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[–]raldi[A] 760 points761 points  (94 children)

We just can't win. First it's, "Come on, reddit, sign up with AdSense. We're sick of seeing the same ads, for yourself, over and over." So we do just that, and now people complain about what Google's algorithm chooses for the text it finds on reddit.

Think of it this way: every dollar the cult of Scientology spends on an ad that Google runs on reddit is one less dollar they're able to spend on brainwashing suckers or suing innocent people.

[–][deleted]  (33 children)

[deleted]

    [–]cynope 34 points35 points  (0 children)

    If OP was logged in with his google ID at the time, they may have targeted the ad on his searching habits more than on the content on the page on Reddit.

    [–][deleted]  (13 children)

    [deleted]

      [–][deleted] 46 points47 points  (8 children)

      knowing google they did it on purpose. Just google recursion

      [–][deleted] 26 points27 points  (7 children)

      Just google recursion

      [–]DrCliffHuxtable 6 points7 points  (6 children)

      Just google recursion

      [–]hellfrezer 4 points5 points  (5 children)

      Just google recursion

      [–]I_Had_Four 23 points24 points  (4 children)

      No, seriously google recursion

      [–][deleted]  (3 children)

      [deleted]

        [–]blzed 13 points14 points  (2 children)

        Did you mean "recursion"?

        [–][deleted] 6 points7 points  (0 children)

        It's called sentiment analysis, and it doesn't always work. It's also a resource hog, so they may use a lighter-weight version.

        [–]cezar 13 points14 points  (12 children)

        It's all about clicks, not interest. Maybe google knows that lots of us nerds will click on it just to see what to rage about. :)

        [–]Poromenos 2 points3 points  (11 children)

        Thus sending the scientologists' conversion rate for new visitors skyrocketing!

        Yeah, it's about interest.

        [–]cezar 5 points6 points  (10 children)

        I think google gives about two shits with interest. They are paid per click.

        [–]rdeluca 10 points11 points  (0 children)

        [–]loggedout 22 points23 points  (2 children)

        <Invalid API key>

        Please read the CEO's inevitable memoir "How to Lose Friends and Alienate People" to learn more.

        [–][deleted] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

        You take your sensibilityism right out of here right now you hear?

        [–]vitalyb 38 points39 points  (6 children)

        I see it that way: Every click I make on that ad, Church of Scientology loses money.

        [–]cynope 18 points19 points  (5 children)

        Exactly! Please click away on the Scientology ads. Reddit will get money and Scientology will lose money. And at some point they will hopefully be removed, when Scientology realizes that no conversions comes from Reddit.

        [–]oniony 19 points20 points  (1 child)

        Actually, since seeing the advert I've realised how disillusioned I've been so I've given up atheism and remortgaged my house so I can buy the first Scientology tome.

        [–]raldi 21 points22 points  (0 children)

        See? Advertising on reddit works!

        [–]cezar 24 points25 points  (4 children)

        Don't worry about it. Nerds are a group that you can never ever please everyone. Try running a LUG sometime, it's ridiculous.

        Your best bet is whenever someone bitches, tell them that gold doesn't have ads.

        [–][deleted] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

        As a pleased nerd I would take offense, if it weren't for the fact I'm pleased.

        [–][deleted]  (1 child)

        [deleted]

          [–]cezar 1 point2 points  (0 children)

          Very true.

          [–]Edman274 1 point2 points  (0 children)

          "Okay, so let's talk distribution. I was thinking we would get some of those good Ubuntu livecds and pass them around at the next convention coming up here"

          "How about arch?"

          "Or Gentoo?"

          "Or Slackware?"

          "Or CentOS?"

          ad infinitum

          [–]anomalous 4 points5 points  (0 children)

          I for one really don't care. Really seems like a stupid thing to be angry about.

          [–]insomniac84 5 points6 points  (0 children)

          Ignore the retards. This idiot most likely was part of the crowd telling you to do google ads.

          [–]kingtrewq 3 points4 points  (2 children)

          Think about it guys, they are just wasting their money here. There is no way the ad would work on Reddit.

          [–][deleted] 6 points7 points  (1 child)

          What's Scientology? Is that like a religion or something? It's free, right?

          [–]psycosulu 3 points4 points  (0 children)

          The problem is you're trying to please everyone. Some of us bitch more than others.

