Inappropriate content links

@challman I've checked the post in a different web browser and it won't play nicely with me here. I can see the Ads by Google but it is not bringing up the content link ads. We will need these links to check them out. Can I get you to grab link to the inappropriate site and email it to us at support[at]edublogs[dot]org?

Once you have done this I will get James to check it in the morning (approx. 7 hours from now). Inappropriate links he does block however other content link ads will remain on the blog unless you become an Edublogs supporter ( http://edublogs.org/2008/12/09/edublogs-and-supporter/ )

Sue Waters

mvass, I'm sorry that you feel that way but I have to ask if you would be willing to do your job for free? I don't like the inline adverts either but you have to remember that it costs a lot of money to run this site with all the blogs here. I do webhosting and I have a rough idea what James is paying out of his pocket.

At the very least, James is honest about it. A number of sites like wordpress.com hide the information about their advert running deep within their docs or don't mention it at all. Are these folks honest? I don't know of a single free blogging site that doesn't place adverts somewhere within their sites via either adverts or paid links or something else along those lines. Either that or they're a simple operation without the support and backups that are provided here. Or they're fully of splogs or other unsafe content for children.

Having looked at your post, I note that many of those sites aren't appropriate under google adsense's own rules. Have you complained to them? I'll be honest. They'll be gone really fast when you do.

Sorry you feel the way you do but I personally think you need to look at the whole situation.

I've copied and pasted this comment from my blog ..... I see that drmike did the same thing:-)

I’ve sung Edublogs’ praises for the past two and a half years. I never once doubted the commitment to education and have valued the wonderful support from the forums on the few occasions when I’ve felt the need to seek it. I’ve also taken the time to share a couple of ‘Here’s How I Did it’ tips.

A trust was built up and I believed that this was a site that I could recommend to, not only fellow teachers, but my Local Education Authority.

I took up my new post in August as an ICT Curriculum Development Officer, and one of my main roles is to convince teachers that blogging will have a positive impact on their classroom practice (I firmly believe that!)
I have taken the time to produce a variety of ‘blogging’ presentation material - all based on edublogs - and the teachers here are beginning to come on board.

The latest changes within edublogs didn’t bother me too much because there was always a way around them. For example, the cut in storage space can be can be remedied by compressing pics, hosting them on sites such as photobucket, etc.

The recent ads issue, though, has left me feeling betrayed.

James stated from the outset that he needed to take this step so that he could continue to provide the free service. He also promised that there would be no inappropriate ads because it was an educational site. More and more very inappropriate ads are sneaking in now. Why is it up to me to complain to a third party about this?

…….. and by that time, how many children and their parents will have been exposed to them?

I have taken the time to look at the whole situation and I still stand by my ‘enough is enough’ proclamation. We’ll need to agree to differ :-)

Hi Sue!

I”ve never heard of Gail Desler (and wouldn’t begin to know how to contact her) but i’m sorry that you needed to get out of bed at 3 AM because she needed your urgent assistance!

I know how that feels, though, because I was up all night last night trying to figure out a way to remove the ads from the Primary 2 class blog before any more damage was done. Thank goodness I became an edublog supporter two years ago (I did it voluntarily when there was no pressure to do so - I wanted to show James that I appreciated the great free service)

After a ‘tossing and turning’ for most of the night, I realised that I could add the P 2 blog to the Carronshore blog and make them ad-free. It felt good to get to work and telephone the teacher to tell her that she could relax, too, because there would be no more horrible adult ads appearing on her six year olds’ class blog.

I hope I sleep tonight - I’m off now to check the other class blogs I’ve helped to set up since I came into post in August. I hope I get to any inappropriate ads before the families do

Hi Nikki,

Are you a supporter? You can easily turn off ads if you are.

Regarding that ad, was it on adsense or kontera? We've blocked them from adsense.

I have started a class blog at a primary school which is visted by children and parents at home. I was horrified today to see an ad which is a link to a singles' website which contains extremely suggestive language which is highly inappropriate for primary pupils. I chose to use edublogs as it was recommended to me by the LEA as a safe site to be used in school and is clearly promoted as a site which is suitable for use by teachers. Is there a danger of ads appearing which are even more inappropriate in content i.e. pornographic? I appreciate that this is a free service but it seems obvious that school's cannot use a service which promotes such sites. Any advice would be appreciated.

This cut and paste from the edtechroundup wiki provides more of a 'central office' response to the inclusion of ads (inappropriate or otherwise)

guidance ... has been sent to all schools in Scotland on Commercial Activities in Schools, ... clarifying the position with hosting organisations that wish to put adverts on school blogs... the current system of advertising on Edublogs would prevent schools from using it unless they became a paid supporter, due to being unsolicited and the type of adverts being innapropriate.

I believe similar guidance is available for England and Wales. Scottish Guidance below.

http://edtechroundup.wikispaces.com/file/view/Guidelinesoncommercialactivitiesinschools_tcm4-403534.pdf

Teachers should acquaint themselves with their educational authority's policies with regard to advertising and sponsorship.

Thanks for your many responses to this thread James and apologies in advance for the long post.

I have been a long time user of edublogs, both personally and professionally, and have introduced many people to your service as a good way to start blogging - for themselves and their students. CMIS (where I work) maintains 5 edublogs to communicate about new educational resources (Yes - we pay as supporters on all 5 of these blogs). I also maintain a very low-key personal edublog (free version) which I use to monitor the differences between your free and supporter versions. In fact I use several different free blog services so I can compare what is being offered to teachers.

Unfortunately the introduction of ANY ads - no matter how appropriate - will prevent me from advising teachers to use the edublogs platform unless they are prepared to pay to be a Supporter or purchase Campus.

DETWA are in the process of revising their policies with regard to advertising and corporate sponsorship and I will not be surprised if they follow the approach outlined in the Scottish Guidelines ie no advertising is deemed to be appropriate on school blogs.

Sadly, I think many teachers will be put off blogging if too many barriers are put in their way. (From experience I know how difficult it can be for teachers to get permission to blog let alone organising funding to support blogging)

From experience I know how difficult it can be for teachers to get permission to blog let alone organising funding to support blogging

Not to pull away from the conversation but have to admit that I'm seeing that as well with those recent teachers getting busted for using Facebook and publishing rather poor comments about their students. We have like 5 teachers get fired here in Charlotte over it.

Thanks for letting us know and I will follow it up. Can you tell me is the link to the ad appearing at the top of the post i.e. a Google Adsense or is it appearing as a content link (within the text of the post)?

Sorry, I was logged in as one of my own contributors when I posted the message about inappropriate links on the Edublogs stats page.

Tommi

Hi Sue, I guess I was a bit vague. When I\'m logged in as a contributor to my own blog with a \"user name only\" account (I\'m testing things out for my students), there are two tabs across the top of my dashboard. One is for the blog I am logged in as a contributor to and the other is labeled \"Edublogs - teacher and student blogs.\"

If I click on the \"Edublogs - teacher and student blogs\" tab, then click on Stats, then Most Popular Posts and Pages, there\'s an active link to a \"model-pic-preteen-russian\" site.

If I\'m going to ask my students to contribute to a blog, I don\'t want to lead them down a path to take on a young Russian bride...

Is there any way I can nip that one in the bud?

Thanks, Sue.

Tommi

That\'s got to be a splog. I\'m sure James will be on that shortly and it\'ll be gone. There\'s a running thread for them.

Not sure why that\'s showing up in your account though.

Not a problem.