Friday, August 21, 2009

WTF?!?

Do any of you who read this blog know anyone at Google who might care about this? I got the following e-mail tonight:
from Blogger
to dennis.moore@gmail.com
date Fri, Aug 21, 2009 at 12:27 AM
subject http://dbmoore.blogspot.com/ - ACTION REQUIRED
mailed-by blogger.bounces.google.com
signed-by google.com

hide details 12:27 AM (6 minutes ago)


Hello,

Your blog at: http://dbmoore.blogspot.com/ has been identified as a potential spam blog. To correct this, please request a review by filling out the form at [URL redacted]

Your blog will be deleted in 20 days if it isn't reviewed, and your readers will see a warning page during this time. After we receive your request, we'll review your blog and unlock it within two business days. Once we have reviewed and determined your blog is not spam, the blog will be unlocked and the message in your Blogger dashboard will no longer be displayed. If this blog doesn't belong to you, you don't have to do anything, and any other blogs you may have won't be affected.

We find spam by using an automated classifier. Automatic spam detection is inherently fuzzy, and occasionally a blog like yours is flagged incorrectly. We sincerely apologize for this error. By using this kind of system, however, we can dedicate more storage, bandwidth, and engineering resources to bloggers like you instead of to spammers. For more information, please see Blogger Help: http://help.blogger.com/bin/answer.py?answer=42577

Thank you for your understanding and for your help with our spam-fighting efforts.

Sincerely,

The Blogger Team

P.S. Just one more reminder: Unless you request a review, your blog will be deleted in 20 days. Click this link to request the review: [URL redacted]
WTF? Yet another example of how a total lack of authentication and human decision making can result in strange and unsatisfying experiences for users. I have (according to Google's Feedburner) about 178 subscribers to this blog, more than double the number of two months ago. The blog gets almost 10,000 visitors in the past month, and just under 2,500 clicks through links posted on the blog in the same time period.

Is there anyone reading this who knows how Google determined that my blog is "spam?" Is there anyone reading this who can ask someone at Google to ensure this gets resolved in the right way? I don't get paid for this blog, and I don't put advertising on it (so I don't get paid by advertisers for it either), so I don't want to pay for my blogging service - does anyone have a suggestion of a different free blogging service I should be using instead of Google Blogger? I feel like I should move to a different service with my subscribers now before Google decides I am the prince of darkness. Although I have a lot more activity on Twitter and The OracAlumni Network than on this blog, I still like having the blog for the opportunity to occasionally post my harebrained, semi-econometric theories. Suggestions, advice, or help greatly appreciated!

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