StumbleUpon Can Kiss My Ass
Sorry for the title if it comes across rude or problematic in anyway but at this point I really care less. You know what they say – you can hold the water behind a dam for only so long and when it breaks, the water is going to come out full force wrecking everything on its path. Well, I certainly don’t have the power or the force but I do have some words that StumbleUpon admins need to hear and apply to their bullshit model and copycat attitude.
I have included the letter in this article that I sent to StumbleUpon using their contact form. I know I have wasted my time writing the letter cause as usual its probably dumped into their trash and marked as “Another banned user, LOL.”
Anyway, this is why I am so outraged. Well, first things first my StumbleUpon account has been under review for over a week. I am not pissed off at that because I might have done something that might be against their TOS, I wouldn’t know cause I haven’t heard from them. Did I promote my own sites on StumbleUpon? You bet I did, don’t you? Of course you do.
I have never used StumbleUpon to solely promote my sites. I spend a good two hours each day stumbling naturally using their toolbar and reviewing contents and participating. I am an active member within the community. I like their service. I use it to bookmark sites, images, articles that I like and at times there might be a few articles that I might “thumb up” or “discover” from the same site, not cause I am promoting it because I would like it to be seen by my friends on StumbleUpon who follow me and for bookmarking purpose. StumbleUpon team doesn’t seem to understand that I guess. Anyway, my anger isn’t about me getting banned. its about not getting a response after sending countless emails. I have talked to a few other users who are banned as well and they are going through the same ordeal. No reply what so ever.
StumbleUpon team, it can’t be that hard to lift up a finger and sent a reply and tell me “Hey, you are banned for doing so and so and you are banned permanently.” It’s your freaking site, it’s your genius idea (its damn good) but you do have a certain liability towards your userbase and replying to issues and concerns they might have should be a priority. You have failed and you can keep my account. Pimp it, junk it, kill it….it’s yours to keep. You have a great service but you have failed to keep your users happy. And like any other users I am not going to create another account. If you don’t have enough respect for me as a user who appreciates your site and service you sure as hell do not deserve the time out of my day. Have a good one and kiss my ass!
Here is what I wrote to StumbleUpon team,
Hi!
I haven’t been able to use my account for more than a week. I am not sure what triggered you to keep me from using my account and putting it “under review.” I am sure there is a reason behind your actions and a good one at that. but don’t you think it would be helpful if I got a response so I know what exactly is going on? It is my account and I use your service to bookmark and browse fun sites and contents. If I have wasted a year of my time trying to build a profile and maintain a good standing within a community, I think I have a right to know why I am not allowed to use the service anymore. I am not even sure if I am banned temporarily or permanently. An answer is much appreciated and I think running a service that is as popular as StumbleUpon, the admins should realize that they have a responsibility towards their users. Keeping me in dark doesn’t help and doesn’t really create a very good impression of you either. Whether or not you decide to reinstate my account is out of question at this moment. The question is – do you realize you are responsible to get back to your usersbase when there is an ongoing issue?
Would appreciate an answer regarding my account. If I don’t get a response (which I doubt I will) I guess a service that I have considered an integral part of my online life was nothing but a failed model and a copycat.
Sincerely,
Ritu
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That’s rotten. I hope it gets cleared up soon.
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So, it’s been a few hours???? What’s happened? Nothing? Anything?
this sucks. darren rouse at problogger had the same thing happen to him a couple of months ago, but he was able to get in touch with SU and work it out; apparently he was back in service within like a day. might be worth reaching out to darren to find out what the magic password is at SU. good luck!
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@ Hey guys, thanks for stopping by. @alas : its actually been weeks and I have been trying to contact them but nothing and this is what triggered me to write it all out. I am sure they have a reason for banning but all I am saying is they do need to response to their user’s queries.
The problem is, for every person like you who was legitimately using the service and got banned, there are probably a thousand jackasses who were REALLY violating the TOS and wrote them e-mails similar to yours. From their end, it’s nearly impossible to tell the difference.
@Andrew : I agree! But if there were 5 people robbing a bank and I happened to be talking with the teller right at that minute, does it mean I am guilty? It doesn’t. I was simply there taking care of my business and if I get charged for my innocence I have the right to be heard and I have every right to demand an answer.
Have you tried going through getsatisfaction.com
Have you been replying to the email they sent to you as notification of your suspension, or used their form? I don’t know of anyone that has received a reply to the email, but many have received responses using their form, and have been reinstated:
http://www.stumbleupon.com/feedback.php
But you have to follow through to the end, then hit ‘no this didn’t help,’ and then OK for it to go through. When you receive a notification via email that they received your feedback, you’ll know that you did it properly.
@Deborah : I did use the form that you linked to in your comment. I used the same form to contact them numerous times and nothing. Thanks for the suggestion though. By the way, I didn’t get any notification of suspension either. One day out of nowhere I couldn’t use the toolbar and when I tried to sign in I got the “under review” message. No warnings, no notifications, nothing!
I think that all Social Media is currently trying to monetize/justify their business practices after a largely free ride (and large valuations). The suits are coming in and asking basic questions like: How is this profitable? Can gaming the system be justified? Those of us in the trenches know that often the best content comes from those of us promoting each others stuff and a few random articles we find interesting. If SU and Digg don’t realize this fact soon…and don’t listen to their user base…they will be in a world of hurt.
How ironic, that right before I read this post I used Stumbleupon to find your blog, then hit “liked it” and also digged it. That sucks though, the way Stumbleupon did ya. Cool Blog by the way, & good content.
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I also had a couple of users banned from StumbleUpon. I sent emails asking them what happened and if i could get my account back but i haven’t received any answer, not even an auto-reply message saying “we received your message but you probably won’t receive any answer in the next 15 years”. First user banned had 173 fans, 240 friends and over 5k votes given. I picked up some girls via StumbleUpon and was sending private messages and thought that was wrong when they banned the first account [inbox flooding or something like that]. For the 2nd user, it had less fans, friends, and stumbles given and i haven’t sent any private message at all and one day “your account is frozen!”.
They don’t care about their users and i even think banning is random. they check the users, find some reviews they don’t think are great and boom! “this guy spends too much on our website. he hasn’t got any social life… let’s help him get out of his home!” and they ban your account.
wwe
Nosfer Said,November 22nd, 2008 @8:56 pm I also had a couple of users banned from StumbleUpon. I sent emails asking them what happened and if i could get my account back but i haven’t received any answer, not even an auto-reply message saying “we received your message but you probably won’t receive any answer in the next 15 years”. First user banned had 173 fans, 240 friends and over 5k votes given. I picked up some girls via StumbleUpon and was sending private messages and thought that was wrong when they banned the first account [inbox flooding or something like that]. For the 2nd user, it had less fans, friends, and stumbles given and i haven’t sent any private message at all and one day “your account is frozen!”.
They don’t care about their users and i even think banning is random. they check the users, find some reviews they don’t think are great and boom! “this guy spends too much on our website. he hasn’t got any social life… let’s help him get out of his home!” and they ban your account.
Wow man that blows. I been having issues lately with stumble upon myself and after a weekI finally got a response back why my submissions were not being saved, it turned out that I was promoting more of 1 website’s content more than others… weird they definitely need to clean this up. Best of luck!
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