Are we OK with the Ads we get in this forum?

[gvisoc]

Hi all

I just want to start a discussion around the quality of the ads we're getting when visiting this forum.

For a user like me that doesn't use google, uses extensions to fake the browser fingerprinting, doesn't buy in amazon nor in aliexpress, and blocks all the trackers everywhere except here, for the sake of giving a few cents per visit,...

...these are the ads I get:

In this instance it's not too bad, but you can see that within some questionable gadgets there are also "undies plugins for your genitals to appear bigger", dating / hookup sites, etc. Most of the time I can see mostly only dildos, to be honest.

I'm fine with that, as I am open-minded, but I was wondering whether or not this is what we want our forum to be associated with.

I am not sure what is going on at google ads HQ, but I wanted to bring the following discussion: should we have a look to other advertisement provider, not only more ethical, but also that selects the advertisement based on the page content and SEO context, instead of on the visitor's google profile, fingerprinting or, in cases like mine (where none of those exist), in random decisions by some not-too-bright algorithm?

Otherwise I am very sorry but I will have to block the ads and proceed to donate some cash from time to time (which I do).

 

[bob466]

I don't get any ads on any browser when I Login to this Forum because I have ad blockers...doesn't everyone.

 

[camtaf]

I always install ublock origin - been using it for years - & no, I won't disable it!

 

[kc1di]

Yep Vivaldi browser has them add blockers built in. But the forum people need to make money some how as the cost is not zero to keep the forums up and running. Though they could be more selective in what is advertised.

 

[gvisoc]

Thanks @camtaf but as @kc1di points out, I am not asking

how to block ads,​

but rather

what ads do we want this forum to present so that: ​

1. they're not disturbing, or at least not too distracting​

2. If possible, they are ethical ads from eithical companies​

3. so that we can lower down our adblockers and give some cash to the forum.​

 

[gvisoc]

And I just want to make also the point that I open this thread because I am invested in this forum. I want it to be open and be something sustainable for the people that runs it. I feel like better ads would bring more revenue with less WTF moments from the visitors and the members, that's it.

 

[kc1di]

I'm not sure that the forum it self is responsible for the ads, It is most likely the hosting company that sells ad space. So somehow we would have to put pressure on them to be more discerning.

 

[KGIII]

Our admin just kinda lets AdSense do its thing. Otherwise, playing whack-a-mole would would take a whole lot of time. Ads are theoretically tailored to what you're interested in, and what you've been browsing for. But, that's not always accurate.

So, unless they're particularly egregious, we just kinda live with them. In this case, you'll see more skin at the beach.

You can also click on the X shown on each ad, usually in the upper right, and tell Google to not serve that ad again.

I used to show ads and kind of keep an eye on them, but our admin fixed the glitch and now I no longer see ads. I'd previously whitelisted the site just so I could see the ads.

 

[sphen]

I am happy to view ads if they help fund the forum.

To me, an acceptable ad is a static image with graphics and text, displayed in a way that clearly separates the ad from the website content. It would be viewed like a magazine or newspaper ad. The ad contents must always be suitable for families with small children unless the website is clearly made for "adult content" and blocks non-adult users. When in doubt, there are no exceptions. (Even old people may have a child wander into the room.)

If your website can comply with that, show me what you want. For those reasons, I never used an ad blocker. That changed a few years ago, due to what I consider advertiser abuse. The following ads are unacceptable to me, and forced me to install an ad blocker:

• Ads with audio. It is no fun to be in a quiet environment when the speaker suddenly starts blasting loud audio. Double that if it is a shared open office environment. Eventually someone will forget to turn off their speakers when not needed.
• Ads with video. Even where there is no sound.
• Ads that run any active content, software, or program on my computer without my permission.
  • Especially:
    The subset of ads that tries to install malware, tracking, or other persistent software, etc.

The issue around running active software on my computer without my permission is a topic in itself. Whether in ads or otherwise, they create another attack surface for bad actors to exploit. I did not ask for it, but it is not practical to eliminate it for modern websites.

