Ads Disabled on Certain Hub, but Why, no Logic to it?

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   mistyhorizon2003posted 14 years ago

   Now don't get me wrong, I totally love writing on Hubpages and being a part of the Hubbing community, but I have lost a little heart recently when one hub of mine on "How to Improve Male Fertility" had the ads disabled based on automatic filters. This problem I reported in order to have the hub manually reviewed by hubpages staff, and I received an email saying that clearly this hub was fine and ads had been allowed again. You can therefore imagine my frustration when I checked "My Account" pages yesterday only to find that this same hub had yet again had the adverts disabled, but in addition to this another hub of mine on the female medical problem of "Vaginismus" had also had the adverts disabled!!
   
   Both of these hubs were serious hubs designed to help people, (nothing lewd or crude about them). Needless to say I queried this problem, (fully expecting both the hubs to be reviewed and adverts re-instated,..... not so). Tonight I got emails stating that in the case of the "Vaginismus" hub:
   
   "The images included in this hub are HubPages adult violations. We do not allow images of handbras, cleverly concealed nudity, or close ups of breasts, butts, or crotches.
   
   The hub's content specifically covers sexual intercourse, therefore it would not be acceptable for AdSense advertisers".
   
   (in other words showed no more than a woman wearing a bikini would, and what is a handbra anyway?? I can only assume this is a woman who is covering her natural breast feeding equipment with her hands, in spite of the fact a topless man is perfectly acceptable, and no doubt a woman breastfeeding would also be acceptable).
   
   I quickly realised that the hub had also been now unpublished by Hubpages as if it were full of porn images, (which it most certainly wasn't). I have since removed the photos that were apparently the main problem and Hubpages have notified me that the hub has been re-published, but I am still unsure as to what was so offensive about these photos as they were very tasteful, showed nothing, and could easily be considered as "art" by most people who viewed them.
   
   In the case of the "Improving Male Fertility" Hub, I was told that:
   
   "I have reviewed your hub and determined we will not be turning on Google and/or Kontera ads at this time. While we want hubs that are well-written and important to remain published, hubs covering sensitive or sexually related topics are not acceptable to many advertisers. Having Google ads disabled on a hub does not impact your HubScore or your ability to use Amazon ad capsules, as long as the content meets our Terms of Use. If you would like the warning to disappear, please set your ads on this hub to "none." "
   
   This infers the hub was pornographic or to do with enhancing a sex life in some way, but surely infertility is a serious issue that should not be categorised in the same vain as sexual bedroom activities and antics! What is worse is that I am fairly certain this is the same hub that had adverts blocked a few weeks back, but had them re-enabled after I requested a manual review, yet somehow the ads were disabled yet again yesterday and a second review has said that it is unsuitable for adverts!!! How does this happen?. I can't even see any alterations I could make to this hub as it is all well researched evidence and suggestions to improve male fertility. Apart from anything else, why should I miss out on Adsense income based on a medical issue, and why should people who find this hub miss out on the opportunity to follow links that Adsense may place there that would help them to conceive? I can only assume that Adsense would not have a problem with this hub, as they clearly must have advertisers who want to feature adverts to help male fertility issues.
   
   Am I the only one who has found their hubs have had the adverts disabled based on them having content relating to reproduction problems, (or other content that seems illogical to be penalised for)?
   
   Disappointed in hubpages on this as I am not convinced that Adsense would have any issues with the hubs that are being penalised in my case.

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      thisisoliposted 14 years agoin reply to this

      Male fertility advertisements are against Googles terms of service. It doesnt really say this specifically, but they have clarified it several times when people have queried it.
      
      This is not Hubpages, it is Google Adsense.
      
      I would not worry too much about it, I think you need to remember that while your article might have bene okay, there are thousands of spam pages made on the subject each day which are NOT well written, and are NOT okay.  It is simply not economical for Google to pick and choose the sites.
      
      Rather than getting your feelings hurt by things like this I think it would be easier for you to focus on non-borderline subjects.  There is way less competition, way more profit, and way more artistic freedom.

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      psycheskinnerposted 14 years agoin reply to this

      It is not just Google adsense.  Google adsense has no problem whatsoever with gay and lesbian websites and I find it disgusting that Hubpages is implying that they do.

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         mistyhorizon2003posted 14 years agoin reply to this

         That is interesting, perhaps adsense could clarify their position if they were asked directly by about fertility, Vaginismus and similar hub topics and their thought on adverts on those kinds of articles.

