In the last 6 weeks many of the friends I made and shared links with are no longer around and for good reason. They all had their StumbleUpon accounts put under review which means you will never get it back, you can count on that. This recently happened to me back in November 2008. I read the terms twice, but still could not figure why it happened to me as well.
After sending 5 emails over a 10 day period, I have still not received a response from the StumbleUpon gods. My friends also received the same cold treatment I did.
Facts: 10K+ sites “I Liked”, 300+ friends and 300+ subscribers. I also advertised 4 campaigns at $20 per. What could have gone wrong to be placed in that pile of orphans called under review?
My persistence paid off! I thought if you shared stumbles and stumble and review other sites along with making friends, than you would be playing by the rules. Not so fast, there’s more to it than that.
The send-to button is there to send pages to your friends. But how many do you send? It has nothing to do with the amount that you send, but what you send.
If you are only sending your own blog posts, SU obviously knows you are marketing your own site – and will probably discount the stumbles on your blog. You need to send pages from various sites to your friends to avoid being red-flagged.
Also, say your same friends thumb up your post every day. That is a pattern and you need to mix it up a little. My tip would be to send your blog post to 3 to 5 random friends and keep track of who you’re sending pages to. You need to only send your pages to a unique friend once per week, this will keep you from forming a pattern.
Happy Stumbling all!
This is really good information. I’m still relatively new to SU but I’ve already heard the horror stories of folks with big networks getting their accts. frozen with no explanation.
I don’t know whether it will help or not, but I frequently tap the Stumble! button and rate dozens of pages at a time, forwarding some and mixing up who I send to, based on what they’ve responded to in the past.
Thanks for laying this out there!
There are many stories out these and you just have to follow this tip to stay out of trouble.
This is an important post – thanks, Frank. Thank god I’m a sucker for sending lolcats and tech stuff, or I might have gotten blacklisted myself. (and you better believe I’m sending your post on.)
:)
Mudslide,
You’re welcome and glad we can provide some insight.
Great round up of facts Frank – still don’t get it when its supposed to be used as a tool, and you use it as a tool, they get mad and throw the hammer at you!
Of course we are going to promote our own sites, wth else do we write and network…?
Keep warm!
You and me both, but it’s their rules.
Thanks so much for this information. I have heard rumors of this happening and would be very, very, very sad if it happened to me!
It wasn’t an easy task to figure out why many accounts are placed under review, but this really pin-points why.
Thanks!
I wonder if they are going to ban me for Saying I liked this post???
LOL. You are safe.
Yes .. this is very true, and also .. not every post should be submitted to SU (spread them around to digg, reddit, mixx and other sites and keep the best ones for SU – not all of them)
There’s more tips in the SU group over at BC.
Hart,
You’re correct thanks for commenting.
I have even heard that stumble upon guys ban users who do this. I was doing in the past but stopped now. Thanks for the tip
Just follow these little tips to stay under the radar.
This is sad news. My account is still okay though I haven’t really used SU a lot. So got any hope to see you again at SU?
Live and learn. I am now playing by the rules, but wish I knew what they were up front.
Frank,
I think there are several problems with the SU ban hammer. One issue is the letters they send out look something like a pre written form letter and they are very vague. They state their software detects an “abuse of their system”. Well this could mean many different things.
Gerald,
I agree and they also never tell you why, even after writing 4 letters to them.
Frank,
I was actually very surprised to find a phone number for them in their terms. 415-979-0640. It would probably be worth a shot to try giving them a call.
Gerald this is great! I think I will follow this week with a call.
Kudos to you!
I rarely send out my posts, I have sent probably 6-7 of my own in the last year, but guess what.
Today my account is now under review.
I can’t understand why.
7000+ sites “I liked” couple hundred reviews.
I immediately sent in a request for a reason, hopefully I get one back. It should be automatic, “Your account is under review for reason.”
This is puzzling.
That’s a smart move, but it still amazes me that they find a way to put you in review with no reason why.
thats pretty smart.. I will try to follw this. Thansk for sharing
And I will check out your coupons. :)
I loved it. i have been looking for tips on the subject until a friend from a group pointed to this article.
gr8 one..thanks for sharing..:-)
Guys i am scared after reading this article. Actually i have recently registered myself on SU but don’t know how to proceed. Can anyone please guide me what should be my strategy for promoting my site on SU or I should drop the idea of using SU and concentrate on other Social Media sites.
I’ll wait for your comments then only i will use SU or forget using it.
Healthiest Regards
The title example is to draw interest through curiosity.