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Reporting Adsense TOS Problems

As I see them...

         

Dantol

3:12 am on May 27, 2005 (gmt 0)



I reported 30 websites that are in clear violation of AdSense terms. Some of them do not have any content at all, and yet they display google ads. Others beg visitors to click on google ads (some of them ask visitors to click more than once).

Guess what? It's been 2 weeks. All these websites are still UP and RUNNING google ads. Google did nothing to disable them from the program. So I reported them again, several days ago. And nothing. These websites are still UP and RUNNING displaying google ads and making money.

Rodney

4:03 pm on May 27, 2005 (gmt 0)

WebmasterWorld Senior Member 10+ Year Member



My question is: Under they system being advocated here, what is to stop my less nimble but more established competition from branding me a “bad” site and have it banded from SE’s, adsense, and even my own computer?

Because if your site isn't doing anything against the Terms of Service, then Google isn't going to kick you out for nothing.

Just because someone says "hey, go look at this site" doesn't mean Google just closes the site down immediately (which seems to be the reason for the first post).

bigbaddad

5:11 pm on May 27, 2005 (gmt 0)



This is a very interesting situation. We are all affiliates to Google. We provide them space to place ads and we receive a portion of the revenue for our efforts. Having said that, I wonder how some webmasters have become self appointed internet sheriffs.

Are low quality sites taking income from you? How do you know? Really, how can you tell?

None of us can really know. We are really just guessing. In fact, the only one that could possible know is Google and they are choosing the status quo by their inaction.

Let the consumers sort this out, let the market work its magic, and finally if it Google is allowing substandard publishers into its system that is Google’s problem.

Stop telling on each other. Take the high road and improve your one site instead finding faults in others.

incrediBILL

5:17 pm on May 27, 2005 (gmt 0)

WebmasterWorld Senior Member 10+ Year Member Top Contributors Of The Month



Some of them do not have any content at all, and yet they display google ads

Dantol, wake up and smell the instant coffee dude!

Google LOVES sites with no content whatsoever and lets them run AdSense on so-called parked domains.

Content isn't king anymore, the most advertising space available for Google is king, didn't you get the memo?

Dantol

7:49 pm on May 27, 2005 (gmt 0)



I report sites that are in clear violation of Google TOS - sites with such incentives as "Please click on Google Ads". You can call me snitch, you can call me king, you can call me whatever you want - but that's MY money too. I pay for ADWORDS to advertise my own site. By cheating, you are taking money from my pocket. And yeah, sure I will report you if I notice that you are cheating. That's the right thing to do.

I asked Google to review my own site - they said it complies with Google TOS. They even offered me good compliments by saying they like my web design and structure of my content pages.

Dantol

7:53 pm on May 27, 2005 (gmt 0)



I have to mention one more thing:

Somebody change the title of my post. I opened this post with the title: "AdSense Cheaters". Somebody changed the title to: "Reporting Adsense TOS Problems".

Xartan

9:46 pm on May 27, 2005 (gmt 0)

10+ Year Member



I am not an Adwords Advertiser, so I don't know the answers to these questions:
- Does Adwords provide statistics on what sites the clicks came from?
- If not, when a user clicks on an ad, is the http_referer from google, or is it from the publisher's website?

My point being: If I were an advertiser, I would want to know what sites the clicks are coming from and if I found a site that said "click the ads" I would expect Google to refund my money.

anunnaki

10:25 pm on May 27, 2005 (gmt 0)

10+ Year Member



I can understand dobbing in the click on my ads sites, but a little ad on a login page or signup page that may break the rules a little is wrong, i know my sites send much quaility from these pages, the TOS changed after i did this and im not going to keep reading the TOS every week.

They also accepted my adult site after i emailed and asked them, witch i wont use because i could get dobbed on by someone surfing the net, they could then go and let anotehr adsence rep know, who will then close my account.

2PACroatia

2:05 am on May 28, 2005 (gmt 0)

10+ Year Member



they accepted your adult site? what is it about?
don't tell me that you got porn, and that you got accpeted?

