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Home » The Famous Blog » Social Bookmarking Accounts – Do You Need to Purchase Banning Insurance?

Social Bookmarking Accounts – Do You Need to Purchase Banning Insurance?

December 28, 2011 - Last Modified: December 28, 2011 by David Leonhardt

Social Bookmarking Accounts

Over the years, I have known so many people to get booted off social bookmarking websites. Controversies over past account deletions at Digg – both merited and arbitrary – used to flood the blogosphere, but I also know so many people with zombie accounts at Reddit, and plenty of people who had accounts terminated at the former Mixx and Propeller, and even some at Newsvine and StumbleUpon.

Recently, a purge of top members at BlogEngage (including the author of this article) brought this topic to the forefront of the news.

You work hard to build up a strong account, make valuable connections and become a contributor to each community you join. Do you need to purchase insurance? No, but it is worth knowing what to do to stay on the right side of the “law” at each site.

This guide is not a definitive statement and it is not based on a thorough reading of each site’s Terms of Service. Nor is it meant to be a judgment of each site’s methods. And don’t expect me to give any tricks to side-step the system; I don’t play that way, and I don’t advise you to, either.

This is simply a practical view-from-the-street guide from someone who spends way too much time at social sharing websites on the proper way to color between the lines in each community.

One additional note: While I do know a lot about who comes and goes, I do not see everything that happens, so there are many people whose accounts are deleted that I do not hear about.

A site-by-site guide

DIGG: In theory, don’t flame, don’t hold duplicate accounts and don’t submit too much of your own content. Get other people to submit some of your stuff for you. In practice, I have not heard of anyone getting banned from Digg since they released version 4 over a year ago.

REDDIT: Don’t submit anything of yours. At least, make sure that anything you submit of your own content had better be so drowned out by other great stuff that the moderators don’t realize any of your submissions might be considered self-promotion. The mods at Reddit can’t count; they think “self-promotion” is a four-letter word.

NEWSVINE: Anything that is not extremely newsy or that appears even slightly self-promotional will get you booted. These mods can’t count, either.

STUMBLEUPON: This service is undergoing quite a transformation, so any observations from the past might be obsolete. Few have lost accounts here, but excessive self-promotion could land you in trouble, because they have an advertising program for that.

DELICIOUS and BUZZFEED: I have never known anyone to lose an account at these; better ask someone else.

BIZSUGAR and FWISP: I have never known anyone to lose an account at either of these sites, but that is because they are careful not to let anyone in who does not understand the difference between on-topic submissions and spam. These are probably the two best sites when it comes to controlling spam. As long as you are on-topic, you are free to be self-promotional at both.

OLDDOGG: Sadly, anything goes there these days.

POLITICOLLISION: If your submission isn’t newsy, stay away. They are brand new, so their process has not really been road tested, but the moderators are refugees from OldDogg, so don’t expect them to take any cr*p.

NEWSMEBACK: I have not known any user to have an account deleted, but make sure to submit only newsy content.

MIXXING BOWL: These are mostly refugees from the old Mixx site, which was a favourite of mine. There is nothing against submitting your own site, but if you are mostly submitting your own posts, and especially if are submitting low-quality stuff, expect to get banged around a bit. On the old Mixx, I knew plenty of people who would get booted because they submitted only their own blog posts (good quality stuff, mind you, but with self-interest) – that was not considered being a good community member. Mixxing Bowl attracts fewer of such people, but I expect that they would be treated similarly.

CHIME.IN: This is the “official” replacement for Mixx (I am still scratching my head over that). It is too new to comment on.

BLOGENGAGE: Any topic of any quality can be submitted, as long as it is from a blog. But don’t promote anything you submit , which kind of makes it pointless to join the only site that charges an entry fee.

BLOKUBE: Self-promotion is welcome, but you have to stay on topic. I confess that I am not totally certain always where the boundary is between on-topic and off-topic. Some of my posts go into moderation, and not all of them get approved. But I have not known anyone to get their account deleted, so if you are submitting mostly on-topic submissions in good faith, I do not think you have anything to worry about.

ZOOMIT: As long as your submission is on-topic (Canadian) you are OK. A practical guide for Zoomit was recently published here.

TIPD: Newbies better submit on-topic or your account will be deleted. A known member would just have the submission buried or deleted.

PFBUZZ: I have not known any user to have an account deleted, but lots of people have had legitimate submissions deleted. Something in their spam-control seems to be the cause, and there does not seem to be anything the user can do, except to resubmit (assuming your submission is on-topic).

HEALTHBUZZING: This site is still too new to tell where the lines will be drawn, but try to stay on topic.

SERPD: As long as you are on-topic, you can submit from any given domain up to 50 percent of the time. I have not known any user to be booted from SERPd.

