Where Do You Go When Google Locks You Out? 332
Lobais sends in the cautionary tale of a man who was locked out of Google Groups for three years — losing the ability to administer his own open source project in the process. "After about a year of using Google Groups for the PyChess project, I started [noticing] a problem. When I wrote mails to the list, no one would answer. And when I answered other peoples' post[s], they seamed to ignore them and press for new answers. As I tried to check the online group to see what was happening, I got a 403 Forbidden error. After a short while I realized that this error was given for any page on the groups.google.com subdomain. The lockout meant that I was unable to manage the PyChess mailing list. I was unable to fight increasing spam level, and more importantly I couldn't reply to anybody in my community. I wasn't even able to visit the Google help forums, which are all on groups.google.com. As the services are free of charge, I never really expected any support options. ... How can we know how often this kind of thing happens? If any admin can lock you out by a sloppy click, and give you no option to defend yourself, then it is bound to happen once in a while."
Title but no story! (Score:5, Funny)
Re:free but not cheap (Score:5, Funny)
Re:anyone actually read the article ? (Score:5, Funny)
Post it to the relevant mailing lists? Oh, wait..
I Think the Reason He Was Locked Out Was... (Score:5, Funny)
...he used "fora" as the plural for "forum" and triggered some kind of douchebag filter. These douchebag filters were first created as an experiment by Google in the late '90's to keep out the folks who wrote "boxen" as a plural for "box," but were later taken off-line. I fear that one of the filters may have missed the purge and now it is evolving, learning...
Re:No support from Google (Score:4, Funny)
Google do not like talking to people.
Well, they do have a reputation as a company run by engineers.
Re:Newsflash: The companies don't give a damn... (Score:4, Funny)
'... not Donner,...
In fact, they'll eat you alive!
Re:I Think the Reason He Was Locked Out Was... (Score:4, Funny)
douchebag filters were first created as an experiment by Google
Do you know where I can get a copy? I want to install one for my employers HR department before it is too late.
Re:Title but no story! (Score:2, Funny)
It's because there's nothing to see here. Just take a hint and move along.
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DHS
Re:Appeals process (Score:3, Funny)
Sorry, but I came for an argument. Microsoft support is much better when it comes to abuse.
Re:free but not cheap (Score:5, Funny)
I don't see their Feedback(tm) product listed anywhere. Maybe it's still in beta.
Re:free but not cheap (Score:5, Funny)
FWIW: I wanted to know the origin of the link they requested and they did not bother to reply.
I hope you tried
::takes off shades::
Googling for the link
YEEEEEAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHH!