Boards.ie FG Bias

the groutch

every page in this general election has FG links at the top and bottom of the page.
surely we should be allowed to discuss the election, without this campaigning being shoved down our throats

Sir Oxman

That's probably some of FG 's 2.5million election funding right there (can't see it tg)

JBnaglfar

No political ads for me, FG or otherwise. Just solar energy and microfinancing.

PauloMN

VOTE FG

what are you on about?

VOTE FG

freyners

there was a thread a day or two ago about a labour advert on boards too.

i presume there getting paid to run the ads, which they probably use to run the site. If FG were willing to pay enough to run an ad that they are happy to have on their site then i see no problem really

i personally can't see them cause i use adblock, if you have firefox/chrome just use that

What I know:

The topic of political advertising was discussed at length between the mods/cat mods/admin here on boards.

The fact is, boards is a business, wages have to be paid, rent has to be paid, the usual trappings of a business. We do have a subscription service, that is optional.

The decision was taken, if the parties want to pay for advertising, let them.

I have no further information, but I can categorically state that there is no bias toward any party.

Your politics mod team has supporters of most of the main parties, and the admin team are the same.

Impartiality is something we are very proud of here at boards.ie

BeardyFunzo

I use adblock plus. You should too by the sounds of things, OP

meglome

the groutch wrote: »

every page in this general election has FG links at the top and bottom of the page.
surely we should be allowed to discuss the election, without this campaigning being shoved down our throats

If FG wish to pay for advertising then that's up to them, boards.ie is a business after all. I use Adblock plus so I don't see any of them. Personally I am openly supporting FG but I have no connection with them or any political party whatsoever.

thebman

You see what now?

How retro :P

Wolfe Tone

I saw little SF ones the other day

nesf

It's not boards.ie it's the entire internet. FG ads are everywhere. Christ I'm getting FG Health policy ads on American audience mental health sites! It's disconcerting to see Dr. O'Reilly's face looking out at me when browsing a site that's very, very much not Irish.

They've pumped a lot of money into new media. C'est la vie.

RandolphEsq

I've seen one of those interactive ads for SF at the bottom where u have to shoot targets

jimi_t2

nesf wrote: »

It's not boards.ie it's the entire internet. FG ads are everywhere. Christ I'm getting FG Health policy ads on American audience mental health sites! It's disconcerting to see Dr. O'Reilly's face looking out at me when browsing a site that's very, very much not Irish.

The ads are tied to your IP address for the google ads in particular. So if you're american you get american specific ads, if you're irish you get Irish ads etc... regardless of the nationality of the site you're browsing or where its hosted.

nesf

jimi_t2 wrote: »

The ads are tied to your IP address for the google ads in particular. So if you're american you get american specific ads, if you're irish you get Irish ads etc... regardless of the nationality of the site you're browsing or where its hosted.

Yeah, I understand that, I just find it amusing to see FG ads on American sites.

carwash_2006

jimi_t2 wrote: »

The ads are tied to your IP address for the google ads in particular. So if you're american you get american specific ads, if you're irish you get Irish ads etc... regardless of the nationality of the site you're browsing or where its hosted.

Or if you have adblock you see no ads

upmeath

Worst of all, I was watching a Hannah Minx video on YouTube earlier and the bubble ad that appeared across Hannah at the start of the video bore two horrible words that are now forever etched in my retinas... "Leo Varadkar" ... And no amount of FG health policy will fix my sight

BeardyFunzo

Mobile browsing this morning so I'm seeing all the ads. Interestingly the Indo front-page is covered in Labour ads... assume someone will be onto them about their pro-Labour bias.... LOL

loldog

upmeath wrote: »

Worst of all, I was watching a Hannah Minx video on YouTube earlier and the bubble ad that appeared across Hannah at the start of the video bore two horrible words that are now forever etched in my retinas... "Leo Varadkar" ... And no amount of FG health policy will fix my sight

Have you never heard of Adblock Plus? I too am an admirer of Hannah Minx, I haven't learned much Japanese though.

.

matt-dublin

Their advertising campaign is obviously working so cos youre talking about it

gandalf

upmeath wrote: »

Worst of all, I was watching a Hannah Minx video on YouTube earlier and the bubble ad that appeared across Hannah at the start of the video bore two horrible words that are now forever etched in my retinas... "Leo Varadkar" ... And no amount of FG health policy will fix my sight

Yep someone posted a link to one of her videos on Facebook the other day. To say it is "captivating" is an understatement. I felt like a dirty old man watching it! I can imagine how your viewing pleasure was ruined when you saw Leo Varadkars name pop up.

I can't believe the FG PR people didn't get Hannah Minx to do a video on the 5 point plan. I believe that would get them over the majority party line (come on FG people you have a couple of days, get it organised!).

meglome

matt-dublin wrote: »

Their advertising campaign is obviously working so cos youre talking about it

Well certainly a lot of advertising for Adblock Plus

Auctionmcd

Papa Smut wrote: »

What I know:

The topic of political advertising was discussed at length between the mods/cat mods/admin here on boards.

The fact is, boards is a business, wages have to be paid, rent has to be paid, the usual trappings of a business. We do have a subscription service, that is optional.

The decision was taken, if the parties want to pay for advertising, let them.

I have no further information, but I can categorically state that there is no bias toward any party.
Impartiality is something we are very proud of here at boards.ie

Whilst I think Boards.ie have no agenda or bias it is clear that the larger Parties will utilise all media to promote themselves. It is up to the users to either accept these promotions for what they are 'PROPOGANDA' be they from FG, FF or Labour, or indeed SF. The voter should actually do his/her own research before making an educated decision when voting.
Your politics mod team has supporters of most of the main parties, and the admin team are the same.

ei.sdraob

Funny that since I see a Sinn Fein advert via Google with "Economists agree with us" text :P

crazy stuff

dvpower

jimi_t2 wrote: »

The ads are tied to your IP address for the google ads in particular. So if you're american you get american specific ads, if you're irish you get Irish ads etc... regardless of the nationality of the site you're browsing or where its hosted.

