Tell HN: Google deleted my developer account | Hacker News Reader

Tell HN: Google deleted my developer account

55 pointsmandeepj18 comments

Google deleted my developer account, just because my game has 'new' in the game title. I think it's an atrocity.

Zero tolerance is intolerance. Google shows its true colors when it drops the ban hammer without giving any means or opportunity to learn from honest mistakes.

This seems like slander without more details. Without full details, it sounds like you broke the rules, were offered to fix it, and continued to be non-compliant. Name and shame is fine, but tell the whole story.

Details are below. Sorry for not sharing upfront. What else would you like to see?

It's fine now, but there's been a lot of posts like this, with minimal or hidden details. So I'd like to remind people to just post the details up front, because otherwise it looks no different to someone who was rightfully banned.

I've had some bad experiences with Google too. They basically just blacklisted and refunded all the money for clicking on ads on my app. Logically, I think it's fine, I broke some rules, and they reacted accordingly. But the whole play store experience seems to be assuming that everyone is a bad actor. And that is just very irritating.

I got my first dev account deleted due to an app that processed emails, without sending spam or collecting them.

I remember their final email telling something like "don't create another account".

Well, I created 4 more and played by their rules. Still very profitable.

What do you mean? Can you elaborate? Are you not allowed to have “new” in the title? Why not? So many questions…

Please check "Examples of common violations in app title, icon, or developer name" at

https://support.google.com/googleplay/android-developer/answ...

They sent me very obscure messages about non-compliance. It took me a while to figure out the problem.

These examples make me wonder if I should remove "Free" from my app title

But I did not put it there because of the price, but to announce it as open-source

Can you replace ‘free’ with ‘open source’?

So Google has forbidden the use of "New" in the title of an app.

OP used "New" in title of an app and now complains about Google enforcing the clearly stated rules?

This has nothing to do with the question if Google should have the right to set these rules. If the are somewhat like a monopoly in the app market (at least for Android) or of any (maybe rightly to make) argument against Google's businesses practices.

As far as I can learn from the posting and one comment Google not only has every right to shut down the account, but must do so not to ensure that others would point this out as an example and argue for their apps to be allowed these words in the title.

And that would probably make the whole crappy app store even worse for the end user/consumer.

If "new" is not allowed in the game's title, then delist the game. That seems like a fair and justified reaction.

Deleting OP's developer account is neither fair nor justified.

As can be seen in sister thread OP had two warnings already. So deleting the account was the third strike. It did not came as a surprise. Or it shouldn't have.

I published the app early last year. I did not change the title after the initial optimizations. There was no problem all along until now. How would you feel if your app is deleted shortly after receiving couple of ambiguous emails in a month?

Mid last year, we changed the game play entirely. During all this time, we worked a lot and hard on it. It really hurts to see the game gone - just like that.

can you post the emails?

Here it is - https://imgur.com/a/XeAVWzs

So you receive two clear and (at least to me as a non native speaker) straight emails aboit being not compliant. Looks like you changed the title after the first one to something that also was non compliant.

I actually can't see any reason to side with you on this matter. This is so clear cut. The mails, the documentation and the fact that Google warned in both cases. You already compounded two strikes and now complain about the third.

Apologies for not sharing earlier these details. I use a separate account for my google dev console, which I do not check frequently. I was traveling internationally from Nov 5 to Dev 6. So, so did not check emails in that a/c at all during that time. So, all of this happened in my absence. I did not get a chance to do anything. Imagine, coming back and find your home all destroyed, so yeah, that happened. Someone might say - it's my personal situation, but still. Hopefully, someone else might learn from my experience. In retrospect when I look back, I could have setup an email fwding in my dev account.

About 5-6 months ago, they raised an compliance issue about an image on my game's page. It was sudden and out of nowhere. The image was about a fighting image. I was not sure what's wrong, but I still removed it. Shortly, they again raised a concern about some keywords. I removed those also. But, this time I was not around, so did not get an opportunity.

I shared all of that in an appear to Google, but no effect :-(

Could not edit my earlier comment where I made couple of typos. Sorry about that.

1. About 5-6 months ago, they raised a* compliance issue about an image on my game's page

2. I shared all of that in an appeal* to Google, but no effect

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