Friday 8 March 2013

The anti-self promotion mafia

Friday morning arrived and with it came the usual good feeling that the weekend was beginning  then I checked my gmail and found a WARNING which follows. 
 Dear J H Gaines,
You've recently been violating the Google+ User Content and Conduct policies.
Posts that contain spam, such as unwanted promotional or commercial content, or unwanted or mass solicitations, are not allowed on Google+. Offensive or repetitive posts are not allowed either.
Please review our policies to avoid violating them in the future.
If you continue to violate our policies, you may lose the ability to use some or all features of Google+ and other Google services. Learn more
We're all in this together. Let's make Google+ a place where we all want to hang out.
Yours sincerely,
The Google+ team.

So it seems that I have been reported for what??

Firstly I am not a spammer, so why the warning? I am not trying to sell Viagra or Insurance so where, when and how have I broken any user conduct and content policies?

My second question is why are some individuals so petty as to report me?
From what I can perceive is that I have crossed that terrible line of SELF-PROMOTION!

I would dearly love to know how I have offended anyone.
let us list a few facts;
I am a self published author who writes in the fiction and poetry genres who is published on kindle and smashwords. I am a member of a a few communities which the majority share the same interest as me, so if I have posted a status in poetry where I have announced that I have a free poetry eBook available for 24hrs then where is the spamming?
I also contribute on most days to the communities where I do not ever mention my book, so again why has someone found a post so offensive- I am at a complete loss as to why someone can take the time to contact google and report me for sharing something.
Do these people go about in their daily lives reporting everyone?
Commerce is everywhere, google are contradicting themselves by even sending me this message, look on any of the websites, Yahoo, youtube, facebook- adverts and promotion are everywhere so why are self promoted authors frowned upon so much?
It just baffles me guys and I wish I knew why people get so aggravated by it.
In recently got an email from someone in a community thanking me for posting a free eBook, they was overjoyed at finding something for nothing, but later in the day I received a message by the community admin warning me for posting spam, I apologised and said that I did not mean to offend and we got into a conversation where after talking to me he discovered that the post was a valid contribution to his community and one which his members appreciated.

Everyone in this life is just trying to move forward, people should live and let live and the whole  world would be a much better place. everyone would be happier and feel better amongst themselves.
I also have my own community and someone wants to advertise their book then hell yeah, why not? if I can help someone which costs me absolutely nothing then what kind of a human being would I be to refuse.
Obviously if the guys posted the same message five times a day every day then I would say something, but just one post introducing himself and what he has to offer? 
Good luck to him or her, I wish you all the best, your are not out trying to rob me or my family, you are sharing something precious to you and if you make a few bucks in the process then I say god bless ya!

No comments:

Post a Comment