Squidoo has been undergoing a lot of changes the past few months after a major page rank slap from Google and a serious decrease in earnings for the site and thereby very low payout per tier. As a result, Squidoo has installed a series of filters which have swept the site both giving warnings and then locking lenses (without warnings). Like many, I received both warnings and locked lenses. Some I edited and got republished without incident, while others I decided to either delete and give up entirely (severely under performing lenses with little content) or move to other platforms (my blogs, other paid to write sites, etc...).
While Squidoo was undergoing these changes, I didn't really edit any of my lenses or create new ones. I figured I'd ride out the wave and focus on the lenses that were hit by the filter and against Squidoo's new rules and edit/improve my other lenses after things settled down and when I had more time. (Things have been extra crazy at work with no less than 4 trials this summer and lots of craziness on my other cases--in case you cared. )
Today, I received notification from Squidoo that my entire account was locked. I'm not sure whether the e-mail was a boiler plate email that everyone gets (it looks like it) or whether it has details specific to me, but it says that my lenses were SPAM. While I do at times discuss certain products or more accurately other paid to write sites where I have found success, I don't think any of my lenses fall under an accurate definition of SPAM and they all comport to my knowledge and understanding of Squidoo's rules as they have published them. (It has become clear that certain new rules that cause the filters to lock lenses have not been published and the lenses that Squidoo refers readers to after locking their lenses or account are the same ones they've always had.) The one Squidoo violation that I am in some lenses guilty of is forgetting to add an image credit. Without a place to specifically add it when uploading a photo I often forget (and when I was requesting that a locked lens be reinstated, I specifically suggested that all image modules and the like have a place for an image credit).
The big question now is do I try to get my account reinstated or just save all of my lenses and republish them elsewhere? Before its fall, Squidoo was my highest earner--with the exceptions of some months where I was very active on Examiner and really raking it in. I think I will save all of my lenses (I only have 7 days to do so) and appeal and take it from there. If they don't reinstate my account, I'll republish elsewhere and then decide if I want to create a new Squidoo account and start from scratch or just focus on other platforms.
Have you had your Squidoo account locked? What was your experience?
