Could we restrict it to like IPs that have already previously visited and X new lurkers such that X won’t overload our servers?
Theoretically, I suppose. But again, that won’t prevent anybody with a moderately sized botnet from taking us down if they so choose. Firewall rules on the server you’re trying to protect won’t do any good because an attacker will just overload the firewall instead of the web server. End result is the same - a system that can’t handle all the traffic being directed at it.
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I should probably report here that I am spending a few cents per month on our email service.
But, I wanted to ask @spidercrab, what does our budget look like? what do our costs look like? I just would like a general idea of the numbers in my head, and it’s been a little while since I’ve read an update about this (and the forum search software sucks, I really tried to look).
and are we just giving up on the google ads money?
Nobody is giving up on anything, there is just nothing to do. There is no way to contact anybody. There is nobody to appeal to. Google just takes the money. That’s the end of the story.
Google just taking the money seems so bizarre! Surely there’s something that can be done?
Google basically runs the world they can do whatever they like
Yeah, it’s fucking awful no matter how small the amount.
Pre-internet people used to joke about governments eventually taxing the air. Well, google has pretty much done that.
Ok, I have re-read the old posts involving this and understand. I did not mean to offend. But, I still would like a sense of how this happened so we don’t run into it again. I get that their support sucks.
I really doubt we ever run ads here - but with the amount of pageviews we get, I mean, it seems like burning money to me (something I hate).
I’m not sure if ad and money stuff really falls under the realm of my responsibilities, but I would really like a sense of what our costs are and what we are taking in, just to give me an idea of what our capabilities are.
So far the costs I have are:
DO droplet - $40/mo
DNS - $12/year
Mail - $0.80/1000 emails (we send only a few a day)
Am I missing anything?
Given the small traffic in the two threads, it might make sense to merge this one with the Donations thread where I’ve been talking about both donations and expenditures. This is the last update:
I’m currently the one paying DigitalOcean, and it looks like it’s around $45-$50 per month. (I think I’ve only paid one month so far, so I’m not sure if there’s any fluctuation in that amount.) @simplicitus pays the domain fees, and has chosen not to be reimbursed. (Thanks!) I’m not sure what other fees there are - you mentioned paying out some very small amounts for reasons I don’t exactly understand.
[Edit: The December 2020 invoice from DigitalOcean has 3 components:
- a $40 fee for Droplets, whatever that is
- a $2.69 fee for Droplet Snapshots, whatever that is
- a $5 fee for Spaces (250GB storage and 1TB bandwidth)
I assume that the $40 and $5 are fixed, and that the Snapshot will increase with the size of the site?]
As far as ad money goes, we continue to be stuck in limbo. Here’s what I see when I log into the AdSense account:
So the money continues to sit in this account, but not accessible by us. I believe the primary issue is that Google is waiting for billing information from zikzak, but he’s tried to send it multiple times and it’s never worked.
Do any of the west coast people have any connections at Google? The dollars are small potatoes, but it’s very frustrating to not get money we’re entitled to.
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Ok, that makes sense to me now. Thank you! Don’t worry about the small amounts, I don’t need reimbursement.
As long as we’re cash positive and have wiggle room, in case biden dies or gets assassinated or something and I have to temporarily resize the droplet. Or in case we (somehow) start growing.
Re: google, I know a few people that work there on the tech side. I can probably reach out to them and see if they have any inside channels I could use.
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No, the snapshot was a one-time cost when we moved to a team account. We don’t currently have or need one and won’t have a recurring charge for it. Hosting should be a fixed $45/month unless something changes.
No, the issue is the PIN they claim to have sent 4 times never arrived and you are only allowed 4 requests. After that they take your money because fuck you they’re Google.
Per precedent, it does not. I took the advertising on because nobody else was willing to when microbet stepped down. All of the other financial stuff is the treasurer’s responsibility.
zikzak, did they give you the option to fill out this form after your PIN postcards were never received? (youtube ref)
No, of course not.
I can assure you all that I have already spent many many many hours pursuing every possible avenue. The situation is that Google has decided they don’t need to bother resolving whatever went wrong because they can just keep the money instead and likely suffer no consequences. They do this all the time.
Google has already settled a class action suit once over a near identical issue, and that likely cost them far less than what they stole in the first place.
If you look at the support forum for AdSense you will see dozens of posts made weekly, if not daily, from people not getting their PIN, not getting paid, having accounts closed, etc. The sheer volume and repetition of these posts suggests that at least some significant percentage are entirely legitimate complaints. Yet none of those posts are ever resolved or even addressed because it is Google policy to never have any staff reply to posts on their own fucking support forum. Literally. All they do is close topics because fuck you they’re Google.
Stealing money from publishers is a key part of the AdSense business model. They let people run lots and lots of ads for as long as possible, then they deny payment for whatever reason they choose, or no reason at all. Doesn’t matter because there is no way to contact anybody. You don’t like it? Fuck you. They’re Google.
zikzak is right, seems to be a common problem. my google friend told me “lol good luck”
It’s slightly less effective than pissing in the ocean, but Firefox is a fine browser, Bing is a very good a search engine, and Yahoo email accounts work the same as every other free email service.
Tweeting Various Google accounts may be worth a try
They ignored my complaints on their own public platform so I can’t imagine they’re going to gaf what gets said on somebody else’s. You’re welcome to try if you like. The publisher ID is pub-5649651874442819.
To maybe put this in perspective, these are all posts from today. This is just ONE DAY of complaints, about just this one issue. None of these have received a reply, most of them have been locked.
I’ve requested about 4 pins and still haven’t gotten one, I just need help figuring out the problem?
I’ve Requested more than 3 pins and waited months and still haven’t received anything.
My pin did not arrive
My pin did not arrive even though I requested a new one multiple times
how do i verify my adsense PIN
I requested 4 PIN and never reached in my address.
I have verified my account though the deposit amount, but am still on hold for a PIN number.
I verified the deposit amount that was deposited, but didn’t get anything in the mail for a PIN number. I’m worried that if it don’t get the payout soon the account will not work out.
address verificatin PIN did not arive yet.
Dear sir,
my address verification PIN Did not arive yet .My youtube chanel full fill the your criteria on june 2020.I have not receive verification PIN yet.Please send the verification PIN .
No i don’t receive my pin yet i m so worried bcz i contact post office, post man but they don’t know
No i don’t receive my address verification (pin) yet i m so worried bcz i contact post office, post man but they don’t know about this and my address is accurate and no option to verify pin online i don’t understand what to do
Not yet received my pin ,request manual verification
Still havent received my Pin & its been 4 months.I have requested the pin more than 3 times already Please Help
I have never received my pin, and when I changed my account and home address I never received a repl
Pin! I changed my address because I had never received the first pin. But even when I tried to request a replacement the system shows it was send on Dec 11 but up to now, I have never received it.Even payments I had to put my bank account but never received the payments.
What do I need to do to verify my Account and get my payments?
That’s 8 nearly identical complaints in just 24 hours and it goes on like this day after day, month after month. They are clearly just fucking stealing money from people.
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Yea while I was researching this I saw a lot of them. On quora too, there’s horror stories. Of course google shills hop in to defend the crap out of them.
Fuckin’ wild.
So gross. Jfc.