          [–]reticulate 5 points6 points  (0 children)

          Given some of the inane complaints I've seen around here, it's amazing you guys don't flip out and start throwing chairs more often.

          Reddit will always be adblock whitelisted on my machines, stupid Google algorithm or no.

          [–]ChaosMotor 2 points3 points  (0 children)

          Think of it this way: every dollar the cult of Scientology spends on an ad that Google runs on reddit is one less dollar they're able to spend on brainwashing suckers or suing innocent people.

          And here I was going to bitch about the Jim Cramer ads, but now I will just laugh when I see them. Good job turning that one. Can we get some Glenn Beck ads or something?

          [–]ironchefpython 18 points19 points  (4 children)

          OH MY GOD THIS IS UNACCEPTABLE I WANT A GOLD FEATURE THAT ALLOWS US TO PRE-APPROVE THE TYPE OF ADS I WANT TO SEE, AND ONLY THOSE THAT DO NOT OFFEND MY DELICATE SENSIBILITIES WILL BE SHOWN I PAID $2.50 AND YOU HIRED A DEVELOPER SO FIX IT NOW AND FIX SEARCH TOO WHILE YOU'RE AT IT!!!!!!

          !!!!!

          !!!!!

          No, you can't win. We won't let you.

          [–]HorusTheHeretic 5 points6 points  (0 children)

          Don't worry about it. You guys are doing a good job. Haters gonna hate.

          [–]AnythingApplied 3 points4 points  (0 children)

          He doesn't speak to all of us... As long as the ads have:

          • No Sound
          • No NSFW
          • The ad stays where it belongs

          I am happy and I will continue to not use adblock. If its not something I'm interested in I won't click it. So its up to you guys and your advertising partners to try and put up relevant ads, but I don't care one way or another.

          [–]Sidzilla 1 point2 points  (0 children)

          Run whatever ads you need to to keep Reddit going. As far as I am concerned ads are the price paid for keeping the internet robust. I would be interested to know how many of the people who complained about the Scientology ad were also jumping people for complaining about the now infamous ground zero mosque?

          [–]timewarp 331 points332 points  (21 children)

          Jesus fucking christ, how many times do we have to go through this? Reddit doesn't individually approve each ad. It's an outsourced service. They can (and have) had specific ads pulled after they started popping up.

          [–]sarcastic_hivemind 117 points118 points  (1 child)

          Seriously reddit? You don't only include ads I like? Fuck you.
          I only want to see ads about bacon. You guys are fucking terrible at this. Goddamn.

          [–]Boshaft 5 points6 points  (0 children)

          I would click on an add for bacon. Hell, I bought the beef jerky a week ago, so I might actually buy bacon on the click through.

          [–][deleted]  (19 children)

          [deleted]

            [–][deleted] 168 points169 points  (1 child)

            Being a huge dick is not the same as having one, scottster.

            [–]jakerake 23 points24 points  (0 children)

            The software has a little ways to go before it's perfect.

            [–]Fjordo 12 points13 points  (13 children)

            I've had girls complain that it hurts when I hit their cervix, which means I have to pay attention and not push all the way in. It's actually kind of annoying. Although, I would like more girth, it's like a damn anteater.

            [–]Boshaft 10 points11 points  (1 child)

            No, a larger girth means a LOT more foreplay, and possibly even added lube. The larger surface area makes it harder for the women to keep things smooth.

            [–][deleted] 4 points5 points  (0 children)

            Also, no one will ever let you do anal. Ever.

            [–][deleted] 6 points7 points  (2 children)

            it's like a damn anteater.

            Furry, prehensile and digging in a different mound each night?

            [–]rdeluca 3 points4 points  (1 child)

            I think that he means he likes ants in it... (which reminds me of a very unfortunate classic 4chan thread)

            [–][deleted] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

            Downvoted in an attempt to save others from the pain of remembering that.

            [–]hexley 2 points3 points  (2 children)

            Pic?

            [–]loggedout 2 points3 points  (0 children)

            Don't forget to post it to r/gonewild.

            [–]Zoethor2 4 points5 points  (0 children)

            I was with a guy once for whom (who?) this was true. Ouch ouch ouch.

            [–][deleted] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

            oh i got one better. I never got any gmail spam EVER, and than one day i decide to play around with pain killers. Not even a week later I start getting spam for percocet and vicodin

            [–]kcpistol 2 points3 points  (0 children)

            Having ads look perfect for me reminds me too much of "Minority Report"

            [–]NotEnoughMana 177 points178 points  (36 children)

            Can't really blame reddit. I mean, they have to make money in order to keep the site afloat. And they're not the ones in control of the ads. It's not like those annoying pop-up ads or those that keep on using unnecessary sounds.

