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Company Claims 80% of Facebook Ad Clicks Are From Bots

pitchpipe writes "A start-up company, Limited Run, claims that 80% of its ad clicks on Facebook have been coming from bots and will be deleting their page. Their Facebook page reads: 'Hey everyone, we're going to be deleting our Facebook page in the next couple of weeks, but we wanted to explain why before we do ... We built our own analytic software. Here's what we found: on about 80% of the clicks Facebook was charging us for, JavaScript wasn't on ... The 80% of clicks we were paying for were from bots. That's correct. Bots were loading pages and driving up our advertising costs.'"

402 comments

  1. If you don't have javascript, you're a bot? by Hatta · · Score: 4, Insightful

    If you don't have javascript, you're a bot?

    --
    Give me Classic Slashdot or give me death!
    1. Re:If you don't have javascript, you're a bot? by Desler · · Score: 5, Informative

      Since the ads require Javascript to be visible, yes. If you don't believe me just disable Javascript on Facebook and watch as all the ads disappear until you reenable it.

    2. Re:If you don't have javascript, you're a bot? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Generally ads won't produce anything you can click w/o it. I don't see any ads here, but then I also run sans images. As a matter of fact, the last time I saw an ad on the internet was... can't recall.

    3. Re:If you don't have javascript, you're a bot? by Yaur · · Score: 5, Informative

      The percentage of real users with javascript disabled is much lower than 80%... so if these numbers are real It seems reasonable that the bulk of them are bots.

    4. Re:If you don't have javascript, you're a bot? by boristdog · · Score: 5, Informative

      RTFA. They did the analysis. 98-99% of their direct-clicks had javascript. 0nly 20% of the ones from Facebook had javascript.

      Sorry if I RTFA. I'll try not to next time.

      Upshot: Facebook stock tanks again.

    5. Re:If you don't have javascript, you're a bot? by Hatta · · Score: 1, Interesting

      I wouldn't know, I don't have an account.

      --
      Give me Classic Slashdot or give me death!
    6. Re:If you don't have javascript, you're a bot? by artg · · Score: 1

      Either a bot, or an intelligent user who won't read the adverts. Same result for the advertiser.

    7. Re:If you don't have javascript, you're a bot? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      in all likely hood yes, average is 1 in 50 have java disabled

    8. Re:If you don't have javascript, you're a bot? by MtHuurne · · Score: 4, Informative

      Nowhere near 80% of Facebook users has noscript active or otherwise disabled JavaScript; TFA says this number is about 1-2%.

    9. Re:If you don't have javascript, you're a bot? by funtapaz · · Score: 2, Informative

      If you're an average user, you don't disable javascript. I think that's the logic here. There was a large discrepancy between the number of views without javascript, and what one would expect for a normal sample of internet users.

    10. Re:If you don't have javascript, you're a bot? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Maybe they're bots with credit cards, who knew. Me thinks the SEC may find this interesting.

    11. Re:If you don't have javascript, you're a bot? by zlives · · Score: 1

      excellent....

    12. Re:If you don't have javascript, you're a bot? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      There's also a statistical problem if 80% of Facebook users supposedly don't have Javascript enabled, especially if it's 80% of those who click ads.

    13. Re:If you don't have javascript, you're a bot? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0, Redundant

      No.

      If 80% of your click traffic isn't running javascript, then something is rotten. The general populace isn't running noscript, I guarantee that. The article says about 1%-2% of traffic has javascript disabled. I number anyone in web dev has no trouble believing. 80% means there's something drastically, drastically wrong with the traffic.

    14. Re:If you don't have javascript, you're a bot? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

      Why? What are you trying to hide?

    15. Re:If you don't have javascript, you're a bot? by Jahf · · Score: 0

      I wonder if some of this isn't really being caused by how popular it is to block ads via extensions. I use AdBlock Plus and Do Not Track Plus. I'd be willing to be I appear very much like the "no Javascript bot" to their analytics program.

      Then again, since I never see the Facebook ad that they are worried about, maybe not.

      --
      It is more productive to voice thoughtful opinions (reply) than to judge (moderate) others.
    16. Re:If you don't have javascript, you're a bot? by JustOK · · Score: 5, Funny

      Murderer!!!!

      --
      rewriting history since 2109
    17. Re:If you don't have javascript, you're a bot? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

      Obviously that he's a mass murderer.

    18. Re:If you don't have javascript, you're a bot? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      OK so apparently JavaScript creates the links...so how is it possible to click a link that isn't there because javascript isn't on? Sounds like a catch-22.

    19. Re:If you don't have javascript, you're a bot? by Latissimus · · Score: 1

      If you don't have javascript, you're a bot?

      That's just a claim to distract you from the short position their friends took out on FB just before the post!

    20. Re:If you don't have javascript, you're a bot? by Desler · · Score: 2

      I'd be willing to be I appear very much like the "no Javascript bot" to their analytics program.

      Sure, if you were also registering ad clicks when you had Javascript disabled.

    21. Re:If you don't have javascript, you're a bot? by wonkey_monkey · · Score: 5, Insightful

      on about 80% of the clicks Facebook was charging us for, JavaScript wasn't on

      You (a human) wouldn't be able to click on the ads if you couldn't see them in the first place.

      --
      systemd is Roko's Basilisk.
    22. Re:If you don't have javascript, you're a bot? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

      Or vagina?

    23. Re:If you don't have javascript, you're a bot? by Sir_Sri · · Score: 3, Insightful

      No.

      Read their actual page on facebook linked in the summary. Only 1-2% of their traffic were of the 'no script' variety (which is actually between 5 and 10% of their legitimate traffic), the 80% is bots they couldn't find the source of.

      Now the things I'm not sure of here, is how much they were spending on advertising in the first place, and how many clicks they were getting. As part of their own writeup they say 2k/month on facebook advertising was way more than they wanted to pay for a name change. That's fair enough, but then how much were they paying? Which leads into the second point, how many clicks are we talking about here? If there are say 80 bots (or even 800) that just are always out there trolling pages, and you only get 100 hits, or 1000 hits or whatever, then sure, you're getting hit for 80% bots, but your cost has to be pretty low too. If you're getting a million hits and 800k of them are bots then there's a very serious problem, but then if you're getting a 200k legitimate page views maybe 2000 bucks a month is reasonable (depends a lot on what your business does).

      Facebook does run, and needs to run bots on its service, if part of the cost of doing business with them is paying for when the bots are hitting your page to verify that you're in compliance that's fine, just as long as facebook is up front about how often those bots should hit your page and therefore how much you're paying. On the other hand, if it's a bot farm selling services to a SEO or something then you have a very different problem.

    24. Re:If you don't have javascript, you're a bot? by Ichijo · · Score: 1

      Or maybe the only people brave enough to click on the links are the ones who run NoScript.

      I know that I'm more likely to click on suspicious links now that I run NoScript.

      --
      Any sufficiently unpopular but cohesive argument is indistinguishable from trolling.
    25. Re:If you don't have javascript, you're a bot? by fahrbot-bot · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Since the ads require Javascript to be visible, yes. If you don't believe me just disable Javascript on Facebook and watch as all the ads disappear until you re-enable it.

      So, that's a feature, right?

      --
      It must have been something you assimilated. . . .
    26. Re:If you don't have javascript, you're a bot? by networkBoy · · Score: 2

      Aside from if you had NoScript you wouldn't see the ad (it appears it is JS generated?) how many people run NoScript but don't also run AdBlockPlus?
      -nB

      --
      whois gawk date unzip strip find touch finger mount join nice man top fsck grep eject more yes exit umount sleep dump
    27. Re:If you don't have javascript, you're a bot? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Informative

      you've never used wget have you?

      1. Download the page the ad appears in
      2. Download the javascripts using the referral page
      3. grep the javascripts for links
      4. hit all the links
      Repeat.

      So if you want to burn a specific company, you only click their ads. Since Facebook is the beneficiary of the ads, this is clearly facebook's problem. Go back in time to the ad scam eFront ran"
      http://www.echostation.com/efront/
      http://news.cnet.com/A-question-of-numbers/2009-1023_3-255030.html

    28. Re:If you don't have javascript, you're a bot? by AdamWill · · Score: 1

      Read the original post. At first the high level of JS-disabled 'users' was just a cause for suspicion, they went into more detailed analysis and verified that those 'users' really were bots.

    29. Re:If you don't have javascript, you're a bot? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      Java != Javascript

    30. Re:If you don't have javascript, you're a bot? by timeOday · · Score: 1, Informative

      Upshot: Facebook stock tanks again.

      Why? This is a nonevent (even if it is true.) It's like proving that 80% of TV ads air when people are out of the room. It does nothing to change the basic equation of how advertisers decide whether to place ads, which is: place some ads, see if your sales go up enough to justify the cost; if so, buy more... and so forth. If it's mostly bots, then the amount advertisers are willing to pay will go down in proportion to how much bot "views" go up (or as people simply grow insensitive to the ads, or don't have enough disposable income to buy the product, etc etc).

    31. Re:If you don't have javascript, you're a bot? by jhoegl · · Score: 2

      Its funny because its falsely analytical.

    32. Re:If you don't have javascript, you're a bot? by Krojack · · Score: 0

      I just shit myself laughing. +mod points if I could.

    33. Re:If you don't have javascript, you're a bot? by fustakrakich · · Score: 2

      I wonder if we'll see riots if they suddenly shut down, and everybody flies off to Rio. Better back up your shit. It can all go up in a puff of smoke. Been known to happen.. or no?

      --
      “He’s not deformed, he’s just drunk!”
    34. Re:If you don't have javascript, you're a bot? by godel_56 · · Score: 5, Funny

      Either a bot, or an intelligent user who won't read the adverts. Same result for the advertiser.

      You're saying 80% of Facebook users are that intelligent?

    35. Re:If you don't have javascript, you're a bot? by The_Wilschon · · Score: 5, Interesting

      If this gets attention from other companies who pay facebook for advertising placement, it could make facebook's advertisment revenues fall quite a lot. Click fraud is a really big deal.

      --
      SIGSEGV caught, terminating

      wait... not that kind of sig.
    36. Re:If you don't have javascript, you're a bot? by boristdog · · Score: 5, Interesting

      Except FB charges for clicks.

      So they are charging for fake clicks, which means they are engaging in fraud if FB is behind the fake clicks.
      And even if FB is not behind the fake clicks, FB will have to severely reduce ad rates because they cannot deliver true clicks.

      I stand by my assertion that FB will tank.

    37. Re:If you don't have javascript, you're a bot? by Trepidity · · Score: 5, Funny

      Upshot: Facebook stock tanks again.

      One more crippling bombshell hit the already beleaguered Facebook community when Limited Run confirmed that Facebook ad effectiveness has dropped yet again, now down to less than 20% legitimate clicks. Coming on the heels of a recent stock crash which plainly indicates that Facebook is losing investors' confidence, this news serves to reinforce what we've known all along. Facebook is collapsing in complete disarray, as fittingly exemplified by failing dead last in the recent Sys Admin comprehensive networking test.

    38. Re:If you don't have javascript, you're a bot? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Ads require javascript to be viewable and clickable, So if you are somehow managing to navigate the ads without javascript I think it is a reasonable assumption you are a bot. try using No Script or disabling javascript and see how far you get with viewing and clicking on the ads.

    39. Re:If you don't have javascript, you're a bot? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0
      You ask 'Why?' but then you go on to answer yourself

      If it's mostly bots, then the amount advertisers are willing to pay will go down in proportion to how much bot "views" go up

    40. Re:If you don't have javascript, you're a bot? by icebike · · Score: 5, Interesting

      Exactly.

      Click fraud has been a huge problem. Even Google has had to put mechanisms in place to detect it and control it.
      But none of these ad companies have a real strong incentive to do so, other than to maintain a reputation for fairness
      among advertisers. Facebook? Fairness? Reputation?

      In my day job we were a Google advertiser, and on more than one occasion we started seeing huge spikes in clicks
      when we did nothing different on the web site or in commerce to warrant such an increase.

      I called Google about it, and they ran a review of the clicks and dropped the actual click count to below what
      it had been prior. They do respond, but you have to complain some times.

      They are especially good at catching bots.

      We've put a ceiling on the amount we will pay for these clicks, and when ever that ceiling is reached we get
      a notice from Google. Unless we just started an advertising campaign in the trade rags (or something to generate that
      increase in traffic), we usually just file another click fraud complaint to them and they invariably
      we are the target of another E-Gold "get paid to click ads" scam.

      (We always suspect, but can never prove that one of our competitors is behind this click fest to drive my ads off the
      search results by over-running our limits, because they always seem to happen when they launch a new product).

      --
      Sig Battery depleted. Reverting to safe mode.
    41. Re:If you don't have javascript, you're a bot? by Zaelath · · Score: 2

      I reckon it's more like Company B bot clicks Company A's ads.

      I would imagine that could work really well on "campaigns" that have a limited spend to get your competitor's ads off the web for a while.

      Either way, I'm also in the FB is a junk stock camp. It's being held aloft by a powerful combination of stupid and optimism.

    42. Re:If you don't have javascript, you're a bot? by WillAffleckUW · · Score: 0

      Since the ads require Javascript to be visible, yes. If you don't believe me just disable Javascript on Facebook and watch as all the ads disappear until you reenable it.

      But ... this is why I disable most JavaScript using NoScript when I surf using Firefox.

      Seriously, it's only when I'm surfing with Chrome that I even let stuff like that run.

      So, maybe the "startup" needs to learn that people only turn on their specific pervy scripts when we DECIDE to buy. And that's AFTER we make sure the page is legit.

      Either that or code in some decent language like real people do.

      --
      -- Tigger warning: This post may contain tiggers! --
    43. Re:If you don't have javascript, you're a bot? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      If you don't have javascript on, Facebook doesn't work very well. So if 80% of the clickers don't have javascript on it's a reasonable guess that the vast majority of them are bots.

    44. Re:If you don't have javascript, you're a bot? by tbird81 · · Score: 1

      This meme isn't doing too well is it? Just keep trying.

    45. Re:If you don't have javascript, you're a bot? by zlives · · Score: 5, Funny

      just a murderer... for mass murderer i think the requirement is no FB page at all.

    46. Re:If you don't have javascript, you're a bot? by Ichijo · · Score: 0

      If the ad comes from facebook.com and I've unblocked Facebook, then I would see it.

      --
      Any sufficiently unpopular but cohesive argument is indistinguishable from trolling.
    47. Re:If you don't have javascript, you're a bot? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      It works fine in Australia, ya cunt.

    48. Re:If you don't have javascript, you're a bot? by HapSlappy_2222 · · Score: 5, Informative
      The fact that 80% users were coming in with JavaScript off was merely a clue. The company's staff were used to 1-2% of users coming in with JS off, which sounds fairly reasonable to me. The discrepancy raised a big red flag.

      They then decided to put a logger on the site to track where the users were coming in from and what they were doing. From this, they determined 80% of the clicks from FB were bots.

      Others have also done these types of analytics in regards to Facebook, with results in the 70%-are-bots range.

      Here's a quote from the LA Times blog article (admittedly, it is pretty poorly edited):

      In a Facebook status post as well as a blog posted Monday, Limited Run said it built its own analytics program, which found that 80% of its ad clicks were coming from users with JavaScript turned off, which makes it difficult for analytics software to verify clicks. The company added that in its staff's experience, only about 1% to 2% of clicks typically come with JavaScript turned off. As a result, the company built a page logger on its site, and that led the company to find that all those clicks were coming from bots.

      I suppose all of this could be bunk, but it sounds pretty reasonable to me.

