I have seen Google ban many profiles from the Google forums, but I have never seen Google ban a profile of someone they specifically labelled a top contributor/bionic poster.
But that is what happened sometime around February 4th.
Autocrat, someone who has posted hundreds, if not, thousands of times in the Google Webmaster Help forum has been banned. Why? If you look at Autocrat's profile you will see a message saying, "Part of this page is hidden according to the Terms of Service." Plus, Autocrat has not posted since.
The Google Webmaster Help thread about his ban or mysterious vacation is calling for him to come back. One frequent contributor said he has been in touch with Autocrat and he was indeed banned due to the way he responded in other threads. Those threads have been moderated and removed for the most part.
He said:
Just to let you all know that I have been in touch with Auto over the last couple of weeks and he is fine, as you know he is unable to post at the moment and does not know if this will change in the future.Auto has however just asked me to say Hi for him and Thank You for the support.
As the top contributors began to analyze the issues using Google Cache, the cache content went away. So now other top contributors are upset and Steven Lockey is calling for a "Bring back Auto" campaign.
Are we going to see our own revolution in the Google forums. I mean, revolutions are in these days, just look at Egypt and Libya.
Forum discussion at Google Webmaster Help.
Update: Google's JohnMu, likely one of the individuals responsible for managing this forum, wrote:
Hi everyoneThanks for your posts here. Everyone who participates in the forum -- members, Top Contributors, and even Google guides -- is bound by the forum's Terms of Service and Posting Guidelines. Violations of the Terms of Service or Posting Guidelines can result in warnings and, as a very last resort, losing the privilege to participate in the forum. Warnings and loss of the privilege to participate in the forum are a private matter between Google and the individual member involved.
Autocrat has been a great help to an extremely large number of users here; I'm thankful to have had him here during this time -- and I'm certain that I'm not alone (as we can see from the posts above).
John