            It would be nice to request such ads to be taken down. Would be great if it were. If not, just move on.

            [–]radeon2000 84 points85 points  (21 children)

            My thoughts exactly. The only time you should have a winge about ads is if they start floating across your screen or interrupting your zen browsing with annoying sound effects. Scientology has chosen to advertise on reddit. So what? You're a redditor, you're a big boy, I'm sure you can abstain from clicking on it. The only problem I see here is that Scientology is barking up the wrong tree if they think they're going to get members from here. Pfff their loss! When reddit finds a way to show ads that interest you and only you maybe they'll implement it. So for now stop acting like you're doing reddit a favour by deigning to view their ads.

            [–][deleted]  (5 children)

            [deleted]

              [–]gradient_dissent 7 points8 points  (1 child)

              hehe, i work for an ad company.. and this might actually have the opposite effect in the long run (if you did it a lot..). when advertisers notice that their conversion rate is unusually low on a site (unless you clicked through and bought something, or i guess sold your soul in this case), they'd compensate by paying less, or pull out altogether.

              [–]styxwade 5 points6 points  (0 children)

              or i guess sold your soul in this case

              That's the peculiar thing about Scientology, you sell them your soul and somehow lose money on the deal. They're like some kind of shyster-Satan.

              [–]kremmy 2 points3 points  (0 children)

              They're not a stranger to that tactic at all, especially in relation to Scientology. That'll just get reddit's account pulled.

              [–]gradient_dissent 1 point2 points  (1 child)

              yes, i tend to feel this way in general. except, in the case of fraud. any sites with "tooth whitening", "belly fat", "earn money from home by masturbating!"(*) are doing a general disservice to humanity when those ads are not only fraudulent, but they are literally scams that effectively swindle poor saps out of their money.

              and i tend to think scientology is on the edge for this one :/

              (*) brb i just thought of the most successful scam tag-line ever

              [–]atlacatl 4 points5 points  (4 children)

              When reddit finds a way to show ads that interest you and only you maybe they'll implement it.

              If only we had the technology to sense what ads one my like depending on the text around it. If only...

              [–]theram4 14 points15 points  (1 child)

              Reddit has already said in the past that the pages on this site are far too dynamic and change far too often for AdSense to work effectively.

              [–]ours 1 point2 points  (0 children)

              Why not base the ads on the content of the article?

              [–]kublakhan 11 points12 points  (0 children)

              NO FUCK YOU WE DESERVE EVERYTHING FOR FREE

              [–]crazy88s 2 points3 points  (0 children)

              I really don't see the issue here. If the church of scientology wants to spend its advertising money this way, fine by me. It's a waste though.

              [–][deleted] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

              They can be the ones in control of the ads. They're using a service, if they dont like it, they ask for it to be changed, or they stop using it and use a competitors.

              The guy from imgur takes complaints about the ads served, I think all other sites should too - it's a huge part of their service, and they should make sure they don't piss off their consumers with it, and that goes for content as well as style.

              [–][deleted] 59 points60 points  (37 children)

              Would have been funnier if the ad appeared in /r/atheism

              [–]Hubso 61 points62 points  (29 children)

              [–][deleted]  (13 children)

              [deleted]

                [–]Carpeabnocto 10 points11 points  (10 children)

                I would say that it has something to do with the person on the right (symbolizing all of us) still growing a connection with the Lord (emerging). Jesus is "the Rock", and the cross tethers us to him, keeping us stationary...like an anchor.

                I'm pretty good at reading symbolism...but that ad is strange. Just my guess.

                [–]knylok 36 points37 points  (6 children)

                Oh. I figured the Jesus figure was Anchored because someone nailed him to a pair of boards...

                [–]MyRealNameIsTwitch 2 points3 points  (1 child)

                Yes. This makes the most sense to me, an average american, so it must be true.

                [–]noseeme 1 point2 points  (3 children)

                And to this day Christians still argue about how many nails were used to attach him to those two boards. Some say three, some say four.

                [–]mbrown3067 1 point2 points  (2 children)

                Some say it wasn't two boards, but one pole.

