StumbleUpon Censors Me and Maybe You, Too.

This post comes as an uber-shock to me.

I was never expecting to write this piece, because, quite frankly, I’m very much OVER StumbleUpon and haven’t thought about them in ages. But like a zombie, it keeps popping back up to bite me in the ass. So… here we go again.

Why write about it now?

Because StumbleUpon censors. Because they are mean and ugly and nasty and hurtful and shitty. And because I call that crap out. And because I’m hoping you agree, and the fire spreads, and they get the message that treating people in such fashion doesn’t work in this small village we call the Interwebz.

I mean, we’re all neighbors here, right?

Let’s go back to a time BEFORE I knew that StumbleUpon censors.

‘Twas July of the year 2012, lo those many months ago, and my hubz was very excited about giving “thumbs up” to material he found useful. He also enjoyed giving “thumbs down” to crap.

Unfortunately, like most of life, the crap seems to outweigh the useful. But that didn’t squelch his enjoyment. He was so happy about it, my hubz even wrote a post about StumbleUpon! If you follow this blog, you realize how rare an event this is.

His post was quite complimentary.

It started out like this: “StumbleUpon is one of the greatest (and most under-utilized) tools in the social media arsenal.” I mean, those are nice words, amirite? I have said similar kind things about Triberr, and those Triberr guys didn’t seem to mind the pat on the back all too terribly.

I guess it was the next sentence that pissed off the owner:

“Today I’m going to cover the ‘dos and don’ts’ of StumbleUpon.”

And then my hubz proceeded to break it down.

So it would appear that the owners or rulers or government or whatever is going on over there in StumbleUpon Land got seriously ticked and assumed that my hubz is encouraging others to “game the system” or that he is engaging in some other nefarious plot.

Which is clearly the case since my blog is obviously in the Top Ten on the list of BEST BLOGS EVER.

YES, STUMBLEUPON:

THANKS TO OUR GAMING OF YOU, WE ARE WINNING THE BLOGGING WARS!

{*rolling my eyes*}

Whatever.

Lots of people enjoyed the article written by my hubz, and left comments indicating such. But StumbleUpon did NOT enjoy the article. When my hubz contacted StumbleUpon a few days later for assistance with a technical issue, they chewed his ass out and attempted to make him feel like shit for daring to help people better understand how to utilize their services.

That should have been the end of the story.

But speaking of stories…

We discovered StumbleUpon was hosting a writing contest, and I thought I’d toss my hat into the ring. The whole thing was a fucking goat screw, from beginning to end. Assuming there was an end. I don’t know. I never heard.

We both decided to give up on StumbleUpon.

They just don’t seem to have the collective shit together, if you dig what I’m saying here. I quit stumbling stuff — no thumbs up, no thumbs down, no thumbs of any nature pointing in any direction.

Fuck ‘em.

That was my thought. I’m not big enough for them to give a crap about, and there are plenty other services for me to pursue out there in the social media sea. I figured StumbleUpon and I had parted ways, and done was done.

However, my hubz made a profound discovery.

I don’t know how often he still stumbles material, if at all. But he was pretty hell-bent on promoting my Pizza Hut article — the one wherein their children’s menus indicate it is naughty to be poor — so he turned to StumbleUpon for additional word-of-mouth.

But he couldn’t promote my post via StumbleUpon.

Why not? Because StumbleUpon Censors.

I guess they are REALLY, REALLY, REALLY {times} INFINITY angry at me. Like, so angry that they blocked my entire blog.

That’s right. Little, small-time me. TheWorld4Realz-dot-com is completely disallowed from participating in any kind of thumbing activities. And you aren’t allowed to thumb anything I write, either. Where my blog is concerned, you must keep your thumbs to yourself.

Does this bother you?

It should. What it essentially means is this:

• If you criticize StumbleUpon, StumbleUpon will cut you out of their will.
• If you say you don’t like the way StumbleUpon operates, StumbleUpon will disinherit you.
• If you find StumbleUpon’s material less than impressive, StumbleUpon will block you entirely.
• If you disagree with StumbleUpon’s policies, StumbleUpon censors you.

I’m not saying I particularly want my blog to appear on StumbleUpon.

What I AM saying is this:

It should be YOUR opinion, not theirs.

It should be due to reader complaints, or the results of a plethora of thumbs down, or caused by the appearance of pornographic or other questionable material.

{For about two-point-three-five seconds I wondered if maybe my potty mouth hadn’t finally gotten me in big trouble. But then I remembered all the shit bubbles I’ve seen pop up on StumbleUpon and knew it was THEM, not ME.}

If StumbleUpon censors, it should NOT be solely due to the fact that I hurt their stupid feelings. That, my friends, is pretty fucking unprofessional — and kind of proves my point in the first damn place. Did I say I think StumbleUpon is dumb-dumb-ish? Well, allow me to reiterate — they suck major donkey balls.

StumbleUpon censors.

You guys, this is a BIG FUCKING DEAL and you should be concerned. StumbleUpon has decided FOR you that you aren’t allowed to read my posts over there in Thumb Land. Who knows what other things you’re missing, just because StumbleUpon took it upon themselves to decide what you can and can’t read?

Censorship is bad enough, but when it’s based on hurt feelings as opposed to smart business, that’s the absolute worst.

I urge you to contact StumbleUpon.

Tell them it’s wrong to censor material. Seriously, people. It’s totally NOT okay that StumbleUpon Censors. Speak up and let them know. StumbleUpon is not only censoring me; StumbleUpon is censoring YOU.