Filtering Google Ads

[Diathene]

Hiya,

I noticed recently on some of my gallery pages with World of Warcraft fanart that the Google ad bar is showing adverts for gold-selling/RMT sites (RMT = Real Money Trading, purchasing in-game currency with rl cash instead of earning it by playing the game)

Like a lot people who play WoW, I strongly object to gold sellers/buyers and don't wish to be associated with the practise in any way, shape or form. It's straight up cheating, and against the ToS of the game.

I imagine the ads pop up according to whatever keywords it finds on the page, but do you have the ability to filter these particular ads out? Or am I going to have to remove all my WoW fanart?

[Stratadrake]

Take a screenshot of the ads. Given that the ads are against the game's own TOS, then they should be reported and prosecuted, regardless of where they appear.
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[Diathene]

Unfortunately it's a bit more complicated than that.

If you violate the ToS the worst Blizzard can do is ban your game account. They have no power to shut down websites.

At present the legalities of virtual property are far too vague for prosecution and from the looks of things, most MMORPGs don't want to risk potentially losing a court case and setting a precedent.

I just want that crap off the same page as my art <_<

[cstdenis]

If the sites are reported to Blizard, Blizard can send empty legal threats to the companies hosting or providing the internet connection. Dispite the fact that Blizard can't actually do anything, the empty legal threats from a big company are enough to get most sites kicked off the 'net.

as for filtering, I'm reluctant to filter any google ads. Due to poor click rates they already don't make as much money as fac needs, and taking out good clickable ads wont' help that any. But if you give me the url of the site I'll look into it.

You may also want to check the google adwords TOS. It may be against that to advertise something against another TOS or something....adwords is quite restrictive on what you can advertise and how.
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[Stratadrake]

FAC doesn't have a stake in the issue of goldfarming... but as a moral/ethical issue... those companies are bad.

PC Gamer mag got a bit of hatemail after one issue where their advertising department ran ads for goldfarming organizations... a few issues later, they got their staff together with the advertising section and put a stop to that. An issue later, several letters thanking them for the effort, including a full-page official thanks from SCEA.

So if you see an ad about goldfarming or such, report it to whomever is providing the ad.
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[Diathene]

Stock cut n paste response from Bliz, no response at all from Google Ads, but meh...after browsing this FABULOUS new layout for a half hour in the Warcraft category I've not seen any RMT ads, so

*tootles off to reupload WoW fanart*

[cstdenis]

Thats because the google ads have been completely removed from the top banners while I expariment with another advertiser.

[Diathene]

I figured as much

Is there a paypal addy or anything btw? I think FAC is the only art site I'm a member of that I haven't subscribed/donated to