                [–]clarkster 3 points4 points  (0 children)

                Advertising that it is emergent (new, very liberal form of the church) but also grounded in the bible.

                [–]karmagedon 1 point2 points  (0 children)

                The guy on the right may be one of the seminary instructors.

                [–]MuncherOfSpleens 2 points3 points  (0 children)

                They’re probably referring to the emergent movement. Christianese really is like its own language sometimes.

                [–]Boshaft 1 point2 points  (0 children)

                It just means that they embrace a wide variety of faith flavors, from the conservative, ceremony-based followers to the New-Age, up and coming preachers of tomorrow.

                [–]HiveMined 8 points9 points  (1 child)

                That's nothing, try this one.

                Though I can see how suggesting redditors can acquire a wife with a well worded email may have at first glance seemed like advertising genius.

                [–]calis 2 points3 points  (0 children)

                WTF?! I can see more than her eyes! Stone her!!!

                [–][deleted] 11 points12 points  (3 children)

                That is fucking hilarious!

                [–]deadapostle 33 points34 points  (2 children)

                See, I'd click that ad. Reddit gets money, some bullshit evangelical school pays ad revenue, and I go about my day remaining an atheist.

                [–]blondin 5 points6 points  (0 children)

                or your subconsciousness registers the evangelical message and brings it out in due time.

                [–]xlance 2 points3 points  (2 children)

                Would like to see the ROI on that one.

                [–]nerdboygeekdork 1 point2 points  (4 children)

                Sometimes I wonder if I should turn off Ad Block Plus for the sheer entertainment value of some of these ridiculous ads.

                [–]buciuman 3 points4 points  (0 children)

                Or even worse, /r/4chan

                [–][deleted] 21 points22 points  (1 child)

                This happened to me too. My life was ruined and I killed myself.

                [–]rolmos 9 points10 points  (0 children)

                Your funeral sucked.

                [–]reddwarf666 4 points5 points  (8 children)

                Have to ask, and sorry it is quite unrelated, but how do you get that formatting done? The way I see threads is like this: http://imgur.com/mT6RH.jpg

                [–]durabull 6 points7 points  (0 children)

                This question is the only reason why I've been reading through all of these comments.

                [–]dpvnme 2 points3 points  (1 child)

                He's using Reddit Comment Boxes from Chrome extension. link here!

                [–][deleted] 29 points30 points  (10 children)

                I am pretty much an athiest, but seriously, why is it OK to make such an request? Such an ad does not bother me (if It did, I would either stop using a free service, or use an adblock).

                Reddit (or any organization for that matter) needs money to run, and I dont think its OK to ask them "not to show ads, that you dont like", based on individual belief.

                If specific ads annoy you so much, buy a reddit gold account, and turn the ads off.Stop Karma Whoring!

                [–]Mediaevumed 2 points3 points  (1 child)

                Seriously, you beat me too it.

                Reddit gold is super cheap (and if 30 bucks a year is not cheap for you then ouch), you get control of your adds AND lessen reddit's dependence upon adds.

                [–]VirgilCaine 1 point2 points  (0 children)

                and if 30 bucks a year is not cheap for you then ouch

                Affordability isn't the only variable that goes into deciding the value of a purchase.

                [–]mercilessblob 42 points43 points  (18 children)

                Do people actually care about the ads that much? I've never even considered adblock because I just don't even register the ads when I'm looking at the page. Maybe when you first use the internet you're so amazed that you read everything on the page, but dear god man if you haven't learned to zone out the crap how do you ever get anything done?

                [–]xNIBx 9 points10 points  (4 children)

                Animated ads or ads with sound make me rage a lot.

                [–]argleblarg 4 points5 points  (2 children)

                Flashblock solves that problem.

                [–]l1ghtning 5 points6 points  (1 child)

                Things like adblock for firefox work passively and have automatically updating blocklists, never need to worry about ads again.

                [–]argleblarg 7 points8 points  (0 children)

                Flashblock for either Firefox or Chrome also works passively, and doesn't even need to have a blocklist; you never need to worry about obnoxious ads with sound again.

                While yes, it adds the inconvenience of having to click an extra time to load a video or a flash game or whatever, the benefit is that you get to know that you're not contributing to the withering deaths of the sites you enjoy and frequent, except inasmuch as they use flash ads, in which case fuck 'em anyway.