    49. Re:If you don't have javascript, you're a bot? by epine · · Score: 4, Interesting

      Why? This is a nonevent (even if it is true.) It's like proving that 80% of TV ads air when people are out of the room. It does nothing to change the basic equation of how advertisers decide whether to place ads, which is: place some ads, see if your sales go up enough to justify the cost; if so, buy more... and so forth.

      And your competitors can invent extra TVs in all your extra, unoccupied rooms, and when they do, your ad bill escalates. These scenarios are so identical you need a scanning electron microscope with the gain set to 11 just to tell them apart. Apparently.

    50. Re:If you don't have javascript, you're a bot? by Grayhand · · Score: 1

      Since the ads require Javascript to be visible, yes. If you don't believe me just disable Javascript on Facebook and watch as all the ads disappear until you reenable it.

      They could be legally blind?

    51. Re:If you don't have javascript, you're a bot? by cyfer2000 · · Score: 2

      Gee, I can NOT believe the real Zuckberg is on /. with a user name of hatta

      --
      There is a spark in every single flame bait point.
    52. Re:If you don't have javascript, you're a bot? by JustOK · · Score: 2

      Go figure.

      --
      rewriting history since 2109
    53. Re:If you don't have javascript, you're a bot? by HapSlappy_2222 · · Score: 4, Interesting
      No. This would be like proving that 80% of TV ads cause voice-simulation-robots to dial the phone number on the screen. Your analogy also misses that the network is charging for the original ad, based on length and broadcast time, NOT per call about the advertised company/product.

      The difference is that someone, somewhere, for some reason, is artificially driving up per-click costs for companies that participate in Facebook's advertising schemes. You would be completely correct if the Facebook ad banner had a pre-determined, up-front cost, like TV and radio ads do.

      If it's mostly bots, then the amount advertisers are willing to pay will go down in proportion to how much bot "views" go up (or as people simply grow insensitive to the ads, or don't have enough disposable income to buy the product, etc etc).

      Market forces? Maybe over the long run, but that doesn't mean companies aren't getting SCREWED by this right now (it's blatantly unethical, and probably illegal). How many companies would just herp-derp along, paying 80% too much for their ad space? This company wisely put a very basic test in place (one that FB really should be implementing prior to sending the click; in fact, Google has been doing this for years).

    54. Re:If you don't have javascript, you're a bot? by noh8rz6 · · Score: 0

      Yo!

      --
      Don't be a h8r.
    55. Re:If you don't have javascript, you're a bot? by noh8rz6 · · Score: 0

      It matters if the number of bots on FB are greater elsewhere or greater than average. The average value of an ad is determined by figuring in the VerGe number of bots. If FB has way more bots, them their ads R parrots far less and Dvertisers shouldn't be paying. The subtext here is that Zuck is setting up bots to drive his company revenues up.

      --
      Don't be a h8r.
    56. Re:If you don't have javascript, you're a bot? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Upshot: Facebook stock tanks again.

      "Doesn't matter; got paid." --Zuck

    57. Re:If you don't have javascript, you're a bot? by Imrik · · Score: 0

      It isn't really a problem as long as Facebook has nothing do do with the generation of the clicks, it just changes how much the clicks should be worth. If Facebook is running the bots or paying someone to run them, (which wouldn't really surprise me) then it is a problem.

    58. Re:If you don't have javascript, you're a bot? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I do not understand the fuss. if a human did not click, a cat must have, after all a cat did click "I agree" to create his account.

    59. Re:If you don't have javascript, you're a bot? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      You're clearly trying to aloof, but what's more likely is that you just don't have many friends.

    60. Re:If you don't have javascript, you're a bot? by houstonbofh · · Score: 1

      Well, I haven't watched TV in years. Just see no point. I get along fine without it. (For the uninformed or humore impaired, see the onion)

    61. Re:If you don't have javascript, you're a bot? by EdIII · · Score: 4, Funny

      This meme isn't doing too well is it? Just keep trying.

      Yeah... vagina isn't doing to well on the Internet....

    62. Re:If you don't have javascript, you're a bot? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Add-ons like NoScript allow you to whitelist certain sites. If a user has whitelisted FB, the click through would have JavaScript disabled.

      Of course the likelihood that people like that make up 80% or even a statistically significant percentage is quite small, but it's possible for a human to exhibit the behavior they attribute to a bot.

    63. Re:If you don't have javascript, you're a bot? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      This meme isn't doing too well is it?

      Or vagina?

    64. Re:If you don't have javascript, you're a bot? by Bing+Tsher+E · · Score: 1

      Now you're just doing what an AOL user does. Mistaking Slashdot for the whole Internet.

    65. Re:If you don't have javascript, you're a bot? by nazsco · · Score: 1

      Maybe 80% of the users that clicked them had javascript disabled but facebook.com whitelisted.

      may be possible if they are a tech company advertising to tech people... not that i'm going to find out what the hell they advertise on or what's their business just to back my /. comment. i have other uninformed comments to make.

    66. Re:If you don't have javascript, you're a bot? by mysidia · · Score: 5, Insightful

      What happens when an antivirus scanner "pre-scans" the page at link to the Ad, in case the user clicks on it, in order to speed up their browsing experience?

      Technically, it's not a bot causing the page to be requested, it can just as well be a real person's user agent

    67. Re:If you don't have javascript, you're a bot? by mysidia · · Score: 2, Insightful

      You (a human) wouldn't be able to click on the ads if you couldn't see them in the first place.

      What about Humans running NoSCRIPT with Facebook on a scripting whitelist, but not the target site the ad directs to?

    68. Re:If you don't have javascript, you're a bot? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Now that's what I call discrimination, you insenstive Clods. If a robot can post on Slashdot, why can't it click on Facebook?

    69. Re:If you don't have javascript, you're a bot? by Nemyst · · Score: 4, Informative

      Google answers customers, not consumers.

    70. Re:If you don't have javascript, you're a bot? by mysidia · · Score: 0

      The percentage of real users with javascript disabled is much lower than 80%...

      Unless, for some reason there is a strong correlation between 'interest in your ad content' and using NoScript (with a whitelist exception for Facebook)

      Just because X% of users have characteristic Y, doesn't mean X% of the users visiting your site will have characteristic Y.

    71. Re:If you don't have javascript, you're a bot? by Daetrin · · Score: 5, Informative

      *psst* you missed the part where he's not a consumer, he's one of the people that actually gives Google money. They like money. They pay attention to the people who give them money. It's just the rest of us who are SOL.

      --
      This Space Intentionally Left Blank
    72. Re:If you don't have javascript, you're a bot? by mysidia · · Score: 2

      Why? This is a nonevent (even if it is true.) It's like proving that 80% of TV ads air when people are out of the room.

      It's more like proving that 80% of some TV station's ads don't actually get through to the viewers, because a competitor uses special 'bot' technology to jam the signal.

      Which has implications for the station, because they charge advertisers based on number of people viewing the ad (view count / click count).

      If the advertisers are persuaded by this, they will demand a change of practices, demand a lower click price, to compensate for the problems, or just switch to a station that has the reputation for thwarting the jamming attempts.

    73. Re:If you don't have javascript, you're a bot? by ralphdaugherty · · Score: 1

      If it's mostly bots, then the amount advertisers are willing to pay will go down in proportion to how much bot "views" go up...

      And as GP said, Facebook stock tanks. The amount advertisers pay is Facebook's income.

      Advertiser's currently paying about 50 to 60 cents a click from what I'm seeing in a search today. It should go down to about a dime per click, Facebook $1 billion in income drops to $200 million, and Facebook shares tank likewise.

    74. Re:If you don't have javascript, you're a bot? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Notice how slashdot.org breaks if you've got Javascript turned off...

    75. Re:If you don't have javascript, you're a bot? by ralphdaugherty · · Score: 1

      but then if you're getting a 200k legitimate page views maybe 2000 bucks a month is reasonable...

      I did a search today on what Facebook click rates were and the answer I'm seeing was 50 to 60 cents per click. That's $100,000, not $2000.

      I can't believe advertisers were bidding to pay 50 cents per click so I hope I have misunderstood the numbers, but saw today elsewhere an article that mentioned paying $2 per click, so apparently this was thought to be effective. I say I can't believe it because of the high percentage of bot activity on any page.

      Advertisers were apparently hoping it was legitimate potential customers. This is hitting national press today so lots of people will know better now. So will Facebook shareholders.

    76. Re:If you don't have javascript, you're a bot? by X0563511 · · Score: 1

      Erm... no account == no page?

      --
      For large sets, this will be our guide even unto death, for the LORD will work for each type of data it is applied to...
    77. Re:If you don't have javascript, you're a bot? by v1 · · Score: 4, Informative

      The subtext here is that Zuck is setting up bots to drive his company revenues up.

      I've seen three popular explanations for "whose bots are they?" They're almost certainly a rented botnet composed mainly of compromised (usually windows) machines that are under remote mass control. I've read multiple expose where they show how you go to some .ru etc website and set up an account with them and rent out however many thousand machines you want to, and can do any of several offered services... ddos, backdoor installations, DNS redirects, proxy, and of course spam and click fraud.

      Click fraud is run for one of three reasons:

      1) drive up pay-for-click revenue for the site (facebook) - probably not a smart thing for them to do seeing as they're Suspect #1 because they have the most to gain, but already have a ton of cash

      2) competitors trying to cost you money by driving up your advertising costs

      3) competitors trying to cause you to hit your impression hit limit and stop displaying your ads

      2 and 3 don't necessarily have to be your competitors, they could be random criminals trying to extort you, "pay us or we screw up your marketing".

      I've seen several recent reports of (3) suspected due to finding a pattern of click fraud spikes at times when their competitors were doing a new product release. Renting botnets isn't free, and isn't without risk, and (2) probably doesn't have a very big net return. So (3) at the time of a new product release would appear to be a competitor's most prudent and effective time to buy some click-fraud.

      And numerous posts above asking to post the IP addresses. really? Aren't you embarrassed to suggest that those would be helpful to anyone here?

      --
      I work for the Department of Redundancy Department.
    78. Re:If you don't have javascript, you're a bot? by EdIII · · Score: 1

      So vagina is not very popular around here? I need to make a poll.....

    79. Re:If you don't have javascript, you're a bot? by Jah-Wren+Ryel · · Score: 2

      What happens when an antivirus scanner "pre-scans" the page at link to the Ad, in case the user clicks on it, in order to speed up their browsing experience?

      Technically, it's not a bot causing the page to be requested, it can just as well be a real person's user agent

      The question isn't whether or not a "bot" clicked the ad, the question is if a real person saw the ad. Your hypothetical scenario doesn't change the answer.

      --
      When information is power, privacy is freedom.
    80. Re:If you don't have javascript, you're a bot? by ShanghaiBill · · Score: 5, Interesting

      But none of these ad companies have a real strong incentive to do so, other than to maintain a reputation for fairness
      among advertisers.

      Actually, they have a strong incentive: staying in business. My wife runs her own business, and I help her with advertising. We track the source of every click through to a sale. Then we calculate the ratio of (ad expense)/(profit generated). For Google ads, this is about 1.6. For Facebook ads, it is about 0.2. Guess where we no longer buy ads?

    81. Re:If you don't have javascript, you're a bot? by pluther · · Score: 4, Insightful

      It's unlikely that that's the configuration used by 80% of Facebook users.

      --
      If the masses can keep you down, you're not the Ubermensch.
    82. Re:If you don't have javascript, you're a bot? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      javascript can be turned on in a sophisticated bot. bots are clicking through ads because people running botnets want to screw with facebook. there are a lot of reasons why, but mainly it is because so many site aggregating botnets are programed to make bots click through to skew rankings online, and a side effect of this is that competitors can hurt their enemies or competition by taking tried and true bot functions and applying them in unique ways. so if you have a bit of cash, download bot software run it in some vms (incase of trojans/rootkits etc) you can then target competitors ads to try and drive up costs.

    83. Re:If you don't have javascript, you're a bot? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      no script allows filtering of javascript by domain. A user with noscript might see the add if they allow facebook, but the target site wouldn't get a hit on its js files.

    84. Re:If you don't have javascript, you're a bot? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      ya' know what? you scenario may be true, but that is exactly a bot clicking an add.
      they didn't claim a nefarious botnet of scamming conspiracy. but a computer program
      loading a link without user interaction is a bot.

    85. Re:If you don't have javascript, you're a bot? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Obviously that he's a mass murderer.

      There are 2 kinds of people: mass murderers and stalkers.

    86. Re:If you don't have javascript, you're a bot? by magarity · · Score: 1

      because people running botnets want to screw with facebook. there are a lot of reasons why, but mainly.

      ...is because the botnet operators bought FB on its opening day. more ad revenue can help get it back up.

    87. Re:If you don't have javascript, you're a bot? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      What about Humans running NoSCRIPT with Facebook on a scripting whitelist, but not the target site the ad directs to?

      This describes 80% of add-clicking FB users?

    88. Re:If you don't have javascript, you're a bot? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      *psst* you missed the part where he's not a consumer, he's one of the people that actually gives Google money.

      Yea, in my day those were called customers. Now get off my lawn.

    89. Re:If you don't have javascript, you're a bot? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      and 9 in 10 slashdot posters can distinguish java from javascript.

    90. Re:If you don't have javascript, you're a bot? by ub3r+n3u7r4l1st · · Score: 1

      Fat chance. Lock up expiration is coming. Watch it going to single digits like ZNGA. Short it while you can.

    91. Re:If you don't have javascript, you're a bot? by Mandrel · · Score: 4, Informative

      Then we calculate the ratio of (ad expense)/(profit generated). For Google ads, this is about 1.6. For Facebook ads, it is about 0.2. Guess where we no longer buy ads?

      Just to confirm: you're saying that for your wife's business, Facebook ads are 8 times more effective than Google ads.

    92. Re:If you don't have javascript, you're a bot? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Why haven't we seen a proper, non-biased botnet whose sole purpose is to drive ad sales to hell? E.g. target ads on both google and bing etc. and just 'click' everything regardless of brand... To me throwing the whole ad ecosystem into disarray would be far far more impactful than just clicking all Macy's ads coming from Goggle for Facebook etc etc.

      With a large effort like that, you can easily spread the clicks out over so many providers and businesses that you really couldn't act on it. Sure, all the data evidence would be there, but data is typically meaningless if you can't perform analytics on top of it.

    93. Re:If you don't have javascript, you're a bot? by ShanghaiBill · · Score: 5, Informative

      Just to confirm: you're saying that for your wife's business, Facebook ads are 8 times more effective than Google ads.

      Gack! Sorry, I got the ratio reversed. They are eight times less effective. Thanks for catching this.

    94. Re:If you don't have javascript, you're a bot? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Find me a single person who runs adblock and/or noscript, specifically ALLOWS www.facebook.com, and would ever consider clicking an ad. This seems a rather unlikely scenario.

    95. Re:If you don't have javascript, you're a bot? by c0lo · · Score: 1

      I wonder if we'll see riots if they suddenly shut down, and everybody flies off to Rio. Better back up your shit. It can all go up in a puff of smoke. Been known to happen.. or no?

      Also known: some institutions were deemed "too big to fail" in the past (I certainly hope it won't be the case when FB's bust happens).

      --
      Questions raise, answers kill. Raise questions to stay alive.
    96. Re:If you don't have javascript, you're a bot? by Sir_Sri · · Score: 1

      Possible, but I'd guess you're mixing their 'cpc' (cost per click) and 'cpm' (cost per 1000 clicks) numbers somewhere. Though their page https://www.facebook.com/help/?page=219791638048948 would seem to indicate the minimum price for an ad is 1 cent per click, and you bid up from there so 50-60 cents per click might be right. I'm not really sure if that's worthwhile or not. I guess it depends on what you're selling, and what your buy rate is from the ads.

