The Google AdSense Help Forum (http://www.google.com/support/forum/p/AdSense) is an incredible resource populated by AdSense Publishers (and, occasionally, Google employees) where you can ask questions, get help and advice, and add your suggestions for improvements to the AdSense network.

To help you get oriented, I've assembled a few topics here that might help you avoid some common mistakes, and answer some common questions.  Please note that this document relates only to the AdSense Help Forum, not necessarily to AdSense itself.

Dear Google...

This is a common mistake.  The AdSense Help Forum is not an e-mail system for Google.  You are posting to a public forum where anyone can answer, and likely will.  This is important for a couple of reasons. 

First, people operating under the mistaken impression that the AdSense Help Forum is a direct, private communication tool to the AdSense team often post information about themselves that really shouldn't be made public - I've seen everything short of account passwords and taxpayer IDs, including long, rambling appeals for account reinstatement that fall on deaf ears. 

Second, in treating the Forum like a private messaging system, one tends to leave the impression with other readers that they're rather clueless, don't read carefully, and lack basic knowledge of how various Internet tools work.  With that impression made, it's difficult for the average user to think you have the basic level of knowledge necessary to be a successful AdWords Publisher.

How do I know who is a Google employee?

Google Employees always have the words 'Google Employee' under their name, and their screen names always include the phrase "AdSense Pro."  "Mike" is not a Google Employee.  "AdSense Pro Mike" is.

What are "levels?"  What is a 'Top Contributor?'

The AdSense Help Forum assigns "levels" to participants based on a variety of criteria.  Levels are designed to reward people for answering others' questions and contributing to the community. Initially, the prime measure is the number of responses one makes to the forum - the number of questions answered.  As the levels increase, other factors are taken in to consideration.  This helps avoid people just coming in and adding useless, one-line responses to every thread just so they can gain 'level.'

A "Top Contributor" is a forum member who has made a consistent positive contribution to the help forum over an extended period of time.  "Top Contributor" status is not automatically assigned by post count the way other levels are.  If you are a candidate for "Top Contributor" status, you will be contacted by the AdSense team.  Please do not flood the forums with posts in an attempt to become a "Top Contributor."

"Top Contributors" are not Google Employees.

Why won't Google answer me directly here?

First and foremost, the AdSense program is a tightly-run ship, and you are expected to have some degree of initiative and critical thinking skill of your own.  The AdSense team has worked very hard and put forth considerable time and expense to create a comprehensive help system in which the vast majority of questions are answered.  It's simply not cost effective for them to then turn around and hire people to answer questions that have already been answered.

In some cases, answering your question may require discussion of details about your account that are confidential.  You wouldn't want to walk into the lobby of your local emergency room and carry on a conversation in public about your medical conditions.  By the same token, an AdSense Pro is not going to discuss the details of your account with you in public, if it's necessary for them to discuss those details with you at all.  It usually isn't.

It does occasionally happen that a system flaw or bug is revealed through posts to the forum.  There have been several instances where this has happened and an AdSense Pro has stepped in to publicly address the issue.  However, you should not expect this to happen under any given circumstance.

Why are people so mean?  A 'Top Contributor' said I was ignorant, is that any way for a Google employee to speak to their customers?  I'LL SUE!

People aren't mean, usually.  That includes me. 

Often, responses are given in a straightforward manner that some people perceive as 'mean' because the response is not what they wanted to hear.  AdSense is a business; it's not a social club, and it's not a violin accompaniment for a pity-party.  Dozens, if not hundreds of people show up every day blatantly lying, making ridiculous and empty threats about lawsuits and how 'unethical' Google is, and generally behaving like fools.  These people are generally not treated with a great deal of respect because they have actively demonstrated that they are not deserving of respect in this context.

Every effort is made by the AdSense Pros and Top Contributors to remain civil and informative, but reality is reality.  If the answer to your question is "you got banned because you didn't read the rules, violated policy, and generally acted in bad faith, treating AdSense like a get-rich-quick scheme rather than a business partnership with the world's leading tech company," then that is the answer.  That might not be particularly sympathetic or nice, but it's also not mean.  It's reality.  If you are on a space ship and decide you want some fresh air, you will explode the minute you open the door.  To some people, that is also 'mean,' and the vacuum of space should give them fair warning before it explodes them.  Unfortunately for them, it doesn't.  That's reality.

A 'Top Contributor' is not a Google Employee, and chances are if one of them describes your behavior in less than complimentary terms, it's because you're acting like a jerk.  Don't act like a jerk.  Keep in mind that other than the AdSense Pros, none of us are being paid to help you.  In many cases, such as my own, we do get paid in other contexts for our expertise in subjects like web design and even AdSense implementation.  You will do well to keep in mind that any response you get represents a favor done for you; nobody has to answer your questions, we do it because we hope that by doing so, we can improve the overall quality of the AdSense network, thereby increasing our income as Publishers.

I don't want to hear from some random person, I WANT TO TALK TO GOOGLE!

It's good to want things.  I want a pony.  Unfortunately, I don't have a pony because I haven't purchased one.  The AdSense team is not easy to contact directly, and even less easy to get a direct response from.  There are very good business reasons for this, not the least of which is cost effectiveness.  If Google had to pay people to answer every single post on the Help Forums, we Publishers wouldn't make any money for ourselves; it would all be chewed up in paying salaries for people to answer questions that, a vast majority of the time, have already been answered.

In the rare event that you have a question that must be dealt with on an individual basis and is not answered in an existing AdSense Help article or forum thread, there is a contact form that you can find by reading this page (How Can I Contact AdSense Support?).