We Have Been Tumbld…
Well you have all seen the result of today’s Tumblr Slap and it was pretty much like bringing an Uzi to a synchronized swimming competition to keep back the crowds (always wondered how I would get those two things in the same paragraph)… Marco (from Tumblr) has obviously gone a little gung-ho and mass deleted a lot of good content as well as deservedly removed some of the crap.
but… DON’T PANIC!!!
What you are learning here is a methodology, Tumblr was an example of a Web 2.0 site we should be posting content on, (and sadly one that doesn’t want the extra traffic), there are plenty more places to give good quality content to.
For now, Tumblr, we will miss you, and we apologize for the inconvenience we caused. It was not intended.
Anyway, Ed or I will be discussing more on this in the next post. But for now… take a deep breath…
August 18th, 2007 at 7:41 pm
Their loss! I had some damn fine content on there. He could have been a bit more discerning, but never mind!
Lisa
August 18th, 2007 at 7:45 pm
Exactly, but as they say, it’s his pot, and he can choose who can piss in it… (I’m sure it’s something like that lol)
Dan
August 18th, 2007 at 8:02 pm
Are they accepting any new sign-ups and posters that you know of?
August 18th, 2007 at 8:06 pm
Good thing I used my experience online to spread my niches around. I didn’t check my 2 Tumblr blogs, but my blogger one is working just fine.
August 18th, 2007 at 8:14 pm
I’ve already got my 2 niches set up on two different platforms. Don’t really feel like we lost much ground. But I’m staying off the social news networks for now (especially Netscape) until things are a little clearer to me.
August 18th, 2007 at 8:30 pm
No worries Ed. It’s a small bump in the road. It’s not going to stop The Thirty Day Challenge. As they say back home, “There is more than one way to skin a cat”! (No cats were harmed during the typing of this reply)
August 18th, 2007 at 8:39 pm
How nice that we have a place to voice our concern about this Tumblr thing. (I guess they, Tumblr, are too afraid to open a public forum on this issue themselves.) Unfortunately, they effectively lost a LOT of honest people in this attempt to block out 30DC participants. I have one question for them but it seems that they will not give anybody the chance to speak publicly to them. That question is this:
Why didn’t you take the opportunity to make an impact in the internet community for fairness (which doesn’t seem to be your concern), and give all the honest people a chance to “clean up” their blogs to your specifications before tossing them out (your own terms said people would have something like 18 hours to comply before being banned)? I post this here because Tumblr is playing just as dirty as those they were accusing, many innocent bloggers that were just learning to use their service (by linking to this page). I got here through their arrogant link. You think that’s going to give you a good reputation on the internet; smearing your self-labeled “success” without any compassion for those doing this with 100% good intentions?
My blog (as well as a large majority in this group) had very helpful content to offer your service. Mine in particular would be helping those suffering from a devastating disease which doesn’t have a lot of exposure out there.
There are enough people involved with good intentions here that even if anybody made it through this ban, I hope they will ban your service for unfair play. There ARE two sides to every story. I’m sure the public will get a chance to hear of the unfortunate way you dealt with this situation.
Lastly, thank you Ed, Dan and all the others who never intended to cause “harm” to Tumblr’s service… if nothing else, you were promoting them. Guess they won’t be able to benefit from your compliments now.
August 18th, 2007 at 8:50 pm
c’est la vie… tomorrow’s another day.
The principles are sound, so long term this is just a blip on the radar.
I got bumped by Blogger once when putting up a training blog for my team members… They saw sense in the end but consequently I host my blogs on my own domain now…
I’m still behind you guys so I will still be here at day 30 and beyond
Chin up team
August 18th, 2007 at 8:54 pm
Well with both your post and Ed’s video - what a Class Act!
I see you both in smoking jackets, with cravats, puffing on an antique pipe going ‘what ho old chap’…without the twatty association…(lest we’ve got you to cover up that pink thong!)
August 18th, 2007 at 9:04 pm
A year and a half ago Hurricane Wilma ripped the roof off my house in Florida, crushed the back with a 50 foot tall tree and left my yard 10 feet deep in debris. I went 2 weeks without a hot meal or a glass of cold water. Since that time I’ve learned not to sweat the small stuff and be grateful for something as small as a cold glass of water.
I look at this blog glitch as practice toward getting it really right next time. Ed will be the first to say the only way you learn is by screwing up. I’m am grateful from the bottom of my heart for all I am learning during this challenge. My challenge is to learn as much as I can, nothing else.
