Increased Moderation and Discipline For Rules Violations

Mike

Well-Known Member
Ok folks, I am going to say this once and only once, and this isn't as a result of anything specific that any forum member did. It is the result of google adsense coming down with the hammer regarding specific types of content. We run adsense to pay for the forum, and the following content is NOT allowed an any area where google ads are shown.

First, the content, and this is straight from today's email from our friends at Google.

Enabling dishonest behavior, Unapproved substances, Guns, gun parts and related products, Explosives, Other Weapons, and Tobacco.

They are taking this seriously now, and as a result, we must as well.

That said, I have made a change to the ad placement policies. Google Ads will no longer show in any forum that is placed in our off-topic category.

If you pay no attention to anything else I say on this forum, pay attention to this post because there will be no tolerance for the topics I quoted anywhere outside of the off-topic category.

For now, that is all we need to concern ourselves with. In time, we may have to take further steps to keep content out of view of the actual search engines, but for now that isn't an issue. I feel like it will be soon, but not yet.

I have just a little time to condition the members to this policy, and after that it will be up to the members to keep new members conditioned to this policy, because violations to this will result in quick warnings and bans.
 
that is funny, cuz when i want or need something related to the shooting hobby, what do i use to find it..??

GOOGLE
Their ad program and their search platform are two distinctly different things.

Which is why you can post about these topics in the areas I mentioned and Google indexes the threads from those forums.

They are taking “family friendly” to the extreme at this point in their ad program.
 
So they're attempting to impose morality and censor content about perfectly legal items.

This has officially reached insanity status.

Funny thing about the internet. By and large, those who consume the internet expect it to all be free. Those of us who maintain space on the internet are forced to handle the costs involved.

Googles ads are the easiest and most productive way for us to keep the sites open, but it comes at a cost.

I’ve tried opening up areas for premium membership, a place where more relaxed posting is possible, but it doesn’t work because very few will invest in making that available.

So, we now have tougher rules that many will likely complain about. We could make it a pay access site and try to succeed on our own, but in a relatively short time, everyone would be at Facebook because it is free. Let that sink in, lol.
 
If the rules were level headed and applied evenly that might make sense.

But the arbitrary and selective enforcement is a serious problem.

It's not just, "Ope! These are the rules now! Gotta follow it."

You CANNOT obey it because the expectations become impossible to adhere to.

It's just a matter of time.
 
Put the entire site over to "Off Topic" and let them (guests/bots) read what's already in the open.
 
I’ve tried opening up areas for premium membership, a place where more relaxed posting is possible, but it doesn’t work because very few will invest in making that available.
.
i'd buy a membership, at every single website i am a part of......

but....

given my chances of getting banned, by speaking up about something, or saying something offensive to others, or whatever else i do wrong in thier eyes, many times leads to me getting BANNED, at which point and time, i'd have wasted my money...

which could have been better spent on my shooting hobby....
 

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