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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

#263

Earlier quoted context omitted.

skill issue. there's at least three user friendly and better than google maps UX clients. but i guess they didn't bundle with your pixel nor have all the darkpatterns you got used to.

What are they?

Everydoor, Streetcomplete, and a secret third option

Re: How I advertise malicious software on Google Ads

#264
post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

FWIW, editing OpenStreetMap is very straightforward*, and with that, you're actually contributing to an open data set that everyone is allowed to use, rather than just propping up Google. (To be fair, on a laptop - I'm sure Google Maps is more straightforward on a phone. But for someone already prepared to invest this much effort, editing OSM should be well within range. And if you just enjoy contributing to maps, fo…

I think "very straightforward" is vastly overselling how easy editing OSM is. It feels like editing a database, without any affordances for easily making common updates. If the hours of a store are wrong on Google Maps, I just upload a photo of their store, and it'll be corrected quickly. On OSM, well, most things are out of date. There's no simple 'update this business' flow, just a database editor. And a map that f…

I feel like I addressed this in my comment. On a laptop, someone who went through what OP went through would surely be able to click "Edit" at the top of https://www.openstreetmap.org, and add a SuperCharger. If they make a mistake, it is likely to get corrected, rather than rejected.

When it comes to fixing opening hours, https://streetcomplete.app does really make that about as straightforward as can be.

Edit: ah, I just noticed I forgot to prepend the * to my remark in parentheses. I did mean to emphasise that generic edits are only straightforward on a laptop, and only guided edits are straightforward using StreetComplete.

Re: How I advertise malicious software on Google Ads

#265
post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

FWIW, editing OpenStreetMap is very straightforward*, and with that, you're actually contributing to an open data set that everyone is allowed to use, rather than just propping up Google. (To be fair, on a laptop - I'm sure Google Maps is more straightforward on a phone. But for someone already prepared to invest this much effort, editing OSM should be well within range. And if you just enjoy contributing to maps, fo…

I think "very straightforward" is vastly overselling how easy editing OSM is. It feels like editing a database, without any affordances for easily making common updates. If the hours of a store are wrong on Google Maps, I just upload a photo of their store, and it'll be corrected quickly. On OSM, well, most things are out of date. There's no simple 'update this business' flow, just a database editor. And a map that f…

> It feels like editing a database, without any affordances for easily making common updates.

have you tried StreetComplete or EveryDoor?

Or at least GoMap!! or MaComplete ?

Re: How I advertise malicious software on Google Ads

#266
post #34

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…

FWIW, editing OpenStreetMap is very straightforward*, and with that, you're actually contributing to an open data set that everyone is allowed to use, rather than just propping up Google. (To be fair, on a laptop - I'm sure Google Maps is more straightforward on a phone. But for someone already prepared to invest this much effort, editing OSM should be well within range. And if you just enjoy contributing to maps, fo…

I started contributing a couple of months ago, and I am amazed by the fact that there's no vandalizing going on near where I live.

There are few contributions around there, mostly automated imports from like 2012.

Re: How I advertise malicious software on Google Ads

#267
At this point the "you need to contact support to get unblocked but also must already be unblocked to contact them" catch-22 has occurred often enough and is in place long enough that I can't imagine it's an oversight anymore. This looks more like a deliberate policy.

Re: How I advertise malicious software on Google Ads

#268

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…

The same thing happened when we tried to set up my brother’s car rental business on Google Maps. We gave them the website, the domain, the business number, and even the business address, but somehow, it managed to show an already-defunct business from somewhere else. Even after we complained, it didn’t fix the problem.

Re: How I advertise malicious software on Google Ads

#269

That’s surprising, because in my opinion Google doesn’t care about malicious anything. The other day I had to look for something on YouTube on my dad’s computer with a disabled ad-blocker. I saw like 30 ads in 15 minutes, every single one of them was a scam, literally not a single non-fraudulent ad. Google is full cartoon villain evil at this point.

The more you ad-block and tracker block, the more scammy the ads when you take down the guards. People who never do any sort of blocking are the most valuable ad-targets, and hence get the highest bids when their views are auctioned. They get Toyota, Coke, and Downy ads. Scam advertisers are bottom feeders and the "advertiser of last resort". Google doesn't really care that much about people with blank profiles, and…

> these people use their services and contribute nothing back

What a wildly twisted statement. More accurate to say these users refuse to be exploited and thus have little monetary value.

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