Paul Edmondson: Ban Sousababy From HubPages

"Sir, I say that justice is truth in action." ~

Benjamin Disraeli, 1st Earl of Beaconsfield (1804 - 1881)

Please Ban Me

Remove My Work and Pay What You Owe Me

How I Found Out

Apparently, someone who went by the pen name religions7 on HubPages was banned.[1] When she asked why, the response from HubPages (according to her post) was:

"Your HubPages account has been permanently banned as a result of serious rules violations."

I have no idea what those "serious rules violations" are (or were) but gee, I wish I knew. You see, HubPages intends to pay her. She even received an email from HubPages that stated:

"I just checked your account and see that it was banned, so you will be issued a payment for the unpaid balance on or around May 28th."

HubPages is Ignoring Me

The funny thing is: HubPages has been ignoring my numerous public attempts to have my work removed from their site for months.[2] 

I never clicked a link and entered a 9-digit "code" in that first email. I suppose to them, I am dead. YAY! Just like with Naiza Oclares,[3] HubPages gets to use my identity, profile, and 277 of my articles solely for their gain.

I began to wonder just how many "players" are involved in this deceptive business practice. It seems that Pinterest is aware of the injustice (as is Google and PayPal).

They have removed my work from a phony account that HubPages set up in my former pen name "sousababy."

I wonder if any former Squidoo authors were told that HubPages would be double-dipping on Pinterest like this?

If you have your own blog (or write elsewhere) and "pin" your other work, those pins are competing with this automated phony Pinterest account.

Not sure I like to be deemed such a spammer, do you? But HubPages doesn't care. Heck, they don't even inform people they are doing this. Find out for yourself, just Google: "your pen name (dot) hubpages (dot) com on Pinterest."

Unfortunately, Naiza Oclares Died August 2013

But Look Who's Profiting From Her Identity & Work

"Inactivity" = You Didn't Surrender Your SSN

See HubPages Terms of Use (above)[5]

Under "Account Closure and Inactivity" For Details

And I'm Not the Only Person Affected[4]

Her son was told HubPages "did not purchase the website and were not responsible" for his over $600.00

I Wonder What Amazon Knows?

On Squidoo, I decided to share my Amazon and eBay royalties with them. I liked the idea of benefiting charity (which is where I understood half of those earnings were sent).

On InfoBarrel (this writing platform), I applied for and received a unique associates ID. 

I recently wrote to Amazon's customer service department and here is what transpired:

Dear Amazon Customer Service, Public Relations, and Legal Department, 

I have been writing for InfoBarrel for over a year and been using a Unique Associates ID. Prior to that, I wrote for Squidoo (since Aug. 2010) under the pen name "sousababy" and I opted to share my Amazon revenue with Squidoo. 

At the end of August 2014, Squidoo sold out to HubPages. I never joined HubPages and they are ignoring my attempts to have my identity, profile, and 277 of my articles removed from their site (at first, it was 293 articles). 

I have no way of knowing what my share of the Amazon royalties are - HubPages allocates these internally and has never shared this information with me. 

Additionally, HubPages has set up a phony Pinterest account using my identity. I've had some success with Pinterest. They have complied with my requests to remove my content (however, I have to continually submit complaints and original URLs). 

I am in the process of seeking legal action against HubPages and would greatly appreciate your cooperation. I need to know precisely HOW much money my content has been earning while its been on HubPages. It was imported on or around September 13th, 2014 and is still on their site today (April 5th, 2015). 

The account has 277 of my articles and pretty much all of them have Amazon products available for public purchase in them: http://sousababy (dot) hubpages (dot) com 

I can be reached at: my email was given

Thank you in advance for preparing a statement or invoice detailing my earnings (or what amount of money has been sent directly to HubPages). 

Most respectfully, 

Rose Webster 
Canadian freelance writer

Amazon's First Response

Hello Rose,  I'm sorry for the legal troubles and I hope we can give you whatever information you are seeking. We currently don't have the ability to send you a total invoice of your account activity but you can view the activity of your Amazon Associates links through the "Reports" section of Associates Central. Reports are updated every 24 hours; they aren't updated in real time.  You can log into Associates Central by going to the login page at the following URL:  http://associates (dot) amazon (dot) com  To see orders placed through your links, choose Orders Report. Once an order has been shipped you'll be able to view the earned Advertising fees in the Earnings Report. If you have multiple Tracking IDs and would like to view a complete report, check the box on the left sidebar entitled Combined Reports.  To view your earned bounty referrals, choose the Miscellaneous Referrals Report. Here, you'll be able to see the number of sign-ups for each bounty, as well as the total amount earned.  To see the activity of a particular link type (Product links, aStore links, Text Links, Banner Links etc.) choose Link-Type Report. Please note, Widgets will not appear in this Link Type Report.  I hope this helps.

Best regards, Andrew D.

Amazon Asked If My Issue Was Resolved

I Clicked "No" and Submitted the Following:

I did NOT have an affiliate account when I was on Squidoo - I shared the Amazon royalties with Squidoo. Your instructions only allowed me to view my Amazon sales from InfoBarrel (where I DO have an affiliate Amazon account). 

The problem is: HubPages has 277 of my former Squidoo articles. All of them have Amazon products for sale on them. HubPages allocates Amazon and eBay sales "internally" (so they say). 

HubPages has NOT informed me about the Amazon (nor eBay) sales my articles have been collecting since Sept. 13, 2014 until today (April 7th, 2015). This is information that I need to know from Amazon. My articles (illegally posted) on HubPages are written by me, under the pen name "sousababy." Please see previous complaint for links. 

The Circular Logic Behind the Scenes

Amazon's Second Response

Hello Rosemary,  I'm terribly sorry that our previous message did not fully address your concerns.  As mentioned by my colleague, we can only provide details regarding the account (on InfoBarrel) linked to the email you're writing from per our security restrictions. We're unable to provide details regarding earnings under a different account or how they may be allocated per that user's policies.  I've reviewed your previous request and apologize but we aren't able to provide details regarding sales that have been made from the articles you've mentioned if they were previously linked to Squidoo and then passed over to Hubpages once the two merged. The only suggestion we can provide at this time is to contact Hubpages directly regarding your articles and request any information necessary to resolve your situation.  I was able to find a link on their site regarding copyright infringement:  http://hubpages (dot) com/help/copyright_infringement  Since we have provided as much information as possible regarding your situation, further inquiries related to this matter will not receive a response.  I wish you well in resolving this matter.

Best regards, Jenn J.

Crazy Logic That Keeps People "In Place"

Okay, Amazon Won't Budge

But I'm Sure They Keep Accurate Records

It feels strange to disclose my personal information to Amazon's Customer Service department and receive responses from people who only need to be identified by their first name and last initial.

Well, thank you so much Andrew D. and Jenn J.

I'm taking this to the Federal Trade Commission now.

Google would clearly know that my email is attached to that "sousababy" account via my Google Analytics tracking codes (see screenshot next).

Google knows the truth, hundreds of former Squidoo writers know the truth, yet I need to spend money seeking legal action because I am telling the truth. The whole truth.

Hey, My Google Analytics Still Tracks

RoseWrites and SousababySquidoo (via my Gmail)

And When I Googled "Squidoo"

The First Entry States: "Squidoo is now HubPages"

Addendum April 9th, 2015

The FTC Received My Complaint About HubPages

I Wonder How THAT Conversation Will Go?