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To Linden Lab,

Please stop these annoying and disturbing Google ads from appearing on the web sites. Merchants (on Marketplace) and customers will thank you!

The ads are really annoying. For security reasons my browser asks with EACH page whether I want to display content that does not belong to this site. This makes shopping extremely unpleasant and even stops me from buying at Marketplace.

In my opinion, to be honest, placing Google ads on a company website is extremely unprofessional. Stop users from buying and you will loose merchants and finally you will loose customers. If you can't stop and absolutely need to do this for commercial reasons, then do it better and learn from others who do this better.

Thank you for listening

Shy 

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Hello Shy, I actually stopped using my browser of choice (IE) to use Firefox and AdBlock...  The really funny thing is that I'd recently updated my store banner and can no longer see it - LOL!  Following the advice of others though I am much happier not seeing ads taking up MY screen space.  BTW: McAfee (is currently happy) with the ads being served, if that changes then I am sure we will read about it here :)

 

Thanks

Black

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I have to agree with this. While I have no problem with ads on a site; the way it's implemented here is just ugly, like it's just been randomly dropped in. At least make it fit the over-all design/layout neatly. This is just a total mess. FIX IT!

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I fear those ads are more than just annoying little virus-risk outlets on your screen. Each time a google-ad is served, it collects data. Google collects immense amounts of data on everybody's first life this way, so they can use this to get more money or make CIA happy later. 

And now, it's collecting data on everyone's SecondLife, because Google just does not know the difference. That means the keywords in each product title you happen to view are silently recorded, correlated with your IP address, past behaviour and sites you googled for...  and stored for all time in a secret database of fascinating information you might never know existed about you. Now what if I happily happened to be shopping for detachable penises or BDSM lifestyle outfits or something in the SL Marketplace, say it's for a "performance art project" in SL... Were I just a tiny bit more paranoid, I might be getting a bit worried now what Google is going to think about me going forward! Because, remember: Google Remembers.

It's exactly the same issue as we had with the FaceBook integration fiasco. Remember that?

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I think this is right... I turned off third party cookies, that way when I go to a web page it does not report to another server that I was there. Firefox always informs me that it blocked a request to connect to another page, and I do not accept. So the way I see it, the ads never know I was there, no count no money.

I have never used ad block before but the ads are so poorly done on LL web pages I had to give in and I now run ad block for the first time. As Sgt. Schultz would say, I see nothinggggggg.

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IE 10 have Tracking Protection.

can get Adblock protection blocking lists and IE 10 will use them. same lots of others. also Microsoft made a Stop Google tracking protection for IE10. is not installed by default but if go to

Tools \ Safety \ Tracking Protection

the can install same as any tracking blockers

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Adblock will do the trick.

But one thing you have to understand is that Google is starting to literally own the internet as we know it. Before you know it they will have  Google laptop/computer that comes with all the google apps on it playstore,gmail,search,videos etc..

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Shy Robbiani wrote:

To Linden Lab,

Please stop these annoying and disturbing Google ads from appearing on the web sites. Merchants (on Marketplace) and customers will thank you!

The ads are really annoying. For security reasons my browser asks with EACH page whether I want to display content that does not belong to this site. This makes shopping extremely unpleasant and even stops me from buying at Marketplace.

In my opinion, to be honest, placing Google ads on a company website is extremely unprofessional. Stop users from buying and you will loose merchants and finally you will loose customers. If you can't stop and absolutely need to do this for commercial reasons, then do it better and learn from others who do this better.

Thank you for listening

Shy 

1. The ads are neither annoying nor disturbing.

2. Change your browser settings so that it doesn't ask you on each page. You are the only one reporting it so it seems that nobody else has that problem.

3. Placing affiliate ads on websites is extremely professional, and they don't stop users from buying.

4. The ads are placed in very good positions so that they don't get in the way of the normal page content.

5. Because of the above, there is no reason to complain about the ads.

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RiiCassidy wrote:

But one thing you have to understand is that Google is starting to literally own the internet as we know it. Before you know it they will have  Google laptop/computer that comes with all the google apps on it playstore,gmail,search,videos etc..

Thankfully, that will never happen. Microsoft is a helluva lot nearer to "owning the internet as we know it", and Microsoft owns none of it.

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Google Laptop? That'll never happen? Actually.... It already happened; It's called a Google Chrome Book ( http://www.google.com/intl/en/chrome/devices/ ) .... But why is this a bad thing? I find that people on SL are generally too paranoid about their precious personal information, as if the world is trying to stalk or murder them. And oh no, what if I get a virus from this Google Ad, or what if they can see my personal information? Pffft. 1) You can't get a virus from a Google Ad, 2) They actually cannot see any personal information other than the basic browser and location stats that can be seen by ANY website. If you're *that* paranoid you shouldn't be online at all. 

