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How I advertise malicious software on Google Ads

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Re: How I advertise malicious software on Google Ads

#161

Post by carlosjobim »

AlexandrB wrote: post #105
WarmWash wrote: post #85

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They aren't preferred targets so much as they are the cheapest targets. These scam ads are trying to play the numbers game that email spammers do. So they just bid on everyone at the minimum bid. For people with fleshed out ad-profiles, the big advertisers that pay decent money will buy those slots. The auctions almost never fall through. For people with no profile, no one bids, and the auction falls through to the s…

You're missing the fact that all ads are scammy and I don't want to see any of them. There's nothing that makes a Downy ad more honest or relevant to me than an ad for BigCoin Online Casino - it's all worthless trash that conveys zero genuine information about the product. At least the bottom tier ads are honest about what they are.

There's nothing scammy about an ad for a Snickers bar. You can purchase it and it will be what they said it would be. As opposed to real scam ads where you try to purchase something and they steal all your money.

Let's be truthful and honest. It's something to not like ads - I don't like ads - but you have no reason to muddle and distort a sensible conversation.

Re: How I advertise malicious software on Google Ads

#162

Post by stronglikedan »

dakolli wrote: post #54
de6u99er wrote: post #40

Google doesn't care. They advertise online betting to kids, because those platforms now have some "free" online games.

Uhhh.. They actively particpated in the sluaghter of over 10k children in the last two years and fired all their employeess who spoke up regarding it.

oh boy, that's quite the stretch...

Re: How I advertise malicious software on Google Ads

#163

Post by pessimizer »

trainingonme wrote: post #30
Someone1234 wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've found that if you attach any pictures at all: rejected. So what I've taken to doing is adding the business without photos (almost always accepted), and then trying to attach the photos later after that goes live (mostly works). But I agree, their process is completely broken, and I doubt they have any incentive to fix it.

Question here then, is when will we see a competitor enter the market who both cares about getting it right and is actually able to compete with google maps

A competitor would be sabotaged by both Apple and Google, the masters of the only two mobile platforms we are allowed, and who collude.

Re: How I advertise malicious software on Google Ads

#164

Post by SteveGerencser »

1970-01-01 wrote: post #14

Google has forgotten the plot. A quick tangent story follows: I attempted to add a Tesla Supercharger as it went live to Google Maps. I was the very first to pay to recharge at the new location. The process went something like this: 1st time: Uploaded 4 photos, local business info, current charger prices, and GPS coordinates. Google replied this would be sent to human review. It was rejected within 6 minutes. 2nd att…

And it's still 100x easier than trying to add your own business or set up a Google Business Profile. Shoot a video from outside showing the buildings around you, show the address and permanent signage on the building (they don't always accept door signs), unlock the door to show that you own the space, then show the interior of the space with things like signage, letterhead, business cards, etc. Then hope that the video was 'good enough' to get a listing.

And heaven help you if you choose to get an office on an upper floor where an elevator ride is required, or you get a space in a building that also has/had a co-working space in it.

Re: How I advertise malicious software on Google Ads

#165

Post by trashb »

OptionX wrote: post #10

Google is the worst offender, but a lot of companies are increasingly hiding themselves behind a wall of automated systems to completely neuter users ability to challenge any decision unilaterally taken by the them. The LLM-age has worsen the situation but it started well before it. At some point it may be necessary to add the requirement for large companies to have a both human contact point and perhaps a requiremen…

Making the decision is easy, dealing with the consequences is not.

Re: How I advertise malicious software on Google Ads

#166

Post by mavamaarten »

cube00 wrote: post #113
mavamaarten wrote: post #99

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Another thing they apparently do is let business owners (e.g. hotels) remove negative reviews because they're "defamatory". I had a very factual 3-star review on a hotel that was supposedly very quiet, but was super noisy and the AC was not working. And there was literally nobody at the reception at the time of check-out and nobody picked up the phone either. All in all, nothing serious, but worth a review. Purely fa…

I'm surprised you knew it was removed. All my negative reviews appear visible to me when logged in and disappear when logged out. Only sure fire way I've found is to leave a two star review with no body. One star without a body is also shadowbanned for me.

Yeah they sent an official looking mail saying that someone took action against my review and that it was therefore removed.

Re: How I advertise malicious software on Google Ads

#167

Post by pessimizer »

hermitcrab wrote: post #152

We are entering a Kafkaesque world where all powerful companies are the gatekeepers, but there is no chance to talk to a human to appeal their decisions. Your only hope is if a) you have an inside contact or b) you can create enough stink on social media.

We reached that years ago. We're entering a world in which there is no chance to talk to a human to appeal their decisions, and if you complain about it your social media account will be suspended, you will be questioned by police, and your child will be expelled from their private school.

Re: How I advertise malicious software on Google Ads

#168

Post by butlike »

NoDodgeQuestion wrote: post #151
jerf wrote: post #94

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is the key to the problem that I think people are missing, possibly because they kind of want to miss it. Google and the other companies hiding behind LLMs and primarily doing it because they can't operate at the scale they do, with the dedicated ecosystems to gaming them that they develop, without this hiding. They can't afford humans to review in a minute or two what scammers can generate in fractions of a sec…

simple, pay 1 dollar human review, if not scammer google refund, else google keep and pay for review

This gets rid of the scams but makes all surviving reviews unreliable since they'd all be pay-to-play. It'd be better to just remove reviews altogether at that point.

Which doesn't seem like such a bad idea now that I've said it out loud.

Re: How I advertise malicious software on Google Ads

#169

Post by drew870mitchell »

1970-01-01 wrote: post #14

Google has forgotten the plot. A quick tangent story follows: I attempted to add a Tesla Supercharger as it went live to Google Maps. I was the very first to pay to recharge at the new location. The process went something like this: 1st time: Uploaded 4 photos, local business info, current charger prices, and GPS coordinates. Google replied this would be sent to human review. It was rejected within 6 minutes. 2nd att…

Yeah, a while back Google Maps sent out a cheerful "here's all you've contributed" email and i clicked through and found my complete history. It was a graveyard of rejected edits for things like closed streets, wrong business hours, and spam listings (IDK the payoff for the spammers but there's an ongoing cluster of fake hotels and businesses near my old apartment). Seeing the total record of incorrect stuff that i had fruitlessly spent my own spare moments to fix convinced me to quit doing any free work for Google.

Re: How I advertise malicious software on Google Ads

#170

Post by xlii »

hermitcrab wrote: post #149

I sympathize. My Google Adwords account (that had been running continuously for 10 years at that point) got suspended for (I shit you not) hyperlinking to another domain. I believe it was due to a very poorly trained contractor. The whole sorry saga is here: https://successfulsoftware.net/2015/03/04/google-bans-hyperl...

Mind-boggling.

A joke comes to my mind:

A man tells his friend "You know, I don't think we can be friends anymore. Some money went missing from our house.." - "What?! Me? I'd never seal money from your house!" - "Yeah, we found that money, so that's not a problem. But you know... the whole thing left a sour taste."

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