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Post by stevemacdonald on Feb 18, 2006 22:27:07 GMT
Whenever I visit this forum I see an ad banner across the top of the screen. I never gave it much thought until today when I decided to check out one of the advertisers. I was shocked to say the least. It was for a blog for a white supremacist kook!
Does HWI have any control over what's allowed to be advertised on its site? I would greatly prefer that we don't allow the site to be used for creepy purposes.
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Post by roger on Feb 19, 2006 0:43:46 GMT
Hi Steve,
Regretably we have no control whatsoever over the content of the adverts. In theory, we could pay to be an ad-free forum but I have already explored that possibility only to find it is impractical. For some reason, credit cards are only acceptable from within the USA. From the UK, I would have to pay by IMO every month and then ensure payment arrives and is processed in time for the commencement of the following month. Should it be processed early, it seems it would be credited to the current month (which would already have been paid for) and outstanding credit at the end of the month is NOT carried forward. At that point, I gave up the idea.
So, unless anyone else has any clever suggestions, it seems there is very little we can do about it.
Thanks for asking! Roger
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Post by alien on Feb 19, 2006 1:06:51 GMT
Hi Steve and Roger, I think the google ads are generated based on page content and other info collected from the user (like gmail?). For some reason, I always get monster.ca (job search site) ads According to google's site: Somehow google review process failed... Allen
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Joe
Administrator
Supporting Hayley since 2003!
Posts: 6,693
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Post by Joe on Feb 19, 2006 1:25:59 GMT
I only see the ads on top of the screen when I have active scripting enabled (also this is the only way I can see the different colours for when a post was made, such as 'today' or 'yesterday').
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Post by Raymond on Feb 19, 2006 8:49:00 GMT
Hi Steve and Roger, I think the google ads are generated based on page content and other info collected from the user (like gmail?). For some reason, I always get monster.ca (job search site) ads According to google's site: Somehow google review process failed... Allen Yes, google ads are generated based on page content and other info collected from the user. It checks your ip address also. So I often see Chinese Google ads because google knows that my ip is from Hong Kong. Raymond
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Post by Richard on Feb 19, 2006 10:13:00 GMT
Hello everybody! I never really look at the advertisements, but I just did and one of them is for an Il Divo concert at Warwick Castle on 14th July 2006. Excellent seats for £55! I wonder if Hayley will be there? Richard
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Post by gareth on Feb 19, 2006 20:27:20 GMT
I realise that the advertisements do have a link with the contents of a thread (on the Katherine jenkins Proboards forum there are often links to Holiday trips to the Northern Territory, Australia, simply because there's a place called Katherine Gorge there ....)
This made me think - on which page of this forum would there have been content that would get the advertisement engine into such a state it links to sites supporting white supremacy? Could it have been a page with a quite political content?
Something to ponder over.
In general though, I find advertising at Proboards non-agressive and very subdued. If it is so much bother to make a forum ad-free, then with the current level of advertising, i don't think it is worth the trouble.
Gerrit
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Post by roger on Feb 19, 2006 22:44:27 GMT
...Something to ponder over... Gerrit It is certainly something to bear in mind so thanks for the tip, Gerrit. I'll try not to lose too much sleep over it though! Roger (told ya!)
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Post by drew on Sept 7, 2006 16:38:56 GMT
I realise that the advertisements help to pay for the forum and that "Ads by Google" are based upon page content, but wouldn't it be nice if they could actually spell Hayley Westenra rather than Hayley *** terner. Clicking on the latter takes you nowhere.
(Clicking on the former takes you on an incredible journey....)
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Post by Andrew on Sept 7, 2006 17:00:13 GMT
I realise that the advertisements help to pay for the forum and that "Ads by Google" are based upon page content, but wouldn't it be nice if they could actually spell Hayley Westenra rather than Hayley *** terner. Clicking on the latter takes you nowhere. (Clicking on the former takes you on an incredible journey....) Hi Drew, I noticed that too! How ignorant of the all the staff at "Google" At the end of the day they have made themselves look stupid! Andrew
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Post by roger on Sept 7, 2006 19:22:18 GMT
Hi Drew and Andrew,
Actually, that is almost certainly not Google's error. I have seen Hayley's name mis-spelt on so many sites including ebay, amazon, the bbc and classic fm. The Google bots spider those sites and pick up on keywords. The results are eventually used to serve web pages (and adverts) to where there is likely to be interest in the topic. So, if someone advertised a CD for sale on ebay, for example, but spelt Hayley's name wrongly, that is how it could appear in an advert on this forum.
Roger
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Post by drew on Sept 7, 2006 20:07:34 GMT
Tried searching for WITA by Hayley *** terner, still can't find it on eBay.
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Post by graemek on Sept 11, 2006 11:25:06 GMT
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Dave
Administrator
HWI Admin
Posts: 7,688
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Post by Dave on Sept 11, 2006 12:00:33 GMT
Hi Graeme, Gone. This happens from time to time. They don't last long Cheers, Dave
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Post by Richard on Sept 11, 2006 13:56:07 GMT
Whoops! I saw that post this morning, and decided to let it stand because the member had registered a few days ago. If I see any more like that I'll delete them straight away! I'd better have spam for tea! i.postimg.cc/9fYxy370/smilie-big-grin.gifRichard
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