"Impeach Bush" Google ads

About This Message Board
1

I know there is a sticky thread concerning Reporting inappropriate Google ads, but I feel the need to start my own thread anyway.

I have noticed on several threads an ad for “Impeach Bush Car Decal”. These appear to be one of the “default” ads that get placed on pages where the AdSense engine cannot determine an appropriate content-specific ad. I think that given the nature of the SDMB, such ads are in rather poor taste. I admit to being a Republican, who voted for Bush twice, but that has no bearing on my feelings on this matter. I simply think that overtly political ads such as these should have no place here, unless they are somehow suggested by the content of the page.

For example, if the thread in question was “1001 Stupid Things the Bush Administration has Done”, then I would not be at all surprised to see an “Impeach Bush” ad. But when the thread is about people dying from peanut allergies, I don’t see the connection. Obviously there is none, and for some reason AdSense didn’t see fit to show us ads about peanuts or allergy medication. So instead we get one of the “default” ads, in this case “Impeach Bush Car Decal”.

I would think the Reader would have some influence over what ads are shown when no content-specific ads can be found. I know that the Dope leans just a wee bit to the left, but I think this is a little much.

Thanks, I just felt a need to complain.

2

And the ads that appear on my OP?

Political Bumper Stickers
Bush - War - Impeachment
Peace anti-Bush
pro-Democracy Stickers

Has anyone seen my
Constitutional Rights?
shirts/stickers/mugs/hats/ribbons

George W. Bush
Should He Step Down As
President? Vote Now To See
Survey Results
and one for …
Pet Allergy Products
All of which are perfectly appropriate concerning the content of the page.

3

will I go to hell 'cause I giggled that the ad under your OP was

4

Suburban?
You’ve taken the effort to link to a thread which states “…this is the wrong place to complain.” yet you still feel that a thought which passes through your mind is valuable enough to start a thread on?

Besides, there are places designated here where you can voice your opinion until you run out of breath.

I don’t know, I just really feel you should think about that.

5

I did think about it. I am fully aware what the thread I linked to says.

There is no sense reporting these ads to Google, as there is nothing wrong with the ads themselves. They are not fraudulent, they do not advertise illegal or illicit material, they are not in and of themselves offensive. They are simply inappropriate, in my opinion, for this message board, in the context outlined in my OP.

In part, the linked post says,

So the Reader, or the SDMB, does have some say over the ad content. Since these ads are not content-specific, they must be chosen by **someone **to appear whenever AdSense cannot determine content-specific ads to display. If that someone happens to read this message board, I want to let them know my feelings.

You say “there are places designated here” where I can voice my opinion. Surely this is one of those places? I suppose I could have posted this in the Pit, but I really am not that upset about the issue. ATMB is the place “for technical questions and concerns about the SDMB”. I guess my OP would fall under the heading of a “concern”.

My issues is that although Dopers as a group do tend to have rather pointed political views, I always felt that the SDMB as an institution strove to be neutral, if not apolitical. (If I’m wrong in this assumption, then you can quit reading here.) If the Dope starts including advertisements of such a nature as the ones I commented on, then it might appear to be taking an “official” position. This would seem to be contrary to what I think the SDMB is all about.

If I’m out of line bringing it up here, I apologize. I did hesitate to post, given the “warning” in TubaDiva’s post, but I think that I have a valid concern and that starting this thread was the only way to voice it.

6

Not necessarily. If the google ads include ads that are only anti-Bush, that could be taken to be political. On the other hand, if anti-Kerry, or anti-Democrat ads are also present, then I’d say that would show neutrality on behalf of the SDMB - in fact, surely that there are such “questioning” sites (even if they do tend to be pretty extreme) among the google ads only highlights more ignorance to be fought/ignorance fighting (depending on your own political viewpoint).

7

Since you say that you voted for Bush twice, I’m guessing you think that

a) making money is a good idea
b) free speech is a good thing

Are you suggesting that the Reader/Google turn money down from advertisers in order to quell their rights to legally advetise a product? I’m a little cofused.

8

The way I understand it, the Reader can complain to Google about ads, but mostly Google will only remove those ads that do not conform to their policies for appropriateness.

Google would also remove an ad by a direct competitor, so I doubt you’ll be seeing ads for, say, The Village Voice on these pages.

There is also some sort of complaint procedure . . . however, refusal on the Reader’s part to accept certain ads would likely mean removal from the program altogether. You pretty much have to take what they send you and deal with it. It’s what you put up with for a bit of ad revenue.

And no, the Reader does not have someone sitting there deciding what ads get served up to you; there’s some bot at Google handling that chore. It’s Google that decides what you see and when you see it.

I’m sorry Google will not provide you with the political zone you would prefer. The Reader also cannot accommodate your request.

