The Short List

Okay so all of you are no help. I thought maybe one of you might comment on a good blog host that doesn't rip you off, but apparently not.  And because life is so hectic with my constant search for some sort of employment, which includes numerous attempts at reinventing myself, I just can't find the time to find a new home on my own.  So before I explode from all the pent up rants, I decided to just continue on here until, well, until I don't. 

Anyway, today I decided to institute a dress code on the ark.  Now, as someone who at times dresses somewhat eclectically occasionally sporting a short skirt and cowboy boots, other times wearing leather pants, or an authentic witch's cape, but more often donning a pair of jeans and a sweater, I am the first to say you should wear what you want...within reason.  

Today, I am sitting in Starbucks (I know again) and in walks this 40 something woman in a very short black dress, and I mean VERY short.  Either she bought it in the junior's section or she is wearing it as a dress when it is meant to be more of a tunic with leggings.  She forgot the leggings.  Tights would have still been obscene, but better, but she seems to have forgotten those too.  Hell, she wasn't even wearing nylons.  Now I never wear nylons; they aren't my thing, but naked legs under this way too short dress?  She was just begging for attention.  Well she got it.  I was staring and so were many others, but not in the "look at that hot thing with the nice legs?" way, but in the "Whoa, what the hell were you thinking?" way.  And yes I am sure even the guys were thinking that because the man next to me who brought his son in had a horrified look on his face, and the older gentleman in the corner was shaking his head.  I just looked at her with a disgusted expression on my face and started this blog. So here is the dress code:  If at any time in any position in a public place on the ark, we can see something that God gave you that was only meant for private eyes, you’re off the ark, probably via the railing at the side.

AdSense Scam Forces Move

My research has provided me with numerous examples of people in the same spot as I am.  AdSense uses our intellectual collateral to promote their customers ads and then trumps up phony charges against us to avoid having to pay us for hosting their advertisements.  That is not cool with me so I am moving my blog.  Where you ask?  I am not sure yet.  I am looking into wordpress as an option, but was hoping for some suggestions from all of my readers.  I haven't had any yet, so if you use a format other than blogger and have been pleased with it, please let me know.  I will keep you posted.  I am also trying to figure out how to erase this blog so it is not on blogger anymore, but that seems as difficult than getting paid by AdSense.  What a scam google is running all around huh?

AdSense Scam Widespread

Ah ha, I was right.  If you google AdSense this site comes up in the top ten.  Check it out for more on their unethical business practices.

GoogleAdsense Business Practices Are Unethical

For all of you out there who have been screwed by GoogleAdsense, I am on a mission.  Below is the ONLY information I received in my correspondence with them.  The first e-mail arrived a day or two after I inquired into a check they were overdue in sending me.  I hit a threshold in July and they did not mail my check.  I hit a second one in August and they did not mail my check.  I inquired in September and on September 15th they sent this first e-mail.

Hello,

After reviewing our records, we've determined that your AdSense account

poses a risk of generating invalid activity. Because we have a

responsibility to protect our AdWords advertisers from inflated costs due

to invalid activity, we've found it necessary to disable your AdSense

account. Your outstanding balance and Google's share of the revenue will

both be fully refunded back to the affected advertisers.

Please understand that we need to take such steps to maintain the

effectiveness of Google's advertising system, particularly the

advertiser-publisher relationship. We understand the inconvenience that

this may cause you, and we thank you in advance for your understanding and

cooperation.

If you have any questions or concerns about the actions we've taken, how

you can appeal this decision, or invalid activity in general, you can find

more information by visiting

http://www.google.com/adsense/support/bin/answer.py?answer=57153.

Sincerely,

The Google AdSense Team 

This is wrong on so many levels.  First of all, WHAT is it they think I did wrong?  Define invalid activity?  They give you no specifics just point you toward the generic agreement telling you what you can't do, not what they accuse you of doing.  Then there is this appeal form:

11_ExampleUrl: www.weneedaflood.blogspot.com

12_DisablingMonth: Sep

13_DisablingDay: 14

14_DisablingYear: 2010

15_AlreadyAppealed: no

16_OtherAccount: no

17_OtherAccountList:

18_WebAudience: Moms and the General public

19_UserGeography: I assume the US

20_UserAccessMode: how would I know?

