What's the difference between an ad and your recommendation?

I gather from your 'explanation' about ads that I can essentially ignore all of them.

Mainly because you have no control over them ore their content.

There have been several that I had really wondered about.

Thank you for the clarification.

I was just ready to comment on one of your ads as to its use of FEAR to get people to buy the product. The Typical: "We scanned your computer and find 2234 bad things; we will fix six of them free but beware that your computer is in danger unless you send the $29.95". Can now appreciate your circumstance, but know many will blame YOU for the consternation of dealing with the afterfact.

I do get it. But understand, this issue isn't just about me or my web site - people need to recognize ads everywhere. They're often much worse than what shows up here. (And no, an ad cannot have scanned your machine. As you point out, an ad that says so lies, plain and simple. Often the wording is nuanced so as to be misleading and just short of a blatent lie.)

31-Mar-2010

You are RIGHT! Leo. Advertisements are ads, and, there are GOOD ones out there. Most free programs are ads in the purest sense, in that they hope you will like the product enough to consider purchasing more capable versions from the provider.
Someone is providing us the power of the web, for our consideration of their products. That's OK in my book.

I fully agree and understand the reasoning behind any and all adverts on websites both educational and fun stuff.
Not real sure of my high school legal studies, but was it "Buyer Beware"..!!
As with any product, you have to do your homework regardless of any recommendations or where you have seen the product, ALWAYS do your homework.
Goodluck and thanks Leo for a great site.
Bernaul.

Generally you will find the Words ---

Ads by Google
at the bottom of a picture. That should clarify if it is an Ad in most cases.

Ravi.

Hi there Leo,
Thank you once again for an as-always informative newsletter - much appreciated!

I fully understand (and appreciate from a financial standpoint) where you're coming from with this discussion about advertising.

I've been "into" computing since the mid-1980s so I do acknowledge the need for free sites to survive largely by displaying random (and often non content-controlled) advertising on their site's pages. It's just like someone who owns a billboard on the state highway - the structure itself - and who may rent out the space to 100 different companies to sell their product over a period of time. The billboard owner doesn't care what goes on his billboard, and nor should he be expected to (within reason, of course!).

A couple of months ago in your newsletter, under the heading "...OUR SPONSOR" you displayed an ad for some free trial software which I duly downloaded. Okay so far.

The product (which I'll decline to name for obvious reasons) simply didn't work as advertised by its supplier. In fact, it was a disaster! I tried all sorts of work-arounds to get it up and running all to no avail. Still relatively all okay.

But... and that's a BIG but. When I tried to uninstall the software, all sorts of nasty things happened, the most minor(!) being that my OS locked up. Anyway, after rebooting in safe mode and binning a stack of its registry entries etc, I sorted it all out.

To the point... at last LOL! I would've thought the fact that you expressly highlighted this product, and whilst obviously NOT specifically endorsing it, you would have at least tested it yourself to ensure it worked (largely) as advertised.

Could you please then Leo clarify for your readership the subtle difference between describing an ad as "our sponsor" and an actual personal "endorsement"?

Thank you kindly,
Geoff
Melbourne Australia

A "sponsor" is an advertiser, nothing more, nothing less. They sponsor the newsletter by providing money in exchange for advertising space. So everything I've said about advertisers applies.

Clearly, I do have more control over who advertises in the newsletter (and those few who direct purchase ads on the site, bypassing Google), but once again I cannot, and do not, attempt to vet them - there's simply no time. And that's exactly why I created a specific category of "recommendations" that I do at least have experience with.

As someone above as said when it comes to any advertising the rule is "buyer beware".

And again, I want to be clear here that the points I'm making aren't so much about how you should understand advertising on Ask Leo!, but rather how you must understand advertising across the entire internet.

I'm always interested in feedback on specific advertisers. I have blocked advertisers in the past due to too many problems. Drop me details if you like via the ask a question form.

01-Apr-2010

Personally I would not allow any ads on my site that would be even potentially misleading or harmful. We all have a responsibility to help keep the internet clean and free of scams. Especially those who hold themselves out to be computer experts.

There no way that a site owner can vet all the thousands of ads that could possibly run on a site.

Besides, this isn't really about my site - you visit many, many other sites besides mine, and no matter what I do or do not do here, you still need to understand what an ad is and is not, everywhere.

17-Apr-2010

"Sponsor" does sound different than "Ad" or "Advertisement", even though it's exactly the same. Although not the same as "Recommendation", it does sound like a special relationship between the medium and the advertiser, an "Endorsement" of sorts.

It does help that you've spelled out that sponsors are nothing more than advertisers, and that endorsements appear only in your recommendations.

Aha! Therein lies the confusion. I was just elsewhere on this site and, LO, in big letters it says "RECOMMENDED DOWNLOAD". And in very tiny letters on the far other end, it says "ads by google".

I know there's nothing Leo can do about this, but keep in mind that not every visitor here is a veteran geek with tons of internet savvy, and lack of savvy does not relegate them to the ranks of the stupid or foolish.

Right - in an ad "Recommended" doesn't mean that I recommended it. (To not be a lie, all it needs to mean is that someone recommended it somewhere.)

And I have to stress again, it's not just my site. Ads are everywhere and it's important to recognize them for what they are.

30-Apr-2010

Thanks for correcting a misunderstanding I had. I assumed that you (especially you) at least screened all ads on your newsletter, even though they said "Ads by Google". In the future, I'll not click on any ads on any site, as too many apparently are not ethical, not verified, etc. Google needs to get control of their advertisers apparently.