a review request!! Look what i got... nothing. No mail, no message, no explanation. And it's been half a month.

Some are luckier than others...

寄件者： krish_trouble
日期： Tue, 4 Mar 2008 18:37:51 -0800 (PST)
當地時間： 2008年3月5日(星期三) 上午10時37分
主旨： Re: Mr Gatsby, pls help!

Dear Mr. Gatsby,
You said my blogs were deleted because of Malware. How come I was not informed of it, warned of it, like "justanotherfan"? How come my blogs were just automatically deleted? How come I am not given the opportunity that you are giving 'justanotherfan'- that is the opportunity to clean up my blogs?

Please Mr. Gatsby give me the same opportunity. The same issue is involved here. Malware!

Justanotherfan's blog has malware- his blog was not deleted, he was warned of TOS violation, and he was given the opportunity to clean his blog. My Blog has malware like you said= but my blogs were deleted, I was not warned of any violation, and worse I was not given opportunity to clean my blogs and restore them.

The same circumstances, the same issues, how come we are treated differently? His not deleted, mine got deleted. For now You are the only person I know who can help me like how you've helped me before. I hope you will reconsider my blogs.

Respectfully,
Krish

寄件者： krish_trouble
日期： Wed, 5 Mar 2008 21:30:40 -0800 (PST)
當地時間： 2008年3月6日(星期四) 下午1時30分
主旨： Re: Mr Gatsby, pls help!

I have started a thread about his, in fact quite a few. Many bloggers with deleted blogs started their own threads and some were lucky to get a response some were not. A few of my blog were restored by Gatsby before, but these blogs so mentioned above were not restored. Yes Gatsby responded in some of the threads I made, and thus he knew very well of the problem. All he replied was that there was a malware. I tried to ask for a reconsideration that the blogs be restored and not deleted as what they did (deleted my blogs without warnings!) but this time around, Gatsby never responded. I made another thread asking for help, no one from the Blogger team helped.

Sorry to squeeze my own problem in your thread but I know Gatsby is keeping his eye on this thread so I am hoping that he will see my post.

You are lucky your blog was not automatically deleted. Mine were deleted and others too were deleted. You were lucky to get warned, i was not warned, others were not warned. You are lucky, Gatsby helped you, I am not (but I am hopeful) others were ignored.

It's painful to see your blogs gone. You really won't feel the pain until you experience it yourself. I hope you understand.

http://groups.google.com/group/blogger-help-loginissues/browse_thread/thread/a0743de90a9bee2b/080068b9531fe05b

Gosh, i feel you krish, so bad...

I guess some people are just luckier than others. Am I lucky? Judging from the fact that i've recently

1. heard nothing in the past few weeks


2. lost my purse on the public trasport system somewhere in Taipei


3. went to the dentist and found out that one of my teeth has rotten to the core


4. spilt coffee all over my electronic gadgets


5. failed to ever 對中統一發票


6. broke the power cable to my stereo system (yes, it's actually break-able... i pulled it apart)


7. tried to organize my room, but instead boxes crashed to the floor and scattered all over the place

... I'm not getting any luckier.

Where's Linsay Lohan when i need her? Did i just say Linsay Lohan? i don't want her when she's drunk or on crack, i want her from "Just My Luck!"

Blogger effeciency?

From: HemoDynamic
Date: Wed, 27 Feb 2008 07:13:43 -0800 (PST)
Local: Wed, Feb 27 2008 11:13 pm
Subject: Blogger Page Gone. Still need HELP!!!

I am writting again mostly for an inquiry into how long it takes to get a respone from Google about Blogger issues.

I wrote Google back on Feb 16, 2008 and again on Feb 23, 2009 about an issue with my blogger account being deleted and I have not received any reply.

Do I have to pay money to get a response from them? I didn't see anywhere to make a donation.

I know that Blogger is a free service so is that the reason. If I payed for the service would I have better customer service? That is the way a lot of computer companies structure their customer service programs(e.g. Dell, Gateway)

Thanks for anyones time.

Comment posted by 亞當
at 3/1/2008 11:56:00 AM
I am shocked to hear about this news. And it led me to rethink whether I should move away from blogger. Apparently the problem is quite random but widespread. Thanks for checking out my blog. I eventually picked Blogger because I liked its Editor the best and this is the only blog system that gives you your own domain (i.e. xxxx.blogspot.com instead of www.blogspot.com/xxxx). Next to Blogger, I like Yam the best. But all my research was done a year ago. Since then I am sure each system has made some improvements already. Good luck with your old blogs. I hope you get them all back soon.

Is it becoming a trend?

From: just a guy
Date: Sat, 10 Feb 2007 04:50:08 -0000
Local: Sat, Feb 10 2007 12:50 pm
Subject: Re: TOS Violation?

yeah... it's ridiculous--I got a blog that I've been running for over a year completely removed without any sort of warning. And no, it wasn't completely chock full of porn nor was it a spam blog. There's been a total rash of deletions of blogs on Blogger lately. Go do a Google search on the subject, it's happening to all kinds of people without any warning or explanation unless you email or get at least 10 or more responses on a message on this bulletin board. And even then
you really don't get a real answer.

