Spam and Porn and BlogHer

So today is apparently not my day. I got a notice from a blog search engine (FINDINGBLOG) that two of the blogs I write were rejected because:

Your submission is not compatible with our listing policy because:

(1) it is not a human-maintained blog, or

(2) it is a product-selling blog or a sign post for another website, or

(3) it contains sexually offensive materials.

Now, last I looked, I WAS a human, I don’t sell anything on my blog, and except for the occasional expletive, you’d rate my blog "G." Now I know how all those sites that were "Blocked by Cyber Patrol"  must have felt. Anyway, I suspect they automatically rejected me because I use RSS Submit, rather than manually doing my submissions. So it goes. Probably not the best policy on their part, but their prerogative.

Then I went and posted some additional information on the BlogHer site about the Room of Your Own that I’ve proposed for BlogHer and apparently I did something wrong there too, because they are holding my comment as "potential spam, to be reviewed by a site admin." I think I forgot to put a subject on the post, cause the content was pretty straightforward. I wanted to let folks know who had committed to attending the session, if we are lucky enough to be one of the final six.

Not to leave you in suspense, the other marketers (in addition to me) who’ve agreed to participate and kick off the session with their stories are Debbie Weil from BlogWrite for CEOs and Toby Bloomberg from Diva Marketing. Plus one or two others who haven’t yet finalized BlogHer plans,but once they do, I’ll let you know. And remember, we are just there to kick off the conversation. If we are selected, my hope is that this collective Room produces a set of tips/best blog practices to help us all be better bloggers for our businesses and our clients.

To be fair, I am sure the post on the BlogHer site will be approved once someone logs on. It was just my day to be blocked I guess.

UPDATE 26 Feb: I heard from the BlogHer folks today. Apparently, there was an issue with a spam filter — which was pretty much what I had figured, having worked for web and email filtering companies for 10 years.

Also heard from the FINDINGBLOG folks. I’ll let the complete email trail speak for itself.

My query:

I’m curious about your criteria. A blog I write (Marketing Roadmaps at getgood.typepad.com) was just rejected for listing with you for the following reasons:

(1) it is not a human-maintained blog, or

(2) it is a product-selling blog or a sign post for another website, or

(3) it contains sexually offensive materials.

None of which are true, which your editors would have seen had anyone actually visited or read the blog.

So, just wondering what the deal is. I plan to blog this and I’d like to have the facts straight.

Thanks

Susan

The reply:

hi,

i’d like to clarify one thing before continuing conversation further:

did you use any automatic submission software to submit your blog?

if you did, what software did you use?

My answer:

Yes I use RSS Submit, so if you automatically reject anyone who uses automatic submission software, that would explain it.

Doesn’t make sense, given that many of us use such tools, but certainly your prerogative.

Regards

Susan

Which apparently they did not receive because I got another email today:

Not having heard from you yet, I assume you did use some sort of automatic

submission tool to submit your blog to us.  Correct me if my assumption is wrong.

Our editors volunteered to help us review each blog submission manually.

If you don’t want to spare your time to submit your blog to our directory on your own, there is no reason we want to spare our precious time to review your automatic submission either.

WOW. I sent a final reply:

I actually did reply right away, and told you that I used RSS Submit, so if you automatically reject any submissions made by automatic tools, that would explain it.

It is certainly your prerogative to make that decision, but you might want to consider telling people that’s the reason. Telling them that they are not human or that their blog contains porn is not so great.

Best regards,

Susan

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And that’s all I have to say on the subject.