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    Scientology Ad ????
    By Tommaso Dorigo | October 26th 2010 02:34 PM | 36 comments | Print | E-mail | Track Comments
    About Tommaso

    I am an experimental particle physicist working with the CMS experiment at CERN. In my spare time I play chess, abuse the piano, and aim my dobson...

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    Let it be clear on this publically, to show I am not kidding: there is a scientology ad on the right column today. If that is not gone by tomorrow from here, I will.

    Comments

    Religion is in. Look at what people read on forums and alike.
    But i sympatize with you. It is almost impossible to discuss seriously with them. They have nothing to do here.

    I have told it before: in our local FNAC, the books of popular science have been, during a lot of years, between philosophy and self-aid. They have moved self-aid because of lack of space, but they know the business... People looks for answers, booksellers *sell* answers.

    And moved self-aid???

    People are crazy, really. But I guess this only tells what is more important for people, health is long down the list. The meaning with life is on top, and psychological health. The failure is that they seek it from outside themselves.

    logicman
    there is a scientology ad on the right column today. If that is not gone
    by tomorrow from here, I will.

    I don't blame you.

    Scientology: a cult based on unsaleable badly written sci-fi books.
    : a word coined by L Ron Hubbard from
    'scientific' + '-ology' as a deliberate attempt to make a raving nutter's cult sound like it may have some sort of scientific basis, which it has, in exactly the same way as the theory that mute swans are fluent in Latin.

    ( I'm back, and I'm in no mood for promoters of garbled garbage. )  :-)
    dorigo
    Excellent Patrick! So nice to hear you're well again!
    Cheers,
    T.
    Something even less palatable than Pepsi!

    Daniel de França MTd2
    Calm down Tommaso. I`ve been seing these ads for months on your page. They are chosen according to cookies installed on your browser by an ad company. It is hard to keep track of them. A few months ago there were pornographic ads appearing at a kid`s manga webpage. You have to wait until the webmaster contact the company.
    Daniel de França MTd2
    For example, the ad to this website is being displayed to me right now, instead of the scientology one:
    http://www.cancerandgod.com/?gclid=CMOsz7S48aQCFQpZ2godaj8svA
    Tommaso,
    if you are getting paid (any amount at all, no matter how small)
    for having your blog on a commercial site like science20dotcom
    (commercial = getting money for ads, i.e.,
    selling content including your blog)
    then
    what standing do you have to complain if someone you do not like
    buys ads on the site, and so effectively puts money in your pocket?
    Do you propose to give back whatever money you got from scientology?
    Do you think that it is right to accept ads from some "religions" and
    not from other "religions"?
    Do you really want to get into controversy over what is a "religion"?
    Do you really want to get into a fight comparing
    alleged misdeeds of scientology
    with
    alleged misdeeds of, for example, Roman Catholicism?

    Of course, if you go back to your old way of just having
    your own personal blog on you own personal site etc,
    then you can go entirely non-commercial with no ads at all,
    just content that you yourself choose to put up,
    plus whatever comments you yourself choose to allow.

    Tony

    Hank
    It's not as mercenary as anyone giving up their beliefs because they join a site - we're a community and we pull ads all of the time if we find out about them and they aren't good.    Obviously an email is enough but if T. is having a bad day I guess a blog post makes his point also.

    We use an ad server chain so when it gets all the way down to Google (meaning, literally, no one is paying to be seen there, often if the same person has been on the same page multiple times in a day) if an article is about religion it will pick a religious ad, which is what he was getting on his article about a dinosaur impression in a church.   The easy solution, though not always acceptable because blogs are personal outlets, is to never write about religion or Rocco or whatever else may get questionable ads, but we'd rather people write about whatever they want.    The somewhat silly solution is to make a proclamation that unless the multi-billion dollar Google company changes its algorithm they will leave.   An advertisement is not an endorsement and only the most militant member of the audience would think that goofy scientologist ads are an endorsement by us.  

    Scientologists would never spend money here, because it is a waste of time, so they go through Google and that allows them to only pay for clicks.

    If people dislike scientology or anything else that appears because of Google, the penalty is to click on their ads a lot.   That means they waste money and get nothing in return.


    Want more no-nonsense, independent science? Buy Science Left Behind
    What happenned to the black list of Adsense? Is not used anymore?

    Hank
    Yes, but if they claim to be public service or education or whatever they might want to be outside the religion blockade Google will allow it.    Google gets paid to sell ads and they leave the micromanagement to sites stuck with whatever they thrown on there.

    It's not the first time our broad mix of content (and overall tolerance) has confused Google - fortunately we rarely get to the bottom of the ad server chain where Google is.   The last time I wrote about advertising issues, in We're So Neutral We Even Confuse Google, it was because this ad came up:


    Once every two years is not a bad thing and scientists are tolerant of religion if hot girls are involved.   But had Scientology done the same ad, it would have gotten complaints - religion may be tolerated but pseudoscience is not.
    Want more no-nonsense, independent science? Buy Science Left Behind
    Guess that advetrising catch many men. look at the woman! SO SEXY? What does she there?
    Double languages. Thats exactly what is so bad with religious people.

    >>Let it be clear on this publically, to show I am not kidding: there is a scientology ad on the right column today. If that is not gone by tomorrow from here, I will.<<

    ..... Publically?

    Hank, as to
    "... we pull ads all of the time if we find out about them and they aren't good ..."
    who decides which ads are "good" and by what criteria?

    Are you and Tomasso and whoever else is involved in whatever
    procedure you follow in determining to "pull ads" that "aren't good"
    really comfortable in comparing such things as
    alleged misdeeds of scientology
    with
    alleged misdeeds of, for example, Roman Catholicism?

