# Bad ad in SDMB **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [November 17, 2006, 4:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bad-ad-in-sdmb/380844 "2006-11-17T16:21:59Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Rico](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rico/32/3582_2.png) [@Rico](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rico)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2006, 6:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bad-ad-in-sdmb/380844/21 "2006-11-17T18:06:44Z")
[QUOTE=Kimstu] The ad makes me laugh, especially when I think how some Republicans taunted Democrats in 2000 and 2004 with being “sore losers”. Who’s a sore loser now? “Yeah, you guys won both houses of Congress, but I don’t care because DEMOCRATS SUCK! Nah nah nah nah nah! I’m gonna tell everybody I know that you suck! Ha! I guess that’ll show you!” [/QUOTE] Please don’t think that this site reflects the mindset or views of a good majority of Republicans. Small-minded people create hate. The site was created by small-minded people and their views are repugnant to decent people everywhere, regardless of party affiliation or belief. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2006, 6:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bad-ad-in-sdmb/380844/22 "2006-11-17T18:13:21Z")
Curious that all the Google ads visible at the bottom of **this** thread at the moment are completely innocuous and nonpolitical. I would’ve expected something different. How does this “keyword” business work, anyway? ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2006, 6:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bad-ad-in-sdmb/380844/23 "2006-11-17T18:15:46Z")
But **now** the “Democrats Suck” ad is showing. Curiouser and curiouser. ---
**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2006, 6:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bad-ad-in-sdmb/380844/24 "2006-11-17T18:15:59Z")
[QUOTE=BrainGlutton] Curious that all the Google ads visible at the bottom of **this** thread at the moment are completely innocuous and nonpolitical. I would’ve expected something different. How does this “keyword” business work, anyway? [/QUOTE] Visible to you maybe. I see the offending democratssuck ad. ---
**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2006, 6:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bad-ad-in-sdmb/380844/25 "2006-11-17T18:17:04Z")
[QUOTE=BrainGlutton] But **now** the “Democrats Suck” ad is showing. Curiouser and curiouser. [/QUOTE] Google is fucking with you. Google hates you. I know, he told me. ---
**Author:** ![FormerMarineGuy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/65b543/32.png) [@FormerMarineGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FormerMarineGuy)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2006, 6:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bad-ad-in-sdmb/380844/26 "2006-11-17T18:17:53Z")
Right now there are four ads at the bottom. Why Mommy is a Democrat from [littledemocrats.net](http://littledemocrats.net) and… Join General Wesley Clark at [securingamerica.com](http://securingamerica.com) ---
**Author:** ![jjimm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba8739/32.png) [@jjimm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jjimm)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2006, 6:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bad-ad-in-sdmb/380844/27 "2006-11-17T18:24:59Z")
[QUOTE=Rico] Someone apparently has too much money. Why you would buy a Google ad for a little phpBB like that is beyond me. [/QUOTE] Not necessarily: those ads can be incredibly cheap. You tell Google Adwords how much you will pay _for a single click_, and you don’t pay if nobody clicks. You can bid a dime for a click, and limit your daily budget to a dime. Once it’s spent, the ad disappears from all the sites it was appearing on. Of course the larger the org. the higher the budget: I tried to hire a consultant and they said they refused to do business with anyone spending less than $20K a month on Google Ads. It’s a beautiful, beautiful business model. So if you want to piss the “Democrats Suck” board off, click the ad but don’t do anything else on the site. ---
**Author:** ![Baron\_Greenback](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/baron_greenback/32/48_2.png) [@Baron\_Greenback](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baron_Greenback)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2006, 6:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bad-ad-in-sdmb/380844/28 "2006-11-17T18:28:15Z")
At the moment, in the UK the ads are for “Anti-Bush T-shirts”, “Religion: 7 Great Lies”, and “Boycott Bush” so I guess what goes around comes around. ---
**Author:** ![Snooooopy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ee7513/32.png) [@Snooooopy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snooooopy)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2006, 6:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bad-ad-in-sdmb/380844/29 "2006-11-17T18:37:43Z")
[QUOTE=Ludovic] I wanna know how someone can rob my morality. “It’s not my fault I shot up all those people in S-Mart! The democrats **Robbed me of my morality!** ” [/QUOTE] I’m afraid I’m going to have to ask you to leave the store. ---
**Author:** ![OneCentStamp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/13edae/32.png) [@OneCentStamp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OneCentStamp)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2006, 6:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bad-ad-in-sdmb/380844/30 "2006-11-17T18:39:18Z")
I just wasted five minutes on the “Democrats Suck!” page and am fairly certain it’s a **parody**. I’m totally certain that it’s a dead board; about 1/3 of their fora have no posts at all. ---
**Author:** ![Ludovic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ab992/32.png) [@Ludovic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludovic)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2006, 6:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bad-ad-in-sdmb/380844/31 "2006-11-17T18:44:23Z")
[QUOTE=jjimm] Not necessarily: those ads can be incredibly cheap. You tell Google Adwords how much you will pay _for a single click_, and you don’t pay if nobody clicks. You can bid a dime for a click, and limit your daily budget to a dime. Once it’s spent, the ad disappears from all the sites it was appearing on. Of course the larger the org. the higher the budget: I tried to hire a consultant and they said they refused to do business with anyone spending less than $20K a month on Google Ads. It’s a beautiful, beautiful business model. So if you want to piss the “Democrats Suck” board off, click the ad but don’t do anything else on the site. [/QUOTE] I agree with your last sentence, therefore cannot tell whether your penultimate sentence was tongue in cheek or not. In effect, bad ads are rewarded by getting more “airplay” until a user clicks on the links. So, it is perversely set up from an ad viewers standpoint, in that the sites which are _least_ suited to a particular persons interest are the ones they are _most_ likely to see (since the ads will continue to play until someone clicks them.) Plus, it increases the incentive to game the system by perhaps finding out a way to advertise a product with a putatively appealing _slogan_ or whatnot while making the _link_ not very appealing, thus getting cheap advertisement for awhile. ---