      Even then, if you're getting hit with 80 bots a month at 2 dollars a bot then you're paying 160 bucks a month for base advertising costs. That doesn't seem like it would be worth having a fit over. 800 bots a month would put you closer to their '2000 dollars a month to change their name' bracket, which they did have a fit over.

    97. Re:If you don't have javascript, you're a bot? by hairyfeet · · Score: 2

      Uhhh...how would you click on a javaScript ad if you were a human with no JavaScript on (aka NoScript) in the first place? Answer, you can't hence its bots.

      So then it becomes WHO is controlling the bots? As far as i see it there can only be one of two choices: 1.-It is a rival to the company wanting to hurt them financially, or 2.-Its FB themselves trying to drum up revenue and keep the stock from tanking.

      If its #1 it shouldn't be too hard to simply ask the company in question, as those that have rivals that would go to THIS much trouble have some serious bad blood and would be known to the company, but #2 will be harder to prove but frankly should be looked into.

      --
      ACs don't waste your time replying, your posts are never seen by me.
    98. Re:If you don't have javascript, you're a bot? by Stiletto · · Score: 1

      Sorry, but I'm skeptical that enough "competitors" of ad purchasers out there have the required combination of net-savvy and risk tolerance to be renting botnets. Sure, a small number, maybe. I believe you that it doesn't take a genius to go look up the right .ru sites offering such services, I just doubt that their use is widespread. Do you have a link to a study that even estimated how many companies actually partake in these services? It sounds kind of far-fetched.

      It's similar to companies blaming "competitors" for bad Yelp reviews. Do competitors sometimes submit bad reviews of a company's product? Of course. Do competitor-authored reviews make up a significant fraction of most reviews? Not a chance.

    99. Re:If you don't have javascript, you're a bot? by hairyfeet · · Score: 5, Insightful

      80%? you are gonna honestly claim that 80% of the visitors to a single site had that exact highly unlikely set of circumstances? I'm sorry but that just don't jive, I don't care how damned geeky the FB page was. Hell ask /. how many of their users have JavaScript disabled, this site is geek city and I seriously doubt you'd get even 45% with no JavaScript at all.

      And don't forget they were being charged for AD clicks which most folks that are running some kind of blocker are running ABP and aren't whitelisting shit, hence why you have sites that say "Please, we need the money, please whitelist us" because the default behavior (which all here know most users stick with defaults) is block everything and you have to actually go out of your way to change that.

      No something smells here folks, and I only hope that company makes the software they developed to find this out free and available for others to use so we can see how widespread this really is on FB. Be a nasty bit of new to FB stockholders if it turned out 80% of their "revenues" were just clickjacking bots.

      --
      ACs don't waste your time replying, your posts are never seen by me.
    100. Re:If you don't have javascript, you're a bot? by phantomfive · · Score: 5, Interesting

      There is another option, FWIW. Whenever I see an advertisement on Google for a company I don't like, I click on their link. It's probably unethical, but it's oh-so-tempting.

      So over the years, I've probably transferred like $1.35 from Microsoft to Google as a result of my actions. Yay!

      --
      "First they came for the slanderers and i said nothing."
    101. Re:If you don't have javascript, you're a bot? by wvmarle · · Score: 1

      I wouldn't know, I have AdBlockPlus.

      My Facebook has no ads.

    102. Re:If you don't have javascript, you're a bot? by Voyager529 · · Score: 1

      Netcraft confirmation or it didn't happen.

    103. Re:If you don't have javascript, you're a bot? by ralphdaugherty · · Score: 1

      yeah, I'm not mixing them, it's cpc, but the gist of what you're saying is right.

    104. Re:If you don't have javascript, you're a bot? by hairyfeet · · Score: 2

      Because if little Joe Nobody's ads are seeing 80% fraud how good are the odds that YOUR ads are seeing high levels of fraud? Companies don't mind paying for ads that work but very much do mind paying for nothing, which is what click fraud is, paying for nothing. Considering pretty much all FB revenue last I checked came from ad sales if companies start looking and finding high levels of fraud you could see a big pullout and there goes their revenue stream.

      If its true the lockout period is getting ready to end I'd have to wonder if its some insider sitting on a pile of stock hoping to give it a boost before cashing out. With all the strange shit we've seen over the years since the dotbomb? Frankly wouldn't surprise me, after all a hell of a lot more people than Zuckerberg got stock before the IPO ya know.

      --
      ACs don't waste your time replying, your posts are never seen by me.
    105. Re:If you don't have javascript, you're a bot? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      In some cases on Facebook you can also buy CPM vs. CPC. I've bought CPM as low as 50 cents..

    106. Re:If you don't have javascript, you're a bot? by Pubstar · · Score: 1

      Yet with DVRs, I see the same amount of ads on cable TV from the same companies that always advertise on there.

    107. Re:If you don't have javascript, you're a bot? by mysidia · · Score: 3, Informative

      The question isn't whether or not a "bot" clicked the ad, the question is if a real person saw the ad.

      The difference is if a bot clicked it, the 'click' is non-legitimate; an intentional act of deception.

      If a human's legitimate user-agent clicked it without showing it --- then it's just a case of FB doesn't know if a human saw it or not, but you as advertiser pay for the clicks, regardless of how the user clicked it; whether they actually saw it or not is an academic matter then.

    108. Re:If you don't have javascript, you're a bot? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      People keep saying competitors are doing the bots. Really? Seems like the more likely culprit is FB themselves. After all, who has the most to gain from bots running up click counts? It's not like Mr Zuckerberg is a bastion of integrity...

    109. Re:If you don't have javascript, you're a bot? by zzyzyx · · Score: 1

      Another possibility :

      4) To hurt Facebook by destroying their credibility and make them tank even faster that they were already going to. May be someone shorting FB stock.

    110. Re:If you don't have javascript, you're a bot? by Surt · · Score: 5, Funny

      I think you can have a page, the key is not to use it. I mean, how much 'mass' are you going to achieve if your updates look like:

      Just stopped at the Hillsdale Mall.
      Picked up a Wetzel's Pretzel Dog. Tasty!
      Killed this guy and his kids in the Nordstrom's bathroom.
      Checked out Victoria's secret. Do we really want our children to see the models they display in the window?

      It'll be hard to keep that up long enough to rack up a really good score without getting caught.

      --
      "Who is the Journal of Quantum Physics going to believe?" --Stephen Hawking
    111. Re:If you don't have javascript, you're a bot? by Surt · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Sorry, no. What percentage of real users do you imagine even knows there's an option to turn off javascript?

      --
      "Who is the Journal of Quantum Physics going to believe?" --Stephen Hawking
    112. Re:If you don't have javascript, you're a bot? by Surt · · Score: 3, Insightful

      So there's a contingent of noscript users who click on ads now?

      --
      "Who is the Journal of Quantum Physics going to believe?" --Stephen Hawking
    113. Re:If you don't have javascript, you're a bot? by Surt · · Score: 1

      Since Facebook is the beneficiary of the clicks (they get paid on the click throughs unless they are stupid), I would have to suspect Facebook of being in the driver's seat on this (e.g. running the bots themselves to drive up revenue).

      --
      "Who is the Journal of Quantum Physics going to believe?" --Stephen Hawking
    114. Re:If you don't have javascript, you're a bot? by hjf · · Score: 1

      it depends on what you're advertising. FB makes a quotation on the fly, based on the keywords, tastes, age range you're targeting, etc. My max CPC is 3 cents per click (usually 1 cent), I'm a comic book store in Argentina, specifically targeting people in my area and neighboring cities, who speak spanish, like a specific subset of anime and manga, and who aren't already fans of my business page.

    115. Re:If you don't have javascript, you're a bot? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      If this gets attention from other companies who pay facebook for advertising placement, it could make facebook's advertisment revenues fall quite a lot. Click fraud is a really big deal.

      Let's hope this news travels fast!

    116. Re:If you don't have javascript, you're a bot? by hjf · · Score: 1

      Let's put the article's point (legitimacy of clicks) aside for a bit, and go back to your specific point: Facebook lets you set an maximum budget (in fact, by default, it asks you for one). It's their problem if they didn't set a limit. I set my campagins with $1 MAX per DAY and run it for 10 days. That's $10 max.

      Once it hits the $1/day limit, ads get paused until the next day, automatically.

    117. Re:If you don't have javascript, you're a bot? by colinrichardday · · Score: 1

      paying 80% too much for their ad space?

      More like 400% too much, as they pay for four bot clicks for each real click.

    118. Re:If you don't have javascript, you're a bot? by Jah-Wren+Ryel · · Score: 1

      The difference is if a bot clicked it, the 'click' is non-legitimate; an intentional act of deception.

      Deception/intent doesn't matter, eyeballs are all that matter.

      --
      When information is power, privacy is freedom.
    119. Re:If you don't have javascript, you're a bot? by Sir_Sri · · Score: 1

      Once it hits the $1/day limit, ads get paused until the next day, automatically.

      So then the question is what is the minimum number of bots you're going to be hit with, so even at 1 cent an ad, how many real people are you getting for that.

    120. Re:If you don't have javascript, you're a bot? by hjf · · Score: 1

      That's why i started my comment with: "Let's put the article's point (legitimacy of clicks) aside for a bit".

    121. Re:If you don't have javascript, you're a bot? by HapSlappy_2222 · · Score: 1

      Good point. Math is hard. :)

    122. Re:If you don't have javascript, you're a bot? by blind+biker · · Score: 0, Troll

      Actually, they have a strong incentive: staying in business. My wife runs her own business, and I help her with advertising. We track the source of every click through to a sale. Then we calculate the ratio of (ad expense)/(profit generated). For Google ads, this is about 1.6. For Facebook ads, it is about 0.2. Guess where we no longer buy ads?

      You no longer buy ads from Google?

      Sorry, are you trying to prove that one doesn't need any math skills to run a successful business?

      --
      "The agriculture ministry is not in charge of Gundam" - Japanese ministry official.
    123. Re:If you don't have javascript, you're a bot? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      For #1, does it have to be Facebook? Doesn't Facebook have some sort of revenue sharing like Google Ads do? If so, it could be that the botnet is driving up its own commissions.

    124. Re:If you don't have javascript, you're a bot? by oztiks · · Score: 1

      Yup and if you clicked the unseen ad then statistic would render you a bot.

      In either case you were an unwilling ad viewer who click on an ad you didn't want because you had an adblocking plugin.

      Mind boggling....

    125. Re:If you don't have javascript, you're a bot? by ralphdaugherty · · Score: 1

      oh, ok, thanks for the info.

    126. Re:If you don't have javascript, you're a bot? by geogob · · Score: 5, Funny

      The first thing I did after installing no script, was to white list all the ads... the internet is so bland without them.

    127. Re:If you don't have javascript, you're a bot? by LittleImp · · Score: 1

      How is it intelligent to disable ads and then click on them without knowing what they say?

    128. Re:If you don't have javascript, you're a bot? by wvmarle · · Score: 4, Informative

      The ads are not just invisible. The space allocated to ads on the page is released; ads are simply completely wiped from the page. There is no white space on the page with hidden links where ads used to be. So there is no chance to click on such invisible ads.

      And even if I would be able to click on such a non-exisiting link, I'd still be recognised as a real browser, as I do have Javascript enabled.

    129. Re:If you don't have javascript, you're a bot? by gl4ss · · Score: 1

      _all_ smart companies already don't count clicks when they buy click advertising.

      what they count is if the money paid for advertising converted users/customers. in that it's irrelevant how many of the clicks were bots, all that's relevant is how many new conversions they got with the money.

      --
      world was created 5 seconds before this post as it is.
    130. Re:If you don't have javascript, you're a bot? by gl4ss · · Score: 1

      well, the ip addresse would help _if_ they were all from say amazons cloud services... then it would obviously be bots. random ip's around the globe then there is possibility for preloads being the culprit.

      --
      world was created 5 seconds before this post as it is.
    131. Re:If you don't have javascript, you're a bot? by Captain+Hook · · Score: 2

      It's unlikely that that's the configuration used by 80% of Facebook users.

      Technically, only 80% of Facebook users who click the ad, not 80% of all Facebook users.

      Although I still think that's a very high percentage of technically literate users clicking an ad.

      --
      These comments are my personal opinions and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of the other voices in my head.
    132. Re:If you don't have javascript, you're a bot? by azalin · · Score: 1

      Please do.

    133. Re:If you don't have javascript, you're a bot? by goose-incarnated · · Score: 1

      Let's put the article's point (legitimacy of clicks) aside for a bit, and go back to your specific point: Facebook lets you set an maximum budget (in fact, by default, it asks you for one). It's their problem if they didn't set a limit. I set my campagins with $1 MAX per DAY and run it for 10 days. That's $10 max.

      Once it hits the $1/day limit, ads get paused until the next day, automatically.

      You can't set aside the question over the legitimacy of clicks. In your hypothetical above (setting a limit), sure, you don't overrun your budget for advertising, but then you are paying for advertising that you are not actually getting. Saying that you want to set aside the question of legitimacy of clicks is in fact you saying that you don't actually want advertising, you only want limits on expenditure.

      --
      I'm a minority race. Save your vitriol for white people.
    134. Re:If you don't have javascript, you're a bot? by MLCT · · Score: 1

      Another possibility : 4) To hurt Facebook by destroying their credibility and make them tank even faster that they were already going to. May be someone shorting FB stock.

      But the whole story that seems to be missing from the comments here on /. is that the real reason that the company left is that fb refused to do anything about it.

      I read this story on cnet yesterday, and the crux of it was that the company complained to facebook a lot - and fb just ignored them. The went to analytics, then wrote their own analytics, and finally uncovered the 80% bots conclusion. At every stage fb just ignored them. Click fraud is neither new nor interesting - it goes on - the issue is how it is dealt with. Compare fb's response (or lack of it) with some accounts in comments above about how google deal with click fraud. They investigate, lower rates and set alert limits if there are revenue spikes in the future.

      The last straw for this company was that fb were trying to charge thousands of dollars for them to change their company name - so at that point and with the click fraud problems they just said "f that - we are off to twitter".

      So in conclusion I don't think the company are saying that there is some mass conspiracy, or that fb are committing fraud (by running the bots), but rather they are just not interested in acknowledging that click fraud occurs, and are mildly trying to extort money out of companies if they want to change names etc. I think with each piece of evidence that adds it suggests that fb is desperate for money, and desperate for short term cash at the expense of long term reputation - there is no other explanation for their actions.

    135. Re:If you don't have javascript, you're a bot? by micheas · · Score: 1

      No featured stories in timeline yet?

      I finally understood timeline when I realized they are going to feed ads into it. The point of facebok timeline is so that people on mobile browsers will see the ads.

    136. Re:If you don't have javascript, you're a bot? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      This may have unintended consequences in the face of targeted advertising. Presumably you clicking on an ad normally indicates interest in the ad. So you would be more likely to see ads for companies you don't like if those are the type of ads you click on.

    137. Re:If you don't have javascript, you're a bot? by wvmarle · · Score: 0

      Today when I logged in to Facebook it said something about me having Timeline now. Whatever was my thought on that.

      I never visited my Wall or my personal page, don't really know what the use of Timeline is - other than that it's at least as horrible, messy layout and unusable as the original Wall (this from looking at other people's personal pages). I'm one of those guys who doesn't even have a profile picture, largely because I just don't care enough to find a nice one.

      I read the front page (with lots of nonsense from friends and acquaintances - and a total lack of a usable search function so don't bother giving a belated reply to a post of a friend), and one local group.

