April 16, 2008 @ 7:15 am
cleaning out the closet on StumbleUpon
I have recently heard news about StumbleUpon banning several accounts because the users submitted comercial content. Here is the message these unfortunate stumblers usually received:
Regrettably, your account privileges have been suspended due to a breach of our TOS. I respectfully draw your attention to our Terms, particularly with respect to the clauses which forbid the use of personal accounts for the promotion of a business, product or service, and also with regard to the sending of ’spam’ messages to other members.
Our terms can be found here: http://www.stumbleupon.com/terms.html
Under the circumstances, the restriction is unlikely to be lifted.
Was it a surprise? For many yes, but if you take a look at their TOS, you’ll see these actions are strictly frowned upon. StumbleUpon is not for selling things, not for promoting an affiliate program, not for blatant product reviews, with a buy link.
Consequently, some of the people that befriended these “commercial accounts” can have some kind of flag raised.
So here are a few steps for cleaning your closet on StumbleUpon one of my friends, kukon, let me in on:
- Take a look at the people you are mutual friends with. Click on the username without any avatar. Usually, when an account is under review, the display image or avatar is not displayed in the SU network. Remove that user from your friend list and the page will change to an empty one, if it’s the case, saying the account is reviewed.
- See what your friends are submitting or stumbling upon. Constantly submitting or thumbing up articles from certain domains can damage your account.
- Be an active user for the community. Try to submit things that are interesting to others, that have the potential to turn popular. Contribute and make yourself known to other stumblers!
Recently, StumbleUpon has also been banning websites that offered stumble exchanges. Here is an excerpt confirming it:
Are incentive programs allowed? Someone asked me to rate their web-site?
StumbleUpon does not allow personal accounts to be used for the purposes of incentivization or promoting sites. This would be considered a breach of our Terms.
The practice of sending PM’s encouraging or inviting other stumblers to rate/review sites in exchange for reciprocal reviews/ratings, monetary, or any other form of reward is strictly forbidden.
The practice of actively soliciting a rating or review for a site is also forbidden. Should you receive a PM, or encounter forum postings that breach this rule, you are encouraged to report this via feedback.
Accounts participating in such practices will be deleted and banned, and the related sites deleted and banned from the system.
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Posted by Michael
April 16, 2008 @ 2:44 pm
Bogdan -
I wonder if you might be willing to share the names of those accounts which were “banned” for violations of the terms of service provisions that you quoted? Thanks!
Michael
Posted by maxyRO
April 16, 2008 @ 3:08 pm
Michael - I’m curious as to why you want to know these accounts?
Posted by Michael
April 16, 2008 @ 3:35 pm
Bogdan -
I often hear of people getting “banned” for the reasons that you noted. However, there are never any details, so they are more like rumors than facts. I personally know of people who have been banned for being very bad trolls, or for being very nasty. And that makes sense to me. But I would love to see your list of people who were banned for the reasons stated, so that I could see that there are actual accounts behind the general statements that are so often made. I am not saying that what you have written is not true. Certainly not. But if anyone could add some details to this matter, it would certainly be you.
Michael
Posted by maxyRO
April 16, 2008 @ 3:39 pm
Michael, the accounts I am referring to stumbled commercial sites such as stores, product reviews and what not. Even if I were to mention the accounts, they are placed “under review” and you cannot see what they have stumbled or discovered. Guess these are the extremes: either people that use SU too much for their own benefit or the heavy complainers, that thumb down almost everything.
Posted by Top Stumbles - Best of StumbleUpon
April 16, 2008 @ 8:48 pm
cleaning out the closet on StumbleUpon : maxyRO’s blog…
I have recently heard news about StumbleUpon banning several accounts because the users submitted comercial content. Here is the message these unfortunate stumblers usually received:…
Posted by Geoserv
April 16, 2008 @ 8:52 pm
STUMBLED!
Good stuff to know.
VOTED for you at:
http://www.newsdots.com/industrynews/cleaning-out-the-closet-on-stumbleupon-maxyrorsquos-blog/
Posted by Michael
April 17, 2008 @ 2:06 pm
Bogdan -
Thanks for the clarification!
Michael
Posted by Alex
April 21, 2008 @ 3:33 pm
and to add to the list of precautions - I usually avoid friending stumblers who have pictures of skantily-clad women as their profile pic. Chances are, the person behind those activities are not in fact as the same person in that pic.
Posted by Matt Ridout
April 22, 2008 @ 10:16 am
I was recently hit by this - to be honest I emailed them asking for an explanation as I had been a member for nearly a year and they did reply within days.
To be honest I do admit I stumbled some clients web pages but not necessarily sales pages put features and articles - I guess they must think that no-one could find it interesting..
Shame