... and there was me thinking that those single girls in my area looking to meet me were following me around the world.

jmayo

nesf wrote: »

It's not boards.ie it's the entire internet. FG ads are everywhere. Christ I'm getting FG Health policy ads on American audience mental health sites! It's disconcerting to see Dr. O'Reilly's face looking out at me when browsing a site that's very, very much not Irish.

They've pumped a lot of money into new media. C'est la vie.

As other poster has said ads are targetted based on location much like TV ads can be targetted.

Then again he could be following YOU, he could be watching YOU.
Jim Corr could be right. :eek:

Phil Hogan is really Dr Phil.

RandolphEsq wrote: »

I've seen one of those interactive ads for SF at the bottom where u have to shoot targets

How apt SF and shooting. :rolleyes:

ei.sdraob wrote: »

Funny that since I see a Sinn Fein advert via Google with "Economists agree with us" text :P

crazy stuff

Good example of how to be loose with the facts and to chop a sentence at the most suitable advantageous point.

gandalf

dvpower wrote: »

... and there was me thinking that those single girls in my area looking to meet me were following me around the world.

That is probably indicative of your other browsing habits

Of course boards users, mods and admins are going to have their bias but the boards.ie organisation is neutral. If any political party want to use the internet as a medium to push their ideas and are willing to pay for the service then boards.ie as an organisation with costs that need to be cover would be stupid not to take advantage of the opportunity.

nesf

jmayo wrote: »

As other poster has said ads are targetted based on location much like TV ads can be targetted.

Then again he could be following YOU, he could be watching YOU.
Jim Corr could be right. :eek:

Phil Hogan is really Dr Phil.

Oh dear, I suppose I agree with Jim Corr now.

Um, who does that mean I vote for? An Comhar Chríostaí?

Dav

Two things:

1) They're Google ads, not specifically taken out by the parties with Boards.ie Ltd

2) To you AdBlocker people - thanks for your support of this free to use website which has some mostly unobtrusive ads tucked away in corners so's not to interfere with the bulk of content. It's so nice of you to tell others how to stop this site earning it's main source of revenue.

If you've any better ideas on how we can make the site pay for itself we're all ears.

Balmed Out

from some of the stuff ive read by posters ive been suspicous of a squad from sinn fein hired to just post on the site.

Soldie

ei.sdraob wrote: »

Funny that since I see a Sinn Fein advert via Google with "Economists agree with us" text :P

crazy stuff

I couldn't believe my eyes when I saw that the other day.

When I clicked on the ad, I was directed to Sinn Féin's homepage, and there was no reference made to any economists agreeing with them, so I was hoping I'd imagined the ad!

ei.sdraob

Soldie wrote: »

I couldn't believe my eyes when I saw that the other day.

When I clicked on the ad, I was directed to Sinn Féin's homepage, and there was no reference made to any economists agreeing with them, so I was hoping I'd imagined the ad!

Yeh I don't often click on adverts (tho I don't block them either) but the advert led to nowhere and was downright misleading

Look at the brightside, thats few cents taken from SF and given to Google and Boards Ltd :P
SF can now claim they are supporting Irish businesses

jmayo

nesf wrote: »

Oh dear, I suppose I agree with Jim Corr now.

Um, who does that mean I vote for? An Comhar Chríostaí?

Didn't know who they were so looked them up and guess what, the first link to them in Google was your post.

So nice work, you have managed to link them to Jim Corr.
Now people will really think they are loonies.
Although was he linked to them already ?

Hasschu

The comments reflect the views of the people who visit Boards. Mostly people under 35 by the looks of it. Boards as an organization appears to be neutral and are not interfering or skewing things in any particular direction. Young people want change it has always been so. The older majority cling to the tried and failed, terrified at the thought that FF or FG will not continue to share power for another eighty years.

Permabear

This post has been deleted.

SnowY32

Fine gael are backed by europe funded by merkels far right facist party, cant wait till they get into power! Then we'll see trouble on the streets! Polls based upon 1000 people in D4 haha.

meglome

Dav wrote: »

Two things:

1) They're Google ads, not specifically taken out by the parties with Boards.ie Ltd

2) To you AdBlocker people - thanks for your support of this free to use website which has some mostly unobtrusive ads tucked away in corners so's not to interfere with the bulk of content. It's so nice of you to tell others how to stop this site earning it's main source of revenue.

If you've any better ideas on how we can make the site pay for itself we're all ears.

To be fair here I use adblock plus as I need to generally have several (at least) browser tabs open at a time, often multiple browsers. If they have flash ads running my PC grinds to a stop, so I block the ads. There are reasons that people block ads other than they can't be bothered to look at them.

meglome

SnowY32 wrote: »

Fine gael are backed by europe funded by merkels far right facist party, cant wait till they get into power! Then we'll see trouble on the streets! Polls based upon 1000 people in D4 haha.

Really the mud slinging is just getting silly. This is bull.

beco

Labour are obviously paying for ads on rollercoaster.ie telling us mums that they will protect our child benefit!!!

nesf

jmayo wrote: »

Didn't know who they were so looked them up and guess what, the first link to them in Google was your post.

So nice work, you have managed to link them to Jim Corr.
Now people will really think they are loonies.
Although was he linked to them already ?

Doh, that'd be because I misspelt the name. Drop the h and it works properly.