(ACTIVIST POST) As many of you already know, this site was taken down by Blogger this past Friday. It came as a shock to us and our loyal readers. Given the controversial topics that we cover, it’s perfectly understandable to speculate that Google removed us as a form of blunt censorship. Indeed, that’s precisely what we thought happened.
We’re eternally grateful to those who made the story of our removal go viral. Regardless of the actual reason Google erased this site, the power of the alternative community was proven this weekend. The incredible support and buzz generated by this story seemed to influence Google to respond quickly, and Activist Post was fully restored Sunday evening.
Here is the exact quote from their engineer:
I’m an engineer on blogger. I’d like to apologise on behalf of the team for the removal of activistpost.com. The removal was caused by an automated process, and we restored the blog as soon as the issue was brought to our attention.
Activist Post was started modestly on Blogger in June 2010 by average people who could no longer stand by quietly while the world descended further into the clutches of tyranny. Because of the unyielding passion and conviction of truth, peace, and liberty activists, and the solidarity of the alternative news community, we quickly exploded beyond anything we could have imagined. Until now, Blogger has served us well.
For the past few months we have discussed moving to an independent platform to avoid this exact scenario. This situation, however debilitating, has created the opportunity for us to do just that. Additionally, we realized that our content has outgrown our template’s ability to organize it properly. Over the next couple of weeks we will roll out our new platform. In the meantime, we’ll continue our work as usual.
We are overwhelmed by the outpouring of support during this shutdown. Many amazing people from around the world in the alternative news community offered us servers and technical support. Our stellar contributors and loyal readers made their voices heard loud and clear that censorship will not be tolerated. We are humbled and more motivated than ever because of your heartfelt support.
Despite the tremendous challenges facing humanity, this situation proved to us that the human spirit, powered by truth and principle, is invincible. We know now, more than ever, that peace, love, and liberty will indeed prevail over the darkness that currently shadows our world. They cannot stop us when we work together, for we are many and they are few.
http://www.activistpost.com/2011/09/statement-from-activist-post-regarding.html
http://www.google.com/support/forum/p/blogger/thread?tid=026d23b1667a1bad&hl=en
How do I access(‘un-delete’) my wolfblitzzer0 blog ? Your robot said last week it realizes I’m not a robot ? Edit
Tony Ryals
Level 1
9/27/11
Short description of problem:
Dear Google blogger,
Besides your email to me below I have also received the message when I
log into my wolfblitzzer0 blog that,’ We received your unlock request
on September 21, 2011. On behalf of the robots, we apologize for
locking your non-spam blog. Please be patient while we take a look at your
blog and verify that it is not spam.’
I indeed hope this is the case and my blog will be up and running AGAIN SOON
SO I CAN POST.My newer ‘political and science rhymes’ blog is functioning.Thanks.
Sincerely,
Tony Ryals
http://www.blogger.com/unlock-blog.g?lockedBlogID=7909776743335041735
Blogger’s spam-prevention robots have detected that your blog has
characteristics of a spam blog. (What’s a spam blog?) Since you’re an
actual person reading this, your blog is probably not a spam blog.
Automated spam detection is inherently fuzzy, and we sincerely
apologize for this false positive.
We received your unlock request on September 21, 2011. On behalf of
the robots, we apologize for locking your non-spam blog. Please be
patient while we take a look at your blog and verify that it is not
spam.
Find out more about how Blogger is fighting spam blogs.