Anyone who likes to think it can’t happen to them doesn’t understand the point of this author’s article on how he was dropped from the AdSense program. He doesn’t believe anything he could have done would have prevented Google from sacking him from the AdSense program. Ah, yes, AdSense, the program we all love to hate or hate to love. Guess it depends on the kind of month you’re having.

In the instance of the above author, my heart breaks for him as he, like so many, seriously went into business believing Google would not dump him using AdSense on YouTube. It’s a common mistake, but in the end the biggest factor getting people dumped from AdSense is their using it on sites not well suited for what is being delivered in the advertising. Not all the time, but if it happens enough I suspect you can find yourself without AdSense fairly quickly. But in this case, I’ve looked at the videos he shared and it’s clear that he is not moderating his comments effectively. There’s spam, cursing, and hateful comments all over the place in the comments section of this video. Remember, he’s getting his primary source of revenue from these videos….

Photo by Podknox

Then as I read more into his article, I began to see what I suspect was the nail in his AdSense coffin. He’s casually said that he was compensated if his subscribers broke one of AdSense’s cardinal rules. Bad idea. I had someone I know make this mistake and lose his earnings, too. Google doesn’t play around — sad, but once you ask folks to make this choice, it’s over.

Here is where I have a problem though.

1) This was his primary source of income. This by itself, was dangerous. Perhaps this was the only way for him, but like most jobs, I consider it to be extremely dangerous to put your eggs into one basket.

2) Because this was his primary source of income, wouldn’t it stand to reason that one might do some checking to find out how dangerous it might be to get kicked out? I mean, Google is littered with horror stories about breaking the rules, so it doesn’t seem all that unlikely that a guy might want to do some homework here.

3) He’s angry because he broke a rather obvious rule. Even without reading the terms of service, would it not stand to reason to understand the mechanics of how the AdWords/AdSense system works? Seems like if an advertiser is charged for each “window view” of their page, they might like to make sure those visitors are qualified rather than enticed into doing something openly illicit?

Everything from his lack of moderation in YouTube comments to his lack of understanding that AdSense/AdWords is a pay per click marketplace tells me that this was a bad match to begin with.

Now in defense of the author of the article sharing his AdSense banning, I will say this. First off, Google needs to make the (terms of service) TOS much more apparent as, clearly, less tech savvy folks are not getting it. Second, banning this guy before the holidays was low class. Third, I believe any of us would be bitter in his shoes no matter how much we might like to say otherwise. He lost thousands of dollars, both now and in projected revenue.  So seeing him fume is quite understandable. Last, I agree with him on the TOS. It’s pure evil and putting any kind of trust in it is dangerous.

So there you have it. Today we learned that Google has a zero tolerance policy on anything it doesn’t like. If money is tied to it, you will have your backside hung out to dry faster than you can hang up a wet towel. And to Mr. Atkin, who lost so much right before the holidays, I think it’s fantastic that you took the time to share your story and warn others. But sir, please read the fine print before placing trust in something that is going to be compensating you. At the very least, Google it.