Comments on: How Google can and does screw small business

By: Brent Bonet

Brent Bonet — Mon, 23 Mar 2009 16:56:48 +0000

I've been using MediaTemple's Grid Service and I've found it to be flexible and cost effective. Of course I don't have the traffic or business critical uses you have and my blog is through WordPress. Maybe you should check it out and consider a switch?

By: John Wilker

John Wilker — Thu, 12 Mar 2009 14:42:41 +0000

I completely agree. I'm quickly becoming a google hater over this. It's clear google has been given/taken too much authority and doesn't know how to be an upstanding net citizen with it. I'm really hoping @mattcutts can help us out, but guessing it's another "Don't speak to the little people" thing so we won't know.

It makes me wonder if people would opt out of being spidered by google, in exchange for not being under their thumb. Definitely sucks that they're free to interfere with business how and when they like.

I really wish I knew more lawyers, cuz this type of thing definitely feels actionable.

By: Nick Kwiatkowski

Nick Kwiatkowski — Thu, 12 Mar 2009 03:48:08 +0000

This is exactly why I don't trust, or take advice from these companies that act so unprofessionally. Companies like GoDaddy, Google, etc. have entirely too much power, and don't know how to use it. Sure, they try to do good by blocking or disabling sites that are potentially bad, but at the same time, they don't do the research into the sites they are blocking, nor do they offer a way to clear your name. This is exactly like SpamHaus if they block your legitimate mailing list because somebody marked the email as spam instead of deleting it.

If GoDaddy would have thought your domain hosted spam or malware, they would have disabled your domain (of course, offering you no easy way to get it back). Google marks it as spam in Firefox (yet another reason why I really don't like FireFox). At least more professional companies like Yahoo offer an easy way to get your site off the list in a matter of minutes, not weeks.

Sorry, but the Goog has a habit of abusing their powers that people have entrusted in them, but the geek population just follows them blindly. I don't understand it.. I really don't.

By: John Wilker

John Wilker — Mon, 09 Mar 2009 17:49:15 +0000

Yeah exactly. Google has taken it upon themselves, and doesn't provide a mechanism to "fix" the problem once they've marked you. I'm ok if Google wants to be the police, but they owe it to the community to make it as easy to be unmarked as it is to be marked. "Several weeks" is harmful to our business. If Google isn't going to make it easier to fix, they should let sites opt out of being tracked as malware (which would kill their entire offering of course)

It's definitely a crappy situation, and having no power to act is the worst part.

By: Brian

Brian — Mon, 09 Mar 2009 17:38:31 +0000

Yeah that's similar to being put on an email blacklist, too, maintained by a third party. Maybe they should have a system to allow businesses to register to prove their authenticity and then give them faster response times.

By: John Wilker

John Wilker — Mon, 09 Mar 2009 17:27:17 +0000

I agree mostly. The fault for the hacking is the hosting company. 100% I totally agree. However Google can flag us in a matter of days (without even bothering to speak to us mind you), and it "takes several weeks to un flag you, and we won't speak to you about it" so now that we're clean, and malware free, we're still screwed. That's all Google, not taking responsibility for their role.

We didn't opt in to have google govern our content. Safari and Firefox both listen to google, though we never agreed for Google to be involved. Since they've taken it upon themselves to govern, but don't want to be responsible for the impacts it has on people.

It sucks that Google has the authority to dictate what's safe, but not willing to help innocent victims rectify things.

By: Brian

Brian — Mon, 09 Mar 2009 17:15:42 +0000

The fault here lies more with the hosting site then with Google. That's why security should be a high priority.

By: John Wilker

John Wilker — Mon, 09 Mar 2009 16:35:19 +0000

I don't know how to respond, LOL

By: Eric Schmidt

Eric Schmidt — Mon, 09 Mar 2009 15:42:08 +0000

John, I'm sorry that we've had to flag you as malware – but you're what we consider collateral damage. Google is in charge of maintaining order within the universe, and of the billions of sites we have to analyze and keep tabs on…sometimes we get false positives.

When you grow 360 Conferences to Google Size – you'll understand…