I’m sitting here tonight under a roof that doesn’t leak and cold glass of water. I’m grateful. Thank you Ed, thank you Dan. You guys are setting a precedence, raising the bar for what the internet community will expect in the future from our gurus. Let’s all think of something we are thankful for having gotten out of this challenge.
That’s my story, and I’m sticking to it!!!
August 18th, 2007 at 9:05 pm
I’m happy to say my blog on Tumblr was not suspended. I rather like the simplicity of that blog so I’ll be happy to stay there.
(perhaps my 2 pieces of content were not so bad after all!)
August 18th, 2007 at 9:44 pm
I am still unclear as to why the cancellations were issued. The content that was written for one of my tumbler blogs was genuine content from personal experience and my brother’s tumblr blogs didn’t even have anything on it yet! What’s the deal? No specific reason was given…just some vague generic mumbo-jumbo. Can someone tell the simple minded exactly what the issue is?
August 18th, 2007 at 9:46 pm
My blogs remain up also but I’ll be moving them now, just due to the attitude this Mario guy had regarding marketers. I’m not spiteful, per se
I’m not going to give his site a stumble thumbs down or waste my time trashing his site, I’ll merely take my traffic elsewhere. He doesn’t seem to want it anyway 
As mentioned above, this is about the process, not specifically which gorgeous friend we take along to the niteclub. There are plenty more gorgeous friends in the sea. Since the process is sound as a pound (assuming the pound is still very sound, it’s been a while since I checked) I know I’ll be using and evolving with the techniques Ed and Dan and the gang have taught us for many moons to come, and that’s what is important to me.
Keep it up…way up
August 18th, 2007 at 9:56 pm
I worked all afternoon on my two tumblrs before seeing Ed’s message. One stayed, one went. What I learned (other than the obvious) is to save all content. The one that was slapped had good content that I forgot to save to Word file. As a professional writer I know better, but was so wrapped up in the techie side of it.
Well, it’s a big internet and there will be places that value our content. From the interaction I’ve had with fellow 30DC folks, I believe that as a group we had more useful information to offer than the bulk of what is already out there. In doing research on blogs, I have read a pile of junk.
That’s ok, Ed and Dan, you are still our leaders. Anyone who has ever built a business knows it’s not a straight line to the top. In fact, its how you handle the twists and turns that make your business stronger. On we go. . KT
August 18th, 2007 at 10:13 pm
I appreciate that you acknowledge that we are just beginners. I learn from my mistakes. The main problem I see is what mistake did I make to get suspended. I like many others spent several hours on Tumblr and to have this happen was like being hit by a brick right in the face. I am not going to leave because of this…I just would like an explanation that is it.
I love this 30DC and I will stick it out…..
August 18th, 2007 at 10:33 pm
Maybe the reason blogs are not getting deleted (and mine is still there) is that Marco at Tumblr took a closer look at what’s really being taught (it’s all in the public record) and figured out we are not all “spammers”.
Could be, stranger things have happened…
August 18th, 2007 at 10:58 pm
There’s a lesson here: stop wasting your valuable time building up someone else’s web property that you ultimately have no control over.
August 18th, 2007 at 11:24 pm
Perhaps if the old boys at Tumblr were to let you preview, then publish your blog, then they would not recieve so much unwanted content. Unless I missed a publish button somewhere. Be well anyway everyone.
August 18th, 2007 at 11:25 pm
Thanks Ed,
It took a lot of guys to put that video up..
I’ll see ya on Monday.
I learned more in the past 18 days that what I’ve paid for in 2 years and that’s been in the thousands.
greg
August 18th, 2007 at 11:47 pm
I’m fortunate and my heart goes out to all those whose content was lost. I’ve been a little behind and haven’t signed up for Social Poster yet, so I’m not getting traffic to my tumblr site. I heeded your warnings and copied and pasted all my updated content into Wordpad on my PC in case my page gets deleted. I do plan to go ahead and start social bookmarking on Sunday morning, so if I get banned I still have my content to use on another site. I write most all my content in Notepad or Wordpad, then copy and paste it into a post or article site. I tend to tweak it after I paste it, however. So now, I’m copying any edited versions back to Wordpad for safekeeping.
I never trust online editors anyway because my connection can go down without warning. It seems they’re always working on the cable system lately and we lose our connection nearly every day at some point. I’ve lost too much data to leave everything to a single online editor if it’s important.
