PLEASE READ FOR COMPREHENSION. YOU CANNOT POST MATERIAL FROM OTHER SITES WITHOUT THEIR PERMISSION. THAT INCLUDES ARTICLES & PICTURES. I DON’T WANT TO BE A BABYSITTER.
Google has disabled my ads for policy violations. Considering they are my main source of revenue for the site, I’d like to try and get into compliance with their policies. Below are the descriptions of the policy violations:
Scraped content
It’s important for a site displaying AdSense to offer significant value to the user by providing unique and relevant content, and not to place ads on auto-generated pages or pages with little to no original content. This may include, but is not limited to:
- copying portions of text content from other sources
- websites dedicated to embedded videos from other hosts
- websites with gibberish content that makes no sense or seems auto-generated
- templated or pre-generated websites that provide duplicate content to users.
Sexual content
Google ads may not be placed on pages with adult or mature content. This includes, but is not limited to, pages with images or videos containing:
- Strategically covered nudity
- Sheer or see-through clothing
- Lewd or provocative poses
- Close-ups of breasts, buttocks, or crotches
Both myself and other contributors on the site have had a tendency to post entire articles from other sites because we find them interesting. Since some of these articles are copyrighted, that violates the Google policy. Going forward we’ll only post snippets from the articles, with a link to the whole article. This is how Zero Hedge, Mish and Denninger operate.
The changes due to the 2nd violation will probably depress the shit throwing monkeys. No more risque pictures posted on the site. I’ll need to delete comments that include those types of pictures.
I’ve had to go through the 14,500 posts made on TBP since 2010 and archive posts that I thought might fall within the Google definition of a violation. I’m going to file an appeal with Google today based on what I’ve done and the new guidelines. There is no guarantee they will agree, but I’m making a good faith effort to abide by their rules.
Stephanie says:
“Regardless of your 10 dollars a month, it is still copyright material.”
I have no clue, I take her word for it. Just want to say that Dr. Pangloss said, there is nothing new under the sun, if you take a work and tweak it, it is your own. I suggested as much to Z when I said he could take the story of Ray Romano and make it his, at least in his heart. Stucky proved my point when he took Card802’s story of the Mexican Fisherman and with a few changes came up with a new story with a slightly different ending.
Dr. Pangloss said that all stories have a connection to the human heart and if they derive from stories the general population has heard before, they trigger an emotional response and recognition. Good movies are born this way. Hollywood movies exploit your recognition of the Cinderella story, the ugly duckling story, etc.
There is nothing new under the sun, sounds like a biblical truth. Even the comments on TBP are loaded with expressions that we have read from Smokey to Sgt. Rock. TBPers did not invent ribald, picaresque, sly, obscene or double-entendre humor. Chaucer and Shakespeare make generous use of it. Cervantes has Sancho going toe to toe with the housekeeper, (a woman with the authority Edna of the sitcom ‘Dads’ enjoys) she tells Sancho that his jokes may make the rich folks laugh but he would only get the bird from her. Sancho replies that since he is hungry, he hopes it’s young and tender.
Anyway, that was my two cents worth about copyrights and originality. It’s been done before. Here is one parting thought, why do folks get paid millions for their mug when they were not the originators of said mug? Faces, like stories, repeat. Justin B looks like a young Donnny O and Elvis was said to resemble Lord Byron (although I think he resembles Dickens’ James Steerforth).
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=s-S5r0rwFu0
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=edRX4lG7uvM
Great music, El Coyote.
J4y was scolded by me elsewhere. Didn’t realize he posted the same shit twice.
Where is Billy when we need him? Billy, newbie alert. Sic him.
After all these years J4y appears out of nowhere to take a shit here.
Pathetic fucker. He or she isn’t worth any more effort beyond that description.
if u allow any entity to compromise the integrity of your site then you are no better then the politicians that u denounce.
am i not heeding the wisdom of your threads? the threads u wrote by hand.
u should be very proud of what u have created. i am on board with all the principles and values put forth on this site, but this is the first instance where i must disagree and protest.
if u can’t handle a disagreement, u are no better then a liberal pig that refuses to take accountability.
whether or not u agree with my opinion, it’s worth acknowledging that u are caving in to Google’s requests. that’s all i’m asserting against u.
