# Democrats Suck **URL:** \ **Category:** About This Message Board\ **Created:** [December 9, 2006, 11:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/democrats-suck/383516 "2006-12-09T23:26:52Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Polerius](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/d78d45/32.png) [@Polerius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Polerius)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2006, 11:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/democrats-suck/383516/1 "2006-12-09T23:26:52Z")
Can the SDMB please find a way to get rid of the ads saying “Democrats Suck”? They are offensive and bring down the level of the SDMB by several notches. Is there a way for the SDMB to specify that they don’t want political ads in their adSense program? ---
**Author:** ![ftg](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ftg/32/2801_2.png) [@ftg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ftg)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2006, 3:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/democrats-suck/383516/2 "2006-12-10T03:11:25Z")
You can easily block ads from specific servers. E.g., on a MS-Windows machine, adding the following line to your “hosts” file: 127.0.0.1 [pagead2.googlesyndication.com](http://pagead2.googlesyndication.com) will stop anything from the listed server from reaching you. Similar mods for Unices and such are also easily done. You can see which servers you want to block by viewing the source of the webpage. ---
**Author:** ![OneCentStamp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/13edae/32.png) [@OneCentStamp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OneCentStamp)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2006, 4:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/democrats-suck/383516/3 "2006-12-10T04:01:11Z")
[QUOTE=Polerius] Can the SDMB please find a way to get rid of the ads saying “Democrats Suck”? [/QUOTE] It’s you, isn’t it? Stealing our money and robbing our morality? 😉 ---
**Author:** ![picunurse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/7bcc69/32.png) [@picunurse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/picunurse)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2006, 4:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/democrats-suck/383516/4 "2006-12-10T04:03:10Z")
I believe the ads are controlled by Google, not the SDMB staff. ---
**Author:** ![CarnalK](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnalk/32/486_2.png) [@CarnalK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CarnalK)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2006, 5:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/democrats-suck/383516/5 "2006-12-10T05:32:50Z")
When many Dopers themselves post that “Democrats suck” or “Republicans suck” I fail to see how it lowers the board several notches. I don’t think this will happening and I hope it doesn’t. Can’t have the Reader scurrying to re-tailor their Google contract every time someone gets annoyed with an ad. Saying something “sucks” is pretty low on the offensive scale, anyways. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2006, 6:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/democrats-suck/383516/6 "2006-12-10T06:02:34Z")
Think of it this way: Through that ad, some right-wing group is unwittingly donating a lot of money to a group of people who are just laughing openly at them. Personally, I think it’s wonderful poetic justice. ---
**Author:** ![According\_to\_Pliny](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/8e7dd6/32.png) [@According\_to\_Pliny](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/According_to_Pliny)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2006, 2:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/democrats-suck/383516/7 "2006-12-10T14:52:55Z")
Maybe it refers to the PC admonition for “Democrats, suck eggs! The healthy raw ones straight from the shell. Nature’s protein supplement. Just be sure they are unfertilized so no ethereal spirit is damaged. And they must be free range birds. From free traded farms. Are you writing this down, because there’s more . . .” 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Polerius](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/d78d45/32.png) [@Polerius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Polerius)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2006, 4:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/democrats-suck/383516/8 "2006-12-10T16:04:21Z")
[QUOTE=ftg] You can easily block ads from specific servers. E.g., on a MS-Windows machine, adding the following line to your “hosts” file: 127.0.0.1 [pagead2.googlesyndication.com](http://pagead2.googlesyndication.com) [/QUOTE] I had this all set up and working, but ever since I changed my computer, it’s not working any more. I looked for possible duplicate versions of the hosts file, but there is only one, it’s set up the right way, and it doesn’t seem to work. My previous computer had Apache installed. My new one doesn’t. Could this make the difference? ---
