WordPress.com is an easy way to start blogging. Get a blog, check out our features, read the latest announcements, choose from great themes, or learn about the team behind it.
Need help? Check out our Support site, then
Why is WordPress allowing Google to park ads for Groupon on my blog? It's outrageous. I know absolutely nothing about Groupon, and I don't want my blog to be yet another channel for Google's ads. I want this stopped. I'm not endorsing any Google and they pay me ZERO.
The blog I need help with is tao221.wordpress.com.
To support the service (and keep free features free), we sometimes run advertisements. For details, see http://en.support.wordpress.com/advertising/
WordPress.com has been running ads on free hosted blogs since 2006. You can purchase an annually renewable No-Ads upgrade and remove the ads from your blog. See here > http://en.support.wordpress.com/no-ads/
Here's how I'm handling it: There's a disclaimer on my blog disavowing any advertising. I've deleted Google Chrome from my system. I will no longer use it as a browser. It was full of bugs anyway. I've made Microsoft Bing my default browser. And I'm considering removing the Google toolbar from Internet Exlporer 9. Sometimes users do things like this when their privacy isn't respected.
What I meant is that I've made Internet Explorer 9 (IE9) my default browser, and Bing my default search engine. I've wiped Google Chrome off my system, and I'm considering deleting the Google toolbar from IE9. Google isn't the only email provider on the planet, either.
There's a disclaimer on my blog disavowing any advertising.
I'm afraid your disclaimer is meaningless. You agreed to the Terms of Service to get a free and free hosted blog from WordPress.com and advertising is occasionally displayed on WordPress.com free hosted blogs.
Regarding your browser changes, are you aware that none of what you are doing will prevent the display of the ads to your visitors in their browsers unless they are equipped with an ad blocking feature like Firefox's AdBlockPlus?
~~timethief
@tao221: I'm curious, what is the exact wording of your disclaimer?
This is the blog in question http://tao221.wordpress.com/ and in it tao221 has posted an anti-Google rant "GET GROUPON OFF MY BLOG:" I cannot locate a disclaimer.
The WordPress.com features page states:
Advertising
To support the service we may occasionally show ads on your blog, however we do this very rarely. You can remove ads from your blog for a low yearly fee. We also have an option for high traffic blogs to show their own ads. http://en.wordpress.com/features/
The WordPress.com support entry for advertising states:
Note: To support the service (and keep free features free), we sometimes run advertisements. We try hard to make the ads discreet and effective and only run them in limited places. If you would like to completely eliminate ads from appearing on your blog, we offer the No-Ads Upgrade. http://en.support.wordpress.com/advertising/
Maybe you don't understand the issue: Google is scanning my columns and targetting its ads based upon words I've written, for which I receive zero compensation. They're parasites.
When specifically did you let your bloggers know that you were allowing a company like Google to scan bloggers' columns and use that to target ads? They're using my content without my permission to advertise.
The choice of default browser and search engine is completely up to the user and doesn't have to be defended to anyone.
The fact of the matter is that you do receive compensation for the ads on your blog.
Thanks to those ads, your blog is hosted here, free of charge, with 3GB of space, unlimited bandwidth, professionally developer features, and dedicated support.
As mentioned earlier, you're welcome to remove the ads and offset those costs by purchasing a No Ads upgrade: http://en.support.wordpress.com/no-ads/
WordPress.com has entered an Adsense advertising contract and Google Adsense ads are displayed on our blogs as well as other ads. When you are signed into wordpress.com the ads are not displayed. If you have an ad blocking program whether or not you are signed in or out they will not display. But the ads will display to your visitors if they do not have an ad blocking program. If you wish to prevent the display of ads to all visitors then you must choose to purchase the Ads-Off upgrade.
Hi - my blog is http://merovee.wordpress.com . I have put a disclaimer up which I think covers the issue for my readers without attacking WordPress, who obviously have to earn income to pay for the service .
Many wordpress.com bloggers have posted notices to this effect: Please note that any ads you see on this website are placed here by WordPress and I have no connection or financial interest in any of the promoted products.