**Author:** ![ultrafilter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/3d9bf3/32.png) [@ultrafilter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ultrafilter)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2006, 7:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bad-ad-in-sdmb/380844/32 "2006-11-17T19:43:35Z")
[QUOTE=BrainGlutton] I would’ve expected something different. How does this “keyword” business work, anyway? [/QUOTE] Just like the link I posted in post #6 describes. ---
**Author:** ![Omegaman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/e480ec/32.png) [@Omegaman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Omegaman)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2006, 7:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bad-ad-in-sdmb/380844/33 "2006-11-17T19:43:39Z")
Well just to set the record straight I’m a democrat but I lick. ---
**Author:** ![jjimm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba8739/32.png) [@jjimm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jjimm)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2006, 7:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bad-ad-in-sdmb/380844/34 "2006-11-17T19:51:53Z")
[QUOTE=Ludovic] In effect, bad ads are rewarded by getting more “airplay” until a user clicks on the links. So, it is perversely set up from an ad viewers standpoint, in that the sites which are _least_ suited to a particular persons interest are the ones they are _most_ likely to see (since the ads will continue to play until someone clicks them.) [/quote] Only if you follow my very unlikely dime-a-day hypothesis as the only model. But you also need to factor in that the total amount bid increases ad impression frequency: the more the advertiser pays, the more the ad appears. If the “Democrats Suck” ad has a large potential budget, it will appear regardless of the number of times it is clicked, within limits. Also factor in that Google supposedly tailors the ads to page content (albeit rather crudely). > [@](#): > > Plus, it increases the incentive to game the system by perhaps finding out a way to advertise a product with a putatively appealing _slogan_ or whatnot while making the _link_ not very appealing, thus getting cheap advertisement for awhile. The model works on bidding for particular keywords; if the ad doesn’t reflect those keywords, then it won’t appear as often or is punished. If the link is misleading, I think there is some kind of punitive action taken by Google, though I’m not sure what. But that’s a risk with _all_ Web-based advertising, regardless of its form. ---
**Author:** ![Earthworm\_Jim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/f07891/32.png) [@Earthworm\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Earthworm_Jim)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2006, 7:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bad-ad-in-sdmb/380844/35 "2006-11-17T19:52:01Z")
[QUOTE=jjimm] You can bid a dime for a click, and limit your daily budget to a dime. Once it’s spent, the ad disappears from all the sites it was appearing on. [/QUOTE] I can open this page & leave it up all day. Whatever ad was there at the beginning will be there hours later. Assuming the budget gets used up between the time I open the page & the time I click the link, what happens when I click the link? Do I get redirected somewhere else? Does the guy get charged anyway? ---
**Author:** ![Merijeek](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f05b48/32.png) [@Merijeek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Merijeek)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2006, 7:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bad-ad-in-sdmb/380844/36 "2006-11-17T19:52:10Z")
[QUOTE=Snooooopy] I’m afraid I’m going to have to ask you to leave the store. [/QUOTE] You can’t make me because DEMOCRATS TOOK ALL YOUR GUNS! WAHAHAHAHAAHAH! -Joe ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2006, 8:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bad-ad-in-sdmb/380844/37 "2006-11-17T20:34:33Z")
[QUOTE=Omegaman] Well just to set the record straight I’m a democrat but I lick. [/QUOTE] Hmph! You are disingenuously or dishonestly evading the **important** question: Do you swallow? ---
**Author:** ![Omegaman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/e480ec/32.png) [@Omegaman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Omegaman)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2006, 9:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bad-ad-in-sdmb/380844/38 "2006-11-17T21:26:39Z")
[QUOTE=BrainGlutton] Hmph! You are disingenuously or dishonestly evading the **important** question: Do you swallow? [/QUOTE] Let’s just say I don’t spit it out 😉 ---
**Author:** ![rjung](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/45deac/32.png) [@rjung](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rjung)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2006, 9:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bad-ad-in-sdmb/380844/39 "2006-11-17T21:55:14Z")
[QUOTE=BarnOwl] Are we so desperate for revenues that we must accept ads from such dimwit, brain dead, malevolent cretins? [/quote] I dunno, I like the idea of taking money from dimwit, brain dead, malevolent right-wing cretins and then using them to fund the SDMB so we can mock their dimwit, brain dead, malevolent right-wing cretin-ness. Assuming we _do_ take their money, anyway. ---
**Author:** ![fluiddruid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/c2a13f/32.png) [@fluiddruid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fluiddruid)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2006, 10:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bad-ad-in-sdmb/380844/40 "2006-11-17T22:18:57Z")
[QUOTE=BarnOwl] Are we so desperate for revenues that we must accept ads from such dimwit, brain dead, malevolent cretins? [/QUOTE] Our supplies of hookers and blow are critically low. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bad-ad-in-sdmb/380844.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bad-ad-in-sdmb/380844.md?page=3)