Breakfast Topic: Have your say about our ads
by Jennie Lees 
Apr 7th 2006 at 7:00AM
We've had a few discussions here about gold
farming, and we're well aware that thanks to some of the keywords on this site, the Google AdSense ads displayed here
can be incongruous with the message we are trying to get across. While we've had to leave the adverts as-is so far, we
want your feedback on this issue, and we're prepared to act -- how important is the content of our advertisements to
you?Technologically speaking, we can block certain ads based on their URLs, but as more sites spread and more domains spring up, this isn't going to help too much. Of course, we know that most of you aren't going to buy gold, so if you do click on the adverts you're costing the gold sellers money -- doing this, and making advertising expensive for them, could be one way to combat the problem.
What would you do in our position?
Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, WoW Insider Business, Breakfast Topics
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
Physical Original Apr 7th 2006 8:23AM
Theres a certain amount of hypocrosy in the whole situation. I'm glad you guys own up to the problem, but you'll excuse me if I'm amused and somewhat befuddled by a site who is ad-revenue based saying "Dont click on our adds". Beyond rolling your own solution for blocking these things, your advertisers are sending them to your right? Talk to google/adwhores/etc about getting these potentially harmful ads off your site (someone clicks on a buy gold link, gets banned, sues you?)
Until then I'm gonna pull a Schultz:
"I SEE NUSSING!"
Arioch Apr 7th 2006 8:51AM
While I usually don't pay attention to the ads, I'm well aware that many of them do pertain to gold selling. I find it fairly hypocrytical with the message you're trying to send. Now that I know you allow Google AdSense to pick the ads based on keywords, I'm a little more forgiving, however I strongly urge you to make every attempt to get these ads removed from the site.
Arbitrary Apr 7th 2006 9:20AM
You are supporting your site with Google ads. Nothing wrong there. The primary advertisers that want to sell to your audience are gold sellers. I say stop trashing them or use private funding. Ask for donations. Otherwise you look silly. You come off as ethically superior and more than a bit self-righteous.
boneyard Apr 7th 2006 9:21AM
ads? which ads? firefox + adblock for the win. i don't see them so i can't say much about them. i understand the problem and would be in favor of every attempt to try to get rid of them.
ScaryMage Apr 7th 2006 9:48AM
Go ahead and use them - whatever keeps the site running. Most of us will enjoy the content and not click on the ads. Whether you have the ads or not is not going to turn a non-gold buyer into a gold buyer.
M Apr 7th 2006 10:06AM
Advocating click fraud doesn't seem like the wisest way to deal with the problem. Especially if you're interested in continuing to make money from Google ads on your site.
I'd suggest blocking the URLs as much as possible. Does Google not have a way to block entire categories of advertisers from appearing on your site? How do people keep explicit XXX ads from appearing on their pages?
jennie Apr 7th 2006 11:10AM
Click fraud? Nah, just pointing out one (rather twisted) aspect of the whole ad debacle. Thanks for the feedback so far, guys.
I suspect XXX ads and the like are opt-in (I don't personally control the ads, so I can't say for sure).
#3 -- being ad-supported is what the Joystiq network is all about, and as WoW players ourselves, we would be lying if we all suddenly started posting a lot of pro-goldfarming articles.
Incidentally, I've noticed that the ads are getting further away from gold selling on most of our posts -- it's keywords like "world of warcraft" and "gold" that bring them up, and not many of our posts have those words in. Certainly the ads I see on this particular page -- which might change once I've posted this comment! -- don't have any gold sellers among them.
Anyway, keep the feedback coming, guys! :)
Kerst Apr 7th 2006 11:25AM
I dont think it matters much wether or not you take action. People who want to buy gold will find their way to gold. If your google ads display wow gold - oh well. Those who dont care wont, those who do care won't mind that much. I think its safe to say that people come to WoWinsider for everything but the addys.
Think about it - you arent going to avoid driving places if you dont like one of the billboards on the side of the road.
Kerst | Maelstrom
watch your back.
Pickypants Apr 7th 2006 11:33AM
I agree with Kerst, (except that weird "Watch your back" thing)it's not as if no one knows where to buy gold if they are going to.
