Tech Tonic

Some commenters warned me that I could be violating the Google AdSense terms of service with the first ever “contest” post on this blog.

However, I felt otherwise and emailed AdSense support for some guidance. I got an unhelpful automated response and decided to leave it at that. Today though, I received an email from them threatening to shut down my account:

Publishers are not permitted to encourage users to click on Google ads or bring excessive attention to ad units. (Full email here.)

Here is my email response:

from Abhimanyu Radhakrishnan mail {at} techtonic {dot} info
to adsense-support@google.com,
date Wed, Apr 9, 2008 at 3:51 AM
subject Re: Issue # 372209 Google AdSense

Dear AdSense Support,

Firstly, I’d like to remind you that I voluntarily brought this to your notice through query #258677301 some days ago.

Secondly, I have decided NOT to change the content of my post because in no way does it (in my opinion) violate the spirit of the ToS. It is clearly a sarcastic statement in a humourous context, clearly related to the content of that particular post: (http://www.techtonic.info/2008/03/01/march-08-contest/).

It is blindingly obvious to anyone who reads the post that there is no malicious intention to direct readers to clicking the ads. Nowhere else on the site, is there any attempt to encourage readers to click ads. My site has all original content and is not in the SEO business. I have no intention of changing the content and will gladly face the consequences.

Best Wishes
Abhimanyu

Agree with my stance? Disagree? Comments?