    138. Re:If you don't have javascript, you're a bot? by fatphil · · Score: 1

      So FB will tank.
      And all the social network addicts will run off to Google+.
      And all the advertisers will run off to Google AdSense (or whatever it's called).

      So explain how google aren't suspects? You seem to like conspiracy theories, have fun with that one.

      --
      Also FatPhil on SoylentNews, id 863
    139. Re:If you don't have javascript, you're a bot? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Too late. We know your IQ now. ;)

    140. Re:If you don't have javascript, you're a bot? by crutchy · · Score: 1

      he must be a facebook exec who knows just how retarded facebook users become after using it

    141. Re:If you don't have javascript, you're a bot? by crutchy · · Score: 1

      are you kidding! it would be viral in like 5 minutes, and you give law enforcement WAAAAY too much credit

    142. Re:If you don't have javascript, you're a bot? by crutchy · · Score: 1

      try vulva instead, or even better... testicles (goes with the whole goatse thing better)

    143. Re:If you don't have javascript, you're a bot? by crutchy · · Score: 1

      falsely analytical

      wtf are you smokin?

    144. Re:If you don't have javascript, you're a bot? by CSMoran · · Score: 1

      It's unlikely that that's the configuration used by 80% of Facebook users.

      Technically, only 80% of Facebook users who click the ad, not 80% of all Facebook users.

      Technically, only 80% of ad clicks, not users.

      --
      Every end has half a stick.
    145. Re:If you don't have javascript, you're a bot? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      "So vagina is not very popular around here?"

      The gay porn link at the top was a hint.

    146. Re:If you don't have javascript, you're a bot? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      "Sure, if you were also registering ad clicks when you had Javascript disabled."

      It wasn't me.
      Me and my friends just run LIKE bots not ADbots.
      That's how all that crap gets LIKEd.

    147. Re:If you don't have javascript, you're a bot? by Westwood0720 · · Score: 1

      Nice. =D

    148. Re:If you don't have javascript, you're a bot? by jellomizer · · Score: 1

      Besides I don't see people who have JavaScript Disabled being the type that will just click on links anyways.
      But it appears that Facebook has a big problem. Now either the Bots are by Facebook to boost revenue, that would be be a cause of some major bad mojo. Or competitors are botting their competition to get them out of business.

      Either way Facebook need to fix something to help their customers.

      --
      If something is so important that you feel the need to post it on the internet... It probably isn't that important.
    149. Re:If you don't have javascript, you're a bot? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Depends, I've seen ads pass by my site that got over $1/click

    150. Re:If you don't have javascript, you're a bot? by __aaltlg1547 · · Score: 1

      Either way Facebook is overcharging them for the clicks by 80%.

    151. Re:If you don't have javascript, you're a bot? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      The BBC found the same when testing with a fake company. http://www.bbc.com/news/technology-18822971

    152. Re:If you don't have javascript, you're a bot? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Out of curiosity, could you explain more about the E-Gold scams? I can't think why any third party would have an interest in paying users to click your ads. Maybe if some of the VPs higher up in your company were crooked and trying to inflate numbers, they might be hiring the scammers themselves, but why would a scam site decide to give you free (if useless) clicks? Is it a scheme to drive your advertising costs up?

    153. Re:If you don't have javascript, you're a bot? by hackula · · Score: 1

      Still wrong. Let's say you get your 1 click per day (the optimum right?). If 80% of those are bots, then you just paid $10 for 2 clicks. $5/click sounds like a pretty raw deal to me.

    154. Re:If you don't have javascript, you're a bot? by hjf · · Score: 1

      Doing business means you have to expect that the other party is working in good faith. You can't be wary of everyone you do business with. In fact, *not* every supplier (be it goods or services) is out there to fuck you - most of them figured it's more profitable to play fair.

      Hell, even drug dealers know better than killing you after selling you weed, to get their weed back *and* your money.

    155. Re:If you don't have javascript, you're a bot? by LihTox · · Score: 2

      What happens when an antivirus scanner "pre-scans" the page at link to the Ad, in case the user clicks on it,
      in order to speed up their browsing experience?

      Technically, it's not a bot causing the page to be requested, it can just as well be a real person's user agent

      True, but the company wouldn't want to pay for those pre-scans either, right?

    156. Re:If you don't have javascript, you're a bot? by ai4px · · Score: 1

      Ahh yes, but what if it's the guy's competitor trying to run up his advertising costs? What if facebook has nothing to do with this? If it is really a bot net, then no two clicks come from the same IP address, so FB can't filter them out for billing.

      Not that I'm a big facebook fan... this guys angst may be misdirected.

    157. Re:If you don't have javascript, you're a bot? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      What happens when an antivirus scanner "pre-scans" the page at link to the Ad, in case the user clicks on it,
      in order to speed up their browsing experience?

      Technically, it's not a bot causing the page to be requested, it can just as well be a real person's user agent

      You are describing a program that fakes a click on an ad. A human did not click the ad, and does not see it. That is a bot. You can re-define "bot" to exclude it, but the advertiser doesn't find your definition useful. They want humans to see the ad

    158. Re:If you don't have javascript, you're a bot? by hairyfeet · · Score: 1

      I have to wonder if what the rumors say is true and the lockout expiration is about to be up if it isn't some insider trying to pump the stock before they cash out.

      As I'm sure you know if you are an insider at a company and get stock before an IPO there is a "lockout period" where the ones that get stock before an IPO can't sell to keep them from doing a pump and dump by building a lot of buzz, letting the initial wave get high right after the stock hits the market and dumping their stocks for a big cashout. If true the expiration day is coming up that would give someone on the inside a pretty good reason to try to show FB "revenue' is climbing thus getting the stock to climb right before cashing out. A lot more people besides Zuckerberg got stock before the IPO ya know.

      In any case frankly a neutral third party needs to be investigating this to see how truly widespread this really is. As I said if Joe Nobody is finding that 80% of their clicks are bots, how many of the bigger customers are seeing the same or worse? Someone needs to pick 15 of the top 100 advertisers on FB and look at their clicks and where they are coming from as that should show if this is truly a widespread pattern or just a single company being targeted.

      --
      ACs don't waste your time replying, your posts are never seen by me.
    159. Re:If you don't have javascript, you're a bot? by sumdumass · · Score: 1

      Vagina is very popular around here. It just seams like it isn't because most users wouldn't know what to do with one if it was staring them in the face.

    160. Re:If you don't have javascript, you're a bot? by UltraZelda64 · · Score: 1

      Apparently. Just like apparently if you don't have a Facebook account, you're a murderer.

    161. Re:If you don't have javascript, you're a bot? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      He did say to guess...

    162. Re:If you don't have javascript, you're a bot? by sumdumass · · Score: 1

      I have an uninformed comment also. It doesn't matter if 80% of the clicks were by bots or users with the ability to not see the adds, their point remains the same, they were being billed for advertisements not reaching real people, Whether this is by bot or some geek wannabe out there constantly clicking the adds wondering why it isn't showing up is trivial to the overall claim.

      I'm just curious, to wonder what size their selection pool was. I mean 80 out of 100 is one thing, 800,000 out of 1,000,000 is quite another while both being 80%.

    163. Re:If you don't have javascript, you're a bot? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      My own quick look at the stats on one site I manage showed that almost exactly 50% of the hits were from users with java turned off. Some could be from bots but there is no $ incentive for bots to visit the site so I have to assume it reflects a good sample population of 10,000 hits over the last week.

    164. Re:If you don't have javascript, you're a bot? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      No kidding. Most of the sites I frequent were completely devoid of content until I allowed the ads again. They were all just a bunch of words and stuff.

    165. Re:If you don't have javascript, you're a bot? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      What's a java script, and why should I turn it off?

    166. Re:If you don't have javascript, you're a bot? by Genda · · Score: 1

      No, no, no that was Consumes not consumers... everyone knows Google's soup support engineers are second to none! Consumes, chowders, bisques, they support it all. I once tried to move 50 gallons of Gazpacho to a cloud server and I'd never have succeeded without their help. I hear some of them have even trained under Martha Stewart! Why anything would want to be under Martha Stewart for any reason... sorry different conversation all together. You need Vichyssois over the network, under the Google Page "More" selection, go straight to "SOUP".

    167. Re:If you don't have javascript, you're a bot? by Genda · · Score: 1

      Either way, I'm also in the FB is a junk stock camp. It's being held aloft by a powerful combination of stupid and optimism.

      Let's not bring the religious right into this issue... its already convoluted enough!!!

    168. Re:If you don't have javascript, you're a bot? by FitForTheSun · · Score: 2

      Then you're not part of the set and your comment is off topic.

    169. Re:If you don't have javascript, you're a bot? by FitForTheSun · · Score: 1

      Yes. You are correct. They are being billed for ads which are not reaching real people. Likewise, people who pay for broadcast TV commercials are billed for people who mute their televisions, or go to the bathroom during commercial breaks.

      It is the responsibility of the advertiser to determine whether or not the ads they purchase are worth the money. This is a classic difficult business problem, one taught in classrooms for many many years. It's not new and it's not unique to Facbook -- but it is real and a legitimate concern.

    170. Re:If you don't have javascript, you're a bot? by Flipstylee · · Score: 1

      Ha! Adding a captcha to an ad! I think that would tear Space/Time enough to create a Black-Hole that swallows us all.

    171. Re:If you don't have javascript, you're a bot? by CheshireDragon · · Score: 1

      which makes it easier to navigate...

      --
      "That's right...I said it."
    172. Re:If you don't have javascript, you're a bot? by Aighearach · · Score: 1

      Hey gramps, take your meds!

      These are pay-per-click ads, not pay per view (nobody does per-view anymore, not for years). Nobody cares if a human saw the ad. They care if a human clicked it.

    173. Re:If you don't have javascript, you're a bot? by Aighearach · · Score: 1

      Either a bot, or an intelligent user who won't read the adverts. Same result for the advertiser.

      Cue up the Hamsterdance for that one!

      An intelligent user who doesn't read the adverts is probably smart enough not to click on them. I don't think it puts you on the favorable side of the standard distribution if you think that accidental clicks by intelligent people is 80% of clicks. Presumably you see yourself as intelligent, and so you assume the vast majority of people are intelligent non-advert-readers.

      I hate to burst whatever is left of your bubble, but if you have JS off you didn't even see the adverts. You can't read them or click them. The only way you get to the situation of clicking the link is if you download the JS files, but don't run them and instead you grep the links out of them and follow those.

    174. Re:If you don't have javascript, you're a bot? by Jah-Wren+Ryel · · Score: 1

      These are pay-per-click ads, not pay per view (nobody does per-view anymore, not for years). Nobody cares if a human saw the ad. They care if a human clicked it.

      OK, here you go:

      The question isn't whether or not a "bot" clicked the ad, the question is if a real person clicked the ad. Your hypothetical scenario doesn't change the answer.

      Wow, would you look at that? It means something completely different now.
      Oh wait, no it doesn't, dumbass.

      --
      When information is power, privacy is freedom.
    175. Re:If you don't have javascript, you're a bot? by Monkier · · Score: 1

      or to extort facebook? "pay for our botnet protection, as we wouldn't want to see your advertisers getting poor value for money".

    176. Re:If you don't have javascript, you're a bot? by mysidia · · Score: 1

      True, but the company wouldn't want to pay for those pre-scans either, right?

      Perhaps they wouldn't want to. They may not have much of a choice, if there are hundreds of competitors willing to pay the same price.

      The "bot clicks" consume resources of the ad servers, much like real clicks do.

      If they pay for bandwidth based on monthly gigabytes of data transferred; I bet they don't want to pay for non-customers and bots visiting their site, and racking up transfer usage, either.

      Surely those bots utilize 0 of the hosting provider's true bandwidth, memory, and CPU resources.

    177. Re:If you don't have javascript, you're a bot? by sumdumass · · Score: 1

      This would be a bit different then television or radio ads as the pay per click model implies those not interested would not be viewing it anyways because they would not be clicking it. But i agree, it is something they need to evaluate and determine if it is worth the money/ It appears to be exactly what had happened- except during this evaluation they found some disturbing information that shouldn't have been there.

    178. Re:If you don't have javascript, you're a bot? by Surt · · Score: 1

      It's how scammers run programs on your computer through your web browser. You turn it off to stop them.

      --
      "Who is the Journal of Quantum Physics going to believe?" --Stephen Hawking
    179. Re:If you don't have javascript, you're a bot? by peawormsworth · · Score: 1

      Fat chance. Lock up expiration is coming. Watch it going to single digits like ZNGA. Short it while you can.

      Is "Lock up Expiration" the day that Google buys a majority share in Facebook, and decides to move all the accounts over to G+ for free?

    180. Re:If you don't have javascript, you're a bot? by Aighearach · · Score: 1

      Yes, "saw" and "clicked" have different meanings. Oh wait, they do.

      Failing once is bad enough, failing a second time after being corrected... lolol

    181. Re:If you don't have javascript, you're a bot? by Jah-Wren+Ryel · · Score: 2

      Yes, "saw" and "clicked" have different meanings. Oh wait, they do.

      Do they? Really? Do you actually believe that an advertiser would be happy with paying for clicks that do not result in a user seeing what is on the other side of the click? For all intents and purposes there is no difference here.

      Failing once is bad enough, failing a second time after being corrected... lolol

      David Dunning thinks you can't articulate what makes "saw" and "clicked" different.

      --
      When information is power, privacy is freedom.
    182. Re:If you don't have javascript, you're a bot? by thingummy · · Score: 1

      I only hope that company makes the software they developed to find this out free and available for others to use so we can see

      What a freetard you are! If you want to see, write your own damned software. Leech.

    183. Re:If you don't have javascript, you're a bot? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I doubt as many as 80%, or 5% for that matter, of Facebook users have ever heard of "javascript" before.

    184. Re:If you don't have javascript, you're a bot? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      We always suspect, but can never prove that one of our competitors is behind this click fest to drive my ads off the
      search results by over-running our limits, because they always seem to happen when they launch a new product.

      When you get a click, don't you get the IP of the visitor as well, since they actually visit your site? You should start running statistics on geolocation and whois info to see which of the visits come from your competitors or from companies that are hired by your competitors. I doubt they use their own IPs for the larger attacks, but they might forget to go through external IPs while they are updating and debugging their software. If you can trigger an update cycle (through social engineering I guess) you could improve the accuracy of your analysis.

    185. Re:If you don't have javascript, you're a bot? by icebike · · Score: 1

      When you get a click, don't you get the IP of the visitor as well, since they actually visit your site?

      No you don't. At least not without digging through your web logs and trying to match referer info, which is notoriously unreliable and deliberately obfuscated be click fraud tools.

      --
      Sig Battery depleted. Reverting to safe mode.
    186. Re:If you don't have javascript, you're a bot? by Aighearach · · Score: 1

      you can't articulate what makes "saw" and "clicked" different.

      You must be tense-challenged. No, in fact I didn't articulate what makes these words different. But allow my to assist your attempt to expand your vocabulary with this helpful advice: RTFM. If you're not sure where to find the manual, look for the one marked "dictionary."

    187. Re:If you don't have javascript, you're a bot? by Jah-Wren+Ryel · · Score: 1

      You must be tense-challenged. No, in fact I didn't articulate what makes these words different.

      That's right, you didn't because you can't.
      But keep up that public stroking of your pedant, it is so attractive.

      --
      When information is power, privacy is freedom.
  2. Yes, but don't call them that by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Funny

    It's rude.

  3. Re:WTF Apple?!? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Informative

    Don't go there, porno image.

  4. One day it might actually sink in by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Ad rotator services and click-throughs are WORTHLESS.