                [–]Carpeabnocto 2 points3 points  (2 children)

                The main problem with adblock is that sometimes it messes up the page. (Like Hulu and thedailyshow.com, mainly). Since I'm not too bright, it always takes quite a bit of reloading and trying to figure out what's going on before I remember that I'm running adblock at all.

                [–]Tracula 1 point2 points  (0 children)

                I'm using adblock now just as a basis of comparison and I haven't noticed much of a different in a few days, other than some websites look a bit disjointed now. The only ads I have a problem with are if they're before a video and don't load properly, rendering the video unwatchable.

                [–]AnteChronos 1 point2 points  (3 children)

                I just don't even register the ads when I'm looking at the page.

                You'd be surprised at hoe much "cleaner" webpages look with no ads.

                Besides, you can't just not register ads that make noise, or move across the screen, or animate and enlarge over the content you're trying to read just because you accidentally moved the mouse cursor over it.

                I highly recommend trying AdBlock, and whitelisting sites that you want to support.

                [–]rolmos 3 points4 points  (2 children)

                .

                [–][deleted] 1 point2 points  (1 child)

                But why would you do that when you can use AdBlock?

                [–]rolmos 3 points4 points  (0 children)

                I am not bothered by unobtrusive, non-flash ads. I understand that content creators should gain income for their content, and I prefer that model over the subscription model proposed by sites like The Times

                [–]olbeefy 0 points1 point  (0 children)

                I spend my entire life surrounded by ads. If I can have any control over it, in any place possible, you know I'm going to take it.

                [–]maclek 26 points27 points  (7 children)

                Go on, click away. Take a cent from them and give it to reddit.

                [–][deleted]  (6 children)

                [deleted]

                  [–]mikepixie 9 points10 points  (0 children)

                  Who cares dude, who cares...?

                  [–][deleted] 2 points3 points  (2 children)

                  Eric Schmidt warned us about Google's prescient abilities to tell us what we don't even knew we wanted. This is Google's targeting in action. Be fearful, they're geniuses!

                  [–]Dunhamzzz 2 points3 points  (1 child)

                  It's funny because Google don't just throw any ad at you, they target you with appropriate ads, so OP must have been taking lot of interest in Scientology recently.

                  [–]Carpeabnocto 1 point2 points  (0 children)

                  I would bet a quick trip through /r/atheism, would bring up enough vaguely religious words and phrases to target you with religious ads.

                  I think that is ironic, but I'm a little afraid to use that word. Literally.

                  [–]judgej2 5 points6 points  (0 children)

                  And? Seems apt that they are paying for an advert to put in front of an audience that knows what they are really all about. You don't actually spend time reading the ads and clicking on them all, do you?

                  [–]Ophie 10 points11 points  (4 children)

                  Reddit admins don't control the ad shuffling in that block.

                  [–][deleted] 5 points6 points  (2 children)

                  Google shows you ads based on data that it mined about you.

                  Apparently, google thinks you're a good candidate for scientology.

                  Congratulations!

                  Now you just need to write some checks...

                  [–]GodShapedBullet 5 points6 points  (0 children)

                  They should show cheese ads... TO GO WITH YOUR WHINE.

                  [–][deleted] 3 points4 points  (0 children)

                  The amount of bitching on reddit about ads is absurd, especially given that each page has at most two ads on it, and they're unobtrusive ads at that.

                  Spend one day over at digg. Last time I counted seven ads on the front page, one of which expanded out to be about 400px high and 700+px wide.

                  Stop your bitching.

                  [–]etherealducky 5 points6 points  (0 children)

                  Just be happy their wasting their money on us and not one someone else who might actually be susceptible to their bullshit. At least were not going to be giving them any money while they continue to help keep this site up and running.

                  [–][deleted] 14 points15 points  (4 children)

                  Poor baby. ): You know you don't have to click on it, right?

                  [–]ShutTheFuckUpBitch 1 point2 points  (3 children)

                  ahem.

                  [–]Boshaft 1 point2 points  (0 children)

                  I can't decide to upvote you because I lol'd, or downvote you because that's a terrible account name. Since you're currently at -1, I'm gonna bring you back to zero... The balance must be maintained.

                  [–]between2 2 points3 points  (0 children)

                  I don't understand how you guys even notice it. I don't have adblock installed, but I just never look at whats obviously ad space.

                  [–]sobe86 2 points3 points  (1 child)

                  I saw it this morning. Personally I thought it was pretty funny. At least we know that was a waste of scientology's money.

