Yesterday, I tried to make some Microsoft Tags at the Microsoft Tag website.  I was able to make tags for three of my four websites (www.parkterraceapartment.com, www.samadhicoda.com and www.samadhimuse.com).
But when I tried to make one for this website, www.samadhisoft.com, the tag making software told me that my website was “Blacklisted”.
I sent them the following message on their contact form this morning to see what this “Blacklisting” was about:
I tried to make a tag for several of my websites and one of them failed.  When I tried to make a tag for www.samadhisoft.com, the tag making application told me that my site was “blacklisted”. What’s that about and how do I get un-blacklisted?  This is a private Blog and I’ve never, to my knowledge, been blacklisted by anyone before.
In the end, I got around their black listing block by creating a TinyURL in place of the full www.samadhisoft.com website address and their tag making software took that just fine and made me a tag. Â But, I cannot imagine that this loop-hole will exist long.
TinyURL is a cool and little-known capability.  You’ll do yourself a favor to follow the link, above, and read about what TinyURL can do for you. It’s cool.
So, I’ve been wondering why Microsoft might have me on a Blacklisted list?
The only possible reason I can think of is that I wrote a piece a while ago critical of the Gates Foundation and where they spend their money to make the world a better place. Mmmmm.  ‘Critical’ is perhaps too strong a word.  In truth, I applaude their idealism.  I just question how and where they direct it.  It think there are more effective uses of their vast monies to make our world a better place.
But, I think it is much more likely that I’m probably on a blacklist because of some error rather than because the Gates folks think I’m a small and irritating thorn. They are too big and I am too small for that to seem very plausible.
We’ll see what my contact form query accomplishes. Stay tuned for Microsoft Tag – part III.
Cheers!
– Postscript – 24Apr 2009 – I received the following E-Mail from Microsoft today:
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Greetings:
We wished to let you know our team has removed your website “http://www.samadhisoft.com” from our blacklist. You should now be able to create tags that work with this website. If you still experience problems with such, please do not hesitate to contact us so we may look further into the issue.
Thank you for your patience and interest in Microsoft Tag.
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– Typical that there was no explanation as to why my site had been blacklisted.  But, better late than never and better something rather than nothing.
Tags: Microsoft, Microsoft Tag, TinyURL