21_ScrapedContent: no

22_ContentSources: me own writings

23_NumAdmins: 1

24_UpdateFrequency: about twice a week

25_BoughtTraffic: no

26_UsePayTo: no

27_TrafficSources: I visit other sites and comment and also word of mouth

28_AdvertiserValue: Because it targets their market and people often click

on ads and rememebr seeing products they see on a regular basis

29_UserIncentive: I have a few friends that check me out regularly but  

other than that not that I know of

30_ViolatedTerms: No

31_InvalidActivity: I have no idea what invalid click activity you are  

talking about.  No specifics were given in the e-mail.  It also seems  

coincidental that I JUST sent an e-mail asking why I hadn't received my  

check from August then I got this e-mail in return.

32_SuspiciousData: I don't usually check them so I don't know how to tell.

I am fairly new at this blog thing.

If you can read it you'll see that they ask you to defend yourself without ever telling you what you are accused of.  How can anyone do that?


"No officer, I didn't shoot that man."


"We know that mam, we brought you in because you forgot to sign your taxes."


I mean really?  Can they do that?  Is anyone out there a lawyer who knows whether someone can use your services for two full months, place their ads and get them seen for two full months, have people patronize the advertising companies for two full months and then choose not to pay you without so much as a specific explanation?  There has to be a law against that.  There have to be a number of people to whom they have done this.  It has to be illegal.  It is certainly unethical.  It is stealing and I bet there will be a class action suit sooner or later.  If they don't give me an explanation soon, I bet it will be sooner. (Do you think they read any of this material?)


So I do my best to defend myself against my non-charges.  I tell them that to my knowledge I have done nothing wrong. I have a friend who checks my site regularly. (Who doesn't?) But I even checked with her and she told me she only clicks on ads relevant to her and has even "patronized" a site or two.  So if she is doing more than just looking, isn't that what advertising is about?


And so I fill out that stupid generic form which asks you to address specifics they never give you and submit it and THIS is their response:

Hello,

Thank you for your appeal. We appreciate the additional information you've

provided, as well as your continued interest in the AdSense program.

However, after thoroughly re-reviewing your account data and taking your

feedback into consideration, our specialists have confirmed that we're

unable to reinstate your AdSense account.

As a reminder, if you have any questions or concerns about your account,

the actions we've taken, or invalid activity in general, you can find more

information by visiting

http://www.google.com/adsense/support/bin/answer.py?answer=57153.

Sincerely,

The Google AdSense Team

Really?  WHY NOT?  What did you investigate?  What did you find? Did you even read my response?  Why didn't you answer my questions? Address MY concerns? Doesn't the accused have a right to know what she is being accused of before being convicted? Did a person even look into this or is it a computer generated e-mail?

By the way, while I am jumping ship and taking my ark into more legitimate waters, does anyone else have a suggestion as to where I should go?  Thanks for all your help readers, I wouldn't be here without you.

No Cents out of AdSense

This one’s easy; today’s rant is about kicking GoogleAdSense off my ark. 

How annoying are they?  So according to my payment history, I hit my next hundred-dollar mark back in July and then again in August.  Since it is now September 15^th and I haven’t received either check, which their information reads I should have received over a month ago, I sent them an e-mail (because God forbid they have a phone number where you can inquire about anything) asking them why I hadn’t received my payment.

No response.

No acknowledgement of my inquiry.

Until today when I get an automated e-mail telling me my AdSense account has been disabled.  What a coincidence; I go looking for my very late payment, and they terminate my account…hmmm? No response to my original inquiry.  No explanation.  No information at all.  So I spent a while surfing around trying to find a way to contact them and ask them WTF?  But there is no phone number, no live chat, and no direct e-mail.  No way to deal with disputes at all unless you count filling out a generic appeal form, which asks a bunch of questions I don’t have the answers to and gives you a short space in which to tell them about why you think they are wrong.  Well how the hell would I know? They never told me what the problem was so how can I dispute it?  If they had said I was clicking my own ads, I’d say no I wasn’t.  If they said I was altering the ads, I’d say no I wasn’t.  If they said I was auto-generating clicks, I’d say no I wasn’t.  But they said none of those things; they didn’t give a reason, so how can I refute their reasoning?  Besides, how does one prove a negative?  I could possibly prove that I did something (if I was more computer savvy than I am) but how can I prove I didn’t do something?

I’ve heard of this happening before.  I have read other complaints about the fact that Google doesn’t give you any way to interact with them directly.   Now I understand those complaints.  Perhaps it is time to find a different host.  We’ll see how quickly they resolve this issue.  They owed me over $200.  If they reinstate me soon and I get paid, I’ll stay.  If not, look for a post giving you my new address.

