More on Ads That are Cons (LINK)
December 30th 2007 02:05
A few weeks ago I had a bit of a debate on Orble about the use paid posts, where links are included in the post to a site that pays you. Several people very reasonably talked to me about the downside of these, and I’ve considered these factors.
One of the issues was the way in which it could affect bloggers’ Google Adsense earnings, especially on a forum like Orble, where there’s a lot of interconnectivity.
This made me wonder about the increasing number of ads on Orble of the type I wrote about yesterday: the Love Button type. These seem to appear almost invariably underneath posts these days.
I don’t have any details from the Orble staff as to how these affect bloggers’ earnings, but I’d be interested to know. The reason why I’d be interested to know is because of the kind of ad these are. One person in the comments I received to my post called them phishing ads, and indeed they require you to give information away that you probably shouldn’t. Others strongly warned me to keep away from clicking on them, and I’ve certainly taken heed after doing a bit of exploring on the Love Button one yesterday.
But I’m tempted to ask: what are they doing on Orble in the first place? If these ads are of an unethical kind, then should they be allowed on Orble at all? Firstly they cause people to pay out money without realising it. The ad offers one thing, but in fact subscribes you unwittingly to something else altogether. Under the normal commercial Fair Trading Act as it applies here in New Zealand, I don’t think such ads would be allowed.
I realise that Orble is much more international in scope than that, but presumably it still has some ethical standards that apply?
Last year I answered a text message on my cellphone which offered to pay me a prize if I answered three questions. At that point I had no idea why the text arrived, nor where it came from, but since it wasn’t doing anything suspicious, I answered the texts as they arrived. It was only then that I was informed these texts would cost me more money than usual.
And then a day or so later ads started appearing on the television which were the same in style: answer three questions and text them to such and such a number. If you were quick enough you could see in the small print on the bottom of the screen that it would cost you money, but the small print was so small, and the focus of the viewer was on the questions, so the cost factor went unnoticed.
Within a week or so the ads were banned from NZ Television, after innumerable complaints.
I’d like to make an ‘official’ complaint about these ads on Orble. I think they degrade a good site, and are obviously costing people money. If we Orble bloggers are making money out of them as well (which I hope we’re not) then that’s another reason for banning them.
What do other people think?
One of the issues was the way in which it could affect bloggers’ Google Adsense earnings, especially on a forum like Orble, where there’s a lot of interconnectivity.
This made me wonder about the increasing number of ads on Orble of the type I wrote about yesterday: the Love Button type. These seem to appear almost invariably underneath posts these days.
I don’t have any details from the Orble staff as to how these affect bloggers’ earnings, but I’d be interested to know. The reason why I’d be interested to know is because of the kind of ad these are. One person in the comments I received to my post called them phishing ads, and indeed they require you to give information away that you probably shouldn’t. Others strongly warned me to keep away from clicking on them, and I’ve certainly taken heed after doing a bit of exploring on the Love Button one yesterday.
But I’m tempted to ask: what are they doing on Orble in the first place? If these ads are of an unethical kind, then should they be allowed on Orble at all? Firstly they cause people to pay out money without realising it. The ad offers one thing, but in fact subscribes you unwittingly to something else altogether. Under the normal commercial Fair Trading Act as it applies here in New Zealand, I don’t think such ads would be allowed.
I realise that Orble is much more international in scope than that, but presumably it still has some ethical standards that apply?
Last year I answered a text message on my cellphone which offered to pay me a prize if I answered three questions. At that point I had no idea why the text arrived, nor where it came from, but since it wasn’t doing anything suspicious, I answered the texts as they arrived. It was only then that I was informed these texts would cost me more money than usual.
And then a day or so later ads started appearing on the television which were the same in style: answer three questions and text them to such and such a number. If you were quick enough you could see in the small print on the bottom of the screen that it would cost you money, but the small print was so small, and the focus of the viewer was on the questions, so the cost factor went unnoticed.
Within a week or so the ads were banned from NZ Television, after innumerable complaints.
I’d like to make an ‘official’ complaint about these ads on Orble. I think they degrade a good site, and are obviously costing people money. If we Orble bloggers are making money out of them as well (which I hope we’re not) then that’s another reason for banning them.
What do other people think?
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techy.Bytes
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Webitz
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Comment by Ahmed
techy.Bytes
Video Gamer Kids
Little Green Foosballs
PolyKicks
Qwerk
Cinema Three
Comment by Mike Crowl
Webitz
Work Report