RACEGUY Reflects

Dealing With Criminals

Google Adsense…crooks with keyboards? That seems to be the only conclusion that can be drawn from the way this entity does business. They appear to enter into business agreements with “the little guy” with full knowledge and aforethought that they will eventually seize and pocket whatever small amount of money might be earned through someone else’s hard work, long hours, and sweat.

When I first saw this process in play, someone close to me received a “no reply” e-mail from Google, informing them their account had been closed and the small amount of cash earned so far surrendered to the multi-billion dollar corporation we know as Google. Any attempts to get an explanation or make any kind of human contact were turned back at door. Any request to get clarification of the simple who, what, and where met with fact-free form-mail devoid of any explanation relating to that user or account. It simply boiled down to Google reaching across the table, scooping up the pitiful stack of change they just said you earned, and simply saying “we did it because we did it” and there is no need to get any more specific than that.

According to Google Adsense reports as late as last Friday night, the site went up May 11 and in the just under 23 days had amassed a relatively small fortune. Small is the operative word. While the site had generated just over $80.00 devalued US dollars, after their unexplained out-takes, Google claimed they owed me just over $50.00. That’s the monumental sum of approximately $2.00 per day for over 6,000 page views. Since this was never about money, that didn’t really bother me in the least. Something was better than nothing at all. The kick in the groin came with a “no-reply” e-mail on Saturday, informing me that my Adsense account had been closed and all money forfeited to Google.

Upon signing up, I had read the terms and conditions and I failed to see where I had breached any agreement. I was not posting porn, or hate-speech, inciting anyone to commit a crime, or engaging in anything slanderous or libelous. I had clearly gotten the message that I was not, under any circumstances, to click on any of my own ads, and as interesting as some of them were, I did not click.

Having seen their form-letter no-reply appeal process in play just days before, I opted to save my fingertips and not bother. Their response to appeals is to simply imply “that is our decision, and our decision is final.” There is no explanation of regulations that might have been contravened. There is no warning that, as a developer, you are doing anything wrong and there would appear to be no second chances. What’s done is done.

In going back over the terms and conditions of the Google Adsense agreement, I now believe I know which Google crime I might have committed. In an attempt to explain to readers that advertising “clicks” are what drive web sites, and reminding you to click an ad when you came to the site, I became yet another Google criminal to be banished to the dungeon for all eternity. I asked you to pay attention to my ads. Sorry.

One great irony here is if you do a Google search on “Google Adsense Complaint” you will find page after page after page of citations including dozens of inquiries that have gone unanswered altogether. What makes this even more interesting is that Google has more search engine knowledge and resources than anybody on the planet, yet they couldn’t find a way to hide the fact that their own help-mail generates more hits than any other source.

I was certainly not counting on my daily $2.00 from Adsense to send me on a vacation, or buy me a car, or pay my bills. My ultimate goal was to be able to afford to register my own domain and put up my own site independent of the blog template sites. For now, it looks like I’ll carry on regardless, Adsense be damned. For the time being, though, it will be done without advertising content from Google. I cancelled the Amazon banners on my own and don’t plan on replacing them anytime soon.

Maybe it’s for the best for all of us. You don’t have to search for things amongst the clutter, and I no longer have to look at the messed up nonsensical math on the Adsense reports. Maybe it really is a “win-win”. Again, I have surrounded myself with winners. I guess I’ve always been comfortable with that anyway. Thanks for reading, gang.

My only worry now is the Google police may read this and deem it inappropriate content, thereby giving them the right to shut down the entire site. At this point, nothing would really surprise me.

I’ll only leave this little taste of whine up for a day or so. Up next, a quick pre-race preview of Mill Hill.

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