How Google Sliced Away Our Knife Ads • Hacker News Board

Re: How Google Sliced Away Our Knife Ads

#151

Post by danhodgins » Mon, Mar 25, 2013, 9:44 PM UTC

If I was Knife Depot, I would focus on brainstorming a single opt-in offer they could use to have all their marketing and advertising channels function as a funnel for growing their email list.

"1 Badass Knife Per Week" is an opt-in offer that would get my attention, even though I'm not a knife guy.

I expand on this idea in this post: http://www.tinylever.com/one-badass-knife-per-week

Why be dependent on Google for your sales? Pay them once up front to help grow your list, and you'll be able monetize each subscriber for their lifetime using email - a FREE channel you own and control 100%.

A list is really where it's at, but to make list-building work you need a single opt-in offer that will cause people to sign up on the spot.

If you'd like some ideas for crafting your opt in offer, reach out right now by email: dan [at] tinylever [dot] com

Re: How Google Sliced Away Our Knife Ads

#152

Post by cdash » Mon, Mar 25, 2013, 9:45 PM UTC

betterunix wrote: post #117

analog wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Hang on, what? Refusing to advertise knives which are clearly intended to be used as weapons is 'evil' now is it?

Knives are among the oldest and most versatile tools known to man. I have, on occasion, used my pocket knife as a gardening tool, screwdriver, box cutter, prying tool, wire stripper, wire cutter, torque wrench, and hammer. It is not the best tool for any of the above, but sometimes you just lack the time needed to go back to your garage and get your toolbox. Nothing about "assisted opening knives" makes them "clearly…

Its kind of different though isn't it. Amazon is a very big site and its is pretty unlikely that you would end up at a page that has these knives on it from any of amazons other ads. This is a highly focused website and it is very likely that you will end up on a page with these types of knifes from every single ad that they have.

Re: How Google Sliced Away Our Knife Ads

#153

Post by viggity » Mon, Mar 25, 2013, 9:47 PM UTC

kyrra wrote: post #87

onemorepassword wrote: post #25

Oh, the irony of publicizing the same knives via YouTube, the Google property that censors boobies but allows you to promote machine guns to a global audience...

(At least in the US) weapons and violence are fine in video/audio format, while naked people are not. I'm not sure how much this has to do with Google than it does the regulations imposed by the FCC and social norms.

the fcc has nothing to do with it. there are plenty of places on the internet that have pr0n (legally). it is more about american social norms.

Re: How Google Sliced Away Our Knife Ads

#154

Post by learc83 » Mon, Mar 25, 2013, 9:49 PM UTC

mgrabowski wrote: post #137

josefresco wrote: post #57

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"The reason is because I didn't catch the other users. Or their infraction isn't as bad." That's your reason, not Google's. Google knows full well who is bidding on what keyword. Are you suggesting they are under-staffed, under budgeted or overwhelmed in their task of keeping AdWords clean? I'm not buying it. Google has the resources to evenly apply guidelines, they're not a one-man show who's too busy to squash out…

> While I feel bad for the knife company, I also know dealing with user-generated content (like these ads) is hard. Uh, what? Where does it state that the ads are user generated?

OP means user generated from google's perspective--Knife Depot is the user doing the generating.

Re: How Google Sliced Away Our Knife Ads

#155

Post by rdl » Mon, Mar 25, 2013, 9:49 PM UTC

betterunix wrote: post #102

btilly wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You may think there is unreasonableness here, but is that unreasonableness Amazon's? For Amazon to enter online sales of weapons, they have to address a mess of state and local compliance issues which are not their core competency. No matter what your opinion is on firearms and ammunition, Amazon's reticence as a business to get involved with that seems very reasonable to me.

Not really -- Amazon would just have to have a policy along the lines of, "We only sell guns via gun stores in your local area," and their legal team would only have to ensure compliance with regulations in 50 states (and whatever other countries they do business in). The last rifle I purchased was from a friend in New York, and he mailed the rifle and the case to a local gun store, which is basically what the law re…

Amazon doesn't do alcohol, either, which could also be for "corporate image" reasons, but does also have compliance issues (federally but mostly state-by-state).

It could also just be an economic decision, but given that Amazon prohibits certain firearms parts which aren't regulated anywhere (except maybe APO mailing to military, or internationally) like trigger assemblies, it seems more likely a corporate image thing.

Re: How Google Sliced Away Our Knife Ads

#156

Post by anigbrowl » Mon, Mar 25, 2013, 9:51 PM UTC

I watched his video that purported to explain the difference between a switchblade and a spring assisted knife. As far as I can tell the only difference is that the location of the switch has changed. This is a distinction without a substantive difference. So yo would need a slightly different hand movement to trigger this alternative spring-assisted knife. Big deal; as someone who used to like knives enough to have a small collection, I think I could get the necessary movement down in 10 or 15 minutes if someone handed me one of these

I have nothing against this guy promoting his business, but this is a switchblade as far as I'm concerned, just a slightly different design.

Re: How Google Sliced Away Our Knife Ads

#157

Post by [deleted] » Mon, Mar 25, 2013, 9:51 PM UTC

[deleted]

Re: How Google Sliced Away Our Knife Ads

#158

Post by rdl » Mon, Mar 25, 2013, 9:51 PM UTC

MartinCron wrote: post #90

rdl wrote: post #6

I'm in favor of banning porn ads (generally), since those tend to be offensive to a lot of people and also are highly correlated with spammy behavior, but I'd be tempted to boycott a vendor who prohibited weapons ads for any reason other than legal compliance. Amazon is pretty reasonable (knives are fine, firearms accessories are fine, but firearms and ammunition are out due to compliance issues). Google has no excus…

but I'd be tempted to boycott a vendor who prohibited weapons ads for any reason other than legal compliance Craigslist is pretty aggressively anti-weapon. Do you boycott them?

I largely boycott craigslist for other reasons (how they've treated companies that build on top of craigslist) already, so it's irrelevant to me. I'd still use them if I had no other choice, but they're my last choice.

Re: How Google Sliced Away Our Knife Ads

#159

Post by 001sky » Mon, Mar 25, 2013, 9:52 PM UTC

DanielBMarkham wrote: post #16

You cannot wield the kind of economic power Google does and not be evil, at least for the working definition many people have of "evil". We've put a huge hunk of our intellectual and economic capital under the control of a marketing company. I really, really like Google, but I don't see this situation as being stable over a period of decades. Maybe 5-10 more years or so, but not a lot longer. These kinds of decisions…

These kinds of decisions, where we pick economic winners and losers, are political decisions

== A point, often overlooked.

Re: How Google Sliced Away Our Knife Ads

#160

Post by TomGullen » Mon, Mar 25, 2013, 9:53 PM UTC

DanielBMarkham wrote: post #16

You cannot wield the kind of economic power Google does and not be evil, at least for the working definition many people have of "evil". We've put a huge hunk of our intellectual and economic capital under the control of a marketing company. I really, really like Google, but I don't see this situation as being stable over a period of decades. Maybe 5-10 more years or so, but not a lot longer. These kinds of decisions…

Evil is a strong word with regards to the original article.

Having a double standard in the commercial world for whatever reason ranks pretty low on my list of evil things. Banks have been far more evil but they are rarely referred to as such. I think when commenting on such matters it's important to remain proportional.