Suspense or Thriller Experience with My Medium Account

The Reason Why My Medium Account Got Suspended & How I Got It Reinstated ASAP — It Could Be “You” Next Time

# What Happened to Me and Follower Booster Hub Publication

Note: Non-members can read the full story in this link.

Let's share a moment—spend 30 seconds with my story.

Your authentic engagement is a treasure to me. 

If it doesn't touch your heart, feel free to pass on the applause (Clapping). 

It's the genuine connections and the spirit of true readership that I hold dear.

As some of you may have noticed, my medium account has been suspended for a few days. I have been reading lots of writers’ accounts getting suspended but never imagined myself being the one who gets suspended as well.

It’s quite ironic how we often view others’ experiences as distant events that couldn’t possibly happen to us. It’s only when we find ourselves in similar situations that we truly empathize and grasp the emotional turmoil involved.

“Life is a tragedy when seen in close-up, but a comedy in a long shot” — Chalie Chaplin

I believe we just assume that certain actions are acceptable on Medium but you may be unknowingly breaking some of the rules on Medium, just that you have not been noticed by the Medium Trust & Safety Team.

Sincere Apologies to Follower Booster Hub Writers

Before I start, I want to express my heartfelt apologies to my fellow FBH writers for the delay in posting stories to our community. I regret any inconvenience caused and commit to preventing such occurrences in the future.

Please be assured that the Follower Booster Hub remains in good standing, without any rules breached. The suspension of my account, and consequently the locking of the publication, was solely due to my comments, as I am the founder of the publication.

However, Medium did highlight to update on Follower Booster Hub guidelines for “Follow-for-Follow” and “50 Claps” which we will update on every part of site and share with all the writers by end 7th April — I will share more about this as well.

By the end of this article, I will share on following:

• What has happened? How did I get my Medium account suspended?
• What are rules and regulations on Medium that you may have overlooked?
• How can you clarify some gray areas of rules with Medium?
• Update on Follower Booster Hub Guidelines
• Key takeaways and lessons learned.

I’m confident you’ll find something valuable to learn and apply — as you always can from my stories. So, let’s go!

1. Be Careful What You Wish For — Why My Account Got Suspended

Ironically, believe it or not, I have been wishing to take a break from Medium. I found myself obsessed with it and decided to take a Medium break with my wife by traveling to Europe for 10 days.

Below article that I wrote was more for myself to check how addicted I am to the Medium and I have scheduled “Digital Detoxes”

I was planning to just support posting stories on the Follower Booster Hub publication and not posting any stories for myself.

Halfway through my flight to Milano, Italy on Singapore Airlines flight SQ356, I found my medium account was locked. I was able to check this on mid-air as Singapore Airlines provides excellent inflight Wi-Fi services.

Just like that testimonial from all the other writers who have shared their experience on their medium account getting suspended, I totally panicked and started to imagine all the things. Did god hear my wish to stop my Medium addiction?

I literally went through 5 stages of grief.

5 Stages of Grief

1. Denial: Initially, I refused to believe my account had been suspended. For about an hour, I thought it was a mistake or a temporary glitch that would soon be resolved. I kept trying to access my account, hoping it would be reinstated soon. God, I wanted the break from Medium, but not in this way.
2. Anger: As I came to accept the reality of the suspension, I felt a surge of anger and frustration. My anger was directed towards Medium’s moderation team, the policies I believed led to my suspension, and even myself for any actions I might have taken that contributed to this outcome.
3. Bargaining: In this stage, I attempted to negotiate with Medium or seek alternatives to reverse the decision. This involved appealing the suspension, promising to alter my content to meet Medium’s guidelines, or looking for ways that might allow me to regain access to my account.
4. Depression: Realizing that my efforts to reverse the suspension might be futile, I entered a period of sadness and reflection. I mourned the loss of my digital presence, the effort I put into my content, the community I built, and the opportunities that were tied to my Medium account — This stage was characterized by a lack of motivation to create new content or engage with alternative platforms. I was especially concerned for the Follower Booster Hub publication, knowing there would be articles waiting for me to publish.
5. Acceptance: Eventually, I came to terms with the reality of the suspension. This acceptance led me to explore new beginnings, such as creating content on different platforms, starting a personal blog, or focusing on other aspects of my personal or professional life. Acceptance allowed me to move forward, applying lessons learned from the experience to future endeavors.

I kept on reading about other writers’ articles on account suspension, used chatGPT to inquire what the potential cause, used Google, and found a few cases where the account was suspended forever (which raised my concern even more).

Still, on the Mid-air flight to Italy, I tried to be as patient as possible. I used to tell myself, that most of the things I worry about don’t really happen in my real life. I found my calm again tried to organize my thoughts and wrote the below email to the Medium Support Team.

My initial guess for suspension was that “Simultaneous logins from different locations”. This was a totally valid concern as I kept logging into Medium on Mid-air and it could look like I was logging in from different locations indeed.

Please take a look at below article if you want to know more in details.

So I have drafted email with additional details to Medium Support Team.

Soon enough, below email was sent as a reply.

The Trust and Safety Team on Medium gave me advice on the rules and actions to be taken to reinstate the account. They also mentioned that I already got email from them on 31 January. To be frank, my Gmail account is flooded with medium notifications, so it was overlooked once.

The main problem was below comments that I have been posting to support every single story posted in FBH communication. Obviously, I have been copy pasting same comments which might have looked like a spam.

Apparently, this comment which I have been posting to support other writers was the root cause for me getting caught in the automatic spam filter. I believe my intention was good, which is to support other FBH writers to get more engagement and follow.