I really hate it that Tumblr did this to so many of us, and I may well be next…
August 18th, 2007 at 11:50 pm
Like some of the others above, I have one in and one out. Am I upset about this? No way! Things like this happen in real life. Live with it and learn from it. And the first lesson should be ‘always back everything up’! (Computing 101.) I’m sure Ed and the others will show us a way around this which will be another learning experience, (and I am sincerely hoping they don’t cancel the challenge because of this) and we should be intelligent enough to find ways ourselves, even if we are newbies. Just apply what we have already learned! A simple google search on ‘where to blog’ gave 372,000,000 results and ‘how to blog’ 674,000,000! (Definitely not a niche area!) Like Helen McClary (above) said so beautifully, worry about the REALLY important things in life. We are being taught by the masters and those that have brought this ’slap’ on should be hung, drawn and quartered - at least!
This challenge should not be a race to ’see who makes $10 first’, it should be looked upon as the beginning of a wonderful journey, one that will last many years, one that we will continually learn from and one that will give us many rewards, the least of which is monetary.
What I am most concerned about is Ed’s reputation in the IM world. I sincerely hope this Tumblr slap doesn’t adversely affect him and the others. It would be devastating for them and therefore the challenge (and possible future challenges) if they are fined or banned from other areas of Web 2.0 or worse!
August 19th, 2007 at 12:40 am
I absolutely hate this, it really is a shame. Ed and his team has created the 30 day challenge to help anyone build a successful online business and make life a lot easier for everyone. And yet some people still have the nerve to spam and stuff. I hope they never make anything but trouble for themselves…sorry for being so nasty but this drives me nuts.
I’m been in internet marketing for over 5 years, learning several different methods with little success here and there, but I have never been to the point of being deceitful or spammy. It’s just not worth it.
Anyways, I have checked my tumbler account and my accounts are still there but I have decided to make a change as there is another web 2.0 platform that I been wanting to use but just never had the time.
This maybe one of the other platforms that Ed will mention, anyways its very user friendly - a drag and drop type of platform. It offers many different features and should definitely fit the bill for the 30 day challenge.
Weebly.com
I hope none of these idiots see this, don’t want to see weebly do a slap.
Anyways, hope this helps.
Mike
August 19th, 2007 at 12:43 am
Hey Crew,
Well, it was good experience — I reviewed thier policy and several tumblr SITES and several either are poor taste or just really nothing! Its a shame - like using a scatter gun to knock out a Sherman tank … oh well. I have my phases and great content in WORD saved. And great come back and apology Dan and Ed!
GW
One of ‘trial’ content mini post on my reg. Blog just hit Google 49 hours after I posted …
August 19th, 2007 at 12:58 am
I have been working around the clock, 24/7 for days now, on getting ready to publish my first Tumblr as I will be promoting a product of my own. I am sorry that I missed the Tumblr experience in the 30DC as it seems to be over before I started, but will be back when the smoke clears to explore the platform.
I wanted to take this opportunity to thank you Ed and Dan, Rob and everyone else working with you on the 30DC. For me I have never seen anything like this before, I applaud what you are doing this month of August, and I absolutely stunned by this brilliant experience. I thank you from the bottom of my heart for your gifts to us.
Julie
August 19th, 2007 at 2:04 am
Just my 2 cents about why some blogs were deleted as “Spam” even with good content:
We know for sure that several have had problems to register their “umbrella phrase” because another member already took it… so, we were said to change the umbrella just enough to have the account created… BUT I think THAT is exactly the reason why Tumblr thought we were spamming them! Despite good content, if on the same day several blogs opened on the same subject that definitely smells “fishy”… how would they know we were real different members and not a “mad spammer”? Before blaming them, we have to try to walk in their shoes… Obviously our arrival looked like a spam attack they had to stop asap, we’d probably have done the same thing…
August 19th, 2007 at 2:43 am
don’t worry
after the first disappointment (despair?), the only problems were how to get the content back and where ti put it on the web. Following your lessons, it was really easy 
Tnx a lot to bot of you 
August 19th, 2007 at 3:02 am
Well if life gives you a lemon you just need to learn to make lemonade – is there a marketing phrase in that?
I’m behind every one so haven’t been tossed / banned from Tumblr but just want to add my sixpence to what has been said a few times already.
From my experience its better to write your content offline then just copy and paste into the blog. That way you have an automatic back up of your content (assuming you save it).
