Google ads in the forum?

[Gryzor]

Heh Thanks for the offer anyway

[steve]

I expect most people have adblockers and don't even see the adverts.
I was looking at EAB the other day and in several places there was a message saying " Advertisement (no adblock please)" we could have that here, and maybe a banner asking people to click on one ad each visit.

[TFM]

Well, if you can afford it sure, naturally. Supporters shouldn't see any ads anyway...

I do see them. So something maybe not working.


EDIT: I clicked at them like hell today! Let's see if it helps.

[Gryzor]

@Steve: Let me see if I can modify the code to do that... though not sure. You see, I respect people wanting to use an ad blocker. Doing this would mean that even with an ad blocked there'd be some clutter left; though I think I've kept it to the very minimum and it's barely noticeable. When I introduced the ads I sent a system-wide email explaining the whys and hows, and I'd guess that would be enough for those wanting to support the site!


@TFM: thanks, mate However, clicking on Google ads more than once won't do much, Google's system is clever enough to see you're just trying to game it    Oh! And yeah, maybe I didn't disable ads for supporters during the test period, will have to check


Yesterday, btw, we gathered €4, no doubt because I resurrected this thread. Imagine, just one fourth of that every day could carry the site through...

[TFM]

Ok Lance, let's go for it    Guess if I click at different advertisements it will count it at least once for every company, we'll see how it goes! 

[Gryzor]

No Google *knows* when you're clicking on ads just to click on ads. Once per day is enough, and that's why I said it's so easy...


Btw, I remembered why I didn't disable ads for supporters: because during testing I needed to be able to see them

[BluesBrothers]

Why don't you have a dedicated trade section where people who deal with Amstrad and other retro can advertise/show their wares but they have to pay a small fee for the privilege. Normal private classifieds will still remain the same. At least the ads will then be of some interest to the Wiki users and retro traders will also benefit and I think if handled correctly extra traffic could be generated for the site in the process.

[Bryce]

As long as there are other forums where the commercial traders can deal, they're not going to sign up to trade here too. Also, the same discussion / arguments that Amibay has would also happen here: When is a trader commercial and when is it just a private seller with lots of stuff to sell?

Bryce.

[TFM]

Ok, I clicked Google ads now several times every day. Does enough money come in?

[Gryzor]

Ok, I clicked Google ads now several times every day. Does enough money come in?

Oh yes, thank you very much. Thanks to you, and contrary to what I EXPLICITLY said about NOT DOING this, our Adsense account is now suspended. Again: thank you very much.

[Gryzor]

I've appealed the suspension, but I have no idea whether they'll reinstate the account. If they don't, and I guess it's their right to, we'll lose all the money accrued up to now, and we won't be able to place any more ads.

[TFM]

Oh yes, thank you very much. Thanks to you, and contrary to what I EXPLICITLY said about NOT DOING this, our Adsense account is now suspended. Again: thank you very much.

That's crap. I can access 7 computers here, so if I click at an ad once every day at every computer, how could this be bad. If it got suspended, then you better find out why instead of blaming me.


But the best is obviously to get rid of it, because to me it looks like THEY screw you.

[Gryzor]

No they didn't screw me... they can easily see someone clicking from several computers close by. And they can see one computer clicking on it every day.


That's why I said, just click once every now and then if you fancy something, don't click purposefully...

[TFM]

Don't blame me for it. How much people do visit this page every day? 500?

[ralferoo]

It's well known that google take click fraud seriously. They sell advertising at a high price because they are well targeted to the demographic of the page they're served on and so a click is usually from a potential customer. Someone who deliberately clicks on the banner every day is costing their customer money unnecessarily and making google's conversion stats look which is bad for their business. Oh, and google obviously have to pay out for non-genuine clicks.

Gryzor made it quite clear he didn't want people clicking beyond what they'd click on because they were genuinely interested. As a user base, we need to respect those wishes as it's his reputation on the line when someone engages in click fraud. And now we've all seen the consequences of that. I guess we'll have to go back to donations to keep the website running then...

Also, you do realise that google is incredibly good at analytics and data mining? Chances are they already know exactly which computers you use if you've ever used any accounts in common on any sites that they provide analytics for. And even if they don't, it's surprisingly easily to uniquely identify an individual browser even when it's operating in "stealth mode", see for instance Schneier on Security: Tracking your Browser Without Cookies

[Gryzor]

@TFM: who knows, maybe it was someone else as well. But it was definitely you, too. About 600 people per day, but the ad clicks were very few. Noble motives, sure, but we got the rap for it.


@ralferoo: thanks mate. Thanks for that link, too, gonna read it with my morning coffee. I can only hope the account is reinstated after I explained to them what happened, who knows, maybe some good will on their part...

[TFM]

Ok, so I click at the adds once per day and per computer. And this is already too much? So how often can you click? Once a week?

[Gryzor]

Simple: once every time you see something that interests you. Don't you realise that it's sooo easy for Google to see 7 computers next to each other click once every day on the ads? Plus, believe me, those clicks don't bring in money in the first place.

[AMSDOS]

I would of thought that by not clicking on the adverts, it would of serve well as punishment. Not that I've ever seen an advert that appeals.

I thought that if you wanted to hit AdChoices hard, you could do a screen dump of their advertisement and start pasting fake adverts everywhere for example.

[TotO]

Now, the question: What's her eyes colours?

[BluesBrothers]

Frankly who cares and I'll live without the t-shirt to

hers at least

[Gryzor]

Frankly, no idea either as to the colour of her eyes or what you mean by mentioning AdChoices

[AMSDOS]

Her eyes appear to be a similar shade of blue to her shorts.

Adchoices are the people that power the Advertising, that at least was what I saw on the ads when they were here, and the Image I Posted (above) with the little Blue Triangle on the top right side. I think it would really irritate them if images of their commercials were posted as images, just as I had done it before, because there essentially not real commercials and clicking on them won't do anything.

Interesting though that more people on the Internet are asking others to click on the Advertising for them.

[Gryzor]

So, basically have static images that will bother users, while the advertisers won't even know it? Nah, I'll pass:D

[Gryzor]

[UPDATE]
Google has rejected my appeal. This means that all the trouble we went through, and all the support you guys have given it, was for naught. What's more, I'm now personally blacklisted and can't ever open an Adsense account again. So that's that.


The end.