    The internet gives you the power to directly connect with people and most companies still only understand advertising through broadcasting which is like tossing thousands of coins waiting for one to land on its edge.

    I hope they've learnt their lesson before someone actually punches their monkey.

    1. Re:One day it might actually sink in by pipatron · · Score: 1

      This is of course true, but one problem is that these companies largely pay for a lot of our interwebsites today, through meaningless ads for irrelevant products.

      --
      c++; /* this makes c bigger but returns the old value */
    2. Re:One day it might actually sink in by sexconker · · Score: 2, Insightful

      This is of course true, but one problem is that these companies largely pay for a lot of our interwebsites today, through meaningless ads for irrelevant products.

      Meaningless ads for irrelevant products, featured on pointless websites.
      Rip it all out, and nothing of value would be lost.

      Fuck ads and fuck any person, company, industry, etc. that relies on them.

    3. Re:One day it might actually sink in by networkBoy · · Score: 3, Informative

      I don't rely on them, but I have a handful of ads on my websites. They barely pay the bandwidth, but pay they do. If ads went away I doubt I'd drop my sites, but I would have to consider just what content I'd put up.
      -nB

      --
      whois gawk date unzip strip find touch finger mount join nice man top fsck grep eject more yes exit umount sleep dump
    4. Re:One day it might actually sink in by hajus · · Score: 1

      > but I would have to consider just what content I'd put up.

      And the web would be a better place. I assume there is less of that going around in general.

    5. Re:One day it might actually sink in by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      What if you're not selling something... Like slashdot?

    6. Re:One day it might actually sink in by networkBoy · · Score: 1

      Currently I put of both high and medium resolution photos for pictures I want to make available (like schematics, illustrations of board re-works, etc.) If I had no ads offsetting the bandwidth cost I would likely only have the medium res photos, and highly compressed, rather than now where having some 1 and 2 meg images is not an issue from a cost standpoint.
      -nB

      --
      whois gawk date unzip strip find touch finger mount join nice man top fsck grep eject more yes exit umount sleep dump
  5. Nice finding, hope some could confirm by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Amazing, amusing and probably very powerful if proven true ...

    1. Re:Nice finding, hope some could confirm by Desler · · Score: 5, Informative

      It's easy to confirm. Disable Javascript on Facebook and the ads disappear. It's pretty unlikely most people are disabling Javascript then finding alternative means to click the ads anyway unless they're a bot.

    2. Re:Nice finding, hope some could confirm by icebraining · · Score: 2

      Well, if they're using NoScript they could have Facebook's scripts enabled but not this company's. That said, it's very unlikely that they'd be more than 1% or so.

  6. Re:Javascript turned off? by Desler · · Score: 5, Informative

    No, but you also won't be clicking on the ads since they are no longer visible without Javascript.

  7. I'm not surprised. by Rob+from+RPI · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Facebook is a TERRIBLE advertising platform. I've tried it, and had nothing but rubbish. In fact, I read an article about it not long after I tried it, saying that Facebook Advertising just doesn't work, and the only way they keep it up is by new people going 'Well, all these other people are advertising, I'm sure I can try that too'. Then they give it up as a bad job, but not before someone ELSE sees it and goes 'Hmm. FB Advertising'...

    So, basically, I wasted $50, and learned that trying to appeal to the facebook crowd with something they have to pay for just doesn't work.

    1. Re:I'm not surprised. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      $50 ? I don't think that is an adequate sample size to determine anything. Maybe $5000 to get any good stats.

    2. Re:I'm not surprised. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      yup - its shocking that a really profitable company does shady business practices. NEVER seen that before.

    3. Re:I'm not surprised. by clem.dickey · · Score: 2

      It is not surprising that people don't see the ads. The traditional Facebook page (I have not seen Timeline) has four columns, three of which can be entirely ignored.

      I find myself developing a unique "blind spot" for every common page with static ad placement. It's hard for me to find the ads even when I want to browse them.

    4. Re:I'm not surprised. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Wait wait wait -- what did you /expect/ to get from your advertising?

      And compared to what other type of advertising that you actually do and have reliable metrics for?

      I don't mean to drag your tail over the fire here. It's just that advertising is mostly, almost entirely, about getting people to have heard of you, not to immediately do business with you.

      The latter expectation (save excellent time-limited door-crasher sale announcement) is totally unrealistic for most advertising. Whereas the first is a crucial ground-prep so people will think of you (kindly) when they're ready to buy.

      If one doesn't have that straight, and all one has is anecdotal evidence, then you're going to get the wrong idea about what is working for you.

      But that's general; please do tell us /specifically/ what you were trying to sell, and what metrics you've been using to compare types of advertising.

    5. Re:I'm not surprised. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

      Shut up, Mark.

    6. Re:I'm not surprised. by Ziekheid · · Score: 1

      I disagree, large companies don't need succesful clickthroughs. I assure you that you will remember that big McDonalds ad next to your facebook information.
      It's not all about clickthrough's, it's about your brand being seen, reminding people that you exist.

    7. Re:I'm not surprised. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Facebook is a TERRIBLE advertising platform. I've tried it, and had nothing but rubbish. In fact, I read an article about it not long after I tried it, saying that Facebook Advertising just doesn't work, and the only way they keep it up is by new people going 'Well, all these other people are advertising, I'm sure I can try that too'. Then they give it up as a bad job, but not before someone ELSE sees it and goes 'Hmm. FB Advertising'...

      So, basically, I wasted $50, and learned that trying to appeal to the facebook crowd with something they have to pay for just doesn't work.

      Or maybe your advertisement or your services suck and no one wanted it. You can only blame others for so many things before you haveto think that maybe its your own fault. A lot of people offer services no one wants, its not your fault your attempt sucks but just pointing your finger at the invisible boogeyman and saying "Thats him! Its all his fault!" is just immature and stupid.

    8. Re:I'm not surprised. by wmbetts · · Score: 5, Informative

      Not to be rude or offensive, but you failed at it because you didn't know what you were doing. I know several people (for companies not themselves) spending six figures a month with facebook and generating sales numbers larger than that. It's working great for them. If I tried that I would have the same results as you until I learned what I was doing. To do it "right" it requires a custom software and understanding of all the analytics. I've asked them in the past about their budget for testing new ads and products. They will blow a couple grand just getting everything dialed in. Unless you're copying someone verbatim (and that would require hacking them and seeing everything on their back end not just their fb ads) $50 isn't even close enough to begin getting a campaign profitable.

      Something else they will do is literally upload hundreds of different ads with different pictures, text, etc. Then they'll choose the ads that have the highest CTR (click through rate). Apparently one of the metrics fb uses for click prices is the CTR. If you're getting a crt of around .1% or higher you'll be getting some great click prices. Which is why they upload so many creativities. They have software that will take images, titles, bodies and generate ads for all the permutations and set very specific demographics for each set (a set would be the total permutations) of ads then upload them to fb. That allows them to see which ads work best for which demographics.

      Click fraud is a huge problem though. A lot of ad networks will reimburse you for bot clicks if you can prove they were in fact bots and not real people. A lot of times it will be a small percentage and you eat the cost, because it's not worth the trouble of fighting for it. Think of it as theft if you were running a retail store, because that's essentially what it is. However, at 80% that's just crazy and this company has every right to be upset regardless of the amount they spent. They didn't get what they paid for.

      After saying all of that. I'm sure if you had the money to burn you could figure it out and make a nice side income. You would have to treat it like any business though and expect to lose money for a while until you learned the ropes.

      --
      "Ubuntu" -- an African word, meaning "Slackware is too hard for me". - stolen from Dan C alt.os.linux.slackware
    9. Re:I'm not surprised. by wmbetts · · Score: 2

      You're talking about traditional advertising and most online advertising doesn't follow that model. Online advertising is about producing an immediate result and that result is normally a sale, lead, etc. Branding is normally a secondary function.

      --
      "Ubuntu" -- an African word, meaning "Slackware is too hard for me". - stolen from Dan C alt.os.linux.slackware
    10. Re:I'm not surprised. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I've spent more than $5,000 advertising on Facebook and found it to be highly effective. A $50 test case doesn't seem like much of an exploration.

      Facebook ads don't work like other ads; among other things you have to bring your own content and if your content sucks or is just marginally good, you are probably wasting your $$; but if you know what your doing and who you want to reach and use Facebook's targeting system with some skill their ads are effective.

    11. Re:I'm not surprised. by philodox · · Score: 1

      I think a lot of this hoopla has to do with small sample sizes and poor implementation. People are jumping to conclusions here about 80% bot traffic and all that, but nobody has actually examined the numbers and methodology. They are taking all of this at face value and extrapolating to... ???

      Anyway, with people who DO know what they are doing, and are using Facebook ads for direct response (e.g. driving traffic directly to their website), Zappos has been doing an incredible job using some of the methods you describe above:

      http://www.businessinsider.com/zappos-social-media-guru-just-revealed-facebooks-hidden-ad-secret-2012-6

      FYI I'm not a Facebook shill, and I think a lot of the advertising doesn't work because people don't know how to do it correctly. In my experience, it's a lot easier for a non-sophisticated advertiser to be successful with something like Google AdWords because the intent of the person being advertised to is clearly known. It's much harder to tease out the "intent" of someone who clicks your FB ad or likes your page, since you are engaging with them via demographics and not an explicit statement of intent, such as searching for a keyword.

  8. Duh by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I have never met anyone that clicked an ad.

    1. Re:Duh by pipatron · · Score: 1

      I have once clicked an ad from google in gmail. I think it was about 1U linux servers. It was pretty relevant at the time.

      --
      c++; /* this makes c bigger but returns the old value */
    2. Re:Duh by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I wonder if anyone has ever sent themselves a key-worded email to a gmail account just to generate some relevant ads. Would it be more practical than searching Google shopping? Probably not much, given the fixed number of ads returned.

  9. Wait.. so... deleting? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Deleting their page is the answer? Why not just keep their page up, and not pay for clicks?

    1. Re:Wait.. so... deleting? by Bill,+Shooter+of+Bul · · Score: 2

      Because they are upset with facebook for this issue as well as a completly unrelated issue where they changed their company name, but facebook won't let them change the name of their page for less than 20 k in ad purchases.

      Really. There are large costs associated with company name changes. That is not news. Anyone else starting a buisness would be advised to choose a name they really want before lanching, or pay the associated costs.

      --
      Well.. maybe. Or Maybe not. But Definitely not sort of.
    2. Re:Wait.. so... deleting? by FranTaylor · · Score: 1

      the issue is how much does it cost facebook to change the name of the company in their database. If they say it costs them thousands of dollars to update a database entry do you believe them? What does it cost you to change an entry in your addressbook? Even if you are a highly paid trial lawyer on hourly rates it will only cost you a couple of dollars.

    3. Re:Wait.. so... deleting? by Bill,+Shooter+of+Bul · · Score: 1

      No, facebook isn't saying that it will cost facebook thousands of dollars to update a field. Its saying they require the purchase of thousands of dollars in advertising before they will change it. That I beleive. Is it fair? I'm not sure, but if you want to be on facebook, you have to play by their rules.

      The amount of money it costs a buisness to perform an action is not always related to how much they charge, econ 101.

      --
      Well.. maybe. Or Maybe not. But Definitely not sort of.
  10. Cui bono? by benjfowler · · Score: 1, Insightful

    Only Facebook would benefit.

    Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence.

    Evidence, or STFU please.

    1. Re:Cui bono? by Desler · · Score: 5, Informative

      Simple. Go to Facebook and disable Javascript. Ads are now no longer visible. How else other than through a bot or some extra effort do you guess that these ads are being clicked when the ads aren't visible?

    2. Re:Cui bono? by MRe_nl · · Score: 5, Informative

      "For the past week, I've been running a very successful small business via Facebook. It is called VirtualBagel and more than 3,000 people from around the world have decided they "like" it - despite the fact that it does, well, absolutely nothing. But in running this non-existent firm I have learned quite a bit about the value of those "likes" prized by so many big brands, and the usefulness of Facebook's advertising".> http://www.bbc.com/news/technology-18819338

      --
      "Kill 'em all and let Root sort 'em out"
    3. Re:Cui bono? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I think the parent was asking for proof that they were actually getting clicks from bots. That would include more than just seeing if ads were visible with javascript disabled, like actual third party verification that they had clicks with javascript off.

    4. Re:Cui bono? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I always assumed the value of being 'liked' was in either access to some info about the users that like your product or just more presence on their page or something.

    5. Re:Cui bono? by PraiseBob · · Score: 2

      If Facebook was gaming the stats to boost their ad revenue, there are smarter ways.

      What seems more likely is an near infinite army of bots, trying to steal information to build profiles, and going to every advertising link while they are at it.

      Other internet advertising businesses have everything to gain by stealing from the biggest treasure trove of personal info on the net. And they everything to gain by driving up the costs of advertising on Facebook while providing no benefit.

    6. Re:Cui bono? by dunezone · · Score: 1

      This was like the guy who uploaded a program onto download.com and received several awards for being a great program. All the program did was display a windows form with an Ok button that closed it out.

    7. Re:Cui bono? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      To be honest, when I still had a facebook account I temporary allowed both domains when I was checking the account. If I had clicked on an add and ended up on a new site it would have detected that my JS would be disabled

    8. Re:Cui bono? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Bravo!

      You've helped show the average person two things ... first, there ARE bots are out there, and they need to be concerned about running antivirus software, etc., ... second, Facebook has a SERIOUS problem with its ad revenue model.

    9. Re:Cui bono? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Very interesting indeed. How long will FB survive now that the thought exists that maybe this castle is built on sand?

  11. Re:WTF Apple?!? by watice · · Score: 2

    dammit. too little too late. that'll be forever ingrained in my oh nvm. my brain has ARC

  12. Re:WTF Apple?!? by s.petry · · Score: 4, Informative

    Can a mod delete that link please? This is most surely against TOS and may get people fired from work if using /. at work.

    --

    -The wise argue that there are few absolutes, the fool argues that there are no probabilities.

  13. Surprise by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Surprise, surprise. Wasn't it obvious? I have clicked an ad on the Internet once in 6 months.

    1. Re:Surprise by rmdingler · · Score: 1

      If you click on just one ad semi-annually, let it be MyCleanPC!

      --
      Happiness in intelligent people is the rarest thing I know.

      Ernest Hemingway

  14. No loss by gweihir · · Score: 1

    And no surprise. Facebook is going to suffer a dramatic stock-price crash in the near future. Too bad all the sheep have already bough into the scam.

    --
    Most ACs are not even worth the keystrokes to insult them. Be generically insulted by this and ignored otherwise.
    1. Re:No loss by amicusNYCL · · Score: 1

      Too bad all the sheep have already bough into the scam.

      You really feel bad for someone who thought it was a good idea to buy Facebook at $38/share? Do you also feel bad when gamblers, err sorry, I meant "commodity speculators", take a loss? You felt sorry for the Duke brothers in Trading Places, didn't you? Poor Randolph and Mortimer.

      --
      "Our two-party system is like a bowl of shit looking at itself in a mirror." - Lewis Black
    2. Re:No loss by firewrought · · Score: 1

      You really feel bad for someone who thought it was a good idea to buy Facebook at $38/share? Do you also feel bad when gamblers, err sorry, I meant "commodity speculators", take a loss?

      No, but I feel somewhat bad for the investors holding traditionally conservative mutual funds that went in heavily on Facebook. (There was a good chart on this in one of the news weekly... forgot which one.) I'm thinking this mainly impacted mom-and-pop retirees who entrusted hard-earned money to funds whose primary purpose was slow growth and/or capital preservation.