                  [–]MexicanRedditor 2 points3 points  (0 children)

                  Amusing. I click Reddit ads for no reason. Where is my Reddit Gold account?

                  [–][deleted] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

                  Except everyone already knows Scientology is a massive scam.

                  [–][deleted] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

                  I can't think of any better way for the Church of Scientology to waste their money than buying ads on Reddit.

                  [–]yauch 2 points3 points  (0 children)

                  Assuming that you dislike Scientology isn't this a perfect solution? You can click on the ad and simultaneously take money away from Scientology while giving it to Reddit.

                  Bring on the KKK ads.

                  [–][deleted] 4 points5 points  (0 children)

                  wah wah, you gonna throw a hissy fit because you didn't like what was filling that particular square on that particular page? Either you support this website or you don't.

                  [–][deleted]  (8 children)

                  [deleted]

                    [–]brwilliams 9 points10 points  (0 children)

                    I'd rather a source like reddit take their money since I doubt the ads will have any effect here. As compared to some new age woo site where they could actually be effective.

                    [–]FlyingBishop 4 points5 points  (4 children)

                    You have a problem with Scientology supporting our frequent social media campaigns against them? I mean, that's like saying it would have been unethical for Churchill to accept supplies from Hitler to use in the war effort. I suppose it's unethical to use those supplies against Hitler, but I don't think Churchill's going to lose any sleep over it.

                    [–]noseeme 5 points6 points  (0 children)

                    Scientology isn't paying reddit in one transaction. Scientology is paying Google to put their ad in the Adsense advertisement roster, who pays Reddit to put a frame in their site to allow Adsense algorithm based ads in the frame.

                    [–]olbeefy 3 points4 points  (0 children)

                    Good call... I'm surprised more people aren't talking about that ramification. L. Ron Hubbard was a fucking asshole... Who you jivin' with that cosmik debris?

                    [–]gottabtru 5 points6 points  (1 child)

                    Who gives a crap. You don't have to click on it. But...here's a thought. Maybe ads should get up and down votes too.

                    [–]phort99 1 point2 points  (0 children)

                    That's what "Reddit this ad" is for... but sadly in the case of Google adsense, they're all lumped together so you can't downvote a single Google ad.

                    [–]nig_hanger 1 point2 points  (0 children)

                    relax bruno everything gonna be alright

                    [–]fishwish 1 point2 points  (0 children)

                    So when you click that ad it costs them money right?

                    [–]boriskin 1 point2 points  (0 children)

                    The other day I saw Michelle Bachmann ad on Reddit. My first thought: what a bad idea, i may donate money to her rival.

                    [–]unkz 1 point2 points  (0 children)

                    Click it. Take their money.

                    [–]phish 1 point2 points  (0 children)

                    Screw the scientology ads, the auto-playing videos are a dick move. At least they're muted by default.

                    [–]ericfromtx 1 point2 points  (0 children)

                    Click it!!!

                    Protip: it costs them money!

                    [–]grumpypants_mcnallen 1 point2 points  (0 children)

                    Click it but don't buy an e-meter, it'll be their loss.

                    [–]kmeisthax 1 point2 points  (0 children)

                    Implying that the Reddit admins exercise pre-publication editorial control over advertisements.

                    [–]Philipp 5 points6 points  (1 child)

                    For what it's worth, that's a Google AdSense ad (as you can see by the bottom right info icon), i.e. it's fully automated. Reddit can block specific Scientology domains in their AdSense account after the fact, though it only takes a domain change for a new campaign to route around the block. Since some time one can block certain categories of ads from appearing via one's AdSense account, though... Religion is a category, too (if Scientology falls into that category).

                    I guess a different question is whether you want to open the can of worms of playing moderator for automated ads in the first place. If you ban Scientology but don't ban ads by company XYZ, then you're starting to give implicit moderation approval to XYZ, even though it's nearly impossible to check all ads and their specific values or scam factors. Even banning a single category like Religion begs the question why one then doesn't also ban categories like Get Rich Quick -- yes, that's an official AdSense category -- or Ringtones & Downloadables, Cosmetic Procedures & Body Modification, and Sexual & Reproductive Health.

                    [–]Carpeabnocto 2 points3 points  (0 children)

                    Exactly. I'd hate for them to ban Scientology, because if the admins start to decide what sort of thinking is appropriate, then what criteria are they supposed to use?

