Could this be the reason they zapped me?

TimothyW · 03-03-2009, 12:37 PM

I have been using snipurl.com to shorten my long urls.

Suddenly they dropped (banned?) all of my urls. They also suddenly do not even ackowledge my email addr. as being a registered user.

Have I violated their tos?

Here's what I do/did...

I create a page on synthasite.com (free web-based page editor + free (quasi)hosting (like google docs)). Then I take the (VERRRRY) long url of that page, and shorten it using snip url.

Been going fine for many, many weeks.

Today, all the connections were dropped and I have become persona non grata.

As far as 'spamming' I certainly have not sent out the snip urls to anyone unsolicited. I have not sent any mass emails out either.

The only thing I can think of is, maybe snipurl does not consider any urls generated by synthasite as being "VALID" urls.

Could that be?

I'm confused + frustrated by thei development. Plus, it's gonna be a REALL HEADACHE to go back + untangle/fix all this mess!

Please advise.

Thanks!

-- TW

JohnMcCabe · 03-03-2009, 07:01 PM

My guess is that you may have gotten caught in "friendly fire". A few years ago, another service I was using did the same kind of thing - cut me off without warning or explanation.

Fortunately, I was able to go through my network and get in touch with someone who could explain. What happened was, another rep from the same company spammed the heck out of the service, then launched a DDOS attack when he got caught and shut down. So the company simply shut down every user affiliated with the given company.

The TOS had the standard "any time any reason" language, so they were well within their rights.

It sounds like you may have gotten caught in something similar. Just a guess...

TimothyW · 03-03-2009, 07:31 PM

It turned out to be a false alarm. I think the entire site must've been shut down for a while. Everything's back up now + all my urls work as they did before.

Luckily no one else is on my team -- so the story you related couldn't happen to me. But thanks for the info.

-- TW

03-03-2009, 12:37 PM	#1
TimothyW Senior Warrior Member War Room Member Join Date: Apr 2007 Location: , , . Posts: 1,138 Thanks: 252 Thanked 88 Times in 71 Posts	Could this be the reason they zapped me? I have been using snipurl.com to shorten my long urls. Suddenly they dropped (banned?) all of my urls. They also suddenly do not even ackowledge my email addr. as being a registered user. Have I violated their tos? Here's what I do/did... I create a page on synthasite.com (free web-based page editor + free (quasi)hosting (like google docs)). Then I take the (VERRRRY) long url of that page, and shorten it using snip url. Been going fine for many, many weeks. Today, all the connections were dropped and I have become persona non grata. As far as 'spamming' I certainly have not sent out the snip urls to anyone unsolicited. I have not sent any mass emails out either. The only thing I can think of is, maybe snipurl does not consider any urls generated by synthasite as being "VALID" urls. Could that be? I'm confused + frustrated by thei development. Plus, it's gonna be a REALL HEADACHE to go back + untangle/fix all this mess! Please advise. Thanks! -- TW

03-03-2009, 07:01 PM	#2
JohnMcCabe Happy Hooker War Room Member Join Date: Jun 2007 Location: North of the Peace River, Southwest Florida, USA. Posts: 7,623 Thanks: 2,685 Thanked 4,393 Times in 2,394 Posts Social Networking	Re: Could this be the reason they zapped me? My guess is that you may have gotten caught in "friendly fire". A few years ago, another service I was using did the same kind of thing - cut me off without warning or explanation. Fortunately, I was able to go through my network and get in touch with someone who could explain. What happened was, another rep from the same company spammed the heck out of the service, then launched a DDOS attack when he got caught and shut down. So the company simply shut down every user affiliated with the given company. The TOS had the standard "any time any reason" language, so they were well within their rights. It sounds like you may have gotten caught in something similar. Just a guess...
	Salad is not food. Salad is what food eats... -- The REAL PETA, People for Eating Tasty Animals "I did not fight my way to the top of the food chain to eat tofu!"

03-03-2009, 07:31 PM	#3
TimothyW Senior Warrior Member War Room Member Join Date: Apr 2007 Location: , , . Posts: 1,138 Thanks: 252 Thanked 88 Times in 71 Posts	Re: Could this be the reason they zapped me? It turned out to be a false alarm. I think the entire site must've been shut down for a while. Everything's back up now + all my urls work as they did before. Luckily no one else is on my team -- so the story you related couldn't happen to me. But thanks for the info. -- TW