      --
      -1, Too Many Layers Of Abstraction
    3. Re:No loss by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Any mutual that invested heavily in FB was, by definition, NOT conservative.

    4. Re:No loss by gweihir · · Score: 1

      There were invisible <sarcasm >....</sarcasm> tags. /. must have eaten them for breakfast.

      --
      Most ACs are not even worth the keystrokes to insult them. Be generically insulted by this and ignored otherwise.
    5. Re:No loss by gweihir · · Score: 1

      These types of investors should be fully liable when buying something so obviously bad as Farcebook on its IPO.

      --
      Most ACs are not even worth the keystrokes to insult them. Be generically insulted by this and ignored otherwise.
    6. Re:No loss by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      We shouldn't feel sorry for the people scammed by pump and dump scams? We shouldn't feel sorry for the retirement account owners who suffer when institutional investors make gambles on scams, and this is considered a normal part of the economy? If you're the sort of arch-capitalist who says they all deserve what they get, then it is very strange for you to hide behind the poor and down-trodden of Trading Places.

    7. Re:No loss by firewrought · · Score: 1

      These types of investors should be fully liable when buying something so obviously bad as Farcebook on its IPO.

      I'm not sure the term "liable" is appropriate here, but yes, investors should and do bear the risk for their investments.

      Remember, however, that with a mutual fund, you're trusting a fund manager to enact the strategy specified in that fund's prospectus. If they don't, you might feel a little pissy that they started gambling with your money. (You could try to sue, but winning is very unlikely.)

      (Here's the article I was thinking of by the way... scroll down one page and read the blue infographic box.)

      --
      -1, Too Many Layers Of Abstraction
  15. Re:WTF Apple?!? by rmdingler · · Score: 1

    Unless your a porn posting AC?

    --
    Happiness in intelligent people is the rarest thing I know.

    Ernest Hemingway

  16. Re:WTF Apple?!? by Desler · · Score: 2

    This is most surely against TOS

    You would be wrong:

    Geeknet does not control the Content posted to the Geeknet Sites and, as such, does not guarantee the accuracy, integrity or quality of such Content. Under no circumstances will Geeknet be liable in any way for any Content, including, but not limited to, liability for any errors or omissions in any Content or for any loss or damage of any kind incurred as a result of the use of any Content posted, emailed or otherwise transmitted via Geeknet Sites.

  17. Publish their data? by hawguy · · Score: 1

    That's correct. Bots were loading pages and driving up our advertising costs. So we tried contacting Facebook about this. Unfortunately, they wouldn't reply. Do we know who the bots belong too? No. Are we accusing Facebook of using bots to drive up advertising revenue. No. Is it strange? Yes. But let's move on, because who the bots belong to isn't provable.

    If they'd publish their access log data from the bot hits, I bet someone out there can help track down the source.

    1. Re:Publish their data? by gl4ss · · Score: 0

      yeah why would facebook need _bots_ to drive fake numbers up?
      if they have a competitor.. now for them it would be beneficial.

      seems like a publicity stunt since: IF YOU DON'T WANT PAID ADVERT CLICKS DON'T FUCKING BUY THEM! no need to delete the page..

      --
      world was created 5 seconds before this post as it is.
    2. Re:Publish their data? by Animats · · Score: 1

      f they'd publish their access log data from the bot hits, I bet someone out there can help track down the source.

      Yes. Give us the top 100 IP addresses with timestamps. Where are they coming from? DSL lines? Tor exit proxies? Known compromised machines? Amazon server instances?

    3. Re:Publish their data? by MozeeToby · · Score: 1

      A botnet. There, that was easy. Even if the clicks are coming from Facebook they'll have routed them through some 3rd party, and botnets are the only 3rd party around who would be willing to do it.

  18. Re:WTF Apple?!? by Desler · · Score: 2

    Oops forgot this last part:

    Each user, by using Geeknet Sites, may be exposed to Content that is offensive, indecent or objectionable. Each user must evaluate, and bear all risks associated with the use of any Content, including any reliance on the accuracy, completeness, or usefulness of such Content.

  19. Re:WTF Apple?!? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    LOL. I wasn't going to click until I read your comment.. i saw porno and clicked. you should have been more specific.. its gay porno... not my thing.

  20. Re:Javascript turned off? by gmuslera · · Score: 0

    You could have javascript enabled for facebook but not for the target site.

  21. What did you expect? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    Facebook have been lying through the teeth for years.

    It is all slowly coming out. Your time is limited, Facebook.
    Users hate the site, users are leaving, the advertising platform is a laughable mess, you just wrecked your own friend (Zynga) in the app market changes, you overvalued your company and everyone is realizing how all these previous things are really so awful.
    Won't miss it one bit.

  22. Re:WTF Apple?!? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Informative

    Can a mod delete that link please?

    No.. Homey don't censor... Learn how to tune out.

  23. Them bots sure are cheap by greg1104 · · Score: 4, Insightful

    With some Facebook bots starting at $30 to $50 to build, of course people are doing that. Facebook has bigger problems than giving a crap about this company's complaints or requests. If our SEC wasn't a toothless corporate captive, the company would already have been halted for securities abuse.

    1. Re:Them bots sure are cheap by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Wow. Those prices are insane. Shop around people. I have over 300 legit FB accounts and many, many different kinds of bots. Google will help you find me.

    2. Re:Them bots sure are cheap by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      That fist zerohedge graphic is literally the dumbest thing ever cast into pixels!
      First there is the total active users, rising strongly, but sloowly apporaching saturation.
      Then he shows the *growth* alone,which of course is falling.
      And then to go totally over the top in a insane escalation of crazy, he *manually* draws a big red downwards arrow in there,
      to argue that "ERMAHGERD! FERCBERK USEERS ARR GOEEN DEWN!!".

      NO.. Growth is going down. That's something completely different. Because it's approaching saturation. That has nothing to do with the number of total users falling!

      There's nothing worse than some idiot "defending" your side with such a load of bullshit, that you look worse than the other side, even though you're right. It's like a false flag operation.
      The saddest part is, that I very likely would have agreed, that Facebook is a failure and will only go down from here.
      But this is such retarded over-the-top forced FAIL, I don't even know what to say anymore...

    3. Re:Them bots sure are cheap by greg1104 · · Score: 1

      That fist zerohedge graphic is literally the dumbest thing ever cast into pixels!

      Looks like someone has literally never visited I Can Has Cheezburger?

  24. Re:Javascript turned off? by Desler · · Score: 2

    Which is highly unlikely since most users don't turn off Javascript.

  25. Scam in action... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    All you have to do is look at Amazon's Mechanical Turk to see the scam in operation. It works mostly like this:

    1. Bot head writes a piece of automated software

    2. Bot head hires gullible people on Mechanical Turk (or other job boards like craigs list) promising them thousands of dollars a month just to do semi-automated actions. But they don't get checks, they get Amazon gift cards to side-step tax reporting.

    3. Bot head owns various sites that the ads run on, and is either paying people to plagarize content from other sites to contextualize high paying ads, or paying people to run their bot software to click on the ads.

    It's not too different from high-speed algrorithmic trading in the stock market.

    1. Re:Scam in action... by dadioflex · · Score: 1

      All you have to do is look at Amazon's Mechanical Turk to see the scam in operation. It works mostly like this:

      1. Bot head writes a piece of automated software

      2. Bot head hires gullible people on Mechanical Turk (or other job boards like craigs list) promising them thousands of dollars a month just to do semi-automated actions. But they don't get checks, they get Amazon gift cards to side-step tax reporting.

      3. Bot head owns various sites that the ads run on, and is either paying people to plagarize content from other sites to contextualize high paying ads, or paying people to run their bot software to click on the ads.

      It's not too different from high-speed algrorithmic trading in the stock market.

      What you're describing is not what's happening on Facebook, but rather the million and one miscellaneous websites that pop up on search full of identical articles and Google adwords. They don't even have to be plagiarizing anything as they can pay a small amount for access to a wealth of ready-made articles, that get posted regularly so it look like a normal site, even if they're posting real estate articles originally written in 2006. The Mechanical Turk has nothing to do with it. It's nothing like high-speed algorithmic trading. Not remotely.

      What you've done is thrown a bunch of random theories into a tick list and then pulled a conclusion out of your... we'll say tinfoil hat.

  26. Re:WTF Apple?!? by Desler · · Score: 5, Insightful

    And only an idiot clicks on random image links when they are at work...

  27. I don't doubt it by WaffleMonster · · Score: 5, Insightful

    We use adwords from time to time and had similar experiences a few years back with the "content network".

    We analyzed our stats and even went as far as manually browse access logs. The hits we got were crap just like the sites most of the referrals came from.

    There is a huge sesspool of scum on the Internet funded by leeching off ad revenue wherever it exists.

    If companies are not on top of it and not careful about how they are spending their advertising dollars this kind of fraud could easily eat into a sizable chunk of their budgets and they might not even know it.

    Do your homework before you throw your money away.

    1. Re:I don't doubt it by rgbrenner · · Score: 2

      The poor response rate on the content network is well known. Which is why the recommended advice, even from google, is to bid substantially lower on the content network.

      The lower bid amount compensates for the low response rate.. so the cost per acquisition is similar to the search network.

    2. Re:I don't doubt it by Chemisor · · Score: 5, Interesting

      There is no cesspool of scum on the internet leaching off add revenue. A cesspool of idiocy is more like it. People who take your money are not the problem - you are the problem. Advertising does not work. In the age of the internet, if you want to sell something, all you need to do is make it easy to find. Advertising does not do that. Advertising clogs the pipes with crappy messages telling me to buy without telling me what you are selling. List the damn product on amazon. Sell it on eBay. Make it show up on a search. And tell me what the damn thing is and how much it costs. These two things are the only things I need to know to make a purchasing decision, and advertising goes to incredible amount of effort to hide them from me. Let me find it. Tell me what it does. Tell me what makes it different from the alternatives. Is it the cheap one? The best made one? The one with feature X? The one with feature Y? The locally made one? Give me the damn facts. Stop telling me what I should think about it. Stop buying goddamned ads!

    3. Re:I don't doubt it by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      The cesspool is the advertisers, im only glad that the bots makes it a gamble.

    4. Re:I don't doubt it by PReDiToR · · Score: 5, Informative

      Someone modded this troll?

      So, how many times have you seen a vapourware product on this site and gone to their site to see:
      A) How much it costs
      B) Where to buy it
      and been REALLY FUCKED OFF to find that this information isn't available?

      Advertising, Slashvertising and posting 250 words over 6 pages of ad-infested blog wipe doesn't sell products. It sells hype and only marketing get rich off hype.

      Here is the perfect advert:

      For rent: NATALIE PORTMAN
      Comes with HOT GRITS, NAKED.
      NPORTMAN.COM, UPS delivery to continental US only, $200 per night. Availability is 1/per customer, per night, first come first served.

      And I think that makes the word "amirite" necessary here.

      --

      Do not meddle in the affairs of geeks for they are subtle and quick to anger
    5. Re:I don't doubt it by west · · Score: 1

      Advertising does not work.

      Shh. Persuade advertisers of that and we lose Google, Facebook, all the news sites, and essentially every non-pay site on the web.

      On the other hand, perhaps a $10/month subscription to Google along with another $5 for Slashdot, $5 for Ars Technical, $5 for the Atlantic, $3-4 for each of my web comics I read, and few bucks for each of the blogs I read etc. would be a reasonable substitution for not having to ignore ads.

      But it would certainly suck for anyone who doesn't have an extra $100 or so a month to spend on their Internet content. (And cross-site links would be pretty dead.)

      The old days are dead. With some very few (but noted) exceptions, if someone is paying more than a few bucks for the privilege of having me read their content, it's moderately likely their content isn't worth reading. Almost any site that's even half popular needs advertising to pay for the bandwidth, to say nothing of the cost of content creation and site upkeep.

    6. Re:I don't doubt it by Tom · · Score: 1

      I think the same, but sadly, we are the majority.

      Statistics (and marketing people are serious on statistics, trust me) show that advertisement does work - about half the time.

      Everyone in marketing knows that half of the money you throw at marketing could just as well be burned. The problem is that you never know beforehand which half. So they keep doing it. Some concepts get finally dropped because they almost never work, and some are kept because they work often.
      Sadly, some of the ones that work fairly often are also the most obnoxious.

      --
      Assorted stuff I do sometimes: Lemuria.org
    7. Re:I don't doubt it by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Would you approve of advertising if it included all of the information like - cheapest, best, feature X, only one with Y, made in....?

      There are lots of ads that do nothing to inform, but some do include some of the information you wish/find acceptable.

    8. Re:I don't doubt it by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Your advertising copy can be tarted up a bit. I recommend:

      Availability is 1/per customer, per night. First served, first comed

  28. Occam's Razor by Sponge+Bath · · Score: 5, Funny

    Maybe the bots are genuinely interested in Mom's Old Fashioned Robot Oil.

  29. When I'm bored... by ebcdic · · Score: 5, Funny

    I google for "whiplash" or "loans" and click on all the ads.

    1. Re:When I'm bored... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Dude, if I had ever bothered to log in for the past 10 years an had actually accumulated mod points, I would mod you +10000, So Funny you Win the Internets.

    2. Re:When I'm bored... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      "structured settlement" is apparently one of the highest paying ones. I put one of my coworker's numbers into one of those websites and his phone rang instantly with someone wanting to buy his lotto annuity.

    3. Re:When I'm bored... by speedlaw · · Score: 2

      "mesothelioma" is the most expensive word to buy from a search engine. I'm sure I'll be modded down but I miss the old internet, the one where you had to have some knowledge and some money to be there.

  30. OMG!! by rudy_wayne · · Score: 4, Insightful

    The 80% of clicks we were paying for were from bots. That's correct. Bots were loading pages and driving up our advertising costs.

    Advertising on the Internet is based on click-fraud. Where have you been for the last 10 years?

    1. Re:OMG!! by tomhath · · Score: 1

      And the other 20% is from idiots who still buy banner ads.

  31. Follow The Money by Crypto+Gnome · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Who profits from BOTS pumping the FACEBOOK advertising system?

    In practice it will be effectively impossible to identify the person-or-company who is *originally* responsible for this clickvertising pumping scheme.

    But I know who I'd be betting on.

    --
    Visit CryptoGnome in his home.
    1. Re:Follow The Money by Spy+Handler · · Score: 3, Insightful

      why would it be impossible?

      A court-issued search warrant is all you need. Seize and look through Facebook server logs.

    2. Re:Follow The Money by gl4ss · · Score: 1

      their competing analytics building companies? google?
      moreover.. are they crawlers? which ip space are they coming from? safari pre-loads? do they even know and if they don't is it just fb sending them bill for loads which never happened?

      --
      world was created 5 seconds before this post as it is.
    3. Re:Follow The Money by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      OMG... Do you think it was Facebook??!!!?!?!?!!!11eleven

      Thanks, Captain Obvious.

    4. Re:Follow The Money by tgd · · Score: 4, Interesting

      Who profits from BOTS pumping the FACEBOOK advertising system?

      In practice it will be effectively impossible to identify the person-or-company who is *originally* responsible for this clickvertising pumping scheme.

      But I know who I'd be betting on.

      Someone shorting their stock would be the top of my list ...

    5. Re:Follow The Money by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      A middle man? Clicking on the ads he gets a cut of? Just guessing here, looking for more insight.

    6. Re:Follow The Money by wvmarle · · Score: 1

      Indeed, a good question. I've been thinking about that too and as yet no answers within the comments here.

      In case of Google with it's content network - placing ads on third-party sites and paying those sites for clicks - there is an incentive for such third-party sites to boost their click numbers. That gives them extra income. From blogs with "please click the ads" notices, to actual bots.