Again stating the obvious as I gathered more accounts with different logins and passwords – not all sites allow you to set your own password – I have created a simple excel file that I mail to my Yahoo account on a monthly basis, trust me you wont remember all your sign ups and if your disk crashes you can bet the one file you wont recover is this one.
August 19th, 2007 at 3:14 am
Am I misunderstanding something? My three Tumblr blogs are still up, or they seem to be..? I guess I’d better back them up offline!
Anyway Ed and gang, whatever the case, I personally got the message loud and clear that the content had to be good quality and ethical and as a result I chose to write about subjects I was already passionate about and spent hours and days (as I’m sure most of us have!) trying to work out keyword phrases to fit in with that.
Guys, I felt your message was clear so don’t beat yourself up too much, it’s not all your fault and please take the sincerest of thanks from all the rest of us who were genuinely using Tumblr as you expressed we should.
August 19th, 2007 at 4:02 am
[...] resent Tumbr problems with the Thirty Day Challenge (see We have been Tumbld…) has caused a lot of people to have a re-think on what is really being taught in the challenge — [...]
August 19th, 2007 at 7:31 am
Keep your head up. This is an amazing free education that I think will increase the members’ chances of success in their endeavors. As you have said all along, it’s the fundamentals that you are trying to communicate. As far as tumblr is concerned, it provides a vivid example of how internet marketing can quickly drive visibility and of what not to do.
I love what you are doing, THANK YOU!
P.S.
It would be educational to get some specific examples of those pages they felt were not appropriate. You can’t play by the rules if you don’t know the rules.
August 19th, 2007 at 7:33 am
I guess Tumblr did not have an effect on me. I still have a #8 PR. I’m a new guy and built my text on Google Doc. I guess I am young and dumb and didn’t know I was suppose to build on Tumblr. I didn’t and still don’t know what happened, everything looks the same as before.
I hope the good work of Ed Dale et al is not harmed by this implosion.
I still am working out some dynamite niches. Have to wait to see where to put them.
This has been an amazing event (30DC, that is).
For Clean Water Everywhere,
Richard (alias Bluerunner)
August 19th, 2007 at 7:43 am
I didn’t check before I spoke now I am rated —exact #5PR and broad #6PR.
30DC rocks.
Even an Aggie can do this.
Gig ‘em
An inside Texas joke.
For Clean Water Evrywhere,
Richard (alias Bluerunner)
August 19th, 2007 at 8:05 am
Andre said “Before blaming them, we have to try to walk in their shoes…”
Yep, if I walk a couple of miles in their shoes, I am two miles away AND have their shoes!
Being serious, this IS a learning experience. I know things go wrong. This has gone wrong for me. I also learned that I had better write my content off line and save the little blighter! I may fail the 20 day challenge, but, it is not failing me because I know that if I follow the systems taught here, I WILL succeed eventually.
I appreciate the efforts that Ed, Dan and the others are putting in at no cost to me. This teaches me that *I* need to add value to whatever I offer in order to obtain benefits for myself. People are happy to pay the price if they can see the end result will be of use to them.
Nigel.
August 19th, 2007 at 8:10 am
Hmm, just read that and see I have got finger trouble after drinking wine with dinner. I meant to say THIRTY day challenge.
Nigel.
August 19th, 2007 at 8:37 am
I guess I was lucky as my one blog is still up. I think one of the reasons is that I tried to post content each day or at least every other day. I have also not given a lot of self love as Dan says to the blog. Another thing I did is not only used word content but also posted video content which I found in youtube. This is not to say I am any better just the track I took on doing the blog. I am definitely going to stay for the long haul as this is undoubtably the best program I have come across Also when you consider the time, effort and money Dan and Ed are investing in teaching us how to do this with success and ethics I for one applaud them. If you look around at what some others are marketing and charging thousands for then you will appreciate what they are doing for us.
August 19th, 2007 at 8:47 am
Ed,
As ever, well done.
Problems like this just strengthen the project. No one would want to place all their faith in one single platform and we all have to compete in a world where greedy people operate with short term goals to the detriment of others, like ourselves. So this is a timely, if unwanted, lesson that just makes us all stronger.
Keep up the great work and at the risk of being highly unoriginal - many thanks for doing it!
Hugh
August 19th, 2007 at 10:03 am
Hi Ed & Co
The 30DC is still the best place to be. Through you I got ranked for the first time ever. You truly kick ass.
