Cafe Announcements 📣 We apologise for a potentially misleading ad on the forum

[Pete Thomas]

As you know we run ads on the forum to help sustain what we do. We are usually not (easily) able to control the ads, Google is in charge of that. It came to my notice that one of the ads they showed is very misleading as it looks like part of the forum, and masquerading as a related topics widget.

Clicking on what look like forum links and prefixes takes you to the advertiser. This is the offending ad, as you can see it doesn't have the usual Google link to give you a clue that it actually is an ad.

I have now added some text above the ad position to show that what you see there are actually ads.

We will always strive to be

 

[Targa]

Offending is certainly the right word for it.
Have you been able to complain to google?

 

[h4yn0nnym0u5e]

We will always strive to be

people who leave sentences tantalisingly unterminated?

I have now added some text above the ad position

Not visible in Safari on my iPad, as of 2025-07-23 19:44

 

[Pete Thomas]

Offending is certainly the right word for it.
Have you been able to complain to google?

No but I finally found out what it is and how to "opt out"

people who leave sentences tantalisingly unterminated?

Yes

Not visible in Safari on my iPad, as of 2025-07-23 19:44

Because I have removed it now that I have found out how to stop it. (see above). If you see that ad or similar now, please let me know.

 

[cappers]

I don't see any ads nor your text or link box. Happy with that!
MacBook Pro 12.7.4 and iPhone12Pro 17.7

 

[Jimmymack]

I didn't see the ad, I feel cheated. But I rarely see ads anyway.

 

[Ghr9204]

I missed it too, but the good is that it was caught in time before others could see it, so any impact at best was minimal.

 

[Allophone]

Yes

 

[Ivan]

There are ads here?

 

[Jeanette]

There are ads here?

Not for subscribers 😀

 

[Jimmymack]

I keep getting email ads telling me that some supposed legal firm has uncovered two instances where I’ve been mis-sold car finance and they want to help me get compensation. Apart from the fact that the government hasn’t yet agreed that this is a thing and since I don’t have a car and have never had a car I am mighty impressed that they have been able to do this.

Other than that there are some fairly leery ads pop up on other forums that don’t have the same community care that you have here. Thank for doing it.