This week, Google shut down and deleted popular gay adult blog “COP Blog.” Here’s why.
Google says its Blogger platform is adult friendly, but there are exceptions. Exceptions that don’t make any sense.
Adult Content: We do allow adult content on Blogger, including images or videos that contain nudity or sexual activity. But, please mark your blog as ‘adult’ in your Blogger settings. Otherwise, we may put it behind a ‘mature content’ interstitial.
There are some exceptions to our adult content policy: Do not use Blogger as a way to make money on adult content. For example, don’t create blogs where a significant percentage of the content is ads or links to commercial porn sites.
No incest or bestiality content: We do not allow image, video or text content that depicts or encourages incest or bestiality.
What’s wrong with bestiality? Just kidding, that’s gross.
The exception that most likely caused COP Blog’s deletion is the “ads or links to commercial porn sites” part. COP Blog used affiliate links and banners (which generate revenue when readers buy something on the linked porn site) to promote gay porn scenes and movies every day, and they did a really good job at it! But who’s to say if that was a “significant percentage” of the content? Adult blogs regularly post interviews and news in addition to affiliate material, so “significant percentage” is a ridiculously arbitrary way to measure a site’s content. And why would Google disallow “commerical gain” from porn sites, as noted here, but not commercial gain from affiliate linking to non-porn sites like, say, Amazon. The same Amazon where, by the way, you can buy porn! Dumb.
If you’re using Blogger/Google to host your blog (and I could name dozens of porn stars who do) and you’re promoting porn, be prepared to be shut down at any time.
COP Blog has relaunched on WordPress.
Wyler Nation has gone down! I hope it’s just temporary.
Oh. It’s back.
Multiple music blogs were recently shut down in Europe and Google/Blogger were interviewed by the Guardian. They gave the main reasons on why blogs are shut down: Copyright, complains, link farms, underage images, suspect spam.
In the interview with the Guardian, blogger said its not so much a blog that makes money off its links, its a blog whose main purpose is to make money and to not use the blog for anything other than that. They are usually easy to spot and if you go back after a few weeks, they are usually gone.
I dont buy this thing that google is targeting gay blogs. After all, the slew of blogs that went down in Europe was for copyright with music, and a slew of blogs went down in South American for copyright with Fashion. Considering how many gay adult blogs post pictures and videos from the pay studios, is it surprising that some of them go down? Consider Corbin Fisher. In the past I know Colt was doing it too.
In addition, about 1/4 of the gay blogs that go down have “Boy” “Teen” and other names that suggest underage.
There are well over 100 million blogs. If less than a 1000 gay blogs have gone down, and the same amount in other subjects, like music, is anyone really being singled out?
Blogger/blogspot has shut down a SLEW of gay blogs. Just have a look at
http://googlebloggerclosesgayblogs.blogspot.com/
without the space between the L and O obviously. Maybe that’s the logic of putting a space after 15 characters, so you can’t post URLs.
It happened to SteveCruzXXX.Blogspot.com last summer, 4 years of blogging lost, which to some is a Godsend! I found it depressing then I moved on… see I didn’t read the fine print double speak on Google.com until after they pulled the plug. If you want to talk about porn in any way and link to a commercial site, if you are an affiliate then here’s what you have to do.
1. leave Blogger.com immediately
2. secure adult friendly hosting, like CertifiedHosting.com (its about $10 a month, totally worth it) or Google Adult Friendly Servers and find a cheaper service.
3. Visit WordPress.org and download the free blog package
4. Upload to your server using an FTP client like Dreamweaver, FileZilla ect., following the instructions is easy and once you get it on the server takes less than 5 minutes to activate.
5. Choose your Theme from WordPress free themes or do like I did and buy an interesting theme from a 3rd party vendor with OCMX driven widgets. Your site looks more like a custom site but its customizable template.
6. Never look back
Oh and DO NOT use WordPress.com and set up a blog hosted on their server, there you will find the same problem as on Blogger.com. See its the hosting of adult images and the cross links to porn commerce that makes Google and WordPress a target. They dont want any of that…once you’re hosted on your own Adult friendly server you’re free.
You can check out what I recreated on SteveCruzBlog.com
100 times better than any shitty Blogger template… they did me a favor. Only wish I would have taken advice of other bloggers before me before I lost 4 years of ‘work’. GOOD LUCK GUYS!
Excellent advice! Frankly, I have no sympathy for bloggers that use a free service and then complain when the service provider shuts them down for not following the established policies. As Steve wrote, it’s relatively easy to run your own site. If you can follow step-by-step instructions, you can set up a site.
If you can’t afford $50-60 per year and an hour or so to set up a site, you shouldn’t be blogging.
Incest?! Does that include identical twins!?