WordPress is allowing Google to use the subject matter of my columns to generate targetted advertising, and they did it without my knowledge. There is nothing in my user agreement which allows WordPress to sell my words to Google for use in their advertising campaigns. If the advertising is merely generic, and you want to allow a company like Google to muck up your blog with their ads, that's your business. But when you use my column to lure my readers to commercial websites, that's going too far.
Example: I wrote a column about a relative who lived in Mississippi in the 19th century. I found an ad at the bottom of the column for a service providing vital records in Mississippi. I'm familiar with this service, and I don't endorse it.
So I'm going to pay WordPress off to keep Google out of my blog. I don't want my readers to be the target of companies of which I may not approve. I strive to maintain a very high standard on my blog, and this sort of material doesn't fit in.
Because this happened without my knowledge, I have discontinued some Google services, as is my right.
In case you're interested, here's my disclaimer:
ACME NUKLEAR BLIMP is a non-profit enterprise of The Mobius Group, LLC. Recently I discovered that WordPress was allowing the Internet search firm Google to scan my columns and use my words to generate targeted advertising without my knowledge. I neither endorse any product nor am I compensated in any way. I want my readers to know that I strive for the highest quality in my columns. I don't want readers to be the targets of commercial advertising for products and services of which I may not approve. Therefore, I have paid WordPress a fee to keep advertising out of ACME NUKLEAR BLIMP. Because Google had already used some of my columns to generate advertising, I have discontinued some Google services.
@tao221
For clarity Google Adsense is contextual advertising based on keywords and WordPress.com has contracted with Google Adsense to occasionally display ads on our free hosted blogs. Regardless of how many Google services you choose not to use, that Google Adsense contextual advertising based on keywords found in your blog will still be displaying on your blog. There is only one way to have that contextual Google Adsense advertising and the other advertising removed and that's by purchasing an annually renewable No-Ads upgrade.
IF you don't want Google to scan your blog, just set it to Private. That will prevent all search engines from indexing your blog.
@tao221
Your goal to present your material in as unbiased a way as possible is very admirable! There's lots of bloggers out there who aren't interested in having ads on their site, for reasons of design or principle. But if this issue is this important to you, you'll have to keep it in mind when you use free services from third parties like WordPress.com to host your content.
You do have that option to buy the No-Ads Upgrade, as you mentioned you intended to do. It's a great option and still gives you, as macmanx mentioned, all of the professional backend support, gorgeous themes, and technical assistance that comes with keeping your content at WordPress.com.
The free ads that WordPress.com occasionally places on some sites are not "luring" readers to commercial content. Nobody has to click on an ad, and WordPress.com users are told about the advertising policy when they sign up for a blog and the Terms of Service are presented. When a user clicks "agree" it's a signal that they're ok with this advertising.
Have you ever considered self-hosting your own installation of WordPress.org? If this level of freedom from any outside interest is something that's this important to you, paying for your own hosting and installing your own version of WordPress would give you 100% control over all aspects of your blog.
The fact that WordPress uses ads to pay for the costs of running this is also right at the bottom of the "features" page: http://en.wordpress.com/features/ .
You have several options:
1. Stay and keep your disclaimer and take advantage of all the features and free service.
2. Pay for the "no-ads" upgrade. $30 per year is way less than you will pay if you self-host a blog.
3. Move to a different free-hosting service.
4. Register a domain name ($10 to $24 per year), hire a web host such as godaddy, bluehost, etc. ($10 to $25 per month), install and configure the software from wordpress.ORG, export all your content from here and import it into the new self-hosted blog. You will be responsible for all installations, all upgrades, all backups and all troubleshooting. If something goes wrong, you have to figure it out and fix it. Backups are seriously important and I recommend doing a full backup once a week (including the database) and downloading it to your computer. That way if you get hacked, or something goes horribly wrong, you can restore from the backup and not loose too much work.
This topic has been closed to new replies.
tao221
designsimply
airodyssey
ladybeeblebrox
