Scroogled -- Read and Rant

[Forum Boss]

If you go to the editorial side of this site you will see a bunch of white, empty boxes on dozens of the key, most popular pages on the site.

Those boxes are empty because Google, after accepting our site into its Adsense ad program, and encouraging us for three weeks, changed its mind this evening. Google has unilaterally terminated its ads on the main site. That trashed dozens of hours of labor I put into the site, manually placing Google listings.

How much will this hurt the site? Well we just lost about 30% of our revenue.,Google ads pay on CLICK ONLY, and our readers were obviously interested in the ads because the click rates were good--at least on the editorial pages.)

There are still listings, for the time being, on this Forum, because it is served on a different domain,websitetoolbox). These Forum ads are all we have left from Google, and they pay nothing without clicks.

FYI, there are many good advertisers IN THE GUN BUSINESS who are signed up to pay Google to advertise their Gun and Hunting products. These solid companies include MidwayUSA, PACT, Natchez, EuroOptic, Brownells, eRiflescope, SportsmanGuide and many more. Google is very willing to take their ad dollars, but Google doesn't want an ad for a rifle scope to appear on a site about rifles.... you figure that out.

Anyway, we still have the ads on the Forum... for the time being.

Understand that unlike the banner ads, the Google ads pay us zero, zippo, nada without clicks.

What is interesting is that Google IS allowing its ads to run on other firearms-related sites, something I pointed out to them. Here's a screenshot from ChuckHawks.com, taken this evening:

Personally, I'm saddened and disappointed because this program offered this site the potential to take the next big step up--bringing in someone on salary to help me out. We've got 35,000 users visiting the site every month now. And everything is free. Under a pay-per-click system if each of those users clicked just one link per month, we could double the site revenue...

 

[Forum Boss]

Oh, folks, if you're disappointed that you can no longer access Google gun gear and gun training ad links via 6mmBR.com, we have created a new, Google-compliant web site. It has the clickable links to all those companies whose products you like,and whose money Google takes), but the new site clearly takes a stand against firearms. It cautions readers not to buy guns because "they are icky and scary."

Fuzzy Bunny Website

Visit our "Fuzzy Bunny" site and feel secure that we are doing our part in the fight against "icky and scary" firearms. You'll find the same ads that used to run here, but now they're sanctified by our own Fuzzy, the Hoplophobic bunny.

 

[Forum Boss]

Good news!

Fuzzy, the Hoplophobic* Bunny is a hit!

Seems our Fuzzy Bunny site is generating a goodly amount of traffic,and more importantly, clicks!) This page has lots of useful information on optics. Maybe we'll creat more Google-compliant Fuzzy Bunny features on hunting/outdoor gear.

Fuzzy Bunny Knows Rangefinders

Fuzzy Bunny Knows Reloading Scales

Stay tuned....

Fuzzy Bunny HQ
"Go-Fast, Lo-Drag, Hardcore Outdoor Gear for the Firearms-phobic Operator".
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*Hoplophobia,,pronounced [ˌhɔpləˈfoʊbiə]), from the Greek hoplon, or weapon, is defined as the "fear of firearms" [1] or alternatively, a fear of weapons in general, and describes a specific phobia.

Firearms instructor Colonel Jeff Cooper claims to have coined the word in 1962 to describe a "mental disturbance characterized by irrational aversion to weapons".

Despite its political origins and reputation, there is a possibility for a person to have this phobia in a purely clinical sense. For instance, a patient that has no opinion on law or public policy per se, but becomes terrified when they notice a policemen's sidearm or a photograph of a rifle or knife. Hoplophobia is described as an uncommon phobia in Contemporary Diagnosis And Management of Anxiety Disorders.

 

[rayjay]

Here is what I do to try and help. When I am done browsing this site and am ready to go to another site I click on one of the advertisements at the top.

 

[RickB]

...and the email address for all 35,000 users to complain to Google is?

P.S. If you do wind up emailing a complaint to them do not be surprised if you make it on a list,and have your GMail account terminated).