Infobarrel won't remove my articles

1. 82

   2besureposted 13 years ago

   I had posted a few articles on Infobarrel to see how they would do.  I noticed they had too many ads, such as Chakita, Amazon, Google and Info-links.  I felt it diluted my options for Google earning and ask them to remove my articles. 
   
   They sent me asking for the last digits of my password and I sent the info back, and they refused to remove my articles.  I sent at least 6 requests to remove my article and each request has been ignored.
   
   My last request was to remove my articles and close my account.  To my amazement the closed my account and kept my articles.  What should be my next step?

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2. 70

   Cagsilposted 13 years ago

   My only suggestion is to make sure you re-read their TOS.

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      prettydarkhorseposted 13 years agoin reply to this

      right, if this is true, it is not a good TOS..

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3. 72

   sofsposted 13 years ago

   Oh wow, I write there too.. i didn't know about this. I haven't been active lately.

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4. 95

   AliciaCposted 13 years ago

   I'm sorry about your experience, 2besure. I've considered writing for Infobarrel, but what's always worried me is their strange TOS. They say that the writer maintains the copyright on their own articles, yet they also say that Infobarrel has an "irrevocable", "perpetual" and "exclusive" right to publish the writer's articles on the Infobarrel site or another site and to edit the articles if they wish.

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      2besureposted 13 years agoin reply to this

      That's not good.  I found the email address through "http://www.rapidsitecheck.com" and sent them an email with the articles I would like removed.  I will see if they respond. It seems like every thing revolves around Ryan Mckenzie,who is the administrative as well as technical contact.

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   2. 85

      Marisa Wrightposted 12 years agoin reply to this

      That's interesting, because that was definitely not in their TOS when the site started.
      
      That wording is identical to Helium.  What it means is that if you write on Infobarrel, you are not entitled to delete your articles.  They can keep them forever.  Saying you keep the copyright is effectively meaningless, because there are so few other sites which will accept a second-hand article!  Unfortunately I didn't find that out until I'd written nearly 200 articles on Helium, which continue to earn mere peanuts to this day.
      
      That's why I will never write on a site that uses that wording. So I can say, confidently, that those weren't the TOS I agreed to when I signed up with Infobarrel.  But because you don't actually sign a piece of paper, i can't prove that was the case, so I guess I'm bound by the current TOS even though I don't agree with them.
      
      It looks like the OP did manage to get her articles removed, in spite of the wording - though it does mean that Infobarrel could use her articles elsewhere - Helium puts them in ebooks, for instance.  so it still pays to be careful.

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      PegCole17posted 12 years agoin reply to this

      That is good to know. I have only 10 articles out there so was never "approved" for direct publishing. One time I asked them how to delete my articles and they wrote back and asked me why. Which I found interesting and thoughtful (at the time) and I eventually dropped the issue. No more new ones now. Thanks for the notice.

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5. 61

   FloraBreenRobisonposted 13 years ago

   Oh, then this is a good site for me to avoid.  I'm glad I read this before I considerd writing for them.

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6. 64

   theherbivorehippiposted 13 years ago

   I had the same problem. I had two articles over there that I wanted to take down and move to one of my websites and nope...can't. I even tried going in and deleting the capsules....nope. Then I tried going in and changing the articles so they were total crap, thinking the moderator would delete them before publishing again...nope, they just revert back to the original spectacular articles. Rubbish!
   
   I should have read the TOS more thoroughly but I didn't so I can't blame anyone but myself but still....it's crappy.

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7. 85

   Marisa Wrightposted 13 years ago

   I remember someone else having the same problem - maybe Darkside?  I think he eventually got his articles removed but I can't recall how he did it. 
   
   I've written a few there, but only enough to get one backlink to each of my websites.

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      sunforgedposted 13 years agoin reply to this

      that sounds like what happened at Factoidz

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8. 50

   infobarrelposted 13 years ago

   @2BeSure
   
   Hey 2Besure, this is Ryan.
   
   I just came across this thread.  I personally removed your account roughly a week ago as per your request.  We have an employee that manages our customer service/contact forum information and I was personally unaware that you were having difficulty removing articles.
   
   I went and looked at your account on IB and I don't see any articles attached to your account.  Can you give me some URL's where you still see them, I will definitely have them removed for you.
   
   We always remove articles at the writers request. If for some reason you are having troubles removing your articles, please fire a private message to 'admin' on InfoBarrel and I will look into it as soon as possible.
   
   I apologize that a few of you had problems removing articles, but rest assure, if you want your content removed, we are not going to force you to leave it posted.

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      sofsposted 13 years agoin reply to this

      That is encouraging and a great way to address this issue.. I have a high regard for IB and was going to change that .. well now that has grown even higher Thank you

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      2besureposted 13 years agoin reply to this

      Hello Ryan:
      
      I know my account was closed but they never removed my articles. I signed up again with the same user name,so that I can continue to send requests to the powers that be.  This is not my original account, but the same user name. I actually sent you an email today.
      
      I am asking that these articles be remove from Infobarrel:
      
      http://www.infobarrel.com/Understanding … hould_Know
      http://www.infobarrel.com/Different_Typ … ic_Surgery
      http://www.infobarrel.com/How_to_Know_the_Voice_of_God
      http://www.infobarrel.com/Lose_Weight_N … at_Busters
      http://www.infobarrel.com/Reverse_Male_ … ysfunction
      
      You can see these articles are floating out there, not attached to anyone.  They are mine.  Why did they close my account as I asked, but did not remove my articles as I asked?  Someone on your staff is slipping.  Thanks for anything you can do to fix this, Ryan!

