09 March, 2011

Don't press the PANIC button yet!





1. The WordPress blog is temporarily suspended (NOT permanently deleted as some of you assumed)

2. Whoever decided to “deactivate” (that's the term they use) the blog, did so WITHOUT sending a notification, warning etc. beforehand.
Judging from the message in the dashboard, these people have absolutely NO IDEA what they're doing.
Have a look for yourselves and pay attention to the text within the red rectangle.
Now focus on the 2nd sentence mentioning “affiliate links promotion, get rich quick programs, banner ads”.
Hello, reality check here: The blog(s) is a) “Personal” and b) Strictly music related. 
Where exactly are those banners/get rich schemes/whatever to justify such claims? Do you see any Advertisements around? How about those annoying pop-ups redirecting to God knows what? Anything, ANYTHING AT ALL to indicate profit making?
NO, NO and hmmmmm NO!

3. Surely, it was a nasty surprise but there are ways to bypass these restrictions and get everything back running.
I admit I was a bit concerned the first few hours, I almost didn't enjoy last night's game - almost... Barcelona's stellar performance took my mind off it ENTIRELY ;)

4. I'm currently in the process of picking a web hosting service and settle this once and for all; I'll let you know as soon as possible.
In the meantime, all new CD-rips will be posted on the Baywords Blog

9 comments:

Tonyfan said...

hi there -21grams!

I think file sharing sites count as affilate links, this could be the problem.

I hope you can sort it out.

Constantly Illuminated said...

I think getting personal satisfaction from spreading the word about great bands counts as profit making.

The lawyers will take swift action to ensure that all the illicitly-gained satisfaction is returned in the form of billion dollar damage payments.

Best of luck!

-21grams said...

Spot-on!
also, the wittiest comment ever left - on this blog anyway...

Anonymous said...

Do what you gotta do man, keep safe and keep on rock'n!

I'm pretty sure anyone that visits your blog(s) are music enthusiasts and have a large collection of albums purchased legally which is expanding due to this blog as its a great way for many to discover and preview some great music.

Anonymous said...

man, the other site was full of advertisements (not on the main page but when you entered a file). What is it that you say there were not?
We are not blind.
(It was good to add advertisements since you make such an extraordinary work but my problem is that you try to make fool of ourselves trying to convince us that something which we all saw never existed ...)

-21grams said...

A couple of days ago I replied to a reader who goes by the (nick)name “Constantly Illuminated” for leaving an intriguing comment, something that doesn't happen very often.
I should have kept my mouth shut, I think I jinxed it!
Judging from the anonymous message right above this one, you might say we've reached a new low :x
Maybe it's due to poor English comprehension, who knows?
The fact remains:
Deliberately or not, I'm being accused of concealing the truth. No, worse, deceiving the unsuspected readers.
If that's not misrepresentation, I don't know what is.
I am, however, willing to give this guy the benefit of the doubt. After all, you can't blame someone for being ignorant...

Let's get things straight, shall we?
[Do excuse the slightly sarcastic tone I'm about to use, but after what I've read I think I'm entitled to]
First and foremost:
Blogs and File Hosting Services are two separate things which serve different purposes and should NOT be identified.
The advertisements you refer to, are part of the latter, NOT the blog.
Whenever you click on a Download Link, you're being redirected to a specific File Hosting Site.
[I make sure the name is included in the link, so you know which one beforehand]
Am I to be held responsible about THEIR business policy? Do you honestly believe that?
Ask anyone. When it comes to free users, the vast majority of such services impose time restrictions, require “CAPTCHA” codes to be entered and of course show advertisements!
(btw, If you happen to know a site that offers similar services and at the same time is ad-free, then by all means inform us)

Now, last time I checked I was NOT a stockholder in either one of those sites.
Which means that a. I don't have a say in whether they have ads or not and b. I have NOTHING to gain.
Consequently, your “It was good to add advertisements since you make...” argument, implying I'm making a profit out of this, is not only INVALID but an insult to intelligence!
In fact, it couldn't be further from truth.
You see, there are some benefits (should I call them “fringe benefits”?) from uploading on certain -not all- hosting sites:
A reward system in which a (registered) user can earn “points” each time a file of his/hers is downloaded.
When you reach a certain figure, these points can be redeemed for a premium membership or -more rarely- real money.
How ironic.
By providing 3 or 4 mirrors for each archive, the chances of accumulating points are minimized.
To put it another way, I don't think I'll be getting any “gifts” in the near future.

There you have it, now it's my turn to give an advice:
Before you jump to any conclusions or, even worse, start pointing your finger at someone, make sure you got your facts right.

Anonymous said...

Got ya!
After these explanations an apology seems to be in order.
However, if you read again your initial message you 'll realize that the source of the misunderstanding was your own words...
Anyway, keep up the good work...

Just kill Bieber said...

Hi my friend. Just to let you know that the baywards blog is down. I imagine you aleardy knew it, but just in case.

Take care

-21grams said...

To be honest, I wasn't aware of the situation.
I was too busy (still am actually) ripping & scanning the Saxon CDs, plus the *new* blog has my utmost attention nowadays...

Upon reading your message, I tried accessing Baywords to no avail.
I gave it another try. Then another, and another and another.
Nothing, it seemed hopeless.
Thoughts about
shady organizations -allegedly fighting “piracy”- dealing another blow, started to cross my mind.
And just when I'd given up completely, it miraculously came back!
Can't imagine what could have caused such a problem, but let's face it:
Uptime reliability is not exactly Baywords' greatest asset :P
For all I know it might have been an update/upgrade of some kind, the main thing is that it's WORKING now.
For how long, no-one can tell ;)