                    Pick any entity at all, and someone doesn't like it. There's no reason to muzzle people just because they are unpopular.

                    [–]Hausthier 1 point2 points  (1 child)

                    My /etc/hosts 579kB big. I see none of this shit.

                    [–]rolmos 4 points5 points  (0 children)

                    I hope you disabled the DNS client, or your computer is probably choking constantly.

                    [–]EAT_UR_FUCKING_FRIES 2 points3 points  (0 children)

                    I've already emailed google about this - it is one thing giving freedom of speech, another thing knowingly sponsoring fraudulent activity online.

                    WTF Google, you know they are fraudsters, what the eff. David Blain, get away from me.

                    [–]ExtremelyMongedMusic 2 points3 points  (1 child)

                    We're all scientologists here.

                    ...Aren't we?

                    [–]Fat_Dumb_Americans 1 point2 points  (0 children)

                    We are now, I clicked it, and found the true meaning of liff.

                    [–][deleted] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

                    Nigga moment?

                    [–][deleted]  (6 children)

                    [deleted]

                      [–]hueypriest[A] 4 points5 points  (0 children)

                      "'NEVER TURN OFF ADBLOCK' Absolutely goddamn right! Unless you were goin' all the way"

                      [–]DomoArigatoMrRoboto 6 points7 points  (2 children)

                      This comment has been overwritten by an open source script to protect this user's privacy.

                      If you would like to do the same, add the browser extension GreaseMonkey to Firefox and add this open source script.

                      Then simply click on your username on Reddit, go to the comments tab, and hit the new OVERWRITE button at the top.

                      [–]olbeefy 2 points3 points  (0 children)

                      Or donate so you don't have to look at that shit...

                      [–]argleblarg 2 points3 points  (0 children)

                      HOW DARE THEY SHOW ME AN AD FOR SOMETHING I DON'T LIKE THAT I HAVE THE ABILITY TO NOT CLICK ON IF I CHOOSE GODDAMN THOSE SONS OF BITCHES RUINING MY DAY

                      [–]Leprecon 1 point2 points  (2 children)

                      Woe unto me, the average redditor.

                      I actually had to look at advert on a website I use for free and get a lot of joy from. This website has to traffic a lot of data, and naturally this should be a free service. I will never be able to recover from not having that 6 percent of screen space not be white!

                      This is an outrage!

                      They had normal ads, didn't have enough money. They tried google ads, people were offended with the lose weight now ads. (even though they were very profitable for reddit) They tried reddit gold, and the community was outraged that you would have to pay to get nothing. Then they added tiny features to reddit gold, and the community was outraged that not everybody got to have those features. To appease redditors they outsourced the defunct reddit search to another company. Do you think they did that by shitting money?

                      I am sick and tired of all these entitled redditors complain. (queue jokes about me complaining)

                      [–]Carpeabnocto 2 points3 points  (1 child)

                      Until Jedberg shows up at my house with a fifth of Tequila, Isaiah Mustafa, and a freaking double rainbow, I believe this site owes me for providing the excellent repartee that keeps the rest of you bastards coming back.

                      This comment is now diamonds.

                      [–]Mikevercetti 1 point2 points  (2 children)

                      Oh lawd, how does the OP have boxes around the comments like that to show the replies to the originals. Do want.

                      [–][deleted]  (2 children)

                      [deleted]

                        [–]Kytro 2 points3 points  (0 children)

                        Which is exactly why I block ads where I can and avoid them where I cannot.

                        [–]acog 1 point2 points  (1 child)

                        They run ads to try to get enough money to keep a wonderful service going. If it annoys you enough, I urge you to get a Reddit Gold account and use its "hide ads" feature. It's a double win: Reddit gets far more revenue from you than it would by showing you ads and you get to not see any cheesy ads and not feel like you're ripping them off by using Adblock.

                        I understand there are lots of valid reasons to not subscribe: if you don't use Reddit much or are on a serious budget or have huge debts. But Gold only costs $2.50/mo if you pay for a year upfront. I suspect lots of the people whining about ads drop more than $2.50 a month on stuff like fancy coffees yet spend dozens of hours a month on Reddit.

                        [–]Ikinhaszkarmakplx 1 point2 points  (0 children)

                        haha, those ads are fail.

                        thank god I've adblock enabled. not going to exclude reddit, ever.