      In case of Facebook, afaik all those ads are on Facebook's own pages, so all click revenue goes to Facebook. None of that money is going to a third-party site, so there is no monetary incentive for anyone to do this.

    7. Re:Follow The Money by zzyzyx · · Score: 1

      It's probably run from a botnet rented by someone. A search warrant would give you a big list of zombie PCs but not much more. Something I'd like to know is if Facebook are aware that this is going on, and how widespread it is.

    8. Re:Follow The Money by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      If click-fraud will drive Facebook to the bottom, and if Facebook was founded by the CIA to collect information on everybody, then the entity responsible for the click-fraud is probably the GRU.

  32. But the IPO by __aaeihw9960 · · Score: 3, Funny

    and subsequent public trading of Facebook are both good ideas, and this company's shares are definitely not overvalued. . . . . .

    1. Re:But the IPO by gweihir · · Score: 1

      I take it then that you bought into the scam? They will crash and burn and not in the distant future. The IPO was a good idea for them, basically the last time they could cash in. And they did cash in big, with all the gullible sheep buying their so obviously and massively overpriced junk-bonds.

      --
      Most ACs are not even worth the keystrokes to insult them. Be generically insulted by this and ignored otherwise.
    2. Re:But the IPO by wvmarle · · Score: 1

      Or are they?

      Latest quarterly figures that I heard were a profit of $0.12 per share. Profit that source said was stable, so previous quarters about the same profit per share.

      That makes $0.48 per share per year. Mature companies are typically priced at 20-25 times profit, growing companies more, but Facebook can't grow that much anymore but has a lot of goodwill so let's be generous and make it 40 times profit. That'd make a fair value of the share price in the tune of $19.20 per share.

      Facebook is currently at just over $23 a share, which doesn't sound that overpriced based on that profit measure.

      It's opening price of over $42 per share would mean nearly 90 times profit, and is of course highly overpriced.

      Now I'm not a stock investor, and I know the above is highly simplified, but I do know that share price reflects the value of a company, and the value of a company is determined by its assets and its yearly profits. Facebook doesn't have significant physical assets (no factories, pipeline networks, fleets of vessels, etc) so their value lies in their profits. It the company doesn't make profit and goes bankrupt, the remaining value is not much more than the value of its bank accounts.

    3. Re:But the IPO by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Whooosh

  33. I have this suspicion... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    ...that the reason stupid Facebook games make you click your mouse so damned much is that they are "piggybacking" fake ad-clicks on everything that you do.

  34. Re:WTF Apple?!? by ArchieBunker · · Score: 1

    You must really be new here...

    --
    Only the State obtains its revenue by coercion. - Murray Rothbard
  35. Re:WTF Apple?!? by s.petry · · Score: 2

    I'm not sure what you are getting at. If a person opens a porn picture at work, in most cases they can be fired. Since this is not hosted a pr0n site, it will make it past many proxies and filters. All it will take is for someone to see their screen and report them, proxy/FW logs will do the rest.

    --

    -The wise argue that there are few absolutes, the fool argues that there are no probabilities.

  36. Re:WTF Apple?!? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Can a mod delete that link please? This is most surely against TOS and may get people fired from work if using /. at work.

    Surely somebody who's been around long enough to have a six-digit UID would know that things don't get deleted around here.

    Set your threshold higher and move on with your life.

    And if people were concerned about getting fired at their jobs they wouldn't be perusing Slashdot comments on company time anyway.

  37. Re:WTF Apple?!? by Desler · · Score: 5, Informative

    There's a pretty simple fix for that issue. Don't click on random links while at work. Geeknet doesn't give two fucks that you did something that stupid.

    Each user, by using Geeknet Sites, may be exposed to Content that is offensive, indecent or objectionable. Each user must evaluate, and bear all risks associated with the use of any Content, including any reliance on the accuracy, completeness, or usefulness of such Content.

  38. The same Bots click on Slashdot ads! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    No real person would click on some of the crap ads there are here!

  39. Re:WTF Apple?!? by s.petry · · Score: 0

    Under no circumstances will Geeknet be liable in any way for any Content, including, but not limited to, liability for any errors or omissions in any Content

    So if the link is broken it would be fine due to: "any errors or omissions in any Content"

    --

    -The wise argue that there are few absolutes, the fool argues that there are no probabilities.

  40. Re:WTF Apple?!? by timeOday · · Score: 1

    Oh boy, don't you remember when goatse was rickrolled into slashdot 100 times every day?

  41. Lack of Analytics by Dogtanian · · Score: 5, Insightful

    However much truth there is in this story, there's one notable thing about Facebook's advertising. It's that they don't- or at least didn't the last time I looked into it (late 2011 IIRC)- provide any proper tracking or analytics service that you can easily integrate into your own website. Yes, they'd tell you how many clicks you got on your Facebook page, but so what?

    IIRC apparently they'd had some analytics/tracking code available at one point but *supposedly* they were worried about the data it provided being misinterpreted, so they withdrew it. They were still providing it, but only to their large corporate customers. Hmm.

    One could still use specialised third-party tracking solutions, but (e.g.) getting it to work properly with Google analytics proved more complicated than it might at first have appeared, involving faffing about with funnels and the like (which I still don't think I got working properly, as I was distracted by more important things shortly afterwards).

    Given that this was around the time stories were starting to come out explaining how Facebook- which everyone had assumed would be the holy grail of targeted advertising- was in truth delivering very poor results for advertisers, a cynic might assume that it really wasn't in Facebook's interest to make keeping close tabs on the effectiveness of its advertising easy for customers. This might or might not have been the case, but I'm pretty sceptical.

    --
    "Slashdot - News and Chat Sites Deviant". (Click "homepage" link above for details).
  42. Or, You Know... by Greyfox · · Score: 0, Troll

    We could be running noscript set to trust facebook but not any random page we click on. Most people with that configuration will trust pages they spend a lot of time on. 'Course then we're probably also running adblock and still don't see ads.

    --

    I'm trying to teach myself to set people on fire with my mind... Is it hot in here?

    1. Re:Or, You Know... by Desler · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Sure you could, but you are part of a small minority of users. A far cry from the 80% they are seeing.

    2. Re:Or, You Know... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Sure you could, but you are part of a small minority of users. A far cry from the 80% they are seeing.

      Yep, everyone forgets they're on here because they are a big nerd and an extremely small minority.
      We're talking Facebook people, how many users do you really believe are using noscript...... 0.1% ?

    3. Re:Or, You Know... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      We could be running noscript set to trust facebook but not any random page we click on. Most people with that configuration will trust pages they spend a lot of time on. 'Course then we're probably also running adblock and still don't see ads.

      You have just debunked you own hypothesis!

    4. Re:Or, You Know... by dadioflex · · Score: 1

      If you were running Noscript and Facebook was white-listed, when you were on Facebook you'd be running JS, therefore you would not appear to not be running JS. Because you'd be running JS. Because Facebook was white-listed. What am I missing?

    5. Re:Or, You Know... by azalin · · Score: 1

      There were far too many no js clicks (at least 20 times as usual). This made them suspicious so they took a much closer look and beefed up their logging. This detailed logging showed them the bot rate. The js rate was just what triggered the investigation

  43. Re:WTF Apple?!? by Desler · · Score: 1

    You misunderstand the clause. It's a disclaimer against users posting what could be legally ruled as libelous content. It has nothing to do with preventing morons from clicking porn links.

  44. Bots run by who? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Why would a random hacker or group want bots to click ads? Who has the most to gain by ads being clicked? Who must show growth with more and more ads clicked every quarter?

    Woohoo stock price!!!

    1. Re:Bots run by who? by hajus · · Score: 1

      Competitors of the company who's ads are clicked. People that have shorted said company's stock. Facebook itself (which it seems you're already acknowledging).

    2. Re:Bots run by who? by Skapare · · Score: 1

      The owners of the pages on which the ads are impressed are getting a cut of the action in some form,

      --
      now we need to go OSS in diesel cars
    3. Re:Bots run by who? by zzyzyx · · Score: 1

      Or it could be someone wanting to hurt Facebook. If all the advertisers on Facebook get a similarly high number of bot clicks, that could be staggering. And if Facebook has had any knowledge of this and withdrew information from the advertisers, letting them assume they were getting similar clicks as on other advertising platforms, we might be in for some quality entertainment in the near future.

  45. Re:Javascript turned off? by Krojack · · Score: 0, Redundant

    Then I'm part of the few that has Facebook whitelisted in NoScript and JavaScript disabled by default when I hit the target sites. So It's more like "rare" and not so much "highly unlikely".

  46. Re:WTF Apple?!? by Desler · · Score: 1

    It's amazing that he's also modded as "informative" when he's actually quite the opposite since the TOS clearly states that they don't care and the user holds all liability in viewing any content posted to this site.

  47. Re:WTF Apple?!? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Funny

    I believe you mean rickholed.

  48. Seen this problem before by rgbrenner · · Score: 4, Insightful

    I've advertised on quite a few platforms (although have yet to try Facebook), and this is a common problem. In 2006, there were lawsuits against Yahoo and Google for click-fraud.. both were settled (I was included in the settlement for both.... got virtually nothing.. something like $20 refund for $100k in clicks.)
    http://www.imediaconnection.com/content/10294.asp

    Google does a pretty good job, which is probably a large reason why they control such a large portion of the online ad market. Yahoo, depending on their platform of the week, can be hit-or-miss. They usually do a good job, but there have been a few times when it is just terrible. When Yahoo announces a change to their search.. watch out. (Bing's ad performance has been pretty good over the past couple of years at least)

    I've seen some ad platforms that just ignore the problem, and it's easy to spend several thousand dollars and not get a single customer from it on those platforms. If facebook does nothing to control the problem, I'm sure there will be another class action.. probably won't cost them much to settle it, but might destroy the trust they have with advertisers, their stock price, and business.

  49. Re:WTF Apple?!? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    This is a story about Facebook. There's a -1 comment titled "WTF Apple?!?" (clearly offtopic) with a non-descript link to an anonymous image hosting site. Anyone who clicks on that link in a work environment deserves what they get. Seriously, you're probably not supposed to browse Slashdot at all, so at least show a minimum amount of caution. That link was more on topic under the moon flags story, as it has flagpoles.

  50. Re:Javascript turned off? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    > Then I'm part of the few that has Facebook whitelisted in NoScript and JavaScript disabled by default when I hit the target sites

    Yes. You are. And you already know this. Your demographic does not comprise 80% of web users, so your point is moot. STFU.

  51. Re:WTF Apple?!? by pregister · · Score: 4, Funny

    How did you survive the days of goatse?

  52. Re:WTF Apple?!? by AK+Marc · · Score: 1

    Image? I thought it was a virus, otherwise, I'd never have clicked it.

  53. Re:WTF Apple?!? by kyrio · · Score: 1

    I have a better idea, don't browse websites that you don't need to be browsing while you're at work. Instead, try doing some work.

  54. Re:WTF Apple?!? by HarrySquatter · · Score: 4, Funny

    How dare you hold him accountable for his actions!

  55. Re:Javascript turned off? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    Which still means that 80% of the ad-clickers having javascript turned off for the target sites is a pretty safe indication that the vast majority of them are bots.

  56. Re:WTF Apple?!? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    where can i find that pr0n link? i dont see it

  57. if you have buggy Appleware, you're a bot? by swschrad · · Score: 0

    one of the last-discovered awshits on OS/X has had Apple telling everybody to turn off JavaScript. this could also mean that 80% of getFacedbook clicks on that ad come from Mac fans. how do they separate the bots?

    --
    if this is supposed to be a new economy, how come they still want my old fashioned money?
    1. Re:if you have buggy Appleware, you're a bot? by dark12222000 · · Score: 1

      Here's a great experiment for you in order to answer your own question.
      1. Turn off Javascript
      2. Go to facebook
      3. Click an ad.
      (Wee bit difficult without grabbing the JS source and manually getting the links, ain't it?)

  58. Re:WTF Apple?!? by lurker1997 · · Score: 1

    Rather than mod the post over-rated, I just want to point out how wrong it is that the parent has been modded up. Do people really it is appropriate to whine to 'the mods' (editors) to remove something you don't like from a website you are vouluntarily visiting. If you don't like the links that sometimes appear when you browse at -1 and fear for your job because of them, don't use slashdot, at least when you were at work. Take some time to learn how to use the website, and browse at +2 or +3 or something and you will never see links like that.

    Whining to a higher authority to fix a minor/non-problem is not adult behavior.

  59. Re:WTF Apple?!? by HarrySquatter · · Score: 1

    Especially when the TOS says it's your own fault for clicking on shit you aren't supposed to click.

  60. Re:WTF Apple?!? by hajus · · Score: 1

    He's probably referring to your .sig. You responded to an AC who posted pr0n.

  61. Not against TOS here, but... by houstonbofh · · Score: 4, Informative

    It is not against the slashdot TOS, but it is against the imageshack TOS. Report to imageshack, the link breaks, and all is well again.

  62. Are bots infesting Google+ ? by Taco+Cowboy · · Score: 1

    Now that someone finally showed us that 80% of the clicks on Facebooks are from bots, I want to know if similar thing is happening in Google+

    Specifically, has anyone ever try analysing the clicks they got on Google+ to see how much of that were from bots?

    No, who own the bots is not important - what is important is that if both Google+ and FB been infested with clicker bots, then the commercial interests might as well pull out of all social media
     

    --
    Muchas Gracias, Señor Edward Snowden !
    1. Re:Are bots infesting Google+ ? by dr00p · · Score: 1

      2 things:
      1. Google+ doesn't do ads :)
      2. Google AdSense is pretty good at catching these "fake clicks"

  63. Re:WTF Apple?!? by Genda · · Score: 1

    If you experienced a day(s) of goatse, how did you survive indeed!?!!

  64. Re:WTF Apple?!? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    But I had to sign something substantially similar as a condition of employment. Does that mean I'm good to go for clicking on random links?

  65. Re:WTF Apple?!? by Taco+Cowboy · · Score: 1

    Can a mod delete that link please? This is most surely against TOS and may get people fired from work if using /. at work.

     
    Surely somebody who's been around long enough to have a six-digit UID would know that things don't get deleted around here.

     
    Things _ -*DO*- _ got deleted in /.

    --
    Muchas Gracias, Señor Edward Snowden !
  66. news in your industry is driving interest by SuperBanana · · Score: 0

    (We always suspect, but can never prove that one of our competitors is behind this click fest to drive my ads off the search results by over-running our limits, because they always seem to happen when they launch a new product).

    Seriously? I don't suppose it occurred to you that when your competitor launches a new product, it creates both interest online for the two of you, and relevant, current content pages that your ads will appear on? People are searching/blogging/etc about the competitor's products, your ad campaigns are appearing on those pages, and relevant users are interested and clicking on said ads.

    1. Re:news in your industry is driving interest by Surt · · Score: 2

      I doubt it occurred to him because it's unrealistic as an explanation for a click flood. Online advertising just isn't that effective.

      --
      "Who is the Journal of Quantum Physics going to believe?" --Stephen Hawking
  67. Re:WTF Apple?!? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    With this economy the way it is, and with employment law being what it is, a little "booby trap" like this can give an employer all the "ammo" he needs to make a litigation-proof dismissal hold up in court.

  68. FTFY by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I just shat myself laughing. +mod points if I could.

    1. Re:FTFY by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      No no, it's his thing. He just shits himself. Like, whenever.

  69. facebook.com 127.0.0.1 by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I have a nice entry in my hosts file that redirects any facebook links to 127.0.0.1 so I'm getting a big kick out of all these comments about turning off Javascript to make the adverts go away.

