BADVERTISING

Just a quick update. A reader asked me if there’s anything I could do about an ad he keeps getting on this site. It’s a video, he says, that autoplays and he can’t find a way to shut it off.

The answer is yes, I can do something about it. However it’s a bit more complicated than it might seem.

On this page there should be two ads. I don’t intend to add more — I think that’s plenty — but I don’t determine their content. The ads are served by Google, and are specific to your own browsing history. Obviously this doesn’t imply that you’re getting obnoxious ads because you’re searching for obnoxious things; it just means that if you search for, say, computer repair, you’ll get ads related (however tangentially) to computer repair, and some of those might be obnoxious.

The reason I bring this up is as follows: your browsing history is different from mine. So if you contact me about an ad in which a CGI dog screams profanities at you and your children, the odds are very good that I’ll have no idea what you’re talking about, and therefore I can’t help you.

When you do encounter an ad here that you dislike, I want to help. But no matter how specific your description of the ad is, what I need from you is the target URL.

The target URL, basically, is where the ad would take you if you clicked on it. With that information, I should be able to block the offending ad without a problem.

You don’t actually need to click the ad to get me that information. You should be able to hover over it and see where it points. Or you may be able to right-click the ad and copy the destination URL that way.

Either way, however you manage to get that information, contact me (my email address is on the About page) and let me know the URL of the offending ad.

Without the URL…I’m afraid there isn’t anything I can do. I apologize for that; it’s just that the nature of Google’s ad service only allows me to take action in one very specific way.

Anyway, keep an eye out, and let me know if you do encounter an ad that interferes with your experience here. Don’t feel like you’re stuck with them, or that you have to put up with whatever happens to load for you that day.

Say the word, and I’ll get it taken care of.