Forum Moderators: martinibuster
I came across this board whilst looking for info about AdSense, as a few days ago, my account was suspended for "fraud clicks."
Having read around, there has been much said concerning warning e-mails being sent before termination.
I never got any such warning, nor did I know of anything like this happening. I was just terminated. Boom. No questions asked.
I was informed today that not only am I not getting the over $1,000 payment for this month that had built up, but I'm not getting the $200+ payment that was approved on June 16th for April and May. I felt this was extremely unfair, as the payment was approved, but the termination occured 6 days later.
I was hoping I could get some help concerning this. I understand there is an AdSense rep here? Any ideas how to proceed? Any idea to find out exactly why this occured or how? I'm completely in the dark and hoping to find a couple of answers.
Thanks in advance . . .
-Tony
If your blog gets slashdotted it'll go from 10/day to 1 million.... should Google keep the cash? Google seems to think it should, either pay reducing your PPC share or by closing your account without paying the past due amounts.
I have an AdSense site which was Slashdotted last fall and also Farked on a separate occasion and posted to hundreds of blogs within a 48 hour period. Impressions, clicks and earnings increased by as much as factors of 30, 15 and 10 respectively over long-term daily averages for periods lasting several days each. I have discussed it here [webmasterworld.com]. To put it in perspective, in the fall impressions were normally mid-upper 4-figures and clicks were in the 3-figures. Google didn't terminate my publisher account, they didn't warn me, they didn't contact me and they didn't withhold funds. EPC did go down [webmasterworld.com] (see msg #5), but that was likely the result of exhausted advertiser budgets causing lower max-bid advertisers' ads to be shown. I can't say what they've done to other publishers or what their reasons are in each of those cases. In fact, those publishers that have posted here to say they were terminated by and large don't know why and have only speculated on what they thought was the cause. I hear a lot of FUD here, which is to be expected. Unfortunately, we may never have a good grasp of the situation. My 2 cents.
It seems that for all the speculation there are still a very significant number of users who have been banned from AdSense and even after months of trying they still simply don't know why. When I got the "account disabled" message I systematically scoured the entire TOS to see if there was anything I could do but to no avail, and Google while understandably not revealing the details still were politely but completely unable to help.
One particularly ironic situation is where webmasters get banned after perhaps just 1 or 2 accidental clicks. In return for maybe less than $1.00 of accidental revenue, you stand to lose a $5000+ a month / $60,000 a year income. Surely the punishment ludicrously outweighs the crime.
AdSense is still young and I'm sure that text link and CPC advertising opportunities will continue to grow quickly, but I hope that Google's ability to determine the degree of fraudulence improves, and that a chance for reinclusion after say 1 year might also be considered. I think even the dumbest webmaster knows that it simply isn't worth the effort to risk such small gains for such potential losses by clicking their own ads, and for those who do try to beat the system on a larger scale surely it must be possible to distinguish them from the small-time/accidental clicker.
AdSense is a boon to webmasters, and I hope it continues to grow in fairness and accuracy.
That's my 2 cents folks,
Jeremy
So that thousands of users are surfing my site with the same IP number. Plus my site is related to this area, hence 50% of the visitors are have the same IP number.
That does sound scary. I'm sure Google analyzes other factors too (such as the HTTP USER AGENT and referral info) before making rash decisions. I suggest you email them with this concern though. At least it will preempt any problems that might arise down the line if they have your note on reference.
Last month a webmaster from Latvia copied my site page for page, and ws running adsens on this site,but I had his hosting company remove his site with a cease and desist email. I'm thinking the invalid clicks on my site may be due to an act of sabotage, but I have no way of knowing for sure. I just responded to the email and I'm hoping this situation can be resolved as this is incredibly frustrating.
Not sure what to make of this to be perfectly honest.
Thank you Google team.
My case was reviewed with the information I provided and they determined that I was not responsible for the invalid clicks. I'm pleased I was given a fair hearing, and have been reinstated in the program.
Thank you Google team.
The Google team were courteous in all their correspondence with me, and despite the frustration of instant termination, I stated my case and provided evidence to support my reinstatement in a polite manner.
[edited by: Jenstar at 8:16 am (utc) on July 4, 2004]
[edit reason] off-topic [/edit]
Fantastic, you owe the Lord one now.
Not a religious man myself, I enjoy all the frivolity surrounding it though.
W.
My site is related to my work and I told people about it, so if someone else used the same computer and clicked my ad, that could've caused it I guess. Losing it makes you value it even more, huh :)
Well done,
Jeremy
According to the Terms and Conditions that publishers accept when they join AdSense, Google can...
The question was whether it is legal or not. Just because something is in a contract does not make it legal.
The question was whether it is legal or not. Just because something is in a contract does not make it legal.
I think this is a good point. Terms and conditions or signing waivers does not mean it is legally going to stand up. Ask a lawyer about documents a patient signs before entering surgery and see if that bars them from any legal action if something goes wrong. Most terms and conditions and other useless pieces of paper are nothing more than useless, and just because something says one thing does not mean that will hold up. People constantly try to read into TOS and other documents to see what can and cannot be done, etc and 99% of these times the document in question would not stand up to any kind of legal challange. Just becuase it is written down does NOT mean it will stand up to anything.
People constantly try to read into TOS and other documents to see what can and cannot be done, etc and 99% of these times the document in question would not stand up to any kind of legal challange[sic].
Who has the bigger pockets?
Who is going to spend $20,000 in legal fees for the possibility of recovering $8,000?
MQ
Who is going to spend $20,000 in legal fees for the possibility of recovering $8,000?
Class action lawsuit.
e.g., Wal-Mart/sex discrimination.
W.
Employer sex discrimination is a real problem. The fact that someone doesn't like a certain clause in a contract that he is fully aware of and has explicitly agreed to, when in fact he can get out of the contact at any time by ceasing to run AdSense code, is not a real problem. IMO.
is not a real problem
I was addressing the legality and the legal complications that could arise, nothing else.
Don't you get legal fees back though?
Under U.S. law, almost never. There are some exceptions, but none are likely to apply here.
Good arguments on both sides, but the best argument for the current status quo is that there would be even MORE litigation than we already have if you did.
MQ