TubaDiva

9

The Dope certainly does not feature only anti-Bush ads; that is not the issue here. The issue is with the placement of overtly political ads that are not relevant to the content on the page. One would expect to find political ads on a thread discussing politics; one would not expect them on a thread about needlepoint. The fact that political ads are appearing where their presence is not specifically warranted is a source of concern to me.

I don’t think that anybody would lose any money if this particular ad did not appear on this particular website. Google would supply another ad to the Reader, and this ad would appear on some other site.

It appears that I have failed to clearly state my point here. I was not asking for any specific content to be removed. As I mentioned, I did not take issue with the ad itself, but with the placement. I can recall only a few of the “generic” ads that have been placed on this site. They were for “Katrina Relief”, “Humor Writing Workshops”, and now “Impeach Bush Stickers”.

Again, it is not the fact that the ad exists, nor the content of the ad, that is my concern. It is the fact that, due to the placement of these ads, the SDMB could be seen to have a political agenda. I think this is a bad thing. Now, if the SDMB did in fact have a political agenda, the ads would not be a problem, because they would further the agenda. I was not asking to be provided with a “political zone” for my views; on the contrary, I was expressing concern that the SDMB might be seen as providing any sort of “political zone” at all.

I understand that nothing will change because of my post. I understand that the Google ads are placed by a computer program, and that there is very little human intervention in the procedure. I understand that whatever say the Reader and the SDMB have in the matter is unlikely to be influenced by my personal views on the subject. In any case, the ads in question will probably be replaced with “Earn Your Degree Online” in a couple of weeks anyway, and the question becomes moot.

I saw something that I felt needed to be brought to attention, and have stated my feelings on the matter. That is all. Thank you for your replies and opinions.

10

Given that it’s pretty widespread knowledge that the Google ads are selected by an automated program created by Google, and not by the SDMB administrators, I don’t think it’s too likely that people will look at the ads and assume the board administration has a political adgenda. If anyone does harbor such a misconception, I’m sure there will be plenty of Dopers ready and willing to correct it.

11

This is rich indeed from a poster whose rambling thoughts were posted totally inappropriately in this forum and had to be moved by a Mod into MPSIMS.

12

I would say that since about 62% disapprove of the way Bush is handling his job (Cite) , these things are going to be rightfully quite ubiquitous. Since the Republicans have held the majority in Congress and control of the Supreme Court and Executive branches, they’ve basically told those in the minority that they can lump it. Now that a clear majority disapprove of Bush, I think that it would be possible to say that the minority who approve can lump it, but I won’t.

13

Extraordinarily off-point. He specifically said that his political persuasion “has no bearing on [his] feelings on this matter”. The theme of his OP is not about politics, but appropriateness. I’m not saying that I agree or disagree with him, but as a member in good standing, he at the very least deserves to have his actual question addressed.

14

Impeaching Bush would stop the “Impeach Bush” ads.

15

Obviously I can’t speak for Tuba, but IMHO political ads are quite “appropriate”. As long as everyone has the equal opportunity to buy ad space for whatever political POV they espouse, what’s the problem?

16

I’m usually not one to even say anything in a thread such as this one, it’s not really even my place to do so yet, but this was a little obvious in my opinion.

–

for the record, i always think through the placement of my threads. improvement threads run through ATMB endlessly. I think my thread was given the appropriate amount of time to sit in ATMB and then moved to MPSIMS.

The thread was written in a certain fashion with reason and if you didnt see that then okay. But they weren’t ramblings.

17

See, now i’m confused. I think you may have chosen poor wording for your complaint. “Overtly political” the ads might be, but if (as you agree) they show political leanings from any position from right to left wing, it doesn’t suggest a political “standpoint” for the Dope, merely a political “interest”. And I think the Dope does have a political interest - close to 75% of the thread in GD are political in nature.

And surely if you’re concerned that political ads are turning up where they’re irrelevent to the thread, you should be equally annoyed by the prescence of non-political ads in political threads? - I tend to see more of the latter than of the former, btw.

18

Just to comment: for this thread, the ads are that I see are all related to allergies (including pet allergies.) What the Google-bot picks up as the “relevent” content is pretty strange, and has been in the past. It obviously senses this thread is about allergies; so, I guess I’m not surprised that it might view a thread that mentions fruit as being about impeachment, or whatever the hell is running through it’s electronic little mind.

19

As a point of clarification, does anyone know if certain advertisers purchase default ad status? I assume some, like the Katrina ads, are Google’s answer to PSAs, placed when they can’t get money for the spot. If I’m right, then forbidding any type of ad from being default is not going to happen.

Even creationist ads on evolution threads don’t bother me. I’m happy for them to finance the fighting of ignorance - kind of ironic, really.

20

Not sure what criteria goes into the balance . . . but FWIW right now I’m seeing ads for allergies, L-glutamine, and “should Bush be impeached?”

What all those have in common is a mystery to me, so I am inclined to believe there is some sort of default loading going on here.

TubaDiva