Ok so the other day I’m browsing my Microsoft Discussion Forums as usual just to check up on new posts and I come across a post which has only just been posted by a new user called Digitalx, here’s what it said:

Well good news to second gen(invited) beta testers. Visit my blog to download latest version and i can confirm you can login. 🙂

link to my blog http://digix.switch2hosting.com/

My first reaction was great a new user, but what a shame he’s linking to his Blog which he says has the latest version of WL Messenger as this kind of post could be considered spamming but hey we like to make friends on MS Discussion so I left the post, and decided to visit his Blog and make a comment on a post or two.

Ok so I arrive at his Blog and there’s not much that catches my eye that is until I see a post about his Google Adsense Ad’s on his Blog, here’s what it said, screenshot included:

February 9th, 2006
I have added Google Adsense ads to the side of my page. I would appreciate it if anyone who visits could click this once per visit to help me accumilate money so it can go towards my new PC as i need all the money as possible that i can get.

 

Straight away you should be able to notice that his post asks for people to click the ads, something that Google doesn’t really appreciate and if they don’t then they can get ban you from Adsene for doing so.

Well anyway I thought the right thing to do was the guy out my pointing out to him that he might get reported to Google by somebody for asking people to click his ads!
So that’s what I did, I posted a nice comment on his Blog just to make him aware of this and so he then could change the phrase to something a bit better which didn’t actually ask users to click the ads.

The next day I find out that he’s now deleted the post and comment and had left a new Blog post for everybody to read, here it is, screenshot included again:
 

February 16th, 2006
Ok i just got a comment which i deleted the post to post this one saying i’m not allowed to tell people to click on my ads. well I dunno where he got this from. Look at how many sites force people to click them, i didnt even ask people to click them. I asked if they wouldn’t mind doing so then they can. Again I request people if they don’t mind please click them at least once if you want. 🙂

Seeing this just made me stop and think and say “what the heck”, the word heck being replaced with the “F” word of course, because when I posted that previous comment about his post I was actually trying to be nice and helpful by helping him out before it’s too late.

But it seems not to bother him that somebody was helping him out, as you can see from that post, plus if I was wrong, not that I was mid you, there was no need to say it like he did, he could have just emailed me and said thank you for registering on my Blog and posting that comment you did but unfortunately I have to tell you that were wrong, so I decided not to delete the post but thanks anyway!

But no he couldn’t find it in himself to do the honest think and do that so he instead he posts that post and tries to make me look stupid, well luckily for me I knew I was in the right so I posted a new comment in his new post, here’s what it said:

Your comment:
“I have added Google Adsense ads to the side of my page. I would appreciate it if anyone who visits could click this once per visit to help me accumilate money so it can go towards my new PC as i need all the money as possible that i can get”

Google’s Policy:
Web pages may not include incentives of any kind for users to click on ads. This includes encouraging users to click on the ads or to visit the advertisers’ sites as well as drawing any undue attention to the ads. For example, your site cannot contain phrases such as “click here,” “support us,” “visit these links,” or other similar language that could apply to any ad, regardless of content. These activities are strictly prohibited in order to avoid potential inflation of advertiser costs. In addition, publishers may not bring unnatural attention to sites displaying ads or referral buttons through unsolicited mass emails or unwanted advertisements on third-party websites. Publishers are also not permitted to use deceptive or unnatural means to draw attention to or incite clicks on referral buttons.

Next time instead of posting a new post saying I don’t know where he got that from maybe you should say thank you to that user who pointed it out, your users are the most important thing you can get, if you don’t trust them then there’s no point in having a Site/Blog.

Let’s see if this time you will publish this comment and not delete it, after all I’m giving you advice and trust me I know what Google does and doesn’t like as I’m an administrator of Google Community and have seen people ask this same question loads of times and ask why they have been banned, so I’m warning you now that if you don’t tread carefully somebody will tell Google about this, and then you’ll be banned and trust me that’s not good, and I don’t want you to be victim of it!

So anyway yeah you know how to contact me, either via my email, my blog or the msdiscussion forums or even google community so why not do the right thing and say thanks!

-Darren Straight

Anyway I guess he couldn’t be bothered to reply because he knew I was right, and that’s why he deleted the post!

And I also think that he probably thought well seen as nobody actually saw the comment apart from me and him because I have comment moderation enabled that it wouldn’t really matter if he replied or not.

I guess though he didn’t ever think I would post about this on my Blog or that I could use a search engine like MSN or Google to get a Cached screenshot of how the page looked before he deleted the posts!

Ohh well I do hope he replies soon with some kind of thank you, after all with the posting of this Blog Post he’s sure to recieve some more traffic to his site! 🙂

So go ahead and visit his Blog now, you wont be disappointed! 😉

Just don’t forget to mention me! 🙂