As far as tumblr is concerned I was just peeved by the arrogant, bitchy way he reacted. I was also a bit rattled by Ed with his first comments houses getting poxed etc. Seemed a bit overboard, as there are a lot of newbies at 30DC who could have inadvertently stumbled (pardon the pun) out of inexperience. Calmed down now after watching todays video by Ed.
This is the best content and instruction I ever got from anybody on the Web. Thanks, it’s great.
Frans
August 19th, 2007 at 10:32 am
Hi Guys,
I am still a little behind so have not put my content up just yet. I will stick with the original plan and see what happens. i am going to try one post per day
I must admit that Tumblr are being stupid. The traffic to their site must be immense. i have not looked at their ALEXA ranking but i bet it is through the roof. They should be crawling to Ed, Dan and Rob and licking their feet and paying them thousands to help them learn the true art of marketing.
Even if this blip is permanent and we have to go elsewhere to post our content, i dont care.
This challenge has taught me how to find and test real traffic potential, and that in itself is worth an absolute goldmine in the future.
Keep going guys. You have given more in the first half of the challenge than all the other “GURUS’ can muster in a year.
I like the way you sell, give first and recieve later.
Richard
August 19th, 2007 at 10:35 am
@ Dan’s remark: Exactly, but as they say, it’s his pot, and he can choose who can piss in it… (I’m sure it’s something like that lol)
Dan
hehehehehehehehe Well, too bad Tumblr probably lost out on a lot of visibility from GOOD CONTENT sites and I bet if they didn’t do this, Tumblr would have had a very good year indeed….
August 19th, 2007 at 10:47 am
Take heart, people, Ed and company are doing a bang-up job. Due to a personal conflict, I am running about a week behind you guys. With other programs, if you weren’t right there when the content was presented, you would have no idea what was going on. With this, I can work at my own pace, no stress, no mess. Content excellent, easy to follow and understand. So what if there was a glitch, there will always be a glitch somewhere. It is how it is handled that makes the difference. Ed Dale’s integrity is above reproach.
KEEP ON TRUCKIN’!
August 19th, 2007 at 11:51 am
Thats what can occur when you use a web 2.0 platform that is hosted elsewhere.
Stick with wordpress and host it on your own hosting account then no one can shut you down except of course your host but that rarely happens
August 19th, 2007 at 1:25 pm
Cheers to everyone finding successes in this challenge. I’m still learning a lot myself, and find myself one of the “lucky?” ones not to have been deleted by Tumblr. However, since it now looks a little scary to be there, not knowing if or when it could still happen, I plan to move on to another location, too… maybe back to Blogger.
Don’t know if anyone would be interested, but I found something similar to Social Poster, called OnlyWire.com.
One thing that really cracks me up is the list of featured Tumblelogs on the Home page of Tumblr. I looked at every one of them to help me figure out what format I would like to use. If anyone should have been removed, I’d vote for most of those. They’re all… how to say this… crap.
August 19th, 2007 at 3:14 pm
Hi 30dc’ers, I agree with all of you that say this is a learning experience and we should accept that. Boy are we learning! I happen to be one of those that did not get dumped from Tumblr, but I do not like what and how they dumped so many of our group. I for one will be taking my business elsewhere. I am so pleased that most of us are being so supportive of Ed and Dan. They are doing such a wonderful job of training us and they are not asking for any money from us. What a wonderful gift!
Dianne
August 20th, 2007 at 12:22 am
Wild horses couldn’t drag me away. A wonderful gift from some wonderful guys!
Being a late starter, I’ve been trying to sign up at the forum for the past 3 days, but it’s been turned off
Could I please be allowed to register at the forum - pretty please.
Sus
August 20th, 2007 at 3:10 am
The Tumblr-Trawl continues. I thought I’d been one of the lucky ones but this morning both of my tumblr blogs are gone. I think they are sweeping just about anyone who has joined in the last few days. I’d agree with RJPeters though about the front page of Tumblr.
August 20th, 2007 at 3:49 am
For anyone (that’s probably everyone) who’s been Tumblr slapped, it’s tempting to ask “Why was my account suspended while others survived? What did I do wrong?”.
Well, if you were following the process carefully and putting up good content then you did nothing wrong. So don’t feel bad.
There’s no way that Marco looked through every blog and decided which ones to suspend and which ones to keep based on a judgement of quality. What he almost certainly did was run an automated program that looked for certain ’signatures’ in the blog titles, content, email addresses and probably time of signup, and just blocked anything that gave a match.
Shame. I actually really liked the Tumblr platform. Guess I won’t be using it again or recommending it.