On Friday I received a short and to-the-point e-mail from Lulu.com (my book publisher) informing me that, due to a content violation, my book Commodork had been removed from their store. If I had any questions (and who wouldn't at this point?) I could visit their forums and post a message in the "Support Forums."

My heart skipped a beat. Had I done something wrong? I published Commodork over two years ago. Had it really taken this long for a problem to arise?

I visited Lulu's Support Forums and found a giant picture of a padlock next to them. All of Lulu's Support Forums have been closed. I was informed via the page that for more assistance, I should use the 24/7 Live Help service. That's where I went next.

The first person I talked to (on 8/22), Barry R, told me that he would escalate my problem to a supervisor and that someone should contact me within 24 hours. Nobody did. Oddly enough, shortly after talking to Barry R, Commodork became available via Lulu.com again. Had they realized their error and re-enabled sales of my book?

I guess not. On 8/25, my book again disappeared from Lulu's virtual shelves. I contacted their online help again; this time, I got Ben C. Ben C told me that there was nothing he could do and that I should reply to the e-mail I received. When I mentioned that the e-mail came from "do-not-reply@lulu.com," he just shrugged.

As a last resort, I've posted an SOS message on the Lulu forums. Maybe something will come of it, or maybe that's the end of Commodork -- at least, as printed by Lulu. If things can't be worked out ... well, I've been meaning to get into the PDF Publishing business anyway, and Commodork might just be a good place to start.