So .. I wanted more customization for my blog and exported it over to an account on Wordpress.com last night. This morning I was putting in a link to someone's blog on 3FC in my blogroll, and was notified by a message that my blog had been deactivated due to TOS violation. I was like... wha??? So I emailed support asking why I was deactivated. This is what I got back:

"Hi,
Can any links to www.3fatchicks.com be removed, please? These are heavily used by spammers on WordPress.com, so we no longer allow them. Your blog has been reinstated, as well."

How can a support forum for weight loss be considered spam. Especially this one. I am now bummed, because I wanted some links there to people's blogs on 3FC that have made a few comments on mine.

I went with wordpress.com because of the whole being able to export/import existing posts/comments/etc. Does anyone know of another blog site that is import/export friendly with Wordpress and also 3FC link friendly? Sheesh! Talk about squashing my enthusiasm!

I don't write blogs on it but I'm almost positive Buddy Slim uses word press for blog writing ..you could try that out http://www.buddyslim.com

Isn't that the craziest? When we mods spent hours every day quashing spam. It just doesn't make sense!

Someone else asked about this issue and Suzanne 3FC responded in this thread: 3FC not allowed as link on blogs!

I sure wish there was a way to fix this problem and am so sorry it happened to you.

How annoying! This is the greatest place on the web for support, and I cannot link to it. Sorry to anyone who commented on my blog.. I can't link to you right now!

ummm... Aren't the 3FC diet blogs powered by wordpress? weird

They are, but there is just not a lot of customizing the way things look - I think it is probably a version of WP on the 3FC site server. Wordpress.com has a lot more you can do for the customizing part. I will have to do some research tonight, but I'd really like to at least be able to import the posts to somewhere else.

I would hate to import, though, then find out wherever that is blocks 3FC links, too. Anyone else have a blog that allows 3FC links? I should probably start that way, then figure out if I can import from WP.

3FC uses Wordpress MU (Multi User) which doesn't have all the bells and whistles that Wordpress.com has. Wordpress.com is a customized version of the blog from Wordpress.org.

We have battled "splogs" (spam blogs) for ages, but I never realized the problem was so bad that Wordpress.com would block us until the thread in the Help forum the other day.

We look at the new blog signups several times a day to weed out obvious splogs. But some do get through. Sometimes they start out with an innocent or weight related title so we think they are legit, then they go back later on and change them. With thousands of blogs in there, it's impossible to go back through them all to find ones that use that tactic. I'm not sure we can ever get rid of them completely, and I'm really sorry to learn that the problem was bad enough that another site took notice and action on their end.

HotWings, you can export your database from your control panel and import it to another wordpress installation. The versions may be different, but that shouldn't cause a problem. You might be prompted to do an automatic upgrade of the db, depending on where you put it, but probably not. I've successfully imported one into an individual wordpress installation, but I've never tried to import it into a wordpress.com account.

Be careful when exporting. I started a WordPress blog and exported my 3FC blog. When my links to other 3FC went across, my new blog was closed down... Perhaps new members should also have to wait 20 days to get a free blog. Waiting for a signature is not a big deal; start a spam blog is.