Forum Moderators: martinibuster
and especially not your girlfriend!
and especially not your wife if things aren't going that well, and she is about to become the ex-wife!
wives are normally more concern over the money you make than friends, moms and girlfriends.
that if she thinks that far. For that moment screwing you (not literally :)) might be more important.
definitely not your wife
And if you're female, don't tell your husband ;)
In fact, maybe you shouldn't even tell yourself how Adsense works, that way you won't accidentally click on an ad :)
since they are well educated mostly, i can't tell them rubbish. they would question any inconsistency.
apart from that, most people around me have heard something about google and text ads by now. they see "ads by google" every day on the net.
so don't tell me you are surrounded by complete fools all the time who know nothing about the internet ;)
and then, the typical questions: "what about clicking them yourself all the time..", "how much money..", "why shouldn't you tell me..".
ok i think i already know the only solution: shut my mouth.
but what about people who already know from me, from others or from the media? why shouldn't i say: "ok, you've heard about it, you know how it works, and that's how i make a living."
is this bad?
i find, this is really difficult. don't know about your mates, but when i'm in a pub for example, and explaining my job
Ok, here's your first problem. Never try to explain your job (particularly if there is sensitive information at stake) while under the influence of mood management substances.
why should i lie about something, which is a big part of my life?
Because if you don't, you risk it becoming a small or non-existent part of your life?
Withholding information isn't necessarily lying. But actually, I think lying is probably the best solution. Tell them you're a lion tamer, or a male escort, or George Bush's main speechwriter, or tell them that you could tell them what you do, but then you'd have to kill them. Something so outlandish that they'll all be amazed and amused by your wit and cleverness, and forget all about what asking what you do for a living.
Remember - what happens on the Internet STAYS on the Internet. Or at least it should.
but when i'm in a pub for example, and explaining my job ...
I agree this question can pose some problems, so I get around it by saying I'm a writer. I do, after all, write content for my websites, so it's not as though it's a lie! If I didn't write content, I'd have nothing to display ads on, and the questioner goes away happy in the assumption that I make my living from writing (which in a round-about way, I do!)
An alternative is to say I get paid to display adverts on the site, which, while somewhat economical with the truth, is also not a lie.
Most of my mates do know about adsense and how it works because they are doing a similar job to me, but don't forget that the great majority of people have absolutely no idea how the web or Adsense works, they're users, not creators. They're the ones who click on our ads, so best not to tell them exactly how Adsense works else they may try to be "helpful".
This indicates a serious problem with the system itself where the publisher has to spend his day in fear and lie on a daily basis to keep his revenue stream.
This is simply not right. In the long run this cannot last. Also if you have a competitor in your niche you are essentially at his/her mercy.
My best guess is that the effort would be easily detected by Google, but it would only succeed in getting you kicked out if there was something connecting you to the clicker, e.g. clicking from the same computer or the same IP address. That's just a wild guess, though. Don't take it as a roadmap for what to do/not to do.
just do what I do and tell them your a web designer
Great idea! Sounds slightly dull too, so they won't ask to see your sites thinking they'll be your standard corporate ones. Even better if you do one or two sites for someone to point them to, just in case.
Everyone here is suggesting to lie or hide about your profession
I don't mind telling people what I do at all, I just won't tell them WHERE and keep the domain a mystery. Why not to tell people has far more reasons than just AdSense, which if someone clicked me out of the program I'd laugh like a hyena while reloading the sawed off shotgun as I have both a good sense of humor and a very heightened need for revenge but I digress...
the rest tell 'em you do pron ...."expensive" ..pron ..like S+M ..with the disadvantage that "significant others" do sometimes find out about visitors ..'cos ..well the internet is ..well the internet ..
;)
I normally say I do promotional work for affiliates via my websites..doesn't sound too hot eh.
How about 'Web developer'. It's a lie in the strictest sense but in a purely semantic sense it's absolutely what we do. Most of us.
That's the way I run things too. No family, no relative, no friends, no one in my town, no one really at all except for some website advertisers (that live in distant cities) that I've only dealt with via email know that I run my website. I run it through a corporation so its even harder to figure out that I'm the owner. I have a "day job" that I work at 20 hours a week or so, so no one really wonders where my income comes from . Actually I would think most people who know my day job work schedule just think I'm lazy or born rich.
My website is the single biggest financial event of my life, it has absolutely changed my life. My site dominates in Google's SERP's, something I'm personally very proud of (although I realize how much luck is involved). I honestly believe that in my niche (I have a content based website) that I provide more pages of consumer information to people than any other website (yes I know its impossible to definitively prove this). If this is true then I've done more to educate people about my topic than any single human before, that's amazing to me.
I've got all of this great stuff going on in my life and because of the way Adsense is set up I can share it with absolutely no one. That's amazing to me too.
How adsense works is not terribly interesting, even to me, so it is unlikely not very interesting to someone who probably really doesn't care.
;)
For the other 1%, like my neighbors, whom on most weekdays will see me outside having a coffee, mowing the lawn, lying in my hammock, having a beer, etc. Or if i'm in the house they hear me playing my guitar or blasting Metallica and yelling out "SEEK AND DESTROY!"... Well those people ask a few more questions like "What the @#^% do you doo all day? Don't you ever work? Must be nice to win the lottery?" and somedays they ask "Shouldn't you shower shave and get out of your bathrobe?... it's 4PM dude!" Well to those people I just answer "I'm a nighthawk and prefer to work at night"
If they want to know more about what I do specifically, I tell them that make websites for businesses and that shuts them up.
"Prevention is better than cure. . . "
well xpalined huh?
