Forums / Maintenance / Report Problems

So, uh, this.

KYM's ads in the galleries are deceptive, and many (including myself) have said they have mis-clicked on them, thinking they were real content. They're alongside other images, disguising them as content.

This seems to break both guidelines around being deceptive and placing ads alongside images (a sub-section of the deceptive part), and violates the webmaster guidelines about not deceiving users.

Adsense policies

Webmaster Quality Guidelines

I'm not an expert in all this, but as far as I can tell, this could make KYM lose their ads and get bumped down in Google search results.

This might be the thread most worthy of Report Problems I've ever made.

Brad wrote:

KYM will be able to optimize and improve the quality of display ads in collaboration with the new parent publisher, which has a whole lot of experience and expertise in online advertising.

This has been a joke for a long time now, but at this point it's worrying.

just btw, adsense is extremely strict too, so if they are seen as breaking the rules, they will be perm banned for life. They aren't known for "This is your first warning!" type stuff.

oh, and btw, btw, other ad revenue sites exist, of course, but believe it or not, adsense is the best. The ads will, more than likely, be even worse if they switch to a different ad provider.

Have fun guys.

>"KYM will be able to optimize and improve the quality of display ads in collaboration with the new parent publisher, which has a whole lot of experience and expertise in online advertising."

…

…

>Site is found to be in violation of AdSense guidelines

In all seriousness, this may in fact put an end to KnowYourMeme (and maybe Cheezburger) if the admins don't respond and do anything about it soon. It's sad to say but this site has gone down the shitter with the ad drama and the possible cause of death for this site will likely be it's own ads.

I knew something was wrong with those ads appearing alongside images. Who though it was a good idea? Now this site's gonna die because of those badly placed ads…

People complained about them so many times yet nobody actually did anything about them and now the site is dying

good job

This site is so desperate for revenue it's just shoving all the ads in our faces it's kinda sad. TV Tropes and Wikia never had this problem, then again they have massive userbases, especially Wikia that site is just sprawling everywhere since its the go-to for fandoms.

this may in fact put an end to KnowYourMeme

Now this site’s gonna die because of those badly placed ads…

now the site is dying

I reacted like this too at first, but remember what Poochyena said:

oh, and btw, btw, other ad revenue sites exist, of course, but believe it or not, adsense is the best. The ads will, more than likely, be even worse if they switch to a different ad provider.

And, of course, this is assuming adsense decides they are in violation of the rules. If they decide we aren't, well, things will continue as usual.

If they do, KYM can survive on other ad providers. It… wouldn't be preferable. But it's not necessarily the end. A lot of us are using adblock already anyways, so it wouldn't be a huge change.

At this point I'd be more worried about the webmaster guidelines. I mean, I'm not an expert on this by any means, so maybe I should be more worried about the adsense stuff, but getting knocked down in Google search results is not a good thing. It's something we've actively tried to avoid, and is part of the underlying basis of the rules on KYM.

I… don't actually think the site's gonna "die". The issue is that its ad revenue will get shut down with the current implementation, which, if left alone, could eventually make the site non-profitable and, shortly after, abandoned by Cheezburger Network. But, since KYM is a pretty well-known site by internet standards (It's still on the first page of Google searches for "memes"), I sincerely doubt everyone would just let that be the end. Someone would more than likely buy it out/put it under new management again and try to revive it if a total shutdown was a real threat since all the other "meme documentation" sites are fucking shit anyway
…Unless all this is completely wrong and the site shuts down tomorrow with no warning ¯\(ツ)/¯

Is it possible to start a Patreon or GoFundMe to save Know Your Meme from dying?

This site has been Deadpooled.

I said this before, but I still think Rubicon is a great alternative to AdSense. It's one of the reasons why I don't block ads from 4chan of all places.

Gaben to the ads:

Have a mod Patreon my youngest child was taken from me and the rest is starving.

Srs answer: That will only work if you A) Finance the staff's monthly paycheck or B) Buy the site. So not gonna happen.

(Begin Rant)
Wikia?

Have you tried to navigate through Wikia these days? There's ads practically everywhere (which are Javascript-based), even within articles if they screw up the layout badly enough.

And the "go-to for fandoms" angle has garnered Wikia's worst idea; the whole "Fandom" angle, as it adds another clickbait box in the form of "Trending Fandom Articles" which tend to be either outdated or irrelevant to the wiki they show up in (and in most cases, both). You can block it with browser apps, but some wikis make extensive use of Javascript, so you run the risk of screwing up the wiki you're on.

(End Rant)

Going to the original topic at hand, If we do decide to replace our Ad providers, is Rubicon (what Delphox suggested) reputable?

Oh damn. Well i have faith that the situation will be resolved before it turns bad.

@RM

Srs answer: That will only work if you A) Finance the staff’s monthly paycheck or B) Buy the site. So not gonna happen.

So we need, what, $7? That doesn't seem so hard.

Going to the original topic at hand, If we do decide to replace our Ad providers, is Rubicon (what Delphox suggested) reputable?

I didn't spend a lot of time searching, but the website alone impressed me. I was unable to access the website on mobile with my adblocking browser. The website itself is well-designed. Apparently wikipedia says at some point it was the biggest, but take that with a grain of salt.

There are numerous other ad providers that aren't utter shit, they just aren't as good. Again, I'd be more worried about if they got bumped down in Google search results. Given that about 3/4ths of KYM seems to use adblockers most of us wouldn't actually see a change anyways.

This is actually the first time I've heard of this "Knocked down in Google search results" being a thing, especially as punishment for something unrelated. What does being bumped down entail? Does that mean KYM will be appearing on the never visited 2nd page of Google search results? Nice to see that the worlds most popular search engine being completely biased with its search results.

Also, has anyone actually contacted whoever is in charge of the ad placements on KYM about this if this could actually hurt the site?

Apparently Google takes into account multiple things – not just pure relevance – into account when placing websites. How they treat the users (e.g. deception) and web design (e.g. having a mobile site) change their position.

Nice to see that the worlds most popular search engine being completely biased with its search results.

I dunno, I think being led to websites that don't trick me is a pretty good thing.

Also, has anyone actually contacted whoever is in charge of the ad placements on KYM about this if this could actually hurt the site?

I contacted Don last night, and he acknowledged it in the mod chat this morning. He said they're looking into changing some stuff up, but apparently nothing bad has happened (yet, at least).

Figured it's best to share this one to calm the masses for now:

Based Brad.

Going to the original topic at hand, If we do decide to replace our Ad providers, is Rubicon (what Delphox suggested) reputable?

I didn't get any kind of bullshit so far. So far, the ads I see from 4chan's Rubicon ads are always relevant to a specific board's interest. Though, it mostly shows J-List ads since 4chan is a weebshit board.

Forget guidelines, I'll tell you guidelines and stuff. First off, are there really any out-of-site bannerads that in fact don't install tons of spyware on your computer machine? Fry my hide, but I'm not risking it, sorry but not sorry. If any site wants me to see an ad, they better store the ad IMAGE – any image format will do – on their own server. Adblockers don't block individually named images, unless you manually add them to the filter list.

Some youtube videos do it right – they show a small "this video has been brought to you by brand name" at the beginning of the video – and it's often the channel personality who delivers the line. That's something I can live with.

test: eat at Joe's – they have good food

Question. Is it normal for KYM to show up on page 2 Google result for "memes" and "meme"? (Note Google changes results based on what you normally search in by default, tailoring it to you. I had taken measures to negate that. Regardless, others are reporting it too.)

Others seem pretty adamant it was the top result. If true, it looks like the reports had an effect.