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So, when myspace deleted my profile, I wasn’t actually sure that’s what has actually happened. After all, I simply couldn’t log in, I had no way to know it was deleted.  Here’s the email I recieved from myspace regarding my inability to login.

This is a long email, and it’s not til’ the very end, that they mention the possibility (mind you, just a possibility), that my profile may have been deleted. Here it is, in all it’s hilarity (good part bolded at the end):

If you already have an account, there could be several reasons why you cannot login.

Please read carefully over the following solutions that may help you with your login problems:

CLEARING YOUR COOKIES

Please verify that you are logging in with the correct password and username. We also recommend clearing your browser’s cookies and temporary internet files and then try logging in again.

Often, changing internet browsers can do the trick. For example, try Internet Explorer if you are using AOL. Note: Mac users should use Safari or Firefox for the best browsing results.

Also, try lowering your browsers security settings. If you are using a firewall, try lowering those settings, if possible.

If you have already tried the methods above, check to make sure your profile still exists by finding your profile on the site. Also, look for comments you posted on your friends’ profiles. If you cannot find your profile, it may have been deleted. MySpace may delete profiles if they violate the site’s Terms and conditions. You cannot retrieve a deleted account.

TOO MANY FAILED LOGIN ATTEMPTS

When you cannot login and see the message in red letters “too many failed login attempts". Once you receive this error message you will have to change your email and password settings to correct the issue.  Wait 15 minutes and try to log in again.  If the problem persists, reply to this email for further assistance.

YOUR PASSWORD WAS CHANGED OR YOU FORGOT IT

If you have not done so already, go to myspace.com and click on the link ‘Forgot Password’.  An email will be sent to the email address you used to set up your profile in about 5 minutes.  If you do not receive it within that time, you may have inadvertently entered an incorrect address.  If your problem is logging in, click on "Login Trouble" and choose one of the links listed to address your concern or use the link below to have it sent to your email address:

http://collect.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.retrievepassword&MyToken=3b1fccb8-8d0c-4f64-8428-e4fd5f41899e

1. Enter the email address you signed-up with, and we’ll email your password to you.

2. You’ll receive an email with your password in a few minutes.  Make sure to check your junk/bulk mail folder because sometimes it’s sent there rather than your inbox.

If you do not receive your password, please reply to this message with the URL to your profile, your email address and a salute.

CREATING AND SENDING A SALUTE

1.  A salute listing your friend id.  (A salute is a current photo of you holding a handwritten sign with your friend id.  The friend id is the last set of numbers in your URL in the address bar of your internet browser.  You can find your friend id by using the ‘Search’ link to look for your profile.  There is no need to login to your profile to use this feature.)  This will be used for identification purposes only so please ensure we are able to clearly see your face.

2.  Send the salute as an attachment to an email and include the new email address and password you’d like to use in the message.

We will email your password to you.

Please note that we do not accept birthdates for verification purposes.

If you are a band profile, you are required to submit a salute and send your request to musicsupport@myspace.com.

HAVING PROBLEMS SETTING UP AN ACCOUNT

If you can’t create an account, we recommend deleting your browser’s cookies and temporary internet files and then close all browsers and try signing up again.  (Note: Mac users should use Safari or Firefox.)  If this doesn’t resolve the problem, try one of the solutions below:

*  Please note, users of MySpace must be at least 14 years of age or older.

*  Make sure you didn’t add a space at the beginning or end of your email address or verification code.

*  If someone is using your email address please send us an email from that email address to verify you are the legal owner  and we will be able to delete that fake profile.

*  If your account has been deleted for any reason, your email address may still be suspended in our system, so you might want to try a new email address.  It may be some time before it is released.

*  If you are shown an error message when attempting to create an account, try to submit your page again.  If this does not work, please copy and paste it into the body of your reply email.

ACCOUNT DELETED

The profile in question has been deleted.  We do not keep records of removed profiles or images. If it was removed by Myspace, it was because of a violation of our terms and conditions - which can include a number of issue (inappropriate images, spam, cyber bullying, underage use, etc). Please review our terms for further assistance:
http://collect.myspace.com/misc/terms.html?z=1&MyToken=82a93f2a-7c62-4928-aad8-f899fb4bc97b

Please note that once an account has been deleted, there is no way to re-activate the account or retrieve any of the information.

If you’ve tried each of these steps and continue to have problems please reply to this email for further assistance. Please do not alter the subject as it will be considered a new inquiry.

So, the answer provided, is that there’s a possibility my profile was deleted (only after going through a bunch of other possible options. Well, um, ok. This was so ludicrous, that I had to reply. Here’s my reply, and the resulting email I eventually (after many attempts) recieved from Myspace:

MY RESPONSE:

Whoa - honestly, I didn’t do anything wrong, certainly nothing that would violate your TOS! I can’t even get to my profile by going to it directly.

Everything was done by hand, and trying to make friends.  In fact, I’m in Eastern Europe RIGHT NOW, and the reason I want my account re-instated SO badly, is that I’ve made friends with a ton of …people …and can’t reach them outside of MySpace!

