Google are the problem. (and screw G+)

See the Help link?

Takes you here:

http://help.blogger.com/bin/static.py?page=start.cs

See the Help Center link? Takes you here:

So not only do Google help spammers and sploggers by making it just about impossible to remove them (flagging stuff is a joke. I’ve flagged many blogs and many youtube accounts and it’s has not made the slightest difference) but it also does not let you find out.

And the DMCA?

To file a notice of infringement with us, you must provide a written communication (by fax or regular mail — not by email, except by prior agreement)

As they don’t provide free fax, and as they probably know fax machines are not easily available they choose to use it because it slows everything down to what must be a complete stop for your average blog creator. That’s being pretty evil to your average person.

Edit:
http://www.google.com/dmca.html

If you are sending a large number of URLs in one removal request, please also send an electronic copy of the notice to removals at google dot com.

Why don’t they have an actual email link there? Don’t they trust their own spam software? Are the people on the end of that email afraid of, well, work?

Provide information reasonably sufficient to permit Google to contact you (email address is preferred).

So they want the easy way but you take the hard way?

Apparently Google are hiring. I looked through several pages of their jobs. I couldn’t find a single one that was focused on user support. Now what does that tell you?

Like many bloggers I can spot a splog in less than 10 seconds. The common features:
- Every entry has “wrote an interesting post” “read the rest of the post here” “..talked today about”
- Most entries are uncategorised
- There is an absence of comments
- The theme is one from a selected range no doubt sold for the “SEO friendliness”
- The posting frequency will be high and fairly regular
- There is no easily obtained webhost information (so no ToS, AUP, DMCA addresses)
- ads. And more often than not contextual ones which means Adsense.
- there are more clues but scoring more than half the above means you are looking at content theft.

Now if I can join those dots why can’t Google? Why can’t the other search engines? After all if the big advertisers don’t care about content theft why should the other guys? Why is it not possible to suspend those accounts that meet most of the above? Why can’t you grab the publisher id and suspend automatically? Why can’t the above raise some flags and a single abuse complaint ensure it is seen faster? I really do find it amazing that a company which can bring us so much good cannot add up what a splog looks like without being told.
And the bonus is that your blog search would be cleaned up – which pleases everyone.

Matt Cutts wants an idea of something to do – there you go.

And it’s not like these are isolated examples.

Google ‘three speech’ or ‘threespeech’ or ‘threespeech.com’ or ‘threespeech blog’ and you get zip. Nothing, no link to the domain.
Yahoo has it as result #1

Either Google are losing their touch or they are removing that domain. Why?

There is no guarantee now – it’s 4 months out – so we are looking for a new one later this week. An eeepc is too small – that’s what she is using right now for email and her website – and the others you buy have Vista on. So my plan is we buy a machine, probably in the £300-400 range, and when we get it home I ‘reinstall’ XP onto it. I’d go with Linux if I could find somewhere local that offered them and there was saving involved but I can’t. XP does not seem to be an option though I will be asking when we go to check some machines but I have a real copy anyway. Annoying all the same.

And even if Google Earth was not guilty (but it is) J will probably not use it on a laptop again. It’s the association thing. She is sure that Google Earth killed her laptop.