Broadway

5:12 am on May 28, 2005 (gmt 0)

WebmasterWorld Senior Member 10+ Year Member Top Contributors Of The Month



While it's been well over a year since I have, count me in with the snitches. The Adsense program has been good for me as a publisher. Anything I can do to help insure that an AdWords participant gets a fair shake for their advertising dollar is good for me as a publisher too.

I think its disgraceful the way Adsense will not police the sites that participate in their program. Right now I would think that Adsense is somewhat remorseful and aware of the way things have gotten out of hand, hence the option they give to Adwords advertisers allowing them to opt off of sites of their choosing.

fearlessrick

5:27 am on May 28, 2005 (gmt 0)

WebmasterWorld Senior Member 10+ Year Member Top Contributors Of The Month



Geez, Google accepting porn. Big surprise there. Next theing you know they'll approve gambling!

Dantrol, IMO, should not be judged too harsly for his actions. I happen to agree that his money is being mishandled. The problem is that G should be doing something about it, not Dantrol. He's paying for the service. Why should be have to police it?

Scrapers and scammers are all over Adsense and it's gotten pretty ugly, and now with this update, pretty stupid.

I have no problem with people reporting scammers. Actually, I encourage it. Nobody should have any tolerance for deceit and skulduggery.

And for bigbaddad, what Dantrol is doing is part of the invisible hand of capitalism. I hope you get that.

So chill, eveybody. Google's obviously gone bonkers. No need for evryone else to do so as well.

Peace

obligatory spam: click somewhere if you want to use sexual stimulants and not go blind

anunnaki

6:40 am on May 28, 2005 (gmt 0)

10+ Year Member



Check my profile, i have an email from google telling me how to place my code on the page after i asked them if its ok with that site.
They may not have even looked at it, i did not let them know it was over 18 site.

Its a forum, so not many clicks anyway.

The owner before me was able to also.

bigbaddad

8:47 am on May 28, 2005 (gmt 0)



Sorry brother,

I don’t think being an informant is in any way a component of the “invisible hand of capitalism”

I do think it is the first step to censorship, and a giant step towards totalitarianism. The road to H*ll is paved with good intentions.

If G is not providing a good service then move on to another advertiser – now that would be the invisible hand of capitalism at work.

Do not lower yourself to the level of those that creep in the night, those that hide in the shadows, those that would gladly cause others pain for the least personal benefits and those useless souls with no honor.

The informant takes a slippery path. At first his goals may be noble and he may truly believe in his cause. But were do you draw the line?

Bottom line: if G is not providing a valuable service then find some one who is. Otherwise mind your business.

Stark

10:35 am on May 28, 2005 (gmt 0)

10+ Year Member



I find it incredible the way people behave (well pretty much everywhere) but particularly those that feel it is better to be stealing money from an advertiser (because this is exactly what we are talking about) than it is to report someone else doing it.

An Adwords advertiser pays to advertise their service, if the results aren't great then they will find another service to use (this is the capitalist notion you are referring to). The trouble is, it's not that simple. If there are two publishers, one honest and one corrupt, then the advertiser will most often simply leave the network because the ROI is too low. The corrupt publisher has made his bit of money and moves on to the next, the honest publisher loses a valid paying advertiser.

So, in this case, the only person to benefit is the corrupt publisher (with his "click on my adverts" instructions) and both the advertiser and all other publishers lose out as a result.

Why on earth should either the advertiser or the other publishers sit by and let this happen? We aren't talking about subtle infringements of the TOS based upon content, we are talking about outright theft of money from advertisers to the detriment of all other publishers and the advertiser themselves.

Not to mention the point previously made that it totally encourges content theft (another area Google isn't particularly interested in it seems).

There is no hypocrisy here either, anyone advocating reporting sites that infringe the TOS would be happy to open themselves up to the same scrutiny. Whether Google acts on these reports or not, doesn't make them any less valid an action on the part of those doing the reporting.

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