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Why are currently no ads on Techdirt? apparently Google thinks we're dangerous

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Re: Why are currently no ads on Techdirt? apparently Google thinks we're dangerous

#21
post #9

I play this game with Google every month or so when the webmaster console reports some mobile experience issues, but when I do a manual scan, there are no issues. So I mark them as resolved and then there are no issues for the next month or so.

I thought it was just us, but webmaster tools is constantly flagging mobile issues that are not issues.

Re: Why are currently no ads on Techdirt? apparently Google thinks we're dangerous

#22
post #3

> Sometimes it was "dangerous and derogatory content." Sometimes it was "shocking content." So Google turned the filter sensitivity up to 11 just now huh? I don't get why techdirt insists that that is not about ideology.

Is there something ideological about phishing protections?

Oh I missed that the first time around. That changes things. Especially given that phishing claims started same time as everything else. Sounds like someone is mass-report attacking them or something then.

Re: Why are currently no ads on Techdirt? apparently Google thinks we're dangerous

#23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>It seems one could even argue that Google's focus on algorithmic rather than human solutions is a kind of harmful ideology It's the kind of ideology that you often find in people who think they are smarter than everyone else.

As someone who is in a similar domain / company, no one knows how to do this at planet scale unless you narrow it down to a very short list (which is typically very large sums of money). My back of napkin math from another comment: I work in a similar space and it is significantly complex and expensive to do this. Back of the napkin math - * Lets say on average customers contact Google support once a year for each pr…

Providing tech support by responding to customers is a different beast entirely to content moderation, however. It may be the case that human oversight of algorithmic moderation is also unreasonable, but I find this fairly unlikely. I wouldn't expect it would require quite so many man hours. But again, could be wrong.

Re: Why are currently no ads on Techdirt? apparently Google thinks we're dangerous

#24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes, I can use a programmatic ad exchange such a Google’s to push ads on a site that would result in a negative experience for visitors. The creative review process is pretty lax. I haven’t heard of a documented attack, but it would be easy to grief a small site in such a way.

I remember an old blog that was trolled by having homoerotic ads plastered all over it, but looking into the details now they just bribed the server master.

There have been several waves of attacks where somebody posted malicious ads via Adsense that would use JS to redirect visitors to a different page. In the cases I was involved with, they were only targeting mobile traffic and redirected to a scam-site that asked users to download an app to fix a virus etc.

We've reported it, never heard back from Google. It went away after a few days each time, and hasn't happened in two or three years, at least not to any site I'm involved with.

Re: Why are currently no ads on Techdirt? apparently Google thinks we're dangerous

#25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I remember an old blog that was trolled by having homoerotic ads plastered all over it, but looking into the details now they just bribed the server master.

There have been several waves of attacks where somebody posted malicious ads via Adsense that would use JS to redirect visitors to a different page. In the cases I was involved with, they were only targeting mobile traffic and redirected to a scam-site that asked users to download an app to fix a virus etc. We've reported it, never heard back from Google. It went away after a few days each time, and hasn't happened i…

Crazy something like that was even allowed to continue for a few days

Re: Why are currently no ads on Techdirt? apparently Google thinks we're dangerous

#26

I think the more correct answer to "Why Are Currently No Ads on Techdirt?" is "Because we put all of our eggs in one basket." Don't build a single point of failure into your revenue stream. There are plenty of alternatives to Google that they should have been using in a smaller way that they could then move into prime position. That way, Techdirt's revenue might have been diminished, but not eliminated.

Literally the last paragraph of the article is a call for help in finding these "plenty of alternatives" so instead of being snide maybe you can help out by listing some?

Re: Why are currently no ads on Techdirt? apparently Google thinks we're dangerous

#27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>It seems one could even argue that Google's focus on algorithmic rather than human solutions is a kind of harmful ideology It's the kind of ideology that you often find in people who think they are smarter than everyone else.

As someone who is in a similar domain / company, no one knows how to do this at planet scale unless you narrow it down to a very short list (which is typically very large sums of money). My back of napkin math from another comment: I work in a similar space and it is significantly complex and expensive to do this. Back of the napkin math - * Lets say on average customers contact Google support once a year for each pr…

> Lets say on average customers contact Google support once a year for each product they use.

Meaning that if someone uses 4 Google products they are contacting Google support on average once a quarter? That seems really high. I would have guessed at most a tenth of that.

Re: Why are currently no ads on Techdirt? apparently Google thinks we're dangerous

#28

I think the more correct answer to "Why Are Currently No Ads on Techdirt?" is "Because we put all of our eggs in one basket." Don't build a single point of failure into your revenue stream. There are plenty of alternatives to Google that they should have been using in a smaller way that they could then move into prime position. That way, Techdirt's revenue might have been diminished, but not eliminated.

I'm curious, what are the "plenty of alternatives" exactly?

We have tried a lot of different advertising networks and sadly we have found none that's even in the same ballpark as AdSense (revenue wise). Advertising on the web is a shit show.

Re: Why are currently no ads on Techdirt? apparently Google thinks we're dangerous

#29

I think the more correct answer to "Why Are Currently No Ads on Techdirt?" is "Because we put all of our eggs in one basket." Don't build a single point of failure into your revenue stream. There are plenty of alternatives to Google that they should have been using in a smaller way that they could then move into prime position. That way, Techdirt's revenue might have been diminished, but not eliminated.

There are plenty of alternatives to Adsense but none of them are comparable.

They all take a huge dive in RPM, are iffy with UX and security and tend to not last long.

My personal account was locked out of Adsense in the same way years back. A violation every 5 months or so, which I always "corrected." Then one day it's just off. I respond and eventually Adsense is restored. Then a few weeks later, closed and banned.

And it's been that way since. No recourse. Just ... shut out.

This was a site with 100% user-generated content. If Google can't handle something like that, well ...

Re: Why are currently no ads on Techdirt? apparently Google thinks we're dangerous

#30
post #9

I play this game with Google every month or so when the webmaster console reports some mobile experience issues, but when I do a manual scan, there are no issues. So I mark them as resolved and then there are no issues for the next month or so.

As far as I know you can ignore those. Typically it's like "elements too close" or "font size too small to read."

Then the next day it's fine.

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