$30 a day = $3000 a month. that’s big money. i don’t blame u … but what is worth more? the unhinged content of your creation? or money?
that’s for u to decide.
J4y
I really don’t give a flying fuck what you think. Hit the fucking road and don’t let the door hit you in the ass on the way out.
Find the perfect site that matches your fucking view of the world. Good luck asshole.
It’s good to see you’re one of the math challenged nitwits I refer to in my articles.
lol srry 30/day = 900 .. but i think i’ve made my point.
Hi, Admin
I remeber a year or some ago you posted an KWN article and they raised on their tails. You never cross-linked articles from them again..
RE Google, I already boycott them and for what they are doing to TBP, I`ll double my efforts.
Fuck them!!
So no pics at all, period ?
The Best Ways to Be Sure You’re Legally Using Online Photos
The article linked above spells out pretty clearly what is allowed and what isn’t. If you plan on posting pictures to TBP, you should read it and attempt to follow those guidelines.
Let’s not make Jim’s job harder than it has to be.
@Sensetti – Generally speaking a watermark + a link back to the source is good enough.
Admin, you’re the man…..you call it and we’ll follow. But please don’t take my TBP away!
PLEASE READ FOR COMPREHENSION. YOU CANNOT POST MATERIAL FROM OTHER SITES WITHOUT THEIR PERMISSION. THAT INCLUDES ARTICLES & PICTURES.
And that’s the end of that. Getting permission takes time, maybe Admin could run a list of sites where he has obtained permission already, and that we can post articles from. That would help. If I post an article from a site where I’ve obtained permission, I will clearly state it in the article.
El Coyote needs to quit posting music videos.
@AWD – Does that just mean articles, or comments as well? It will make arguments difficult if we cannot even link to relevant data without receiving the author’s express written consent first.
Can I still say fuck, as long as I don’t put up a picture of a goat?
Here’s how to find those images:
1. Start by going to Flickr’s advanced search function
2. Fill in your search terms at the top then drop down on the page to the creative commons section and indicate what you plan to do with the image. You’ll see three options there:
creative commons search
Checking the first box restricts your search to show only pictures that are creative-commons licensed. That’s important, because you don’t want to waste your time falling in love with images that you can’t use because they aren’t licensed.
The other two boxes are optional. If your blog earns you any money at all (whether through advertising, selling something, or even if it is just part of a money-making operation,) you should check the second box “find content to use commercially.” Otherwise, you’re still at risk of someone claiming your usage of their image was commercial, and you get caught in an argument that can get expensive.
KB, thanks. Creative Commons was recommended and linked in the article I posted, too. It’s a good alternative for people who like to post pics.
AWD, that’s a bit TOO strict. You are correct, we cannot post full articles without permission. But posting a small portion (emphasis on SMALL) of the article and a link back to the original article is okay.
Even better if you summarize the article (rather than providing a copy/paste portion of it) and then link back to it. It’s when we copy / paste anything other than a link that we get in trouble.
AWD says: I can post this picture, because I have permission from the website that posted it.
Please post stated permission. Must be in writing, certified, and notarized.
Woulda been a pic here.
Imagine a pic placed here of man beating head on wall.
Adult oriented blogs, including “joke” sites and chatting forums, are heavily policed and ratted on. Most of them had to block 100% any PICTURE that was copyrighted.
My gut tells me it is the posters’ comments with pictures and cartoons that are violations. Every time we post a picture a link is established between the other site (like Calvin and Hobbes) and this one. The OTHER sites have techies that follow these links then cry to Google and MSN and the like.
Have you tried to contact POWM or Fail Blog and getting written permission? If you have permission from the owners then Google would be out of luck.