• However, copying and pasting same comment is definite “No” as per Medium Rule.
• Also, these comments were causing traffic to certain writers which is not allowed in Medium.

They have kindly mentioned to me that once I remove all the comments that were not meeting Medium guidelines, the suspension on my account will be removed.

Follow-up Actions Taken

While still on a flight to Italy, and despite it being already Saturday in the US time zone, I swiftly deleted all the comments and followed up with the email below to Medium.

Surprisingly, there were over 700 comments I needed to remove. However, the task did not feel burdensome. Instead, I viewed it as a self-imposed penalty for not adhering to the guidelines and a personal reminder to avoid making the same error in the future.

Once all comments were deleted and corrective actions were taken, I sent the below email to Medium, and with anxious waiting time, my account was back on Monday morning.

A heartfelt thanks to the Medium Support Team for their swift and supportive assistance throughout this process, and to the Medium Trust and Safety Team for enlightening me on the importance of adhering to Medium’s guidelines and rules. Their guidance has made my journey on the platform both more enjoyable and meaningful.

2. What Are Rules and Regulations on Medium?

I strongly encourage you to meticulously review Medium’s guidelines to prevent any potential issues down the line. Here is the link to the Medium Rules:

• Link for the Medium Rules

It’s possible you may have inadvertently violated some of these rules without realization and were fortunate enough not to be detected. However, should such actions continue, you might face repercussions similar to those I experienced.

3. What-If Certain Aspects are Unclear or Fall into a Gray Area?

If some things are not so clear, always contact and inquire with the Medium Support Team first. Don’t just assume that it’s okay and find yourself in trouble in the future.

Although Medium Support Team noted that it was issue with my comment behaviour, I got concerned for the writers of Follower Booster Hub as we practice “Follow-for-Follow” and “50 Claps” within our community. Although intent was pure and good, which is to build strong and supportive communtiy, I had to ensure that this practice is indeed in-line with Medium’s guidelines so that other FBH writers won’t get affected.

So, I have written email to Support Team once again.

Below is the email reply.

Medium’s statement indicates that “follow-for-follow” behaviors, particularly when they lead to repeated, disingenuous, or spam-like actions, may violate their rules.

They specifically mention the misuse of response and note features to distribute a single response widely or making an excessive number of follow requests.

The concern is that such actions can skew the site’s systems and negatively impact the user experience.

While not outright banning “follow-for-follow”, Medium discourages these behaviors due to their potential long-term detrimental effects on the community and the individual user’s success on the platform.

Below is reply about “50 Claps” as a community practice.

Medium allows giving 50 claps to stories, but they caution against actions that seem automated or disproportionate, like giving every story maximum claps regardless of content quality.

Such behaviors, especially if they appear bulk or indiscriminate (including following, clapping, highlighting, leaving notes, or flagging content), can violate Medium’s rules.

The concern is that these actions might give the impression of artificially boosting engagement rather than focusing on genuine, organic interaction and content creation.

While the Follower Booster Hub isn’t directly violating rules, its encouragement of such behaviors could lead its users to infringe Medium’s guidelines, risking actions against their accounts.

5. Update on Guidelines for Follower Booster Hub

Please find below for the updated guidelines.

• We have removed “Follow-for-follow” and “50 Claps” practices from our guidelines. This means our publication is now open to all writers, not just those who engage in “Follow-for-follow.”
• We promote a culture of “authentic engagements”.
• We aim to build a community founded on authentic interactions and “constructive feedback”.
• We envision a space for genuine connections, where members can share insights and grow together.
• We prioritize real interactions to foster an environment supportive of feedback.
• Our goal is to create a nurturing atmosphere that values sincerity and constructive dialogue.

I will update these details in all our site in Follower Booster Hub page.

6. My Key Takeaways

It really feels like I just went to hell and heaven during my travel to Italy. Below are my key takeways from this experience.

1. Awareness of Rules: Understand and adhere to Medium’s guidelines to avoid account suspension.
2. Avoid Spam-like Behavior: Refrain from repetitive actions such as posting similar comments across various posts, which can be seen as spam.
3. Learning from Experiences: Use personal and others’ experiences as lessons to navigate platform regulations effectively.
4. Seek Clarification: Proactively contact Medium Support for guidance on ambiguous rules to ensure compliance.
5. Community Engagement Practices: Be cautious with follow-for-follow and mass clapping activities; while not currently prohibited, they require careful consideration to avoid violating Medium’s norms.
6. Stay Informed and Adapt: Regularly update knowledge of Medium’s guidelines and adjust practices accordingly to maintain a compliant and supportive community.

Wrapping It Up

In conclusion, my time off from Medium taught me a lot about the rules and how important it is to follow them. My account got suspended, which was a big shock, but it helped me see the difference between helping others and breaking the rules.

I talked a lot with Medium’s support team to understand everything better. Now, we’ve changed how we do things in the Follower Booster Hub to make sure we’re all about real support and good feedback.

This whole situation showed me how crucial it is to keep up with the rules and always be clear about what’s allowed. Moving forward, we’re all about keeping things real and learning as we go. Long story short, let’s remember,

“It’s good to learn from your mistakes. It’s better to learn from other people’s mistakes.” — Warren Buffett

“Loved this piece? 👏 Show some love, it means a lot! Comment ‘I made it this far’ to share your thoughts. Don’t forget to hit follow for more! 🌟”

Follower Booster Hub Publication — Your Secret to Medium Success

• Join Our Community of “Authentic Engagements” & “Constructive Feedback” with this link.

Enjoyed this post? Try these next on the following topics:

[1] Writing and Follower Boost

[2] Self-Improvement & Mindset

[3] Relationships

[4] Social Issues & Reflection