All these right wing banner ads on DU

[WhoIsNumberNone]

I know it's Google that's posting them, but I still feel violated.

So when I see an ad for Tea Party Patriots, or the Daily Cannibal, or some special offer from proflowers.com for Rush Limbaugh listeners, I take a couple of minutes to click on it a few times. If all these right-wingers are advertising on Google, they must have money to burn, so why not hand them a match? I obviously never buy anything on these sites, but since Google charges them for each click I figure I can help them waste a couple of bucks. And of course, since DU is carrying the ads, Google must be cutting them in for a couple of pennies of some right winger's money each time I do it.

Win-win.

[CaliforniaPeggy]

1. Exactly.

Clicking on the ads costs THEM money!

And yes, DU gets some of that too. That's why those ads are here...

Of course, if you get a star, then you can opt out of those...

:hi:

[WhoIsNumberNone]

5. Someday when I make that big step up from destitute to dirt poor-

-I'll probably make a donation. In the meantime, I'll just have to find other ways to contribute...

[CaliforniaPeggy]

6. There you go...

Enjoy...

[WhoIsNumberNone]

8. Thank you kindly

I'm still going to keep clicking on those banner ads though...

[WhoIsNumberNone]

7. Well, that was mighty kind of somebody-

I gather that was you, California Peggy, who just made the donation in my name.
Thanx much
:toast:

[CaliforniaPeggy]

9. It was me, and I am glad I can do it for you!

All I ask is that someday, when you can, pay it forward...

WHEN you can...

You're most welcome!

:toast:

[alp227]

2. I don't see banner ads since I use AdBlockPlus on Firefox

But thanks for explaining how they work.

[kudzu22]

3. If they're paying our bills

isn't that a good thing?

[CaliforniaPeggy]

4. It's reasonable to see them that way...

I was a member before DU had those ads, and I found them very annoying...

I was really pleased that my having a star allowed me to turn the ads off.

Now DU looks like it did in the old days, to me.

:hi:

[saras]

10. I've never seen them

Thanks to NoScript, googleadservices is in my permanent blocklist.

If a website isn't willing to own their own advertisements, I feel no obligation to view them. On the other hand, if a website I trust stands up and says 'we recommend you check this out', I do, and when I buy something online (rare, but it happens), I try to buy it in such a way that at least one of these recommendations gets credit.

If I could automate the process of clicking on the right-wing ads, I might consider that.

[Ghost in the Machine]

11. "I take a couple of minutes to click on it a few times"

..."but since Google charges them for each click I figure I can help them waste a couple of bucks. And of course, since DU is carrying the ads, Google must be cutting them in for a couple of pennies of some right winger's money each time I do it."

Actually, the only thing you're going to wind up costing is DU, when they lose their adsense account for click fraud, if you're clicking on the same ad multiple times in a short period of time. The adsense algorithms will flag it as fraudulently generated clicks because of multiple clicks coming from the same IP number, then Google will disable the account here.

If you want to help DU earn money, click on an ad ONCE, and make sure you follow thru (visit another page or two on the url you're forwarded to).