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   mistyhorizon2003posted 14 years ago

   Extra point here, just realised that although my hub on Vaginismus has been re-published the adverts are currently still disabled, so nothing much has been gained other than it can be read by people and all my hard work writing it has gone to waste as I won't earn from it and Amazon and Ebay are a waste of space for earning from compared to Adsense even if I added them into the hub and they had relevant products to include.

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      Marisa Wrightposted 14 years agoin reply to this

      Misty, having ads disabled does NOT imply your Hub is pornographic.  I wish people would get over this misunderstanding.
      
      Google's TOS prohibit any kind of advice on sexual matters.   That means serious sexual advice as well as sexy stuff, which means your topics are breaking the TOS.   
      
      The logic in this case is that Google couldn't possibly check every web page manually, so it has to rely on mindless robots to find "rude" sites. They can't understand context, so they just look for "forbidden" words.  The resulting rules are undeniably Victorian, but that's the way it is.  There's no point having hurt feelings about it.

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         relacheposted 14 years agoin reply to this

         It's not just a matter of "rudeness" or not. 
         
         There are also a lot of fraudulent pages created on sexual matters, offering up all manner of scams and rip-offs since humans seem to have a weakness when it comes to their perception of their bodies, sexual performance, etc.  By disallowing such content, Google has made it so that they don't have to verify the accuracy or intent of any of the information, claims or products.

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      thisisoliposted 14 years agoin reply to this

      My Amazon earnings outstrip my adsense earnings between 4-1 and 10-1, product sales generally earn more than epc publisher solutions.
      
      If the hub still becomes popular you can still always use it to lead traffic to other hubs!

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         Rochelle Frankposted 14 years agoin reply to this

         Is it OK to use the word "outstrip"?

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            IzzyMposted 14 years agoin reply to this

            

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   AEvansposted 14 years ago

   Misty,
   
   It is only a couple of hubs without adverts, think of all of the the other wonderful hubs that you have written that still have advertisement.
   
   Many of us have had hubs that have had ads removed, we correct them and keep on writing even if the ads are not placed back on them again. You are great at what you do, just keep doing what you do best.

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      mistyhorizon2003posted 14 years agoin reply to this

      Thanks for that AEvans, but it isn't just that, it is the total principle of the situation. It is unjust and very very wrong! Apart from anything else what about the missing Adsense links for people who suffer from both of these medical problems. Feeling very disillusioned with hubpages right now as they seem to be overdoing the "erring on the side of caution" attitude. I do really appreciate your support and kind words though, thanks again.

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         psycheskinnerposted 14 years agoin reply to this

         I agree.  I don't even have a hub that fits any of these categories but listing *all* queer issues as automatically about sex and so no allowed is horrifying to me and as heterosexuality is not forbidden I think it is a bigoted statment that basically says gay=obscene sex, straight= acceptable love.

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   IzzyMposted 14 years ago

   Misty, if its any consolation, I had my hub about male impotence refused ads after they had overrode the automatic filter. They emailed me (today) to say they had heard back from google about acceptable content and that the rules are even tighten than they expected. They pointed to me to the FAQ which now reads:
   
   In partnership with our advertising partners, we've identified below some areas that are not suitable for advertising but that, at our discretion, we may allow to remain published without ads:
   
   Reproductive medical content (including vaginal and penile issues and sexually transmitted diseases)
   Content about sexuality, including losing your virginity, fetish, or LGBT issues
   Content about abortion, circumcision, rape, incest, pedophilia, and molestation
   Content describing violent crimes or gruesome accidents
   Lewd or profane humor, including provocative entendre
   Restrained journalistic or fine art nudity
   If the content of your hub falls into one of these areas, please set the Ad Level to 'None'. If you have specific questions, please contact us.
   
   I had no Amazon capsules on my hub but I do now, and I just think these ads cheapen the whole look of the article which was on a serious medical subject. It's either that, or take the hub down. I am not a charity - I don't write for nothing.
   
   Sorry to hear you've had two hubs suffer the same fate. However, blame google, not Hubpages staff.

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   Jane@CMposted 14 years ago

   I have one that the ads get disabled then enabled, then disabled, then enabled - it goes back & forth.  From what I can tell it is the word breast or boobs, not sure which.  Went through and tried to change all "boobs" to "breast", however, the word "breast" just didn't fit the sentence the right way - boob was more appropriate.  I'm not concerned, if it helps one person without ads, it is doing its job & I've had several emails asking about the procedure & talking through the fear of having the procedure done and how awesome it is to have the procedure (afterwords).
   
   Edit, I went and changed boobs to girls now...we'll see if that works with the automated thingy.