There are many more communities like these, some for WordPress and several for designers, some for specific countries or specific languages. I have shared what I know of those I frequent. This is just one person’s observations, and it does not mean that I have not missed something, nor does this represent the official position of these sites.

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Filed Under: Social Media

About David Leonhardt

Follow @amabaie

David Leonhardt is an Ottawa based SEO consultant. When not guest blogging he occasionally finds the time to update his own SEO marketing blog. Or you can follow him (Amabaie) on Twitter and most social bookmarking websites.

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{ 17 Responses }

  1. Jamie Northrup says:
    I got banned from StumbleUpon because I sold thumbs up on my website, they didn't approve, I have since opened a new account and don't sell thumbs up and haven't had a problem with self promotion, but I mix it in to my normal usage.
  2. Chris Lang says:
    Ileane, if you are not willing to be kicked off a social site, then you should not be on them. I learned that one from Digg in 2007... Remember, it's their site, not yours. They own the content, not you. They make decisions in their own interest, not yours. Digg managed to run the power users off in 2009 and still stay afloat. But they had $200 mil in the bank when they started that. And it's when you become a power user that flags start to fly and you get banned for something you may not have even done. My friend Travis Campbell just got his Facebook account disabled for NO reason, after telling me for years that Facebook was THE place to market. In short never put your eggs in a basket that you are not prepared to have Zuckerberg step on. And do everything you can to convert social friends into opt in email subscribers!
    • amabaie says:
      Yes. Spread yourself around -- but not *too* thin.
  3. Lisa says:
    Great info - and idea about banning "insurance". Just shard over on Stumble with some friends who love to share their own info all the time. A nice eye opener.
  4. Ileane says:
    David, reading and understanding the TOS on any site is a real drag....especially when the terms are left to the interpretation of the owner - which is always the case. I got banned from 3 video sites and I have no idea why. I thought that if my videos were good enough for YouTube the others should be more than happy to have them. Thanks for offering the insurance - how much is it? JK :) Happy New Year my friend!
    • amabaie says:
      lol The insurance was just a bit of a joke, carrying things a little further than reality to make the point. I agree about TOS being a pain - much like the fine print on a credit card contract - and it is so true that the site owners or moderators often have a lot of room to interpret them. I suppose it is just not worth their time to explain to a person what he is doing wrong. Banning is much quicker.
  5. Robert says:
    Banning insurance? Now that's an interesting concept! Personally I got banned from Reddit a year or so ago which was kind of annoying, the reason being as far as I could tell was because I suggested more of my posts than I interacted with the site, probably fair enough
  6. Sherryl Perry says:
    I was disappointed to hear that you were banned by BlogEngage David. I realize that you weren't the only one. I believe that this happened about the same time that Ana Hoffman had her Twitter accounts deleted. The lesson here for all of us is to be cognizant of what these sites expect from us and to realize that we cannot afford to rely to heavily on any source of traffic. This could happen to any of us at any time. Thanks for getting the word out.
  7. Bhupendra Sharma says:
    Thanks for this greet information, today social bookmarking is greet way to promote article site and i am not aware all these which is you mentioned that's why i can't be banned.I think we should not promote own articles,let the readers do it for us it's batter way.
  8. Dean Saliba says:
    I've not been banned by any of the sites you mentioned but I was banned by a site called Xomba because they only wanted content exclusively bookmarked with them and nowhere else!
  9. Jim Syyap says:
    Great post. I shared this on reddit just now. Good luck!
  10. Raj says:
    I am not present in many of the above networks. I have submitted a few of my own posts in SU and Digg but since I am not a regular user of those services, perhaps I was not banned! I feel that we should not promote our own articles... Its always better to request someone to do it or let the readers do it for us.
  11. Jim says:
    Thanks for the cool information. I have had recently some struggle with Facebook sending us warnings. But overall it is going well now. The scarriest of all social services is facebook's wrath. Thanks Jim
  12. Ryan Biddulph says:
    Hi David, If they own it, and you are a visitor, you can be booted at any time. I've been kicked off of multiple networks. I release immediately, realizing a better network awaits for me. No sense complaining, until I decide to build my own network. Then, I set the rules. Until then, I have to play by the rules or even if I think I am playing by the rules, I might still get booted. No biggie, really. Focus on building a well-read self-hosted blog. Leave value packed comments on other blogs. Promote others aggressively. These practices immunize you from being booted off social networking sites, because once you have a network of loyal, supportive friends, you will succeed. Your friend will promote your stuff, expand your presence and accelerate your success. Thanks for sharing your insight David. RB
  13. Tom Shivers says:
    Great stuff David! If you sell and support banning insurance, I'd buy it.
    • amabaie says:
      I won't, but it could make a good novelty product or charity fundraiser among blogging folks.
  14. Pritam Nagrale says:
    Great Article. Even I have suffered with account deletion. All the points you have mentioned are to be considered in order to avoid the account deletion.

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