  70. Everybody does it- web ads are wasteful by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Sure, all web advertising must be like this. I used to advertise on Google and found zero users that clicked from ads went to more than the first landing page from the ad, vs. about 20% of users who cicked from a search result clicked on more than one page.

    I suspected strongly that Google's ad network (the ads showing on blogs, etc) were the blog owners creating their own ad revenue, and turned off that waste of money within a couple of months.

  71. Re:WTF Apple?!? by Kalriath · · Score: 1

    Scientology. You might recall they even ran a /. story about how they deleted a comment.

    --
    For a site about things like basic rights, Slashdot users sure do like to censor "dissent".
  72. Re:WTF Apple?!? by Dog-Cow · · Score: 2

    You're an annoyance. Please delete yourself.

  73. Re:WTF Apple?!? by multicoregeneral · · Score: 2

    Someone say porn? I feel misled.

    --
    This signature intentionally left blank.
  74. aaaaaaaaand there it goes by slashmydots · · Score: 1

    There goes the stock price. Considering percentage of income, this would be like people finding out Tyson Chicken is made out of fish and soy beans instead of chicken.

    1. Re:aaaaaaaaand there it goes by vandamme · · Score: 1

      I'd buy it if it was. Healthier.

  75. Don't think my ads on f'book drew any bots. by quax · · Score: 1

    At least not unless they are skillfully faking profiles.

    Of course my crappy little page plays to a small niche audience just to advertise my blog.

    F'book gave me $50 voucher to get to play with ads.I was actually quit impressed with the ad interface. You can chose to pay by result i.e. getting a "Like", rather than for clicks. Don't see how bots would give them any advantage if you chose that paying scheme.

    I am really not a huge F'book fan, don't like their laxness with regards to privacy data at all. Don't have a profile other than this page. Nevertheless, I really don't see how this story has legs. Just pay for "Likes" and check on your followers' profiles (random sample will do). It will be hard to build diverse profiles that look real.

    Also it doesn't make business sense. Ad revenue is their lifeblood. They really cannot afford to lose trust in the integrity of their ad delivery.

  76. Not True by mixmasta · · Score: 1

    Just tried it and not true. I can see the ads fine. Clicks? Maybe not.

    --
    #6495ED - cornflower blue
  77. Facebook by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    What is facebook?

    1. Re:Facebook by Skapare · · Score: 1

      Who is Anonymous Coward?

      --
      now we need to go OSS in diesel cars
  78. Re:WTF Apple?!? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    Stretching exercises and a huge cork.

  79. Re:WTF Apple?!? by Surt · · Score: 1

    Yeah, slashdot bends over and takes it for the church of scientology. But they stand up for principles on porn.

    --
    "Who is the Journal of Quantum Physics going to believe?" --Stephen Hawking
  80. Re:WTF Apple?!? by Desler · · Score: 1

    Awwwww, does someone need the waaahmbulance? And how exactly am I a "huge Apple dick rider"? I've criticized Apple on many occasions but your butthurt is pretty funny nonetheless.

  81. Who runs the bots? by zzyzyx · · Score: 2

    Any idea about who the bots are run by? You don't directly benefit from clicking ads, unless they're Facebook, and even if it is possible that they're inflating their ad clicks numbers for a variety of reasons that seems unlikely as it would hurt them more in the long run. Another possibility would be someone wanting to hurt the start-up in question, but they don't look threatening and you need pretty motivated enemies to actually bother to run a botnet against you. The last possibility I see is someone wanting to hurt Facebook by decreasing their global attractiveness. If other advertisers get similar figures that could be huge. That seems the most likely considering the kind of money in play. But who precisely? And if it's not this, what else ?

    1. Re:Who runs the bots? by Skapare · · Score: 1

      If there's anywhere that FB pays page owners to host their ads, then there's your answer.

      --
      now we need to go OSS in diesel cars
  82. Re:WTF Apple?!? by gmhowell · · Score: 1

    Would you shut the fuck up now? You've made half a dozen posts rambling on about how gay porn isn't against the 'official' rules, ignoring the main point that it's an annoyance and should be deleted. You're probably one of those assholes that also thinks the financial sector has done nothing wrong because everything was 'legal'.

    Boofuckinghoo newfag. If OP had lurked moar, he wouldn't need the message beaten into his head quite so firmly.

    --
    Jesus was all right but his disciples were thick and ordinary. -John Lennon
  83. Re:WTF Apple?!? by Grieviant · · Score: 0

    newfag? I hadn't realized I was on 4chan. It's funny to see a little clique band together to defend someone spamming the message that gay porn links should not be removed from slashdot. He's also citing the "cover our ass" site disclaimer, which has a lot more to do with avoiding lawsuits than serving as a guide for user conduct. Do you have any common sense at all?

  84. Re:WTF Apple?!? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    aww, a newbie

  85. Let's stick to the facts and look at the numbers: by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Red ink flows like a river of blood.. which incidentally is the title (and plotline) of the next Zenga game.

  86. FB doesn't require JS to display Ads by Maxmin · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Disabling Javascript doesn't eliminate FB ads. Try it. Turn off Javascript for all sites, clear cache, and load www.facebook.com.

    I see ads, clickable ads that reach their destination. Looking at the page in the developer tools, there's no JS being executed (pause does nothing), and neither the Scripts nor the Resources tabs reveal anything resembling a script.

    Further, all the ads link through the same base URI, what is likely a FB redirector script: https://www.facebook.com/ajax/emu/end.php. I've written ad software for websites that doesn't use a bit of JS, and it appears that FB is capable of doing the same.

    Reenabling JS shows the ads have both the base URI AND a mousedown handler with function reference of a similar name: a.emuEvent1.fbEmuLink.image.fbEmuImage

    Finally, advertisers and the agencies that put their ads on FB don't have to rely on FB for click metrics, it's normal practice to redirect through a third-party agency that counts ad clicks.

    It's possible that this company didn't understand the incoming requests. I'd love to see their analysis of User-Agent signatures and client IP addresses.

    --
    O lord, bless this thy holy hand grenade, that with it thou mayest blow thine enemies to tiny bits, in thy mercy.
    1. Re:FB doesn't require JS to display Ads by CheshireDragon · · Score: 1

      Or the source of their tool as to what it was registering as clicks or not-clicks...

      --
      "That's right...I said it."
  87. Re:WTF Apple?!? by bsdewhurst · · Score: 1

    Many many months of never clicking on links on slashdot, yes that means I never RTFA

  88. Serves you right for voting for the wrong guy by SmallFurryCreature · · Score: 1

    Only in some countries can you be fired for accidentally opening a nsfw link, since the people in those countries have themselves voted for decades for these kind of rules and refused to have proper legal unions to protect them from their employers, THOUGH COOKIES!

    If a Slashdot editor starts removing posts other then by the moderation system, where will it end? My signature deals with sex. Is that bad too? I am willing to bet it is somewhere on this planet. Freedom is absolute, you either have it or you don't. And the moment you start making compromises, you loose it. The GNAA was horrible and racist as hell but to have them removed would be very bad for having an open discussion. Same with extremist posts from all sides.

    As posted below, "Each user, by using Geeknet Sites, may be exposed to Content that is offensive, indecent or objectionable. Each user must evaluate, and bear all risks associated with the use of any Content, including any reliance on the accuracy, completeness, or usefulness of such Content."

    Slashdot is not hosting porn, you clicked a random link in a first post. How new to the internets are you anyway?

    Do you also open email from Nigerian royalty?

    This is Darwin in action, if nature hasn't given you the tools not to open doubtful links, then you got to adjust your environment to make this deficiency non-decremental (naked humans make houses to not freeze to death at night). Evolution, either adapt yourself or adapt your environment, the rest dies, or gets fired.

    And if you think I am nasty? The parent poster wants a Politically Correct Slashdot. There, that should have him torn to shreds.

    --

    MMO Quests are like orgasms:

    You may solo them, I prefer them in a group.

  89. Re:WTF Apple?!? by gmhowell · · Score: 1

    I have the sense to know that this site has had NSFW links posted without notice for ~10 years. And far from a 'little clique', I'm one of a representative sample of the 1.5 million or so users (ok, probably 1/10 that number due to dupes, sock puppets, etc.) who were using this site before you showed up. Are you infected with so much 'special snowflake syndrome' that you think we should change to meat your neo-puritan standards of what is and is not acceptable behaviour?

    --
    Jesus was all right but his disciples were thick and ordinary. -John Lennon
  90. No, just that 80% of Facebook users fail the Turing test.

    The remaining 20% ate the test.

    --

    MMO Quests are like orgasms:

    You may solo them, I prefer them in a group.

  91. Re:WTF Apple?!? by Pieroxy · · Score: 1

    Were there goatse links in Summaries? I wasn't aware of that ;-)

  92. Well, DUH by Opportunist · · Score: 1

    What human clicks on an ad? I mean, seriously, even my less computer-savvy friends can usually spot an ad link and avoid them.

    --
    We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
  93. And on the other side by Rande · · Score: 1

    Without advertising ramping up the product cost, maybe we'd spend less when purchasing stuff. ...nah, it's the stuff that's advertised a lot that I've no interest in buying - hence why it's advertised.

  94. Re:WTF Apple?!? by azalin · · Score: 1

    Stretching exercises and a huge cork.

    Should I be disturbed by the fact that I find this post hilarious?

  95. Re:WTF Apple?!? by azalin · · Score: 4, Insightful

    I always considered goatse, tubgirl and lemonparty to be some kind of initiation rite. Once you learned NOT to click on any link presented (or to deal with the consequences) you were considered a member of the internet and not just a tourist anymore.

  96. Re:WTF Apple?!? by azalin · · Score: 1

    So someone posted a disguised porn link - welcome to the internet. There are very few instances were I would agree to deletion of a post or even link removal. Those would be commercial spam and maybe highly illegal crap I don't even want to think about. For everything else, ignore any AC links, always check a links destination with a mouse over (or by copying it, where js is active) before you click it, take a deep breath and scroll down.

  97. Re:WTF Apple?!? by azalin · · Score: 1

    This is a story about Facebook. There's a -1 comment titled "WTF Apple?!?" (clearly offtopic) with a non-descript link to an anonymous image hosting site. Anyone who clicks on that link in a work environment deserves what they get. Seriously, you're probably not supposed to browse Slashdot at all, so at least show a minimum amount of caution. That link was more on topic under the moon flags story, as it has flagpoles.

    Flagpoles? I'm almost tempted to scroll up and click it out of sheer curiosity.

  98. Re:WTF Apple?!? by azalin · · Score: 1

    Amen!

  99. Re:WTF Apple?!? by gmhowell · · Score: 1

    I mention it not to claim any specialness, but to claim a better understanding of the social norms of this website.

    And tricking someone about a NSFW link is a tactic that came up about 10 seconds after the first NSFW link was ever posted.

    Have fun tilting at windmills. Slashdot is what it is, and you seem to refuse to understand that. I'm done explaining.

    --
    Jesus was all right but his disciples were thick and ordinary. -John Lennon
  100. Re:WTF Apple?!? by isorox · · Score: 1

    LOL. I wasn't going to click until I read your comment.. i saw porno and clicked. you should have been more specific.. its gay porno... not my thing.

    He's boning the invisible woman

  101. Maybe they just wanted the media attention by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Facebook ads are served on its own page, the only beneficiary of a Facebook ad being clicked is either Facebook or the advertiser.
    It makes no sense for someone to build a bot to click on Facebook ads.
    The only explanation would be Facebook sabotaging its own business, but it doesn't seems likely.
    I would rather want to see the click analysis those guys did. They may have screwed up on something.
    Or maybe they just wanted the media attention as a free advertising (which they got).

  102. Re:WTF Apple?!? by crutchy · · Score: 1

    no, it means you're a moron if you click unknown random links on ANY web page at work

    if you're really that thick maybe your employer is looking for an excuse to fire you

  103. Re:WTF Apple?!? by crutchy · · Score: 1

    now hold on there. sure you can't hate your IT department THAT much?

  104. Re:WTF Apple?!? by crutchy · · Score: 1

    first upheld principle of pr0n... you do not talk about pr0n (woops)
    second principle of pr0n... it makes the internet go, so don't diss it
    third principle of pr0n... there's nothing wrong with watching goatse.cx, as long as it doesn't have any fat chicks

  105. Re:WTF Apple?!? by crutchy · · Score: 1

    you're just pissy cos you were stupid enough to click the link... now you're trying to blame your stupidity on everyone else

    so i guess some of your work colleagues saw the pr0n on your screen, and now they all think you're a fag?

  106. Re:WTF Apple?!? by crutchy · · Score: 1

    dude, this is slashdot, the home of ex-IT, now jobless bums. browsing slashdot IS work.

  107. Re:WTF Apple?!? by isorox · · Score: 1

    Can a mod delete that link please? This is most surely against TOS and may get people fired from work if using /. at work.

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Streisand_effect

    In the normal way of things, these things get swiftly down-modded to oblivion.

    If geeknet starts deleting slashdot posts, thousands of people (including myself) would post that link all over the site in protest against censorship.

    It used to be when a post was deleted we'd have massive discussions about why legally it was necessary, and mitigate the problem. I'm believe a few posts are deleted without such discussion nowadays, but only for legal issues.

  108. Re:WTF Apple?!? by LiMikeTnux · · Score: 1

    Look, its a random link in the top post, by an AC. Why would you even click that?

    --
    yap
  109. Re:WTF Apple?!? by fustakrakich · · Score: 1

    ...slashdot bends over and takes it for the church of scientology...

    Well that was about money... the most powerful thing on the whole planet.

    --
    “He’s not deformed, he’s just drunk!”
  110. Google 10x more effective than Facebook by perpenso · · Score: 1

    Just to confirm: you're saying that for your wife's business, Facebook ads are 8 times more effective than Google ads.

    Gack! Sorry, I got the ratio reversed. They are eight times less effective. Thanks for catching this.

    I've seen something similar regarding ads for an iPhone/iPad app, a sci/biz/hex rpn calculator. Google ads are about 10x more effective than FB ads. The google ads are also about 1/3 to 1/4 the cost.

  111. Comment removed by account_deleted · · Score: 1

    Comment removed based on user account deletion

  112. Implications from unknown facts by Unknown1337 · · Score: 1

    Firstly, it's probably true, but it is not supported by the article in the least. Only being able to verify 20% of the clicks does not mean that the other 80% were bots. A lack of information does not support an implication of fraud. Using Javascript as a basis of for fraudulent clicks has been displayed here many times over not be enough. In fact, where is this determination of Javascript enabled being done? If it was done on their website (not their Facebook site) I would have had Javascript enabled on Facebook, but once visiting the site for the first time (as if by magic - or an installed extension facsimile) Javascript would have been disabled, throwing that statistic out the window. The focus should have been on the ad revenue demands and related blackmail-like actions of Facebook until more facts on fraud could be found.

  113. Re:WTF Apple?!? by Aighearach · · Score: 1

    by using lynx, or course.

  114. Re:WTF Apple?!? by GameboyRMH · · Score: 1

    Actually yes there once was, sort of. I can't find the story for the life of me but it was something about some artist's website or something, he had pics of a man shoving his finger into his urethra and a man being fisted on the page that was linked from the summary, and there was no warning whatsoever. I think we tagged it "goatseinsummary" to try to warn people.

    --
    "When information is power, privacy is freedom" - Jah-Wren Ryel
  115. You had me at by xandroid · · Score: 1

    You had me at "A start-up company [called] Limited Run"

    --
    $ echo "ceci n'est pas une pipe" | sed -Ee 's/(eci n|pas )//g'