Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

VPAID ads destroy performance and are still served by major ad networks

plus.google.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

111–120 of 404 posts

Re: VPAID ads destroy performance and are still served by major ad networks

#111

Post by ocean3 »

franciscop wrote: post #80
anexprogrammer wrote: post #58

Earlier quoted context omitted.

But a lot of niche forums - games, hobbies and so forth are unlikely to monetise any other way. Should they die too? Or have to rely on a rich benefactor deciding to host a motorcycling (or whatever) site? Few are going to pay a subscription to chat on a Civilization or fishing forum a few hours a week. Advertising should be the appropriate model for this. Trouble is it's being poisoned by the greed of Buzzfeed and W…

If no one pays for them, then they should die as hosting is not going to pay itself. However, launching a small forum and running it costs pennies. The people launching it normally does it because they are passionate enough and paying 2-5$/month/admin is totally feasible. The problem with adding a profit to niche sites is that then people start launching them JUST to get money and people land on frankenpages with mal…

It might cost pennies for wealthy countries but might be a good chunk of money for poorer countries.

Re: VPAID ads destroy performance and are still served by major ad networks

#112

Post by kbart »

blahi wrote: post #18
krylon wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

After several incidents where malware was distributed through ads, I think it is fair to call it self defence.

This is a valid argument only for people who disable javascript wholesale. The lion's share of malware distribution is done by hacked sites where the attacker configured to deliver a payload only in 5-10% of pageviews in order to delay detection.

This is a valid argument only for people who disable javascript wholesale"

Not only. My older relatives happily click on "Congratulations, you won a million!!!" ads and end up with yet another browser bar or worse. No JavaScript required.

Re: VPAID ads destroy performance and are still served by major ad networks

#113

Post by pjc50 »

a3n wrote: post #86
pjc50 wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

One alternative to the current situation would be for sites to serve their own ads (from their own servers). I wonder why this isn't done at least from big sites? There's no way to prove that you've served a particular number of ads to real humans. That's why all these ridiculous brokers and third-party fragments of javascript exist: it would otherwise be trivial for the publisher to defraud the advertiser.

How do physical newspapers prove ad serving to their buyers? I'm certain they don't point to every single newspaper thrown in a driveway.

Third parties and surveys e.g. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Circulation_Verification_Counc...

Similar to Nielsen ratings for television, they're approximate.

Re: VPAID ads destroy performance and are still served by major ad networks

#115

Post by jkot »

archon810 wrote: post #100
jkot wrote: post #65

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If it quacks like a duck...

This logic doesn't make sense. If an advertiser willingly pings itself to a ridiculous degree does not mean it's a conspiracy to bring a server (its own?) down.

If something hijacks your computer and uses excesive resources, you should assume it has hostile intentions. It is not your job to inspect packet to find out what is going on.

Re: VPAID ads destroy performance and are still served by major ad networks

#116

Post by mikeash »

poooogles wrote: post #81
moron4hire wrote: post #49

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You would think some of the most profitable companies in the world could afford to hire a few interns to put eyes on any and all ads before they go out.

>hire a few interns to put eyes on any and all ads before they go out. They do, all creatives are audited on submission. You can't provide literally ANY creative at bid time, it has to be one that's been audited. It's people that then switch the creative once the audit has been completed that are screwing everyone. It should result in you being banned from the network, but it's hard (apparently) to ban people that ar…

Why is it even possible to make changes after the audit?

Re: VPAID ads destroy performance and are still served by major ad networks

#117

Post by Touche »

Faaak wrote: post #89
Touche wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't know why you feel that way, do you feel bad about tearing an ad out of a magazine?

you bought the magazine

I did? How do you know? Stores give away magazines all the time, do you feel like it's stealing to rip the ads out of those?

Re: VPAID ads destroy performance and are still served by major ad networks

#118

Post by tnorthcutt »

pjc50 wrote: post #21
captainmuon wrote: post #2

I'm a bit shocked about the state of advertising. When I was making websites (~early 2000s), there were a lot more options to choose from, it seems. Now you basically just have Google and this opaque network of algorithmic auctions. Back then, you had a bunch of small business ad networks that you could choose from. I found you could also choose more different formats. OK, there was no video (thank God), but you coul…

One alternative to the current situation would be for sites to serve their own ads (from their own servers). I wonder why this isn't done at least from big sites? There's no way to prove that you've served a particular number of ads to real humans. That's why all these ridiculous brokers and third-party fragments of javascript exist: it would otherwise be trivial for the publisher to defraud the advertiser.

Sure there is; that's what DoubleClick for Publishers is for: https://www.google.com/dfp

Re: VPAID ads destroy performance and are still served by major ad networks

#119

Post by spiderfarmer »

archon810 wrote: post #102
spiderfarmer wrote: post #63

Earlier quoted context omitted.

With HTML5 ads there are several ways around that I think?

HTML is a client-side language for browsers to interpret. I'm not sure what you mean exactly - can you please clarify?

HTML5 ads are like small webpages. So you can still use javascript to load tracking pixels from within the creative.

https://www.richmediagallery.com/detailPage?id=9017

Re: VPAID ads destroy performance and are still served by major ad networks

#120

Post by vacri »

Sir_Substance wrote: post #40
mpclark wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's not that straightforward though; these networks all pile in on each other, layers and layers deep, and in real time. It is very difficult for a publisher to work out who they are dealing with. The only network ads I had running on my news site were from Google Adsense, the seemingly reputable choice, but I found ads and trackers from all sorts of networks were infiltrating through that little window. The only re…

>It's not that straightforward though; these networks all pile in on each other, layers and layers deep, and in real time. It is very difficult for a publisher to work out who they are dealing with. Then the publisher should stop working with networks that do this. That's not in our control as users, only the publisher can do that.

It's as much in your control as a user as it is for the publisher; both actions involve complaining up the chain and/or boycotting the upstream service.
Post reply on HN