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   thisisoliposted 14 years ago

   I think the best example given recently was actually a Youtube press release, they are now cracking down (or in the process of implementing a crack down) on breast feeding and breast cancer detection videos.  This is not because they particularly wanted to remove instructional videos, but because a huge percentage of these videos were actually promoting porn sites.
   
   In real life the minority spoil things for the majority, on the Internet the majority spoil it for the minority

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   mistyhorizon2003posted 14 years ago

   Well I have had another reply from Hubpages clarifying much what many of you have said here, and whilst I feel that that it is crazy on the part of Adsense to block adverts on hubs containing  medical reproductive and fine art nudity content, I accept this is not Hubpages fault. What I do find odd is that much of this stuff is already being taught in schools to young children anyway. Additionally there are numerous medical articles on the net that are not penalised from having adverts on them apparently simply because they don't cover reproductive organs and fertility, yet who is determining that the information given in those is accurate and not a load of rubbish! I just hope they find a better system soon that can differentiate between certain articles and allow the ones that are educational to contain adverts. In the meantime I shall have to try and find something relevant on Amazon to include in each hub instead.

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   mistyhorizon2003posted 14 years ago

   Slightly confusing update. Just been to change the settings on certain similar hubs to say the ads should be "none", and discovered the one on male fertility seems to suddenly have adverts back on it again, although not sure how long this will last. Also find it odd that when I try to change ad settings to "none", I can't do so unless I uncheck the "commercial" box. Then when I save the changes an automated warning pops up that says the hub may not be in compliance because it appears to be commerical!! Very strange. I also have tried to uncheck the box that states the hub meets adsense rules, as apparently these hubs don't, however if I do this a warning comes up saying the hub cannot be published. If the ads were set to none then why would this matter?
   
   I think I might mention this on the Report a Problem forum just in case it is a problem the Hub Team aren't aware of.

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      Mishaposted 14 years agoin reply to this

      Hi Cindy,
      
      I feel for you girl Take it easy, the world is going crazy, and this is just one of the signs - enjoy it while you can
      
      Do you by chance have an outgoing link on the hub you are trying to set non-commercial? If yes, than this is why you are getting your warning. If you have any link pointing outside HP, this hub is considered commercial.

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         mistyhorizon2003posted 14 years agoin reply to this

         Thanks Misha, I have solved the problem by removing all links to other sites, although the "flag" does not appear now I have added Amazon capsules to the hubs instead so it would seem Amazon doesn't make the hub "commerical" for some reason.

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            Mishaposted 14 years agoin reply to this

            Glad it helped Cindy
            
            Well, HP considers commercial everything they don't get a share of. They get their 40% from Amazon capsule, but nothing from an outgoing link.

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   IzzyMposted 14 years ago

   I had problems with that too misty. What I eventually had to do was set the "this hub meets the adsense criteria" or whatever the wording was, but uncheck "make this hub commercial". Only then could I set ad level to none and save changes.
   But everytime I unchecked the "this hubs meets the adsense criteria" which it obviously doesn't or else it would still have ads, I wasn't allowed to publish at all. They need to change the wording there.

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      mistyhorizon2003posted 14 years agoin reply to this

      Glad it isn't just me then LOL. I have posted about this problem on the "Report a Problem" forum now, so hopefully the Hub Team will address it for us. Meanwhile I have done the same as you have because I just didn't like those little green dollar signs with a line through them on the list of my hubs in 'My Account'

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    viryaboposted 14 years ago

    I had 3 hubs disabled for similar reasons. Still cant fathom why.
    One has been enabled after i worked on it, but the other two remain 'google disabled'.
    However, i decided to use the 2 hubs to promote some affiliate programs relevant to the hub topic. And have since moved on.

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    wildernessposted 14 years ago

    It seems to me that many of the posters here are completely missing the point when complaining that particular hubs or words or subjects are being disallowed.  They are taking it as a personal affront or as an attack on their own ethical stance, and that is not what it is about.
    
    Google, Amazon, HP; these are all businesses and they are in business to make money.  As writers we have chosen to participate in their business and help them make money.  If we can help people with a problem as we do that it is well and good, but the bottom line is...well... the bottom line for these companies.  If we hurt their business our work will be disallowed.
    
    These businesses have decided that they will not allow any form of sexuality to be used and it is a business decision, not an ethical one.  The vocal rage from just one parent who finds their child reading an article that can in any possible way be considered pornographic by the most rabid of the hard line moralists is far beyond any potential monetary gain these companies might gather and that is why they have been banned in the TOS's.  We have only to look at the troubles Craigslist is having from the ads by ladies of the evening to see this.
    