In terms of ad-serving, collecting some personal information is A GOOD THING,it allows ad-networks to actually serve up relevant ads based on your location and general interests. Would you rather see ads from another country of a service that has no relevance to your life ( that would be annoying, spammy ) or would you prefer seeing an ad of something local that you can actually use? I'd prefer the latter, thank you very much ( /me hands Google all his personal information.)

That said, using ad-blockers takes away income from some legitimate website for which display ads are their only source of income, some websites such as full time bloggers (professional bloggers who actually do it for a living) rely on Adsense, etc. To generate part of their income stream. It's insulting to enjoy content on a website and refuse to see the ads. Support the creators of the content that you enjoy by supporting their income streams. Do not run ad blockers. - That said. Linden Lab doesn't necessarily need the extra income stream from display ads, though I have no problem seeing them on the site. I just wish they would implement them a bit better so that it doesn't look like such a mess. There are better ways of placing these things.

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davidventer wrote:

There are better ways of placing these things.

 

Exactly. Unfortunately it is such a mess that I now run ad block, all the time. Not going to try and turn it off and on. If they, the Lab, had just taken a little time and done it right the first time, IMHO there would not have been any complaints.

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davidventer wrote:

Google Laptop? That'll never happen? Actually.... It already happened; It's called a Google Chrome Book (
) .... But why is this a bad thing? I find that
people on SL are generally too paranoid
about their precious personal information, as if the world is trying to stalk or murder them. And oh no, what if I get a virus from this Google Ad, or what if they can see my personal information? Pffft. 1)
You can't get a virus from a Google Ad
, 2) They actually cannot see any personal information other than the basic browser and location stats that can be seen by ANY website. If you're *that* paranoid you shouldn't be online at all. 

In terms of ad-serving,
collecting some personal information is A GOOD THING,
it allows ad-networks to actually serve up relevant ads based on your location and general interests. Would you rather see ads from another country of a service that has no relevance to your life ( that would be annoying, spammy ) or would you prefer seeing an ad of something local that you can actually use? I'd prefer the latter, thank you very much ( /me hands Google all his personal information.)

That said, using ad-blockers takes away income from some legitimate website for which display ads are their only source of income, some websites such as full time bloggers (professional bloggers who actually do it for a living) rely on Adsense, etc. To generate part of their income stream.
It's insulting
to enjoy content on a website and refuse to see the ads. Support the creators of the content that you enjoy by supporting their income streams.
Do not run ad blockers
.
- That said. Linden Lab doesn't necessarily need the extra income stream from display ads, though I have no problem seeing them on the site. I just wish they would implement them a bit better so that it doesn't look like such a mess. There are better ways of placing these things.

this been discussed before on here. but is worth doing again

linden when they created SL made a privacy policy. nobody including them can pass information that they obtain to a 3rd party without that persons express permission or when/where that person has made it publicly available themselves

this has been the way of SL since the beginning until now. the advert website policy changes this

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is most evident on the marketplace. when buy something this info is passed to the 3rd party advertisers via the url. what we search for. what we buy

it becomes more problematic when adverts appear inworld. which they do when access a website service from within the viewer. like your dashboard for example

we didn't get asked if we wanted this. linden don't provide us with a way to opt in or opt out

is a take it or leave it proposition. which is consistent with your view. if don't like it then get off the interwebz

is lots of people not very happy with this proposition. even the browser makers understand this is not a very good proposition. so they build in blocking and inprivate browsing facilities etc

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is a policy paradox as well

linden have been a champion of optout privacy for their customers and have now moved to a more loose definition of user privacy. which contrary to browser makers who are moving to a tighter privacy definition by building into the browsers blocking tools

in Microsofts case with IE10. blocking is now turned on by default

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edit add: just in case people might think I am some kinda nym freak

I run my viewer with media on. i even got a attached media player that runs web radio in my viewer which I wear all the time

is about choices. I can choose to do this or not. so can other people. linden made it so we can optin/optout as we choose. with the linden webservice 3rd party adverts and implicit info sharing. linden don't gives us the same option. that's what wrong I think and I would like them linden to consider this

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edit add more:

if this is about revenue generating then linden could provide Premium members and residents who maintain a PIU account balance to the same amount of the annual premium subscription an optin/optout facility. for free/non-PIU accounts then no option. you get the adverts and cant opt out

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 edit more more. bc I been thinking about it more now (:

 a way the PIU/non-Premium can work is: (the formula works for Premiums as well)

take the total amount of US$ that you put in since you create your account. either thru estate/sim tier or direct L$ purchase

divide amount by number of months since you started. while the sum remain above $US6 then optin/optout is enabled

this the fair way. rather than say a 12 month only running count. bc a person who paid say 3 months of sim tier then have to abandon for RL reasons has paid $885. which if divide by $US6 is equal to about 12 years of Premium annual subscription. add in the setup/transfer fees then is more

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bc the formula is applied to the US$ account balance then can also work for non-Premium who never put money in but generate a US$ surplus and cash out. a surplus they get from doing something that is of added value to other residents. if adding value then get the courtesy/recognition of optin/optout. which the formula takes into account also

 

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davidventer wrote:

 

That said, using ad-blockers takes away income from some legitimate website for which display ads are their only source of income, some websites such as full time bloggers (professional bloggers who actually do it for a living) rely on Adsense, etc. To generate part of their income stream.
It's insulting
to enjoy content on a website and refuse to see the ads. Support the creators of the content that you enjoy by supporting their income streams.
Do not run ad blockers
.