Free Lunch

So I am not even sure who gets booted off the ark this time, but rest assured I am going to find out! 

This week the school sent home the annual collection of forms that they require we fill out: contingency plans in case of emergency, medical updates, a school newsletter.  In this packet was a form that has caused me much distress, an application for financial assistance with the hot lunch program.  Originally, it was a source of angst because I am not sure whether I should submit it on behalf of my child.  From previous posts you probably know that my husband and I have both been unemployed for over a year.  But we have also budgeted and saved and made good enough investments throughout the 20 years we have been working so that, although we are feeling the strain of our unemployment, we are not in danger of losing our house, or underfeeding our children.  We have had to cut back and make some choices, but no terribly hard choices…yet. 

Cobra is up this month and we need to come up with over $1600 a month to cover our family’s insurance costs (thank you to the new health plan that insists we subsidize other people’s health insurance).  Unemployment ends in a few months as well and then we will have nothing coming in and quite a bit going out.  As for jobs, well they are out there, but not in our fields and not even making half of what we once did.  It is the old catch 22 right now, if we take one of the unskilled jobs out there, we lose all benefits and can’t make the new lower salary stretch far enough, but soon enough it won’t matter because all our benefits will be gone and we’ll need to take whatever we can get.

To that end, I have been wondering whether or not I should apply for the reduced lunch program.  We can afford to send our child to school with a packed lunch, but he really wants to get a hot lunch and it is an expense we don’t need to add in right now.  I had decided to teach him you can’t get everything you want and sometimes you have to stick with what you can afford and was about to throw away the form when I read that you do not need to be an American citizen to receive free or reduced lunch. WHAT?!!

Let me repeat that outrage,...W.H.A.T!  Here I am a citizen of the United States and a taxpayer in a state that is known for its ridiculous taxes.  I live in a town that has a high tax rate and I always pay what is required of me.  I don’t cheat on my taxes and although I grumble (a ton) I pay my taxes like a responsible citizen.  So here I am struggling with whether or not it would be right for me to take advantage of a program I may not need as much as someone else and you are telling me that MY tax dollars are going to feed someone who isn’t even a citizen?  Read doesn’t pay taxes.  Read is already STEALING the education itself, and now will be receiving a free lunch too. 

Really?  Why does this society reward people who break the rules or have no sense of personal responsibility?  For God’s sake if this country wasn’t so busy giving handouts to people who come looking for the proverbial free lunch at every turn, then maybe the rest of us wouldn’t be so overtaxed that we are unable to make our own ends meet.

For us my child’s lunch isn’t really free, our tax dollars are paying for it; unfortunately, so are yours.  My question: if they are going to offer free lunch on the backs of tax-payers, why don’t they just provide free lunch to ALL children?  This is something I have never understood.  Well I understand it; it is called socialism, but they refuse to advertise that because if they did there would be more of an outrage.  But that is what it is people, taking money from one group to subsidize another is indeed socialism.

And again, if they just stopped taxing so much to provide all these free bees then you wouldn’t be subsidizing my kids lunch because I’d have enough to pay for it and none of us would subsidize the lunches of criminals who don’t deserve something for nothing in the first place!

Really, here I am having contributed tens of thousands, maybe even hundreds of thousands of tax dollars to my community and I am feeling badly about taking something that I PAID FOR but that someone else might need more. Then I learn that this same community is offering MY HARD EARNED MONEY to someone who has contributed NOTHING!  Before you argue against me think of this: maybe if the government hadn’t taken so much of my money over the years and had left it in my bank account instead of taking it to pay for expensive cars for the politicians, the same road to be redone continuously for the past 5 years, or to disperse in the socialist fashion to which they have become so accustomed, I might have enough money in my account to pay for my kids to buy lunch at school.

            So what did I decide?  I don’t think I’ll be taking advantage of the program because we don’t really need it the way I think some people do.  Isn’t it a shame though that my son can’t have something he wants and which I could afford if someone else wasn’t taking my money for his free lunch?

9/11

Just taking a moment to remember all the people who died or lost loved ones in the 9/11 tragedy with a special thank you to all of those who gave their lives in an effort to minimize the damage the terrorists could do.  I don't think it is appropriate to post any complaints today so I'll be back next week with my regular rants.  Until then, God Bless America and the character of Americans like the ones who gave their lives on flight 93.