    Do you give those whose ads "aren't good" a chance to state their case?
    If so, what kind of hearing ?

    If you have given scientology such a hearing,
    what did they have to say ?

    Tony

    Hank
    If we get any complaints about an ad, we remove it.   Tommaso is not a high-maintenance writer so if he writes about an ad, there is a reason.   You seem to think he is picking on Scientology - had an ad for Catholics or Mormons come up he would have said something also.  It just so happened his article was about religion and he exhausted the premium ads by coming back to that article to reply to comments so it eventually defaulted to Google, which picked a religious contextual ad because his article was about a church.   It could have been any religion using google but perhaps scientology was paying google the most for that keyword at that time.
    Want more no-nonsense, independent science? Buy Science Left Behind
    Bonny Bonobo alias Brat
    Hank, here is a loaded question, what is a high maintenance writer and why is it that when a high-maintenance writer writes about an ad there isn't a reason?
    Make love not war
    Sorry for misspelling Tommaso's name in the previous comment.
    My typing is often full of typos.

    Tony

    dorigo
    Ok, I have overreacted, and I feel for Hank who has no guilt at all but needs to address the vagaries of picky writers. But one of the reasons I like this site is that its mission is diffusing good, solid science, and making it entertaining; and this does not come at too high a price. I would have stayed on a private site if Hank had not assured that the advertising was acceptable, both in volume and content.

    Tony, I dislike scientology as any other organization that makes profits out of people's weaknesses; but I dislike it even more than the rest because they damage science by claiming contiguity with it.

    Cheers,
    T.
    A message from scientology:

    There is an Italian commie on the left side from us. If he is not gone by tomorrow, we will...

    Such scientology appeared on Lubos Motl's site for weeks, and he endorsed them. But we all know that he always takes the side of the bully.

    I don't see anything "bullying" about scientology. I don't endorse in any way but I won't be banning it. After all, if you have lived in a country like mine for decades, and if you were not a commie, you would realize that commies are a more genuine threat for the society than scientology.

    Hank
    I block those because (a) it makes writers no money but also (b) it annoys people.  On a personal site, it's a different matter.  The idea of a community is that someone may arrive looking for an article of mine but see an article of Tommaso's and read it as well.   We all benefit from compounding so we all get input on the tone of the site.

    Surely, there are some community standards in Prague also - do they let you walk around in a thong?
    Want more no-nonsense, independent science? Buy Science Left Behind
    Dear Hank, I just received a mail called "Walk Through Prague", namely dozens of pictures of a gorgeous woman walking completely naked through the main sightseeings of Prague such as the Old Town Square, Prague Castle etc.

    So the answer is almost surely yes. They allow you walk around in a thong - or without underwear. We're a free country. Freedom is our main community standard. Naked women are also people so they have the basic human right to influence the tone of our cities.

    dorigo
    Lol! No hank, they don't, but he does it at home in front of the mirror :D
    CHeers,
    T.
    The exchange of "h" and "H" _might_ signify that you disagree with something in Hank's comment :))
    At least my noticing it _definitely_ means I'm a bit sick of reading that scientology wouldn't be banned from sites that claim to be scientific when it pays them and that commies are a worse threat to society and that promoting sexism is freedom.

    So, what's the outcome here? Is scientology gone from the advertising rotation on this site, or not?

    dorigo
    Amos, I would think so. Hank is patient with us prima-donnas here ;-)
    Cheers,
    T.
    Hank
    In college, I once did a paper on Commedia dell'arte so I knew difficult Italian women well.  

    What is jarring is that, because you took a screenshot (which was good, since that is how I know it was google rather than something we sold) I see that Scientology ad each time I come here and I have that jarring moment of "They're back?  How do they keep showing up?"

    If they (or Mormons, Mayans, Rastafarians, etc.) slip by the filter and show up again, you can just send a chat message or email or something.
    Want more no-nonsense, independent science? Buy Science Left Behind
    dorigo
    Hank, I already explained I was in a bad mood... and I do think you do a great and difficult job here. Anyway, I don't think the idea of blogging about it was too bad - it let the community know what I really thought about the matter.

    Best,
    T.
    Hank
    Can anyone who sees this hover over it (it doesn't have to be clicked on) and use 'copy link address' to make sure we have the right service?   That one in the screenshot was Google but if blocking out 'religion' plus 'scientology.org/com/net' isn't doing it, I have to know what reference URL they are using instead of scientology or even if it is more than google.   I can't get it to show up for me.
    Want more no-nonsense, independent science? Buy Science Left Behind
    Most probably you don't want an active link to scientology there.

    Didn't think of doing something to disable it.

    Hank, fell free to delete the previous comment and this one after you get the link.

    Hank
    Thanks.  Google's ad blocking allows a maximum of 64 characters so if blocking www. and just scientology.org as base URLs don't work (if their blocking requires the whole URL) then ultra huge Google is doing that on purpose to keep junk running.
    Want more no-nonsense, independent science? Buy Science Left Behind
    Aitch
    Seems to me that by starting this thread, 'to let the community know' Tommaso has inadvertently created a link for google establishing a connection with the very thing he complains of

    Catch 22 isn't it, Tommaso?

    Aitch
    Hank
    Scientology has gamed Google on Wired, ComputerWorld and too many sites to count the same way as here and Google seems unwilling to do anything about it so, I agree, the one way to get a Scientology ad is to put Scientology in the title.   

    But he was on the front page and getting it, as he showed in two screenshots on different days, so that's more annoying to me.   If I block an advertiser I want them blocked.  This reaffirms my belief that AdSense is mostly useless and that is why they are at the bottom of the food chain.
    Want more no-nonsense, independent science? Buy Science Left Behind