Helium.com publishes articles by writers. About three-and-a-half years ago, I wrote an article which I'd now like removed. At the time I wrote the article, I was in an episode of severe mania, and was not in my right mind. I was subsequently diagnosed with bipolar disorder, and have been completely stable since Nov 06. But the article, as it stood, was out of context, and I now wanted it removed since it could damage my reputation as a writer. (I'm having a book published next year.)
With a few emails back and forth, they made it clear that the user agreement gave them the right to keep the article online. You're not allowed to even edit it. Your only option is to write a replacement article, and hope that it gets rated more highly than the original, at which point the original will be deleted.
I wrote a replacement article on Sat, Dec 5th, and in the article, I detailed what had happened with Helium, and criticized them for their lack of compassion, and rigid adherence to rules. Not to mention the unfairness of their Terms of Service. (Yes, I agreed to them, but not when I was in my right mind. I even told them I could furnish them with medical certificates etc.)
This morning, I received an email from them, saying: "Further attempts to access helium.com or any Helium computer systems will be considered malicious and reported to local and state law enforcement, the Internet Crimes division of the FBI and your internet service provider. Your account has been disabled and the original article restored to the title."
So now they are keeping my articles online, where they can benefit financially from them (advertising), refusing even access to their site, let alone login, and censoring my complaint. When I did a Google search on complaints against Helium, there are hundreds.
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