Political Banner ads at Talkbass

[CraigG]

I would like to see the forum admin abide by the same rules "we the people" are expected to abide by in the forums - refraining from political talk. I logged into the forums today only to find a polical ad across the top of the forums and down the left column. Since political ads are typically not able to tell the entire story and only an intentionally skewed portion when they are regarding the opposition, is there a chance they could be pulled?

[Chris Fitzgerald]

There is a mod discussion about this happening as we speak. I'm not sure if anything can be done before the election tomorrow, though. Have you tried adblockers? I can't even see the ads.

[NJL]

Originally Posted by Chris Fitzgerald

Have you tried adblockers? I can't even see the ads.

yeah, no kidding. it's easy.

[CraigG]

Originally Posted by Chris Fitzgerald

There is a mod discussion about this happening as we speak. I'm not sure if anything can be done before the election tomorrow, though. Have you tried adblockers? I can't even see the ads.

I don't have any add blockers enabled. But my concern is regarding the principal behind it all and the fact that people will still see the ads and formulate opinions about the forums and those in authority here. As a matter of fact, this one particular banner is the only one I have seen all day and I have refreshed my browser cache several times. There are not even ads from the regular sponsors of the forums. As for being able to do something, individual banner ads can be disabled on the backend with a simple click of the mouse.

This has been a particularly dirty election, if you ask me, and to see that one party would be represented (even if they did pay for the advertising) seems very contradictory to the efforts the Admins put for to unify us as fellow-musicians.

[NJL]

just use adblock

[CraigG]

Originally Posted by NJL

just use adblock

Again, its a matter of principal. The webmasters) has complete control over this and can disable single banners with the click of a mouse. It should not be right that the webmaster can promote his political preference when most of the rest of us try to avoid perspectives that would divide us as an online community.

[Chris Fitzgerald]

We, as admins, have no control whatsoever over the advertising content. Sometimes google adsense brings up topical ads that are eventually deemed inappropriate for TB; in these cases, we recommend to Paul that a request be sent that those particular ads be disabled. I'm not sure where you got the idea that any of us could "at the click of a mouse" disable the ads in question. This is not the case. And FWIW, TB has no particular political affiliation one way or the other. Among the admins, I have found three different political ideologies. We're fine with that, and that's as should be.

[CraigG]

Originally Posted by Chris Fitzgerald

I'm not sure where you got the idea that any of us could "at the click of a mouse" disable the ads in question. This is not the case. And FWIW, TB has no particular political affiliation one way or the other. Among the admins, I have found three different political ideologies. We're fine with that, and that's as should be.

Chris,

I appreciate the response. I hadn't noticed the ads were courtesy of Google. I have managed numerous CMS web sites over time and know from my experience that "in house managed" sites do have the capability of controlling ad content if THEY are managing it -- which, as I now know, is not the case at Talkbass. I'm sorry for making that assumption and stating the management of has more control than they apparently have.

Craig

[Turock]

I like 'em.

[CraigG]

Originally Posted by Turock

I like 'em.

Geesh!