Have a heart.  This is killing me!  Without my profile, I can’t contact any of these people. I’m sitting, alone, in Krakow, trying to figure out how to contact people on Myspace. I have no idea how!

You are the ONLY one that can help. Honestly, no TOS rules were broken, and this is a REAL profile of me and what I do.

PLEASE HELP!  There has to be something you can do. 

MYSPACE RESPONSE:

Hello,

Unfortunately, once an account/profile has been deleted there is no way to have it restored. We apologize for any inconvenience this may have caused

Thank you,
MySpace.com

MY RESPONSE:

Do you know why it was deleted? Can you confirm that it was indeed deleted and there isn’t some other problem?

MYSPACE REPSONE:

Hello,

We do not keep records of removed profiles or images. If it was removed by MySpace, it was because of a violation of our Terms of Service which can include a number of issue (inappropriate images, spam, cyberbullying, underage use, etc). Please review our terms for further assistance:

http://www.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=misc.terms

Please note that once an account has been deleted, there is no way to reactivate the account or retrieve any of the information associated with the profile.

If this message does not answer your question, please reply to this email directly keeping the subject line and footer information intact.

And that’s it, there’s been no further response from Myspace, and I’ve dropped it, and moved on. Still, an interesting set of circumstances.

As people race to social networking sites, be aware of the TOS. For many, this has become a huge social outlet, and for some, a way to market their businesses.   Myspace would certainly not be a good platform for either.

Yet, there are great sites out there for both - what are they? Well, Facebook obviously is the new darling, but there are many others competing for attention. I’ll delve into the top 3 in a future post, but Twitter, Stumbleupon, and Yelp all have interesting takes…

Warning: Run, don’t walk, away from Myspace.  Myspace didn’t just ban my profile, they deleted it - for no reason at all.

Have you heard all the hype about Web 2.0? How you have to have profiles on social websites. About all your friends doing it? Perhaps about Marketing on Myspace? Well, forget about it! Forget about it all.

So, that’s my warning, with regards to Myspace. That’s right, you heard it here first. Why?  Well, I used to have a profile on MySpace. I didn’t use it for Marketing really. More to make friends, and find dance partners from around the world as I travelled. I had added thousands of friends, all by hand (never used automated software or anything else like that…).  We’re talking hours upon hours, upon hours of my time. Days in fact, spent on that site. I was addicted (a little).

I was in dozens of real discussions with real people, about danacing and such. I had a massive blog, that I had spent countless hours creating, with unique posts, and heartfelt memories. I had picutres, and videos. They were all unique. They were my life! I used Myspace as it was intended… it was indeed, MY SPACE.  Until the unthinkable happend. The unbelievable took place…

Imagine my surprise, when I wake up one morning and can’t login to Myspace? In fact, I’m abroad, in Eastern Europe, and have been corresponding with local people about places to go dance, eat, drink, etc… and all of a sudden I can’t login. What’s wrong with my Myspace Profile?

It says there’s been too many login attempts, and asks me to wait 15 minutes to try again. No stress right? But after 15 minutes, after 2 hours, after 2 days, I still can’t login. I have friends waiting for my replies, I have blog posts to write, I have pictures and video to upload, and I can’t login.

So, I write a letter to support, and get back a vague answer of problems. Things like, clear your cache and try again. However, in the bottom of this lists of possible problems, it says something to the effect of "We may have deleted your Myspace profile, so go check if it’s still there".

Well, that’s when I got worried! Why would Myspace delete my profile. I hadn’t done anything wrong. I’d followed there TOS, and I was using the site as it was intended. So, when I went to find my profile, I found that I couldn’t find it online at all. When I went to find my videos, they were all gone.

My blog, my friends, everything had simply been deleted.  What a total invasion! I couldn’t believe it. I was actually totally stunned. My first instinct was just to ask them to restore it, as there had been some mistake, but my requests went unanswered. I kept sending them until I got some vauge answer as to what happened.

They still don’t actually SAY they deleted it! They just say IF we deleted it, it was PROBABLY because of Terms of Service Violation. What the hell is that? They go on to say that if we deleted it, we can’t restore it, and all your information is gone.

Oh my god?! Can you say shock? Can you say indignant? All the people I’m in contact with, many of whom I simply don’t have emails for, and can’t even FIND again, are now getting their emails bounced. I’ve been REMOVED from Myspace.

Even worse, there’s no answer as to why. No one can tell me what really happened. It’s all vague hypothesis coming from their "so-called" support team. They just re-iterate you were deleted IF you can’t see your profile online any more. Since all my videos and blog posts are gone, yes, I was deleted. They then go further to note that IF a profile has been deleted, they can NOT get it back, and you can never retrieve your lost information.

There were NO warning emails of anything wrong. There was no way to know what was going to happen. I’m sure their rules and TOS says they have the right to do this, but with no notice? It should be illegal, and there should be a class action against them.

Sure, I’ve heard this happening to SO many other people! I just can’t believe it happened to me. So I wanted to share my feelings of violation, both as a form of cathartic writing, and also as a warning to all those whom have profiles on MySpace or spend any serious time on that site. This can happen to you (no, I didn’t think it could happen to me either).

