Offensive ads?

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  stepno · Member · Nov 5, 2011 at 2:45 pm

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  Clearly marked text ads visible only to non-logged-in viewers were a tolerable “price” to pay for wordpress.com hosting, but using my spare laptop I just went to my most recent post and found that it ended with an embedded YouTube video — not clearly marked as an ad — and the subject matter was something i found garish and annoying.

  It also had a “share” message on the front of the video,making it look as if the video might be the link to “share” my post. Clicking it went to this page:
  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M06sWmoEk_A&feature=player_embedded

  If there are more surprises like this, I’ll simply pay for the add-free hosting, but I don’t think video ads that look like “content” should be allowed without permission. Or has my page been hacked in some way?

  Thanks.

  The blog I need help with is: (visible only to logged in users)

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  timethief · Member · Nov 5, 2011 at 3:34 pm

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  WordPress.com has been running advertising on our free hosted blogs since 2006. Many bloggers do not know this because despite the fact they ticked the box required to get a free blog, they did not read the ToS. Many also do not read features page, or advertising entry in the support documents after registering their username and blog(s). Also note that as the ads do not display to us when we are logged in, and as many use browsers with ad blockers when logged out, they may not realize they are there at all. The only way to get rid of all advertising on our free hosted WordPress.com blogs is to purchase an annually renewable No-Ads upgrade.

  I assumed by purchasing the No-Ads upgrade that one was able to completely rid their blog of all ads videos and other wise. However, you will have to contact Staff and ask whether or not this is true, or if the video ads are not included in the elimination when one purchases a No-Ads Upgrade.

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  stepno · Member · Nov 5, 2011 at 5:23 pm

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  I know about the basic ads. I was asking about YouTube ads that do not look like ads. They look like other YouTube videos posted on my page.

  WordPress YouTube ad surprise

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  timethief · Member · Nov 5, 2011 at 5:29 pm

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  Hello again,
  There have been other members who have discovered video advertising on their blogs. I have also witnessed video ads on .wordpress.com blogs but cannot say for sure that what you are seeing on has been implemented by the ad server that WordPress.com uses. Only Staff can say for sure so here’s the link you can use to contact Staff directly.

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  csandage · Member · Nov 6, 2011 at 8:42 pm

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  Like Stepno, I’m stunned by the lack of control I have over my own blog when it comes to ads/videos. However, I’m ready to leave WordPress & spread the word as widely as possible! The sexist video Stepno refers to happened to appear below a post I wrote about parenting my teenage daughter. I won’t stick around & I won’t be silent about why!

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  andrewspittle · Staff · Nov 7, 2011 at 3:15 pm

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  Thanks for the feedback, all. I’m passing this along to our ad team. Much appreciated.