How to Not get Banned on StumbleUpon

July 29, 2009 by 74 Comments

StumbledFor me, StumbleUpon is a great place to make connections, see great pictures, and find articles or sites that I would otherwise not be exposed to. The whole idea of SU is to share great finds with your friends and for great content to get exposure.

This concept has evolved, to say the least. Now you may be exposed to sites that are not relevant to your preferences just because it has been thumbed up many times by your friends, and their friends, and so on. These sites have been “pushed” through the system, for the sake of traffic/views. Recently SU has been trying to combat this situation by adding the share feature, and even offering advertisement etc. In addition, they are banning “circles” of mutuals that seem to be sharing, thumbing, and reviewing the same sites.

If you happen to be in one of these “circles,” you run the risk of getting “ghost” banned or completely banned.

Ghost Banned on StumbleUpon: You can thumb up, thumb down, discover… pretty much anything a regular user can do. The only thing is, your efforts don’t count. You can tell if you’re “ghost banned” by discovering a page, opening up a different browser, and visiting the review page of the site you just discovered. If it says “Discovered by someone” and not you, you’re a ghost. No word yet on how to reverse this.

Here are some things to avoid:

[Read more...]

Filed Under: Social Internet, StumbleUpon Tagged With: ,

Zaibatsu: Puberty Clause

September 22, 2008 by 5 Comments

This was posted by Reg “Zaibatsu” Saddler himself at Social News Central.

Zaibatsu Banned

We don’t post a lot of social media humor on this blog, but that’s classic.

Filed Under: Digg, Social Freshness Tagged With: , , ,

At Digg, the Bannings Will Continue Until Morale Improves

September 22, 2008 by 5 Comments

Banned on DiggIt seems that Digg is being a little hard on the Beaver.  The banned count is nearing the century mark with no end in sight.  While it is fair to ban those who have broken the rules, the tough part to swallow is the fact that most if not all of the recently dismissed seem to be in a permanent state of oblivion.  Digg really needs to consider some aspects of their site and their users before giving no second chances to the majority who have been banned.

In short, this is a plea to Digg.

While many are rejoicing at the idea of the “cheaters” getting banned, I would like to point out a few things.  Yes, there was a blog post, and yes, it is in the TOS, but few people read the blog posts and nobody reads the TOS.  Even though ignorance of the law is no excuse in any state other than California, the proper way to handle this is to suspend the accounts until they agree to follow the rules. [Read more...]

Filed Under: Digg, Social Internet Tagged With: , ,

Banned at Digg? Talk to the Hand!

January 5, 2008 by 7 Comments

Banned at DiggThe issue has been building up for a few weeks now. It’s taboo, of course, to discuss Digg.com in a negative light, but there have been “closed-door” secret meetings amongst diggers recently. Via GTalk, it’s a hot topic among active diggers.

A couple of weeks ago, Tamar Weinberg posted Why Nobody Should Buy Digg. It details some of the circumstances behind recent bannings and the apparent turnaround in how Digg handles them. In short, they don’t. If you’re banned, Digg won’t talk to you. They won’t talk to anyone else about you. [Read more...]

Filed Under: Digg, Mixx, Social Internet, Social Media Tagged With: , , , , , , ,