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Which is worse ... The fact that Google AdSense Referrals is showing ads for phone sex operators on an IT forum when targeting is set up to only fetch ads from the Computer category, or the fact that I actually made $9 when someone signed up?

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Dani AI

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Short answer: the ad mismatch is worse for the site. spotted a referral unit showing phone-sex offers on an IT forum (and a user apparently signed up), while and noted the cash and click angle. Revenue is nice, but inappropriate or off-topic ads damage community trust, can drive regular users away, and can put the site into conflict with ad-network policies.

Practical steps to fix or limit this immediately:

  • Sign in to your AdSense account and use Blocking controls (site-level or account-wide) to block sensitive or adult categories and to block specific advertisers or URLs.
  • Use the Ad review center to find and block the exact referral/advertiser creative that ran.
  • If referral units are producing undesired results, replace them with standard content units or remove referral placements from community pages.
  • If an ad clearly violates policy, report it through AdSense support and keep screenshots and timestamps.

For details on blocking, ad review, and policy reporting, consult the official Google AdSense help center: .

Note: keep a short audit trail (screenshots, placement, date/time) in case you need to show Google or to enforce forum rules. Consider adding a short ad policy to the forum rules so members understand what is and is not allowed on community pages.

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Member Avatar for A_member

the wrong ads showing up? how could getting 9bucks for it be worse? :)

Member Avatar for Dani

Because that means that a DaniWeb person signed up through DaniWeb to be a phone sex operator :)

Member Avatar for A_member

ok.. :)..

Member Avatar for bobchrist

Interesting! Nothing bad, it will generate more clicks. :)

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