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9. 50

   infobarrelposted 13 years ago

   @2BeSurre
   
   Wow, I'm really sorry those somehow stayed on the site.  I was actually the person who removed your account as per your request.  Believe it or not, we have very few people who ask to close accounts; typically they just ask to have their content removed so this is the first instance of this bug I've come across. I assumed when I removed your account, your content would be removed with it.
   
   I've gone ahead and manually removed each piece of your content and have notified our developer of the issue with account removal.
   
   I apologize that it came down to you having to post this publicly to get a resolution.
   
   Have a great week!

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      2besureposted 13 years agoin reply to this

      Thank you Ryan.  The reason for me asking my account to be closed is frustration at not getting a response to having my articles removed. That was the main problem I had.

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10. 64

    psycheskinnerposted 13 years ago

    Have they been removed yet?

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       infobarrelposted 13 years agoin reply to this

       @psycheskinner
       
       You bet, she posted the URLs above. If you try to visit them, they no longer exist.

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          2besureposted 13 years agoin reply to this

          Oh I though I said that they had.  Yes, it has been done!

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11. 76

    IzzyMposted 13 years ago

    <sigh> Don't you just love a happy ending

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    1. 82

       2besureposted 13 years agoin reply to this

       Amen to that!  It also pays to post on the forums!  You never know who is in here.

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          PegCole17posted 13 years agoin reply to this

          This was a really great post. Since I write on InfoBarrel too I was really interested in this one. At one time I did ask that my articles be removed and someone emailed me and asked if there was a reason. I was just frustrated with the whole writing thing and was having that kind of day. I never pursued deleting articles at IB again.
          
          What I really like about HubPages is the ability to delete and edit my work as needed without admin interaction. I guess if I ever get past the first 10 at IB that will be the case there.

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12. 64

    psycheskinnerposted 13 years ago

    Nice to see IB responded and sorted things out.

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13. 82

    2besureposted 13 years ago

    Yes, but they had to come to HubPages to realize I had a problem! What's with that?

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       classicalgeekposted 13 years agoin reply to this

       I use the IB forum pretty much daily, and I don't recall seeing a post about this over there.

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       1. 82

          2besureposted 13 years agoin reply to this

          The messages were sent directly to the IB team through the contact form and my email.

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14. 51

    maxbuxposted 13 years ago

    I am having the same issue with InfoBarrel, I have made nothing from 15 articles in almost a year and after asking them to delete, they do not reply. I think they are trying to hold to original articles they have left after Panda hit them. Its a shame!

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15. 73

    lilmrslayposted 12 years ago

    I have recently asked for my articles to be removed from IB but also have not had a single response.
    
    I have no issue with IB particularly, other than it does not suit my style of publishing and I have not earned a cent with them, compared to the likes of HubPages.
    
    Seems I need to keep bugging them, which is very frustrating.
    
    Ryan, if you are reading this, perhaps you could help out?

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    1. 78

       classicalgeekposted 12 years agoin reply to this

       Send me a private message with the URLs (I'm very active on IB) and I will see what I can do to help you get your articles removed.

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16. 71

    WryLiltposted 12 years ago

    I've posted in the forum on IB (12 days ago), used the contact form AND inboxed admin and am yet to get a response, let alone have my articles deleted.
    
    Thank goodness I only have ten on there.

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       WryLiltposted 12 years agoin reply to this

       And they've been removed. After the admin inbox. Now to wait for de-indexing.

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17. 59

    tussinposted 12 years ago

    I have no beef against Infobarrel, but I don't get why they refuse to put a simple delete button in the article editor. Every other user generated content site that I've used allows writers to delete their articles at whim with a single click.  I gather that their staff is small, so having to manually delete people's articles probably increases their already high work load. Can you imagine how much slower it would be to get a response from HP if they also had the added burden of replying to deletion requests?
    
    Anyway,  I'm glad to hear they removed your articles eventually.

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18. 80

    dougwest1posted 8 years ago

    I have three articles on InfoBarrel and want to get them moved to Hubpages. From what I have read on this forum post, there is no way of getting those article removed from Infobarrel. Has anyone found a way recently to get InfoBarrel to remove my articles and move them to Hubpages? Sounds like they have me over a barrel (stupid pun intended).

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19. 64

    psycheskinnerposted 8 years ago

    Infobarrel articles are removed manually by the staff when you make a request for them to do so.  Sometimes it requires persistence and takes time.

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    dougwest1posted 8 years ago

    Thanks for the feedback. I guess I just need to be more persistent and make another request to InfoBarrel.

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       Marisa Wrightposted 8 years agoin reply to this

       I replied to the original post here:
       
       http://hubpages.com/forum/post/2170113
       
       In a nutshell, they are under NO obligation to remove your articles, it's at their discretion.  But a lot of people do have success - I guess if you are enough of a pest, they'll remove them to get you to go away! 
       
       The lesson learnt is, not all sites are like HubPages. Many of them won't let you delete your articles, so it's important to read their Terms & Conditions before you start writing.

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