    In addition, HP has no real reason to provide web space for us to publish hubs that have no earning potential for them.  That they do so anyway, in a limited manner, is to their credit and should be appreciated rather than complained about.
    
    The internet, while making such business as google and HP possible, also puts them in a difficult position.  It is the squeaky wheel that gets the grease and in this case the squeak is coming from a very few people that have the capacity to demand the rest of the world conform simply by using the internet to be loud.  The monetary cost to silence these idiots is simply out of line with the potential gain to be made.  Take it for what it is - a purely business decision that we will have to live with unless we want to start our own business publishing useful articles and are willing to fight off the naysayers ourselves while we do so.  Perhaps a hub or hundreds of hubs about the tremendous negative effect on society as a whole being caused by a few loud whackos would be acceptable and start a counter revolution to end the kind of censorship accomplished by these same whackos.

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       psycheskinnerposted 14 years agoin reply to this

       I understand all that, but I don't think it makes discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation or identity acceptable (no ads on hubs about *any* gay, lesbian, bisexual or transgenders issues), and I think it misrepresents Google adsense's terms of service which have no such requirement.

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          thisisoliposted 14 years agoin reply to this

          All sexual content is deemed unacceptable, by Adsense and Hubpages.
          
          Homosexual issues can be talked about, but people have to realize that this is a fine line to walk, and while a hub about say, acceptence of homosexual preference in politics, would probably be okay, it is still a computer algorythm which has to sift through millions of websites to choose which are the acceptible homosexual articles, and which ones are veering towards teh unacceptable.
          
          This is an immensely difficult task, and growing numbers of unacceptable articles have forced sites like hubpages to implement a moderation policy before allowing advertisements.
          
          For Hubpages to remain a viable business with Google they have to draw a line, and preventing adverts from displaying untill moderation actually means it gives more leeway for Hubpages to allow gray area hubs which are valid, rather than jsut blanket banning the keyword.
          
          When it comes to people feeling censored by Hubpages and Google, I think there is a slight amount of justification. However this is a commercial website, there are plenty of non borderline subjects you can write about about to earn money, and plenty of non commercial sites you can write one which encourage you to talk about issues such as these.
          
          Hubpages protects both itself and it's writers with it's rules.

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    H.C Porterposted 14 years ago

    Ads have been disabled on a good number of my hubs for awhile. One is about women’s panties and another about bras. I understand why the ads were disabled on the hubs that make sexual references-but women’s apparel? They aren’t sexual.

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       Marisa Wrightposted 14 years agoin reply to this

       HC Porter, as a Hubber it's your own responsibility to keep up with what's happening on HubPages.
       
       There is an automated filter on HubPages which catches any Hubs containing questionable material.
       
       The filter errs on the safe side - it has to, because it's protecting our ability to continue earning income.  All the filtered Hubs are then manually reviewed - but the HubPages team is very small and they catch a lot of Hubs (most of them spam), so it can take a long time to get to yours.
       
       Several times on the forums, the HP team have asked people to email them if they've had a Hub unpublished.  If you don't speak up, they have no way of prioritizing review of the serious Hubbers' Hubs over the spammers.

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    mistyhorizon2003posted 14 years ago

    Good point Misha, and thanks again

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    Daliah Legoposted 14 years ago

    Hello,
    I am glad I found this thread. I am new and I came across "idea bank" and I picked up a question and answered it by writing a hub (again, I did it from "idea bank" link). The hub is about birth control methods. I got a warning on my hub and all adds disabled. When I checked other hubs with the same topic, linked to my hub I saw that there are lots of relevant adds there, no problem. I e-mailed Hubpages staff twice, did't hear from them yet.... So I am considering if I should stay on this site or just go and get a blog on blogspot or other place....

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    IzzyMposted 14 years ago

    Sorry to hear you got the idea from ideabank.This should have been rectified as soon as google changed their rules.
    Don't leave because of this Daliah...btw, welcome to Hubpages...I understand your frustration after going to the effort of researching and writing the hub, but I believe it is only in the past few days that google have clarified what is acceptable content and what is not.
    Basically if they stick to this new ruling (and it is a google adsense rule) then there will be nowhere to post these things anywhere on the internet unless you want to put it up for free.

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    Flightkeeperposted 14 years ago

    I have just one hub that I found my ads disabled and it really didn't bother me. It was the one about the mini-skirt and it had a picture of a couple in the buff kissing but with no private parts showing. I thought it was funny that google might find it offensive and actually kind of liked it without the ads because the layout just looked cleaner.

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