Autism Speaks Advertisements on WrongPlanet.net

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I wanted to join this site to find out what enlightened parents are doing with their autistic children and the first ad I saw was for some DVD of singers for AutismSpeaks!

Now, everyone has their own ideas, I guess, but I didn't expect it here. Does anyone else see the advertisments?

We can't really control what ads appear on the site, because they are generated randomly by Google in response to certain keywords on the page, such as "autism." As such, it is only natural that every once and a while, an Autism Speaks ad will pop up.

We can't really do much about it. WP gets revenue from the ads that keeps the site going.

So I apologize that we occasionally get the odd Autism Speaks ad, but let me assure you that we do not support them in the slightest.

-Roxas

Exactly. Google Ads has some formula by which they select the ads for us. When Autism Speaks shows up it is, to say the least, ironic. You'll see a few that make you scratch your head, I'm afraid.

Maybe click on the good ones to encourage those? It was kind of funny how I got lots of compost bin ads for about a month after I googled compost bins. I kind of liked that.

If I recall how Google ads work, at least for AdWords, the website using AdWords to advertise has to pay according to the volume of traffic those ads bring in. The more clicks the ads receive, the more Autism Speaks -- or whatever site is advertising -- has to pay for their ads. So clicking on the "good" ads when you don't actually intend to buy their products merely increases those vendors' operating costs, while the lack of clicks on Autism Speaks' ads would have no effect on their ads, because they are probably using keywords like "autism" and "Asperger's" and will show up on WP for that reason. I may be wrong on this, but I'm pretty sure that's how it works.

that just gave me an idea on how to "attack" autism speaks. Just have people spam-click the links, we can drive autism speaks to bankruptcy

Actually, you should click on Autism Speaks adds. Every time you do so, Autism Speaks pays something to Google, and Google pays something to WP. Just go ahead, click the link, load the page and close it.

WP can choose to block ads from them Autism Speaks, talk to alex about it, he'll need to talk to Google and sort it out.

But if you're in the mood for some fun, set up macros to keep clicking the Autism Speaks ads, then money will go from that evil hate group right to WP!

From what I've read, there is little one can do to affect the ads provided unless they violate their (Google's) Terms of Service. Also, what you suggest regarding a macro will not work - doing so would likely only cause the loss of funds due to fraud.


M.

I am relatively "new" to a lot of this. I don't know what Autism Speaks is. Anyone have a two or three sentence summary?

They're an non-for-profit organization that claims to speak for autistics; however, they misrepresent the autistic community by claiming that we are all... well basically, failed children who will either become monsters or never amount to anything. Their main goal is to either make us all normal or eradicate us (trying to develop a prenatal test for autism is a sure precursor to eugenic abortion), and they have considerable sway with the government and media. In reality, their main sympathy lies with the parents of autistic children that can only see that their child is not normal, and who believe that they should be.

In short, Autism Speaks is, for lack of a better word, an enemy to our rights and freedom.

It must be my paranoid tendencies, but I don't like the idea of Google following me around the internet to figure out how to advertise at me. I block cookies and scripts emanating from Google, so aside from my (very limited in use) gmail account I am more or less a phantom to the big G.

I tend to think a lot of the negativity towards Autism Speaks is overreaction. Yes, they are wrong in some things. But they aren't all bad. It's like, the Autism Speaks folks are stuck in their own perspective, but so are we. Being good as seeing others perspectives is not an autistic trait.

One charge which definitely seems to be true from what I can tell is they don't have autistics/aspies amoungst those who run it. They are an organization by and for parents of those with autism, making the organization name very much a misnomer.

Also, as a organization by and for parents, what they say, and how they word it, is biased towards that perspective. Yes, they are working to try to help those with autism. But, on their website, in their press releases, etc, they aren't talking to those on the spectrum. They aren't considering our perspective, and that we too are part of the listening audience.

Well, that's my perspective on Autism Speaks, anyway.

I can go one better and give you two short videos!

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WSp2XZivhuU[/youtube]
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8fc_qtWxMes[/youtube]

I didn't become enraged in any way when I watched I Am Autism, and autism is indeed a SERIOUS disease.

Rather misleading of you not to include the disclaimer (which is on YouTube if you go to YouTube page for the video) for the first video saying that it is NOT created by Autism Speaks. It's someone's view of Autism Speaks, but it is not how Autism Speaks present themselves.

(The 2nd video doesn't claim to be by Autism Speaks.)

You can also go to their own website. http://www.autismspeaks.org

They definitely have a different perspective than Wrong Planet does.

Misleading? I believe it does say at the end of the video that it wasen't created by Autism Speaks...