There's really no way to get at your stuff other than using the Way back Machine website or by using the Google search and checking out the cache of your blog. Otherwise you're completely out of luck.

Because they will not get back to you and they will not provide you any of the information that you worked on within the posts of your blog.

Fun little company wouldn't you say?

It actually has been reported by quite a few people that if you have more than one blog and you end up linking your blogs together that it will set off their spam detectors and will ultimately get your blog pulled. That's what I think happened with mine, but hey, I really don't know for sure because all I got was a third hand response in a thread where I complained about my blog being deleted. The Blogger employee didn't even respond to me, he responded to someone else who was trying to help me and purely said "the blog in question wasn't hacked, it was removed for violation of TOS". It's not a conspiracy theory, it's happening alot--Just look outside this "help group" and look for yourselves.

Anyway, that's my two cents and they're angry ones!

Post on Blogger Help Group (2)

I thought long and hard, but could think of no reasons why my blog would have violated the terms of agreement. There is no copyright-infringing material available for download on my blog. All music/video material are embedded from YouTube, and I do not provide download links.

The only controversial entry I could think of was a recent entry titled “Naked,” which featured a funny advertisement clip on YouTube. The clip featured a girl wearing nothing much, but totally is not, and should not be classified as, PORN. (It’s an advertisement for the public, after all!!) If the pornographic standards in Blogger.com are so totally strict, there would be millions of blogs that ought to have been shut down years ago. If that is the reason for my blog being shut down, maybe they could notify me? I would delete that post without the slightest hestitation!

My blog is just a personal one, used neither for profit nor for spamming. I use it to get in contact with my friends around the world, to let them know what I'm up to and other stuff I find interesting.

The only other public blog I own: http://shockwaygeekblog.blogspot.com is my notebook on technology and computer tips.

As for the rest of my blogs, they are all pure text, mainly consisting of notes, lyrics and poetry. There could not possibly be anything there that could violate the TOS. But all 7 of my blogs were deleted in 1 shot.

Post on Blogger Help Group

Basically it's similar to my letter to Blogger support, but I've rewritten it a little to be more concise and objective. 其實大致上跟我寫給客服的信件差不多，就是要交代事情經過，只是這篇會儘量寫的不情緒化一點（笑）。

Dear all,

I've already

1. read the Blogger Terms of Service (TOS), Content policy again and again
2. Read extensively through the Blogger Help section
3. Searched for related data on this helpful Group
4. Filled a report/contact form to Blogger.com stating my case, but has yet to receive any response (I didn't receive any bot-mail, either)

None of them had given full solution to the problem (although I see many with the same problem), so I start a new thread here, since the problem is really bugging me (a lot!)

4 days ago, readers of my blog reported that they could no longer view my blog - Personal Dumpyard Access - at http://shockway.blogspot.com/

A page stating "This blog is in violation of Blogger's Terms of Service and is currently visible to authors only” is shown instead. Upon logging into my account, a message on the Dashboard said the same thing. At the time there were still several blogs on my dashboard, only 2 of which were open to the public (the rest were private, and most could only be accessed by myself exclusively.)

On the same day, I discovered that the search results Google turned up of my blog were labeled dangerous, and "could be harmful to your computer." Since I could swear that no malicious code whatsoever has been inserted to the blog, and to my best knowledge it has not been hacked either, I am totally lost as to why the blog would be labeled “dangerous.” I installed website analytic tools that Google provided, and filled a form requesting clarification for its wronged accusation. To this day no reply has been received.

At the time I could still log in to my account and update/access my public blog, http://shockway.blogspot.com/ , as well as update my other private blogs. Even though I’ve read the Blogger Help section extensively and read related topics on this Help Group, there seems to be not much explanation for this aside that it might have been mislabeled by the spam bot. From what I've read, it seems like many others are facing similar problems.


Unfortunately, that was not the worst. 2 days ago, I realized that the error message for my blog URL has changed abruptly. From not allowing public viewing to simply “THIS URL COULD NOT BE FOUND.”

Greatly surprised, I logged into my account immediately. To my great dismay, ALL BLOGS HAVE BEEN REMOVED FROM MY DASHBOARD!!! Not a single one is left. Where there used to be 7 blogs to modify and update freely, now it seems that all my blogs have been removed, or even worse, DELETED.

And all this in total discretion, without so much as a warning email explaining what and why this is happening.


Can anybody help me please?

These events have left me quite devastated, as it contains many memories and efforts spanning 2+ years, 400+ posts. Any help would be greatly appreciated, and if Blogger helper (Gatsby) happens to come by, it would be my lucky day :)

My main / public blog is http://shockway.blogspot.com/
However, since it doesn't seem to exist anymore, all it turns up is a 404. The only blog presently left in my account is newly established (after all these events have happened), for testing and recording recent events.

read the thread