You guys need to get paid so we can continue to lurk here. WoW Gold adverts are where the money is at. I don't care where you get your revenue from, I sure as hell ain't clicking on the ads, so it doesn't bother me.
gold buyer? Apr 7th 2006 11:41AM
The reality is that even if I were to buy gold I'd buy it on ebay since it's a little safer for online transactions so the ads seem a little useless to me.
mirzu Apr 7th 2006 11:43AM
You are asking your readers to defraud your advertisers? Um, WTF?
brian Apr 7th 2006 12:04PM
Here is my 2 cents... Honestly who EVER clicks on adds anyways? I have been using the internet for over ten years and may have only ever clicked five or ten adds. I do however always look at them. It's actually weird to see gold adds on heret because it gives the impression you support selling gold. There are so many other advertisers and you get so many hits you should be selling your addspace to places instead of using these. There are also so many other payforclickads you can use if you wanna stick with that route...
Kerst Apr 7th 2006 12:13PM
The - "watch your back" was rogue humour. :D
Joe Apr 7th 2006 12:38PM
Is it really fraud to encourage people to click on ads? What if it wasn't the web sites that were encouraging people?
If anyone reading this is a lawyer, I'd like to know if there is anything illegal about clicking on an ad if you are not profiting from it personally. If not, I would be in favor of organizing a massive, community-wide "Click Day" where everyone goes to as many sites and clicks as many ads as they can, resulting in bigger bills for gold sellers and less profitability.
Just think about a million WoW players clicking just 25 ads each! With the right amount of support, we could really send a message to the people who are screwing up our realm economies.
Tryst Apr 7th 2006 1:03PM
I haven't seen gold ads on here for awhile..in fact, today's ad is for hair loss treatment..HEEEEEEY! I could care less what the ads are as long as you guys keep posting news. I'm forced to watch ads for diet pills and people who want to help you get your credit back for "free" and lawyers who just want to "see you get the money you deserve" on TV, billboards, even my shopping cart at Ralph's and, amazingly, I'm able to ignore them all. And half of those ads are far more unethical practices than buying virtual gold. Ads are completely irrelevant to my life so I say don't change anything and just keep posting stuff to keep me entertained when I can't be playing.
bse Apr 7th 2006 2:45PM
Nice touch on the Golf Sale sign. ARE YOU A SINNER OR A WINNER?
Liz Lawley Apr 7th 2006 5:20PM
Google Ads TOS prohibit you from encouraging people to click on ads for any reason--positive or negative. You're likely to receive a warning about this post (eventually), which will tell you to change the wording or risk having your ads turned off. This isn't an issue of breaking the law, it's an issue of the specific contractual obligation you agree to when you implement the ads.
Y'all might want to run this post past your corporate overlords, because if this post ends up sanctioned, it could affect the entire weblogs inc network.
Dave Apr 7th 2006 7:14PM
It's not hypocritical because you're being supported by Google ads, and they're the ones who pick the ads to place. Within the context of WoW, the sale of virtual gold is the most profitable business in terms of work vs. financial return. That means that running a site that focuses on WoW, and mentions gold buyers quite frequently, is bound to be targeted by people who see the content and identify the WoW Insider community as a demographic. Essentially, as long as WoW Insider isn't intentionally putting the ads there, its more ironic than self-contradictory. The ads are no more than a means to an end, and if that's what it takes to keep this site running, then go whatever you have to do.
Who really uses them, anyway?
jennie Apr 7th 2006 8:01PM
Thanks for the advice Liz; as I kind of point out in the comments above, I'm not specifically encouraging people to click, just pointing out a hypothetical twist in the entire process :)
An interesting division of thought so far -- most of you are happy to ignore the ads whatever they say, others would like us to do what we can to stop the gold ads in particular. I'll pass that feedback on, and see what we can do...
Martin Apr 9th 2006 8:49PM
I dont even notice the ads, I skip right over them. Also I don't think there is anything wrong with them being ads for gold. I highly doubt it that the ads draw players to the sites. I mean gold buying gets more exposure through journalism against it then ads for it. And people who cry foul against these ads need to stop being so uptight. You sound like the guys crying that video games make kids violent. Gold ads dont make you a gold buyer.