Squidoo Deleted NINE Of My Accounts

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Yes, NINE Squidoo Accounts… Gone!

I consider myself a very laid-back, calm, and FAIR person…. but right now, I am about to lose it. Suddenly, and without warning, Squidoo sent me nine email notifications that NINE of my accounts – not lenses, but entire accounts – had been either locked or terminated. Needless to say, I am about to blow a gasket here…

Nine Squidoo Accounts Gone – POOF

I am trying to remain calm while I await a response from the Squidoo team, but I am finding it harder and harder to do with every second that passes.

I have worked my a$$ off for that site. Not only here on PotPieGirl.com, but all over the internet. If I get a Google alert about Squidoo and someone is trashing the site or passing bad info, I go there and comment. I help others in forums to not only learn what Squidoo.com IS, but also how to make QUALITY lenses that help the entire Squidoo site.

As far as email questions I answer – lenses and accounts I have reviewed and helped – well, let’s not even go there right now. Let’s just say that HUNDREDS and HUNDREDS of hours of my time have been devoted to this.

In fact, in the midst of these emails from Squidoo are emails from a fellow lensmaster I’ve been helping with links and RSS feed stuff for his lenses. I read these emails from Squidoo and sit there stunned. Then I open the email from Mike (the guy I’ve been helping) and it reads:

“Wrong url for the blog. My BAD! Inserted it and it works like a charm! Thank you for your help. People could learn much from you about customer service and business development.

They go hand in hand!
Have A Great day!

Mike”


Just in the last 2 hours, I’ve gotten TWO emails from TWO separate people who BOTH made their first sale online with Squidoo and my help. They wanted to thank me.

How in the world does someone who works so hard to make Squidoo better have this happen?

I’m at a loss.

SO – I imagine many of you can understand that I am not a happy camper right now. Thing is, I am such a fan of that site and of that community that I am literally checking my email inbox every minute HOPING they will respond before I am done with this post.

So far, no luck.

Why Did My Squidoo Accounts Get Terminated?

WHY this happened? I have NO CLUE. I know the rules at Squidoo. I know why individual lenses get locked – in fact, I had a lens get locked when it accidentally tripped the Squidoo spam filter. I’ve been active on the Squidoo site for some time – let’s just say I try really hard to pay attention and follow the rules.

I am looking at the cached versions of some of the account lenses in question now – I see nothing wrong. I either wrote, or have rights, to all the content. All images were used from my own ClipArt account that I pay for. Each account is on a different topic so that also throws me for a loop here.

What Are The Topics of These Lenses?

Want to know that HORRIBLE things these Squidoo accounts are about? Ok, I’ll tell ya:

fitness business,

picnic table plans,

crockpot recipes,

economy busting tips,

weight loss surgery info and resources,

a woman’s health issue,

cold sores,

weight loss, and

and a new PotPieGirl account that I planned to put lenses relating only to what I do online.

Real risky and spammy topics there, huh? You can see a full screen shot of one of the lenses here. These are not NEW accounts, either. I went back to RE-read the TOS at Squidoo (for like the 20th time…lol) and oddly, I can’t get the page to load for me today. This all gives me a bad feeling.

What I’m Most Concerned About

Yes, losing these accounts bothers me, but not as much as WHY I may have lost them. Did someone get upset with me? Perhaps someone got a little “spam button” happy with anything of mine to force me out of the picture? I don’t know WHO actually makes the final decision to take such drastic action as to suddenly delete a Squidoo account (let alone NINE in one fail swoop). Is it a paid staff member or a fellow lensmaster who is a volunteer?

WHO is in charge of pushing that “delete account” button?

The paid staff at Squidoo is small. They count on volunteers from within the lensmaster community to make the site work and grow. This makes me nervous right now because this FEELS like it was a direct hit on ME. I keep waiting for more emails to come informing me that MORE of my accounts got trashed.

Being in charge of, or having access to, the account delete button is serious stuff, don’t you think? All that work of a lensmaster GONE with the click of a button.- with no warning….not nothing.

Eggs and Baskets

As we all know, diversification is key in business – especially online business. I have said that myself over and over and thankfully, I practice what I preach. I have plenty of other income streams out there that this moment with Squidoo will not break me. All it’s doing is upsetting me and causing me to really, REALLY worry about what I should tell YOU about Squidoo from now on.

We all also know the risks of putting content on a site that we don’t own. This could happen to any account we have at ANY user-generated content site we use. That’s just a fact of life when you use other sites to make money online – and yet one more reason to be sure your ultimate goal is to make your own niche sites.

What If You’re Following One Week Marketing?

Yes, I imagine this is a BIG question for many of you reading right now. What if you are actively following the One Week Marketing Action Plan?

Do I tell you to stop using Squidoo?

No, at this moment I do NOT say that. As I mentioned, I have this nasty gut feeling that this was directed at ME. Whether this is accurate or not, I am following my gut instinct right now and telling you to keep on keeping on. If my opinion changes, you will be the FIRST to know.

I refuse to teach others how to use a site that could even POSSIBLY be a time-waster for YOU. I pinky-promise that I won’t teach anyone to use something I don’t believe in (even if I did believe in it at one time).

Also, in front of me (on a post-it pad, of course…lol) sits a list of 6-7 OTHER sites that can be worked in the same One Week Marketing fashion. I’ve been quietly gathering this info with the intention of writing an advanced guide for the One Week Marketers that are really kickin’ butt with OWM.

But, if need be, I am prepared to change One Week Marketing in a heart beat and the thousand or so people that already have OWM will get their update for free as soon as it is available – IF that becomes necessary. I’m sure at least ONE of these “other” sites would LOVE to have a thousand folks come build high-quality, traffic-pulling pages for their site =)

But for now, we do nothing but what we have been doing. In other words, no one panic – except for ME…lol.

For now, we wait. I feel it is justified that I get a response and perhaps an explanation, don’t you? I know the Squidoo staff certianly doesn’t HAVE to, but heck, even Megan Casey (Editor-in-Chief) said this in the comments of my post when my lens got locked:

Megan Casey Said:

Not a secret: PotPieGirl is one of my favorite lensmasters. (Yes, I can play favorites all I want!)…”

Ok, checking my email inbox for a email from Squidoo one last time… :::crossing fingers::::

Nope, no email …. sigh. Ok, I’m off to take complete screen shots of my lenses with the cached versions in Google.

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