But the pics of cartoons, celebrities, even charts and the like are what is nailing you to the wall. If it were the long postings of articles I would bet that due to the traffic you generate for others that you would get an email from their webmaster, not Googles.
As for all the whiners talking about “selling out” and being limited/not fun, instead of admonishing Admin whom HAS to play by the rules, either put up (enough money to run it year long), shut up, or lobby the Federal courts and CONgress to change the copyright laws. It won’t happen, but hey, it would mean you were doing something.
This is how they shut down dissent boys. For now it is the soft sell and easy picking – like direct copyright/trademark infringements (Salma’s likeness is owned by HER, without HER permission you are stealing, plain and simple), this keeps them from having to show their hands.
Within a few years it will be blatant content in violation of government accepted knowledge/information reporting.
This is part of the reason I tend not to post any pics, they shut down a friend’s site for the same thing not to many years ago.
IMHO what has made TBP unique and different from other blogs has been the readers ability to post pics along with a comment. Oh well, nothing stays the same, we had a good run.
TeresaE
Thanks for that explanation. The government and lawyers are destroying our lives, one piece at a time. Pretty soon masturbation will be illegal.
Admin, I appreciate all the hard work you put into this site. To make $30 a day on a website is actually quite impressive in my book and I understand why you would not want to give up that revenue.
But…
There are other ways to make money besides google ads.
I know I have mentioned this to you before, I think in a private email but perhaps you should consider joining as many affiliate programs as you can think of. I mentioned e-cigarettes specifically but there are so many companies out there that are willing to pay affiliates a percentage of sales and with as much traffic as you have on this site I think you could make WAY more than $30 a day in affiliate sales.
Here are two e-cig companies that I am an affiliate for – V2cigs and Greensmoke. There are literally 50 different e-cig companies you could be an affiliate for. It’s not that hard to sign up and you would be surprised how much you can make this way.
And that’s just on one product – e-cigs. If you check out sites like alt-market I would think that Brandon is not using google ads but is rather an affiliate for all of the products he has advertised like seeds and ready to eat meals, collodial silver, iodine, etc.
You could be bringing in $500 a day in a year from now if you took the time to set it all up and knew how to post your own ads.
Just a thought from a fellow accountant. Believe me I have spent many hours thinking about ways to make money on the internet but I don’t have the audience that you do and I don’t really have the time.
At least if you did this it would get you out from under the google rules which I personally think are bullsh*t.
Again thanks for all you do and I hope winter conditions end for you soon.
Joel
PS – also consider moving to Florida. LOL
AWD says: Pretty soon masturbation will be illegal.
Poor Ole Stucky will end up in Super Max as a repeat offender.
I’ll miss Salma dearly, but at least G ads aren’t censoring curse words and verbal denigration. Maybe we should have all been pitching donations to admin over the years along with the communal vomiting all over the comments section.
It seems to me, what really holds you guy’s together is the comments section – where you can creatively – mock, slander, libel, do whatever about the posted article.
I don’t know if this will work or be economical: Have two sites. One for the story and on that page a link to another site – with the comments for said article. This way the comments can continue as they are, and the TBP will be in compliance with Google.
Dutchman says:
I don’t know if this will work or be economical: Have two sites. One for the story and for comments
I was thinking the same thing this morning. After the article post a link to the comments on another web address.
Geeze, Louise, Admin.
Between Google regs and copyright laws – death by a thousand cuts, huh?
Sorry you have to go thru this. Really appreciate all you do to keep the doors open and the lights on at TBP.
a clarion call ..those of us who remember the early days of the wild wild world of unmoderated YAHOO message boards know what I’m talking about….but alas , life’s a business and those that don’t heed don’t succeed..it just takes time for the rules to catch up with the ever changing game…carry one.
twas I..
admin,
congrats on getting the ads back, I don’t want to know what you had to do (lol).
know you are on a break but please let us know what details caused this last tantrum from Googlee so the STM community doesn’t repeat.
hope shit is calming down and things are getting worked out on your end.