Tuesday, August 3, 2021

The Writing Spectacle

If you've tried to stop by my other main blog - The Writing Spectacle - this morning, you may have gotten a note that the blog has been removed.  I didn't do it.  They did.

Before I'd even finished my first cigarette this morning, I got the following note in my inbox:

Hello, As you may know, our Community Guidelines (https://blogger.com/go/contentpolicy) describe the boundaries for what we allow-- and don't allow-- on Blogger. Your blog titled "http://writingspectacle.blogspot.com/" was flagged to us for review. We have determined that it violates our guidelines and have made the URL http://writingspectacle.blogspot.com/ unavailable to blog readers. Why was your blog removed? Your content has violated our PHISHING policy. Please visit our Community Guidelines page linked in this email to learn more. If we feel that a blog's content does not fit within the expectations of our Policy, we no longer allow it to be publicly available. If you think we've made a mistake, you can request a review at :link:, and we'll take another look. Sincerely, -The Blogger Team

So, I go to the link (which I've redacted) and it makes me jump through the anti-spam picture clicking thing to prove I'm not a robot.  Then it says it'll review my request sometime in the next two days.  

By the way, here's the verbiage of their Phishing policy:

Phishing: Do not use this product for phishing. This includes soliciting or collecting sensitive data such as passwords, financial details, and social security numbers.

I NEVER do any of that.  So, this is either a glitch or it's the beginning of the end.  I'll be here at Outside the Box as long as they let me.  I hope it's a glitch because I've had The Writing Spectacle since 2006.  Fifteen years of posts.  And not once have I ever tried to get any information out of any of you.  

Of all the things they could've used to kill my blog, that certainly wasn't the one I would've expected.  If you haven't read the 'Content Policy' lately, it's an interesting read.  For varying definitions of interesting, of course.

Anyway, I'll let ya know if they reinstate my blog.  For now, I'm going to suck down copious amounts of coffee and smoke a lot of cigarettes.  Guess I picked the wrong lifetime to quit drinking.

4 comments:

  1. You can come to the dark side at Wordpress. Just sayin'. And no, it hadn't shown up in my blog roll. Neither has this one but it usually takes a bit before the "folks" at feedly pick up on a new post. I darted over here from MeWe when I saw the mad face emojis.

    It's frustrating. And maddening. Like being in FB jail. Been there. Pissed me off royally. Rather than turning me to their side they are radicalizing me. Ah well.

    Sorry for the hassle. I hope they pull their little heads out from where the sun don't shine soon! Hand in there. Now off to read your gardening blog.

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  2. And this post did show up in my Feedly feed while I was a Wallyworld and/or outside replacing the lights on Nessie.

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  3. It's back up. Blogger, in their infinite wisdom and magnanimity, deigned to let The Writing Spectacle exist again.

    Heh, and I thought I was cranky yesterday. I'm going to dig a hole and pull the dirt in over myself for the rest of the day. I'm not fit for company - not even virtual company.

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  4. That is sincerely too weird. Maybe they nuked the wrong blog by accident?

    (I was going to say more, but I forgot what before it reached my fingertips. Getting old is annoying!)

    I'm off to visit the reanimated The Writing Spectacle!

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