WarcraftRealms.com

I usually used ad blocking filters, but today i happened to log on warcraftrealms with the ads visible ...

..... there were Ads by Goooooogle on the left side of the page and all adds were for cheat sites (dollars for wow gold, dollars for items etc...).



what is this site policy regarding the use of cheats ? Do you consider it ethical to fund your site with cheats ? Is it good having players reading cheat incentives each time they read their Guild Roster on warcraftrealms?

While I do not condone the use of cheats, exploits, macros, bugs or whatever, since I am not independantly wealthy, I do condone compensation for expenses incurred by operating the site, and hence do have advertising.

Google just so happens to be a good ad provider as the ads are non-intrusive and oftentimes even offer good services. Google ads have become pretty standard fare on the internet and on various sites. If I don't run them here, it won't stop other's exposure to them on other sites.

I cannot control who advertises with Google, so when some of those more unsavory types (items/cheats/etc) buy advertising with Google, they sometimes end up here. If you do not wish to support those unsavory types, then don't click the ads.

The other alternatives would be to have flashy ads, possibly even including pop-ups. or a premium subscription based service (which I don't want to do).

If things get to the point where I don't need finances for the site, then I can remove the ads, but until then, they'll have to stay.

thanks for your answer and arguments.

I have put them to the discussion on the online gamers' site I usually post on : http://forums.jeuxonline.info/showthrea ... ost8283408
This site has a charter and refuse to display ads they consider unethical (porn, cheat, discriminatory ..).

In case my post here elicits a reaction, will translate back to you what are the arguments/comment people give here to your policy.


As you probably understood, I'm pretty strongly against making money with cheats, not matter how undirectely (and I wonder what Blizzard's policy on this is).

But of course, pragmatic ways out of this must be found, since as you say, funds are indeed required to run a website.

Below is the answer I got from reporting cheats to adwords. As I understand it, it's up to the webmaster of the site displaying the ad to choose not to make money advertising for cheat sites.

So the issue seems to be within your control ... and this is not without consequences since most ads appearing on your sites are for cheats. So refusing cheat ads would impact the flow of money coming in to you.



Now, as I'm reloading you homepage to try to evaluate how much cheats sites contribute to your turnover with "Ads by Goooooogle", it doesn't seem to be so much, after all. I'd say 10-20% ? I also see plenty of 'honest' sites advertising.

Anyway it's again up to you to ban these ads, put in place a thread for your readers to report those ads to you etc...



>From: "Google AdSense" <adsbygoogle@google.com>
>To: znog32@hotmail.com
>Subject: Re: [#19137530] Feedback: Ads By Google
>Date: Thu, 06 Jan 2005 11:34:33 -0800
>
>Hello,
>
>Thank you very much for bringing this issue to our attention.
>
>The ads you saw were generated through the Google AdSense program, which
>delivers relevant text-based Google AdWords ads to content pages. Our
>AdWords specialists review every ad for adherence to AdWords program
>policies. The AdSense account holder also has the ability to prevent
>Google ads from specific sites from showing on their website by setting up
>a filter list within their AdSense account.
>
>If the ad in question is in violation of AdWords policies, it will be
>removed. We appreciate you taking the time to let us know about your
>concerns.
>
>Sincerely,
>
>The Google AdSense Team
>
>
>----------------
>To access the Google AdSense home page or to log in to your account,
>please visit: https://www.google.com/adsense

I'll take a look into this.

Anyone else really bothered by the ads?

Always bother me to see cheats advertised but I get those ads at basically every site I visit so... :/

//Alanthus

Make a move and write your own deal with a couple of hardware mfgs. ie:Alienwaretypes... or a few independents I bet would fork over more than one can get from adsense.

Bet we'd all much rather see ads for other games or hardware, cards, drives than what we all know ultimately end up goign to IGE & like 2 or 3 other main coin, item and character clearing houses. Who's kidding who, eh?

On that note would you ever sell this site to say IGE or make an exclusive deal with an IGE type co for ads or control? They should be eating up popular sites asap...

As you may have noticed, I am experimenting with other advertising avenunes. I have joined up with AGN which is a network of sites and will be running their ads for at least a test run.

If nothing else, this should cut down on the amount of times you would see the aformentioned ads.

Rollie wrote:As you may have noticed, I am experimenting with other advertising avenunes.

IMHO the farther away one can get from this dirty cheating business , the better.

Goo,d hate those ads!

GJ

Rebelnsord @ BlackHand

I'm not sure, if he leaves the gold ads up and no one clicks on them, the gold companys lose money...

I have never seen an ad on this site since I have an extensive list of ads blocked previous to my first visit on the site, and apparently I have already blocked the ads on this site.

However, even though I don't see the ads, it does bother me that these types of ads are on this site, a site which I enjoy very much and am a daily visitor and daily uploader. I feel that they cheapen the site.

In addition to advertising cheats, I would also ask that sites selling in game items and currency for real currency would also be exluded from advertising here.

I would love to not have to display ads at all, but the success of this site is a double edged sword. While it is great that we get many more updates and info, this has also greatly increased my hosting costs. I have to make money to pay for the costs somehow and the google ads are one of the most unobtrusive ways to do that.

No one is arguing the necessity of ads to pay for the costs of the site. The issue is the type of ads displayed. I loaded up IE to view the ads so I now see that there are gold selling ads as well as what looks to be a cheat site.

I now see that this thread is a few months old, and Rollie did ask if these ads bother people, so I am responding to that.

How did the trial test go with using other types of ads?

You will see some other ads being run as well, the annoying flashy ones =/

They also don't pay nearly as well as the google ones do either.

Btw, when I loaded IE I noticed that the ad on the top of the page actually covers your banner, not sure if this is intended or not or if it's just my system showing this.

Yeah, that is intended