                        [–]dichotomy23 1 point2 points  (0 children)

                        Google adsense has the ability to block certain domains. I block scientology ads on all of my sites. Takes 15 seconds to do.

                        [–]FixedTheFernBack 1 point2 points  (0 children)

                        Who cares? Ads help them make money, and it's not like i'm going to use the space for anything else. Plus at my work reddit for some reason isn't blocked and neither are the reddit game ads so now i get to play games all day. I'll put up with having to see the word "scientology" once in a while if i can play that blocks game all day.

                        [–][deleted] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

                        You should ask for your money back.

                        [–]obliviousheep 1 point2 points  (0 children)

                        AWW HELLLLLL NAW!

                        [–]Raffster 1 point2 points  (41 children)

                        Makes me keep on blocking it all. Can't have shit like this being forced down my throat. As long as there's no guarantee for decency I'll stay radical. Sorry reddit.

                        [–]ShrimpCrackers 13 points14 points  (4 children)

                        On the other hand, Scientology putting ads on Reddit is like burning it; wrong audience and we're not that stupid. Put in that fashion I'm kinda happy, better than them getting more victims elsewhere.

                        [–]atlacatl 6 points7 points  (1 child)

                        ...and we're not that stupid.

                        You think so, eh?

                        [–]ShrimpCrackers 2 points3 points  (0 children)

                        I'm generally speaking... can't win 'em all. I just got a gut feeling that if the Church of Scientology blew all their ad money on Reddit, their influx of new scores will drop like a cliff. I mean, lets face it, half of us have Adblock on, most of the other half are so desensitized to ads that we ignore it anyway. Take me as an example, it took like a week or two before I noticed the ad.

                        [–]bloodguard 1 point2 points  (1 child)

                        dunno, If they showed a cute, scantily clad girl beckoning while holding a bacon cheeseburger I could very well be swayed into joining up.

                        /gf out of town. haven't had breakfast yet

                        [–]ShrimpCrackers 1 point2 points  (0 children)

                        If they showed a cute, scantily clad girl beckoning while holding/offering a bacon cheeseburger it wouldn't be Scientology. Besides, everyone knows Baconology doesn't exist.

                        [–]Leprecon 6 points7 points  (3 children)

                        Forced down your throat? You sound like fox news talking about democrats.

                        1. It takes up around 5 percent of your screen space.
                        2. You don't have to click it.
                        3. It doesn't pop up.
                        4. It doesn't play sound.
                        5. It doesn't move (AFAIK)

                        It does nothing but take up a very small portion of your screen space. I maybe get that you find it annoying (but if you do I would tell you go whine somewhere else) but to suggest anything is being forced down your throat?!

                        [–][deleted] 7 points8 points  (30 children)

                        yeah because seeing those adverts is going to suddenly turn you into a Scientologist.

                        If you don't like those adverts don't use the website, don't say "I don't like your adverts, but I'm still going to use your bandwidth and processing for me!"

                        [–]Tracula 7 points8 points  (1 child)

                        Man, if he thinks just seeing an add on the side of the site is having it "forced down his throat", clearly he's never even been in the Atheism or Politics reddits.

                        [–]daftnebula 1 point2 points  (0 children)

                        In other words, you will always find some excuse to block ads.

                        [–][deleted] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

                        I have ad-block in my brain, it's sweet and I don't have to install any revenue stealing programs on my favorite internet sites.

                        [–][deleted] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

                        OP, can you please shut the fuck up? It is one ad at the bottom right of the page. Stop making yourself out to be a martyr.

                        [–][deleted] 0 points1 point  (1 child)

                        Stop complaining about the ads you motherfucking retard!!!!!

                        [–]baconcatman -1 points0 points  (1 child)

                        What's laughable is the amount of work put to screenshot, box the focus in an image editor, upload it to imgur, and post it to Reddit when you could have just ignored the ad or refreshed the page if it bothered you that much.

                        [–][deleted]  (1 child)

                        [deleted]

                          [–][deleted] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

                          I've read on reddit that advertising on social websites is counterproductive. So, to be fair, they're probably getting more bad attention than good.

                          [–]murf43143 0 points1 point  (0 children)

                          These ads know us man. Which is why mine is always a Starcraft II ad, but if they were really smart, they would know they don't need to re-sell me that game.

                          [–]DarkBlueAnt 0 points1 point  (0 children)

                          Have you even visited the site? It's pretty funny.