Anyone ever have their Google account disabled?

[Teuthida]

Everything was find just a little while ago. And then my account gets disabled and my blog removed. No warning. No nothing. Just all gone. They could have at least given a reason. I got rid of my Google Plus account a couple weeks ago but made sure that was all.

It better not have anything to do with "furry porn" (of which there was none) being the most popular search term. Dammit, great way to start the new year. When my entry for an art contest I entered goes up soon, it'll be linked to a removed blog. All that future traffic and exposure, gone.

[Bond]

Was there any kind of explanation? What about your gmail account (assuming you had one)? Very weird.

[Teuthida]

Nope. Went to my blog and found what anyone visiting my blog would see:
Blog has been removed

Sorry, the blog at sketchysituation.blogspot.com has been removed. This address is not available for new blogs.

Did you expect to see your blog here? See: 'I can't find my blog on the Web, where is it?'


So went to write an email through gmail and I get this:

Account has been disabled

If you've been redirected to this page from the sign-in page, it means that access to your Google Account has been disabled.

In most cases, accounts are disabled if we believe you have violated either the Google Terms of Service , product-specific Terms of Service (available on the product page), or product-specific policies. Your account has not been deleted, your data is still intact, and it might be possible to regain access to your account.
Why Google disables accounts

Google wants to ensure that everyone has a chance to safely and securely connect and communicate. To help preserve this environment, Google reserves the right to:

Suspend a Google Account from using a particular product or the entire Google Accounts system if there is a violation of the Google Terms of Service , product-specific Terms of Service (available on the product page), or product-specific policies.
Terminate your account at any time, for any reason, with or without notice.

Next steps for disabled accounts

Please start by reviewing the relevant Terms of Service. Then, if you think your account should not have been disabled, please contact us.

Would be nice if I got a warning or they gave some reason, any reason, why they did this. Wrote to them and linked to my deviantart page showing that's pretty much what was on my blog. PG-13 level stuff at the very most. Will see if anything happens. Saw one guy got his account back after about 20 hours with no explanation as to why they disabled it in the first place. Might lose my blog entirely though if my account does get returned, which really sucks.

Good lesson not to keep all your eggs in one basket. Already gave up my YouTube account when they starting forcing them to be linked to your Google account.

[Combine 017]

I liked going to your blog. :(

[Teuthida]

24 hours still no response. I know it's a holiday but they were fine disabling my account on New Year's Eve.

Wrote them again:
I wrote 24 hours ago but haven't gotten a response back. I reviewed the TOS once again. I did not break any of your rules. The only thing I can think of that got my account disabled is that the most popular search term for finding my blog was "furry porn" of which there was none. I drew this innocent pic for comedic purposes of a smurf and na'vi almost kissing several years ago (http://fav.me/d27wx58) and joked: "Oh god, I just drew furry porn I didn't I? I feel sick." And that sentence resulted in most of my traffic for some reason. Sad I know, but I don't deserve to lose my blog and email over that. Still, wouldn't that just have resulted in a mature content warning page anyway if was to be assumed my blog did contain pornographic images? Surely two fictional humanoid creatures in a PG situation doesn't not count as bestiality?

Left out some snark about how it was funny how I had thought using a gmail account was more secure for my work email than yahoo.

If they don't return my account/blog or at the very least write me back and say why it was disabled, the next step is to take the mature and logical route of drawing pictures of an anthropomorphic Google (and maybe the founders) graphically raping users and posting them up all over the place. I never drew porn before but if that's what I'm being accused of, might as well start. Of course I don't even know if that's what I'm being accused of because THEY DIDN'T TELL ME SQUAT.

[Combine 017]

You should tell them they are dicks and ask for a refund.

[Typhoid]

The internet is getting more and more like the real world every day. :ohreilly:

[Teuthida]

You should tell them they are dicks and ask for a refund.

That's the thing. It was a free service so I guess they're not obligated to do anything. Though after this happened I went looking at similar cases and there are plenty of folks who paid for services and got the same treatment.

Guess it's time to finally get a domain and set up a proper website. I really liked my blog though (and it had a lot more of my stuff than my DA page). Was only conducting business currently with one employer and I know his email off hand so that's good. Almost applied for another job the day before this happened. That would have been embarrassing, linking to a blog that didn't exist and an email address that doesn't work.

The internet is getting more and more like the real world every day. :ohreilly:
Indeed. Well, I've been conducting myself as I would in the real world for a while now. Outside of GT at least. I'm not as polite here. ;)

[Teuthida]

And it's back.

We apologize for any inconvenience you may have experienced. The issue you described should now be resolved.

If you are still having trouble accessing your account and you still have
access to the email address you used to create your account, please reset
your password by visiting https://www.google.com/accounts/ForgotPasswd. If
you aren't receiving the password-assistance email, please check your
inbox for an email from account-recovery-noreply@google.com.

If you don't have access to the primary email address on the account or
have forgotten the answer to your security question, please fill out the
form at http://www.google.com/support/accounts/bin/request.py?ara=1

Still have no idea what caused it. Was kind of looking forward to drawing those Google rape pictures... :unsure: Oh well.

Gonna remove that furry porn line just to be safe.

EDIT: You know, I signed up for online banking right before I noticed my google account got disabled (or at least I didn't check my blog/email before I did so). I wonder if they disabled my account for safety reasons. Would they even notice or be aware of such a thing, or is it just a weird coincidence? Forgot my email was even tied to it until I was able to get back in since I was never able to get the email saying I'd done so.

[gekko]

I had my gmail disabled once (and panicked, since having an email account lets you recover an account at almost every site you ever visit). I believe they did send me a response, though it appeared fairly automated. Something along the lines of I sent out 250 emails in a very short time, and they said it occurred at a time when I would be sleeping.

Worst part about it was when it happened, it was the same password I used for everything. I had recently started using a password management program, so immediately started taking the idea of using a unique password for each site a bit more seriously. Just the thought of someone hacking a amateur site (like this one), and getting my email and password to run through gmail scares me.

I would highly recommend using Google's 2-stage authentication process. Basically you need two forms of authentication to gain access to your account, which means if someone cracks your password, they still aren't in. It's the whole idea of using something you know (like a PIN), and something you have (like an ATM card). Card is worthless if the wallet is stolen, and if someone sees you enter a PIN, it's no use without the card. Google has some programs for smart phones that give you a 6-digit pin you need to enter after you log-in, but you can also do it over text message. For non browser-based services (like an email client on your phone), they can generate a one-time use password for that app. Should hopefully avoid these situations in the future.