You can’t get yourself off of it fast enough. No notice? No possibility of reinstatement (no review process)? No support? Now, I want to address in my next post MySpace marketing, which I’ve been hearing so much about lately, and why that’s simply a joke (compared to other forms of marketing). I feel similarly about MySpace advertising, where we were a one time prospect.

In short, with limited time, money, and investment, we deserve to be treated better than this, and as a business decision, there is none to be made. Facebook is better in every sense of the term, so Myspace will get their due, regardless of my deleted profile. Not just Facebook, but the Myriad other social Web2.0 platforms out there that simpy don’t delete profiles and "online lives" with no notice. That being said, FaceBook actually notifies you before deleting any profiles!

Honestly hopes this helps people! It’s quite a shock. Imagine, just imagine, if you were using the site for business purposes, and had devoted any (any) significant resources or time to it? Regardless, yes, I’m still in Eastern Europe, unable to find so many of my prospective friends and dance partners because Myspace arbitrarily decided to delete my online life. Bummer! Guess I’ll have to head out to the coffee shops…

The last post was all about internet marketing… this one isn’t. I left you last, at the Underground Internet Seminar…a couple of days later, I was on plane to Eastern Europe.

So, even though I haven’t  been in touch lately, I felt I had to take a break from all this traveling, and salsa dancing, to at least briefly update my MarketingCrazy blog with word of my travels.  My apologies for not updating sooner, but things are crazy (crazy travel) and I’ve got tons of fantastic stories, and yes, new business ideas, from my travels.

Eastern Europe (darn it, I mean Central Europe) is amazing, but times have changed.  Not only have perceptions of Americans changed drastically abroad, but our dollar continues to sink, making a travel value hard to find (yes, even here). What a change the last eight or so years have made in the world.

After just arriving in Krakow, Poland, on the night train from an exhaustive day of sightseeing in Budapest (proceeded by, of course, by a fantastic night of salsa dancing in Budapest), I’m now sitting at a most lavish Breakfast buffet at the Hotel Grodek. I can already tell you, this hotel is great (a must for those visiting Krakow).  Great service, fancy, but entirely pleasant and friendly (well, isn’t that the true meaning of great service).

Travel is so important! It helps to clarify our place in the world, and open our eyes to other ways of life. I must have lived in a bubble the last ten years, because things in Europe have changed! I kick myself for not visiting Eastern Europe (now called Central Europe) in the late 1990’s. It has progressed so far at this point! If only I had visited back then.

Why didn’t I?

Why of course! I was busy with a job. A J-O-B. I was a budding Entrepreneur, and had recently been through a company purchase, and was working for a major corporation. I was in an industry where 16 hour days were the norm (computer and video games). Boy, did I miss out!  Not that I would take back those days of fervent computer game making, but … well, actually I would. 

So, a word of advice, even perhaps if you haven’t embarked yet on an internet business. Don’t let travel opportunities pass you by, and don’t put travel off too much.  The world changes, with or without you. I always hear people say, “I’ll travel the world when I’m older”, but what if…

Building an internet business has allowed me to accomplish all of this (endless travel while earning money), and basically, take the last six months off to travel to places I have always wanted to see. I urge you to do the same! Obviously, I think businesses on the internet are a goldmine of opportunity (for now), but I also urge you, regardless of your current job, to take some time off to see the world.

However, I don’t live in a bubble. I aIso don’t mean to come off as some rich internet jerk. I know that times are hard in the US (and in many places worldwide), and for many of my readers, they’ll hold their head in their hands, and wonder, what is he thinking? You’ll wonder about your debts, mortgages, children, schools, and yes, likely gas and even groceries these days. It’s a wonder we can even possibly stay afloat, and to think of travel … well, for many, that’s absolutely preposterous.

Well, first of all I agree. For many, the first step will be building an additional source of revenue from the internet. Even a few dollars a week. A few hundred, or a few thousand, a month can make a huge difference. Especially when that income is entirely residual (which is exactly the type of business I run, and want to help you create).

And finally, you’re probably wondering when I’m going to launch this product and website I’ve been talking about, that’s going to help you accomplish all this. I know, it’s been years now that some of you have heard me say that, “help is right around the corner”. For years, I’ve been traveling, enjoying life and my current businesses, and held off launching the real force behind MarketingCrazy – Step by Step blueprints of how exactly to achieve the elusvive "internet lifestyle".

Well, what can I say? Soon! No, really. I know, I’m in Krakow now, and likely off to Vienna, and Zurich, and back to Prague, but … yes, it will be this Summer. Be waiting!  I promise to overdeliver… Why, because as I said over and over again, I not only want students to learn all this stuff, but I want business partners to grow with, as well sa friends to travel the world with.

Until then, many of you have written in questions about certain courses or seminars, and I urge you to keep doing that. Internet Marketing is a road filled with landmines. It’s no easy road to traverse. There are so many unscrupulous people out there trying to take your money (and large sums of it too), and then in between those, there are people whom simply don’t really know what they’re doing and will lead you further away from your goals, and in between those, there are people whom simply don’t know how to teach what they are doing, and in between those, there are a few scattered gems.

More soon, Keep it Crazy!