Monday, July 6, 2009

Do You Suppose It Was the Atheism?

atheism, atheist, atheophobia, google, adsense, bigotry,
This is the email that I just received from Google AdSense:

Hello,

While going through our records recently, we found that your AdSense account has posed a significant risk to our AdWords advertisers. Since keeping your account in our publisher network may financially damage our advertisers in the future, we've decided to disable your account.

Please understand that we consider this a necessary step to protect the interests of both our advertisers and our other AdSense publishers. We realize the inconvenience this may cause you, and we thank you in advance for your understanding and cooperation.

Sincerely,

The Google AdSense Team


Reading that, you'd think I regularly exhorted my readers to sedition against the federal government, like any good wingnut blogger, or proposed death and suffering for those who don't believe as I do, like any good fundy blogger. Do you suppose it was my risky use of the "f word" or just my general atheist tendencies?

10 comments:

  1. Persecution!

    Seriously though, can they do that? It does seem like they're deleting your account because of the content of your blog - but surely they know that blogs contain sometimes-contentious content.

    It;s not your fault that half the ads are for fundie products.

    You shouls sue their asses for discrimination.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Probably, in THEIR opinion, you MAY have fallen foul of these two...

    *Excessive profanity
    *Content related to racial intolerance or advocacy against any individual, group or organisation

    I can't see any grounds. Use of the F*** word is hardly what I would call excessive. And you use it so brilliantlty! ;-)

    And your blog is a fine example of fighting AGAINST intolerance! Or maybe... and this is just a stab in the dark... do you think that minority group - oh what are they called now.. oh yes! Christians! Are feeling a little upset. Oh nasty you! LOL.

    ReplyDelete
  3. That's pretty bizarre. Profanity would seem to be the only thing they could really object to, but that's pretty common on many blogs.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Atheist cooties are spreading like ants
    over the interwebs from here to France
    PF lets them in
    on her blog full of win
    'n google adsense is crapping their pants.

    PF writes with savvy and pluck
    you'd think that her blog would have better luck
    they ought to be fairer
    not charge her with terror
    but the adsense team is not worth a fuck

    ReplyDelete
  5. Thinking outside the box, any thoughts that it might be because we went on an ad clicking spree with no real motivation to actually enjoy the products?

    That being said, not all the ads were for products. Some just wanted to convert atheists. Which, it seems to me, would mean they were advertising in exactly the right place.

    ReplyDelete
  6. This is complete ass, but on the bright side you may have fewer trolls. Think of it as a compliment for the time being, and rely on the fact that a lot of people still care what you have to say.

    Also, maybe Chuck Norris's famed powers were not exaggerated. In that case, we should all be afeared.

    ReplyDelete
  7. "advocacy against any individual, group or organisation" potentially includes just abaout anything imaginable. Bush is an individual, creationists are a group, and the Republican party is an organization, so right off the bat I've "advocated against" all three types of category. Such a rule exists so as to be impossible to not violate, and thus give them a pretext to clamp down on any one case they happen to dislike.

    They are a kind of slimy outfit -- if they weren't, they would have given you a lot more specific explanation of what exactly it was they objected to. I've considered switching more than once.

    Unfortunately I doubt suing is a good option. I can't imagine that the law would require anyone to continue placing ads in a particular venue.

    ReplyDelete
  8. Any news on this? Further explanations?

    ReplyDelete
  9. Nope. I asked about the money I had in the account, and they sent back a form letter stating that they don't answer emails about AdSense.

    ReplyDelete

Comments are for you guys, not for me. Say what you will. Don't feel compelled to stay on topic, I enjoy it when comments enter Tangentville or veer off into Non Sequitur Town. Just keep it polite, okay?

I am attempting to use blogger's new comment spam feature. If you don't immediately see your comment, it is being held in spam, I will get it out next time I check the filter. Unless you are Dennis Markuze, in which case you're never seeing your comment.

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