**Author:** ![Polerius](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/d78d45/32.png) [@Polerius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Polerius)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2006, 4:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/democrats-suck/383516/9 "2006-12-10T16:07:50Z")
[QUOTE=picunurse] I believe the ads are controlled by Google, not the SDMB staff. [/QUOTE] Do you mean that the Google ads can say “See teens sucking big cock” and the SDMB can’t do anything about it? I would assume the contract enables the SDMB to disable certain types of ads. (And since some websites might want an ad like the above, Google doesn’t have to have a blanket ban on, say, adult ads) ---
**Author:** ![Polerius](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/d78d45/32.png) [@Polerius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Polerius)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2006, 4:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/democrats-suck/383516/10 "2006-12-10T16:12:20Z")
[QUOTE=CarnalK] When many Dopers themselves post that “Democrats suck” or “Republicans suck” I fail to see how it lowers the board several notches. [/QUOTE] Outside of the Pit (which some may argue does bring the SDMB down several notches, but let’s not go there), any OP or post that states “Democrats Suck! They’re stealing our money and robbing our morality” is definitely several notches below the normal SDMB standard. And if more and more people started posting like that, it would definitley bring down the level of the SDMB. To have those kind of statements being presented by the owners of the SDMB as ‘ads’ is ridiculous. ---
**Author:** ![What\_Exit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/what_exit/32/10652_2.png) [@What\_Exit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_Exit)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2006, 4:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/democrats-suck/383516/11 "2006-12-10T16:14:26Z")
[QUOTE=Polerius] I had this all set up and working, but ever since I changed my computer, it’s not working any more. I looked for possible duplicate versions of the hosts file, but there is only one, it’s set up the right way, and it doesn’t seem to work. My previous computer had Apache installed. My new one doesn’t. Could this make the difference? [/QUOTE] Standard path is C:\WINDOWS\system32\drivers\etc Watch out, a common mistake with the hosts file is to modify a hosts.txt file. The Windows system only looks at the hosts file that has no extension. Jim ---
**Author:** ![Polerius](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/d78d45/32.png) [@Polerius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Polerius)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2006, 4:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/democrats-suck/383516/12 "2006-12-10T16:24:02Z")
[QUOTE=What Exit?] Standard path is C:\WINDOWS\system32\drivers\etc Watch out, a common mistake with the hosts file is to modify a hosts.txt file. The Windows system only looks at the hosts file that has no extension. [/QUOTE] I have my PC set up to always show extensions, so I’m pretty sure I’m editing hosts and not hosts.txt Also, the path is indeed C:\WINDOWS\system32\drivers\etc Anything else that I may be doing wrong? ---
**Author:** ![What\_Exit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/what_exit/32/10652_2.png) [@What\_Exit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_Exit)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2006, 4:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/democrats-suck/383516/13 "2006-12-10T16:27:25Z")
[QUOTE=Polerius] I have my PC set up to always show extensions, so I’m pretty sure I’m editing hosts and not hosts.txt Also, the path is indeed C:\WINDOWS\system32\drivers\etc Anything else that I may be doing wrong? [/QUOTE] I normally leave the ads on, but this is my entire hosts file to prevent them from showing. # Copyright (c) 1993-1999 Microsoft Corp. # # This is a sample HOSTS file used by Microsoft TCP/IP for Windows. # # This file contains the mappings of IP addresses to host names. Each # entry should be kept on an individual line. The IP address should # be placed in the first column followed by the corresponding host name. # The IP address and the host name should be separated by at least one # space. # # Additionally, comments (such as these) may be inserted on individual # lines or following the machine name denoted by a ‘#’ symbol. # # For example: # # 102.54.94.97 [rhino.acme.com](http://rhino.acme.com) # source server # 38.25.63.10 [x.acme.com](http://x.acme.com) # x client host 127.0.0.1 localhost 127.0.0.1 [pagead2.googlesyndication.com](http://pagead2.googlesyndication.com) Jim ---