I address this point direct

if want to generate income from your web works then put a price on it and sell it. let it stand on its own merits

put a paywall on your website

1) login page. sign in to agree to ToS. pay money to consume

2) frontpage click to agree to ToS and continue. ToS include provision for your info to be passed to 3rd party advertisers while on our site

 

 

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davidventer wrote:

Google Laptop? That'll never happen? Actually.... It already happened; It's called a Google Chrome Book

I thought that what I wrote was quite clear. I meant that Google "owning the internet as we know it" will never happen. And that's true, of course.

The rest of your post wasn't a response to mine so I won't comment on it.

 

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Teagan Tobias wrote:

davidventer wrote:

There are better ways of placing these things.

 Exactly. Unfortunately it is such a mess that I now run ad block, all the time.

Please explain what you mean by "such a mess". There are only 2 ads per page. One is at the top, above the main page content, and the other is on the side, away from the main page content. Neither of them interfere with the main page content. Would you rather the ads were placed within the main page content? If they were, I have no doubt that they would get far more objections than they do now.

Tip: Unless you are still using an old monitor, you are using a wide-screen monitor, so set your browser window to the standard(ish) width of websites. That way you won't even see the ad on the side. I have my browser window set to the width of this forum and, regardless of which website I visit, I never need to expand it.

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16 wrote:

in Microsofts case with IE10. blocking is now turned on by default 

I don't think it is. I recently got IE10 in my updates and it definitely wasn't turned on by default. In fact, I didn't know it was included until I started searching on "ad blocker" as a result of a discussion in this forum.

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16 wrote:

I address this point direct

if want to generate income from your web works then put a price on it and sell it. let it stand on its own merits

put a paywall on your website

1) login page. sign in to agree to ToS. pay money to consume

2) frontpage click to agree to ToS and continue. ToS include provision for your info to be passed to 3rd party advertisers while on our site 

I completely disagree with you on this. Websites cost very little to run. If you can make your own site, then there's only the ongoing hosting to pay for. Most websites are small hobby types which virtually nobody would pay anything to. Affiliate advertising can pay the costs of those sites, making the hobby cost nothing. Brilliant!

Large sites can make a lot of money from affiliate ads. If they charged users to view parts of their sites, the users wouldn't pay anything like the amount that is made from affiliate ads. So your suggestion doesn't make sound economic sense for websites in general.

Another point isn't a response to your post, but I'll write it here anyway. The only people who object to affiliate ads are those who:-

(1) don't want to be advertised to. To those people, I say "tough". It's reality. Get over it. Or only frequent places where you are not being advertised to.

and

(2) those who wrongly imagine that someone somewhere is gathering personal information about them. To those I say, you are wrong. If you can't accept that, you need to get off the web altogether. There are some people who gather information about people they can't identify, but that's different.

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Phil Deakins wrote:


16 wrote:

in Microsofts case with IE10. blocking is now turned on by default 

I don't think it is. I recently got IE10 in my updates and it definitely wasn't turned on by default. In fact, I didn't know it was included until I started searching on "ad blocker" as a result of a discussion in this forum.

 

yes is. it just not very intuitive to know this

loading a 3rd party Tracking Protection List is an option. which is what most people do. but

when you first install 1E10 and go to Tracking Protection then is only: Your Personalised List which is enabled. in IE9 this was disabled

bc is a new install then is not blocking any website content to start with. but bc is enabled it starts building a list of websites content that is potentially tracking you. when the content reach the threshold then the browser will start automatic blocking them

the threshold by default is 30 different websites

is this that upset the advertiser companies when they found out Microsoft had changed IE10 to Enabled by default

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if double click Your Personalised List then you see something like this

ptplist.jpg

 

in the pic is set to the default max 30. which means the content in the right column owned by the provider in the left column has shown up on 30 different websites and is now Automatically Blocked everywhere

if set to a lower number say like 10 websites then will automatically block after 10 and so on

can also set Allow/Block manually as you like once a website content shows up on the list

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edit add:

basically IE10 automatic blocks once it reach the threshold and then you optin to Allow itto continue. this a fundamental change to how browsers used to work. is now optin to excessive web wide advertising from the same content/provider. not opt out. which is how it was before

can also optin everywhere to advertising by disable Your Personal List and not load any 3rd party lists

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edit add more just to complete

when a content is blocked on a webpage the blue block icon is enabled on the url address bar. can then click on it if you want and it will allow the blocked content thru

 

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