Ads are provided by third-parties that are independent of websites like Linux.org. The forum owners do not generally know which ads are being displayed to you by those third-party companies. There are agreements in place regarding content and content filtering, etc. They usually provide tools for website owners to submit complaints about problem ads and ad content on behalf of their websites and its members who complain to them, assuming the website has members at all. Sometimes I wonder whether some of them use the website reports as the only non-automated (human-powered) content filtering mechanism that they have. That is a scary thought. Too bad TuxBot can't be trained to filter ads. "Hey TuxBot! Show me ads for Debian-based distros only please!"

Another problem is that advertisers themselves are constantly searching for ways to display ads that skirt and violate the rules. It could be as bad as installing malware or as simple as displaying inappropriate or offensive content. The companies behind the ads must deal with bad actors on all sides.

I wonder whether it is now safe for me to remove my ad blocker. Have the advertisers stopped running audio and video ads yet? Those are the true show-stoppers for me.

 

[wendy-lebaron]

In this instance it's not too bad, but you can see that within some questionable gadgets there are also "undies plugins for your genitals to appear bigger", dating / hookup sites, etc. Most of the time I can see mostly only dildos, to be honest.

I completely agree with you about this, but it's the reason why I request for all the ads to be blocked. If the ads were mostly harmless like on Distrowatch then things would be fine. Grudgingly I would have accepted "Facebook style" which was a bit better writing a convincing sentence "to sell" than the first Google ads I've ever seen for any search result. There was another site I had to stop visiting this year because it absolutely refused to function if it sensed any ad-blocker, even the one with KDE Falcon. "We need to eat," yeah right!

I was shocked visiting "linuxquestions" site using Firefox on two different installations, one with UBlock Origin and one without. Too much residue at the bottom without ad-blocker. At least nothing about "nopro" or fake-currency exchanges or forgotten ways to make money. And I agree with sphen, animated ads are the worst, with cheaply-constructed GIF files using images that might be copyrighted.

 

[KGIII]

Have the advertisers stopped running audio and video ads yet?

AdSense is pretty good in that department. I use uBlock Origin but I whitelist sites that I determine are worth supporting.

On my only site with ads, I just let Google do its thing. They decide where to place the ads, how often to show them, etc... I should probably work on optimizing for ads, but that's just not something that interests me. I also figure that it'll be futile, more or less. Not a whole lot of folks click the ads.

If you don't want to show ads and still support the site, there are a couple of levels of membership that you can use to support Linux.org. There's also an option to donate to help cover hosting costs.

 

[Leonardo_B]

im ok with ads I havent seen many but when i do see ads here i normally see mint mobile ads

 

[MikeWalsh]

Just gave this a try myself. I normally run AdGuard, which works well for me. Disabling it temporarily, I didn't see anything even vaguely "titillating", or "adult-themed".....all I saw were tech-related adverts.

Wouldn't bother me what I saw, frankly, 'cos broad-minded is my middle name.....and I'm not what you'd call a 'careful' browser.

(shrug)


Mike.

 

[The Duck]

I didn't see anything even vaguely "titillating", or "adult-themed".....all I saw were tech-related adverts.

Wouldn't bother me what I saw, frankly, 'cos broad-minded is my middle name.....and I'm not what you'd call a 'careful' browser.

(shrug)


Mike.

I've never saw any "titillating", or "adult-themed"
ads.
I wouldn't mind if a few "titillating", or "adult-themed"
ads showed up.

 

[Dart]

I don't remember ever seeing an ad on this site. Then again, there are times I don't remember my name!

I'm running NoScript, Adblock Plus & Ghostery, running a Firefox browser. I haven't seen many, if any Ads on any sites I frequent in quite a long time.