**Author:** ![Polerius](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/d78d45/32.png) [@Polerius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Polerius)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2006, 4:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/democrats-suck/383516/14 "2006-12-10T16:35:40Z")
[QUOTE=Chronos] Think of it this way: Through that ad, some right-wing group is unwittingly donating a lot of money to a group of people who are just laughing openly at them. Personally, I think it’s wonderful poetic justice. [/QUOTE] I think the quality of ads of a place say a lot about its ‘character’. Would you buy a magazine that had full page ads that were well below the level of the articles in that magazine? Also, if the “National Review” magazine started running ads saying “Republicans Suck! They are incompetent buffoons”, do you think readers of that magazine would think it’s poetic justice that the people placing those ads are unwittingly donating a lot of money to a group of people who are just laughing openly at them? Or, would they be, justifiably, outraged? Maybe a more apt analogy is if the Skeptical Inquirer started running ads saying 'Evolution Proponents Suck! They are robbing us of our morality". Would the readers of that magazine find it to be poetic justice? ---
**Author:** ![Polerius](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/d78d45/32.png) [@Polerius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Polerius)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2006, 4:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/democrats-suck/383516/15 "2006-12-10T16:46:54Z")
[QUOTE=What Exit?] I normally leave the ads on, but this is my entire hosts file to prevent them from showing. [/QUOTE] Unfortunately, still showing after I replaced my hosts file with yours. I even restarted my computer. ---
**Author:** ![Polerius](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/d78d45/32.png) [@Polerius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Polerius)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2006, 4:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/democrats-suck/383516/16 "2006-12-10T16:51:40Z")
[QUOTE=Polerius] I think the quality of ads of a place say a lot about its ‘character’. Would you buy a magazine that had full page ads that were well below the level of the articles in that magazine? [/QUOTE] I wanted to add that even if the existing members of the SDMB learn to ignore the ads that are stupid and/or of a supremely sub-par level, the same cannot necessarily be said for prospective members, who may opt not to sign up due to the quality of the ads being served here. ---
**Author:** ![What\_Exit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/what_exit/32/10652_2.png) [@What\_Exit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_Exit)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2006, 4:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/democrats-suck/383516/17 "2006-12-10T16:57:56Z")
[QUOTE=Polerius] Unfortunately, still showing after I replaced my hosts file with yours. I even restarted my computer. [/QUOTE] Starting the computer is not required, but always a good try. I have no other ideas. The Hosts file usually does not act up. There is a small chance your machine is a web server and resolving the googleads through the loopback routine. Try address 0.0.0.0 instead of 127.0.0.1 This is a non-resolvable address. Once you change and save the hosts file just start a new session of Internet explorer to test the change. Good Luck, Jim ---
**Author:** ![Polerius](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/d78d45/32.png) [@Polerius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Polerius)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2006, 5:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/democrats-suck/383516/18 "2006-12-10T17:11:16Z")
[QUOTE=What Exit?] Try address 0.0.0.0 instead of 127.0.0.1 This is a non-resolvable address. Once you change and save the hosts file just start a new session of Internet explorer to test the change. [/QUOTE] Again, no dice. I’ll try installing Apache like on my previous machine to see if this works. ---
**Author:** ![What\_Exit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/what_exit/32/10652_2.png) [@What\_Exit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_Exit)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2006, 5:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/democrats-suck/383516/19 "2006-12-10T17:19:10Z")
[QUOTE=Polerius] Again, no dice. I’ll try installing Apache like on my previous machine to see if this works. [/QUOTE] I am clueless now. At this point, I would begin a long search of [http://www.google.com/microsoft?num=50&hl=en&lr=&safe=off&q=Hosts+File+problems](http://www.google.com/microsoft?num=50&hl=en&lr=&safe=off&q=Hosts+File+problems) You exceeded the problems I have had to deal with at work. Jim ---
**Author:** ![jjimm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba8739/32.png) [@jjimm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jjimm)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2006, 5:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/democrats-suck/383516/20 "2006-12-10T17:24:18Z")
[QUOTE=Chronos] Think of it this way: Through that ad, some right-wing group is unwittingly donating a lot of money to a group of people who are just laughing openly at them. Personally, I think it’s wonderful poetic justice. [/QUOTE] It only costs them money (and the Reader only makes money off them) if you click the ads. So get clicking! [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/democrats-suck/383516.md?page=2)