[Foundation-l] Answers.com and Wikimedia Foundation to Form NewPartnership

Mon Oct 24 17:29:32 UTC 2005

On 10/24/05, Poe, Marshall <MPoe at theatlantic.com> wrote:

> Isn't it the case that Google Adsense (and similar programs) basically
> cut the tie between specific advertisers and specific publications?

This isn't relevant to the current Answers.com proposal since no
AdSense ads will be on Wikipedia. However, the assumption that AdSense
cuts the ties in this way is not entirely correct, since the website
with ads can choose to block ads from any particular URL, and the
advertiser can choose not to appear on any particular site. Therefore,
it is still possible for a company to decide not to advertise on a
site anymore, but Google would endeavor to fill the gap with an
alternative ad, albeit one with a potentially lower cost-per-click.

> If this is so, it's pretty hard for me to understand how putting Adsense
> ads on Wikipedia pages could ever lead to any of the editorial-influence
> scenarios being described here.

In a scenario which is hard to imagine ever occurring on Wikipedia,
the influence could come from the fact that AdSense relies on context,
and particular keywords on a page will lead to
higher-revenue-generating ads. So, attempts to drop phrases like
"credit repair" into articles could lead to greater revenues and might
encourage some to insert an odd sort of influence on the content for
this purpose. It would, of course, be violating Google's terms of
service and not something I would recommend doing. :)

Angela
--
Angela Beesley
Moderator of SEM 2.0