Well, Thinking about it... Maybe Once in a blue moon, while using some off the wall conversion web sites. And that's rare too. Also, the built in Calculator has enough conversions to keep me happy for 90+% of the time anyway. 8^)

 

[KGIII]

I'm running NoScript, Adblock Plus & Ghostery, running a Firefox browser. I haven't seen many, if any Ads on any sites I frequent in quite a long time.

The only ads you'd see would be those who specifically paid to advertise here. Those wouldn't be blocked by your ad blocking software (and for good reason).

There was recently an ad for a computer up in the top right. Now, the only thing there is a blurb about donating to Linux.org. The ad must have run its course and they must have decided to not renew it.

Other than that, with your setup, you shouldn't see any ads here.

You can whitelist the site to show ads. That'd be up to you. I did, but then our admin fixed it so that I don't see ads - even though I kinda wanted to see the ads.

 

[PuppyHome]

I only use uBO to block ads (and adblocker for Youtube) . In uBO I have a few sites (2 actually, this one and Puppy forum) whitelisted but my hosts file still blocks all but a few ads on both.

When testing beta pups or getting familiar with an interesting one I run them from another USB usually without blockers or hosts file and the ads I'd see on said 2 sites are usually 'okay' in the sense that there's nothing dodgy going on.

In other parts of WWW-Land, well that's another story.......sometimes sites would light up like a Christmas tree.

 

[mrcrossroads]

Hi all

I just want to start a discussion around the quality of the ads we're getting when visiting this forum.

For a user like me that doesn't use google, uses extensions to fake the browser fingerprinting, doesn't buy in amazon nor in aliexpress, and blocks all the trackers everywhere except here, for the sake of giving a few cents per visit,...

...these are the ads I get:
View attachment 16122
In this instance it's not too bad, but you can see that within some questionable gadgets there are also "undies plugins for your genitals to appear bigger", dating / hookup sites, etc. Most of the time I can see mostly only dildos, to be honest.

I'm fine with that, as I am open-minded, but I was wondering whether or not this is what we want our forum to be associated with.

I am not sure what is going on at google ads HQ, but I wanted to bring the following discussion: should we have a look to other advertisement provider, not only more ethical, but also that selects the advertisement based on the page content and SEO context, instead of on the visitor's google profile, fingerprinting or, in cases like mine (where none of those exist), in random decisions by some not-too-bright algorithm?

Otherwise I am very sorry but I will have to block the ads and proceed to donate some cash from time to time (which I do).

I use Ghostery. Blocks all ads.

 

[sphen]

I've never saw any "titillating", or "adult-themed"
ads.
I wouldn't mind if a few "titillating", or "adult-themed"
ads showed up.

I remember my partner's reaction when she was making some Easter decorations. Her search returned a few images of certain humans "au naturale with a bow tie" scattered among the rabbit images that she wanted. It was good for a laugh, but reminded us how we had been careful to keep our children from accidentally searching for "dual use" terms like that.

She just reminded me how one child was assigned to do a report on the North American mammal with a flat tail that builds dams on streams. That mammal is also vulgar slang in a different context, at least here in the US. My partner supervised our child's homework for that report. After all these years, she is still upset that the teacher did not think of it. She also reminded me that a recent search for "fluffy" returned some explicit images as well. What she wanted was a dog toy.

(I feel a need to explain that we did not lower the content filtering bar for "entertainment" but because it interfered with work. Sometimes technical content is blocked as "hacking related." Nothing to see here ... literally.)

 

[KGIII]

As we're this far off topic...

The university I went to used the beaver as a mascot.

The university I taught at used the beaver as a mascot.

Anyhow, if I had young children I'd definitely ensure they used ad blocking. I'm pretty relaxed about this sort of thing so I wouldn't try parental software (that'd just make them curious and I did the 'openness' thing with mine), but I'd make sure to be available for discussing anything they came across that was meant for older people.

While I sometimes ask people to whitelist my site in their ad blocking software, I can understand why they might not want to do so. I thought about putting up a nag screen but decided to use the wait and see approach. I should definitely put up a nag screen for the newsletter, but I've been saying that for a year or more.