April 25 2006

Google kills Mango Sauce

Be a whistle-blower

Google censors nearly everything you read because webmasters fear losing their irreplaceable Google AdSense revenue.

Now, you can no longer openly discuss sex, politics and religion - or any other topic that Google's secret army of censors disapproves of.

Google's abuse of their near-monopoly represents the biggest threat to free-speech in a generation.

Post a link to this page now - if you still can.

Mango Sauce is dead and Google is responsible.

This week, a junior Google official decided (wrongly) that Mango Sauce was offensive and arbitrarily pulled the plug on its advertising - leaving the site dead in the water. This may come as quite a shock to 100,000 regular readers and hundreds of local advertisers. It certainly shocked me.

The guy has clearly blundered but there's no right of appeal and Google's global stranglehold on Internet advertising means that there's no alternative source of funding available either. On the face of it, Mango Sauce is finished.

The bad news doesn't stop there. If this stupid blacklisting decision isn't overturned, no website is safe from being crushed by the petty-minded foot-soldiers of Google's unaccountable Internet monopoly. It's all rather Kafkaesque.

In my darkest moment, concerned reader MDS stepped in to cheer me up with some helpful advice.

You might find the decision reversed due to hordes of angry Mangosauce readers emailing their opinion to Google. Google is actually quite responsive to criticism, when it comes in droves, via email.

Today, I'm calling upon thousands of loyal Mango Sauce readers to make their feelings known to Google. This is their email address

press@google.com

but, before you write in, let me fill you in on the whole story. It's quite a farce.

Before we begin, though, I'd first like to dispel any myth that Google can be taken seriously as the web's self-appointed guardian of truth, decency and the American Way.

Google

The only web-publisher in the world permitted to display Google ads alongside sizzling hardcore filth is, in fact, Google. Though some would consider it immoral, the business is obviously far too lucrative for them to pass up.

Google draw their own line at bestiality but any AdSense-funded publisher who has the temerity to mention church-sanctioned marital sex in the missionary position is skating on very thin ice indeed - even if it's done only once a week with the lights off for the sole purpose of making a lovely baby.

Your Ad Here

Mango Sauce is a blog about expat life in Thailand. Like most expats here, I've got a Thai girlfriend and the resulting cultural confusion gives me endless material to write about.

When you discuss relationships between men and women you have to mention sex sometimes - just as football commentators are expected to mention the goals. I know precisely where to draw the line but Google doesn't seem to care. Despite being the planet's largest peddler of hardcore filth, they draw everyone else's line at flower-arranging (so long as the birds and bees are kept at a safe distance).

It��s lucky that our filmmakers, TV producers and newspaper editors aren't subjected to such harsh censorship because we'd all die of boredom.

Like the notorious guards at Baghdad's Abu Graib Jail, Google's anonymous enforcement officers exercise considerable power with little or no accountability. They haven't yet photographed me naked and smeared with excrement in a variety humiliating poses but, in taking away my livelihood for no credible reason, one of them has certainly managed to spoil my day - not to mention the enjoyment of the millions of visitors who, each and every year, seek out some Thailand-related fun on Mango Sauce.

The villain of the piece is a man known only as "Scott The Google AdSense Team." When I worked in the corporate sector, all correspondence with clients was signed off with a full name and job title. Not so at Google. For all I know, Mango Sauce could've been killed-off by the intern.

It goes without saying that some of the stories posted on Mango Sauce are a bit risqu?�. However, there's nothing here that couldn't be republished in mainstream magazines like FHM and Maxim.

The site is completely work-safe. There's no nudity, no porno stories, no excessive profanity, no racism and no homophobia. Whether you're black, white, straight or gay, there's nothing in Mango Sauce that will offend you - or make the day of that poisonous little creep in the computer department who's right now snooping through your browser cache, hoping to get you fired.

If anything on the site makes you feel compelled to scurry off to the company washroom for a spot of executive relief, then you're got exceedingly strange tastes and should seek professional help at once.

Mango Sauce is written to make people laugh - not to get them off.

I was, therefore, a bit surprised to receive this anonymous threat from someone at Google.

Hello,
While reviewing your account, we noticed that you are currently displaying Google ads in a manner that is not compliant with our policies. For instance, we found violations of AdSense policies on pages such as http://www.mangosauce.com/nightlife/
patpong_ping_pong_pussy_banana_show.php
As stated in our program policies, AdSense publishers are not permitted to place Google ads on pages with adult or mature content. As a result, we have disabled ad serving to the site. Your AdSense account remains active. However, we strongly suggest that you take the time to review our program policies (https://www.google.com/adsense/policies ) to ensure that all of your remaining pages are in compliance.
Please note that we may disable your account if further violations are found in the future. Thank you for your understanding. Sincerely, The Google AdSense Team

(NB. By "site" they actually meant just that one page - the first in a long series of misleading statements from Google.)

This is by far the most salacious article on the site (out of 400) but, if you read it, you might agree with me that this tale of low-flying ping-pong balls (or bananas, if you're being pedantic) could be told by a guest on a primetime TV chat-show (by Eddie Murphy, perhaps, or Howard Stern). I've certainly told it in mixed company at dinner parties and, far from offending people, it usually gets me invited back. I also remember reading a similar story in my mother's Cosmopolitan Magazine back in the 1970s. It didn't offend me at the age of 12 and I'm equally sure that it didn't offend my mother either.

The Thai ping-pong ball thing has already gone mainstream. In the movie "Ali G Indahouse" Thailand's representative to the UN bombards her fellow delegates in precisely the same fashion as described in my article. The British Board of Film Classification rated the movie as 15 - i.e. suitable for those 15 years or older and I agree with them. Unlike Ali G, however, Mango Sauce didn't actually depict the balls in flight.

There's no point in arguing with Google, though. They've acquired a reputation for being rather high-handed in these matters so I just did exactly what they asked.

Unfortunately, though, their AdSense Program Policy offers no guidance whatsoever as to what constitutes unacceptable adult/mature content. Is "Sex and the City" ok? Is "Southpark" ok? Is Brokeback Mountain ok? Is it ok for Snow White to share her sleeping quarters with seven small men? Google isn't telling.

I decided to ask them for some advice - which, in hindsight, was probably a mistake because I didn't realise then that their anonymous enforcement staff operate in a culture of impunity. Even for a responsible blogger like myself, asking their advice is as unwise as asking the captain of a KGB death squad for directions to the nearest post office. The chances are that they'll kill your website on a whim and dump it in the Internet equivalent of a mass grave.

Dear AdSense Team

The Google Ads have been removed from the article you mentioned and also from 26 other articles that could be construed as containing adult/mature content.

I hope the site is now in full compliance with your program policies.

Please don't hesitate to contact me if you have any further concerns.

Regards
David

I thought that I was being polite, responsive and helpful but I must inadvertently have said something to upset them because their response was to pronounce a death-sentence on Mango Sauce.

Hello David,

Thanks for your response to our email. While we appreciate your efforts to make changes to your site, please note that because your site was previously found to be in violation of our program policies, it is no longer eligible for participation in the AdSense program.

Your account remains active, and you are welcome to place Google ads on other sites which comply with AdSense policies.

Sincerely,

Scott
The Google AdSense Team

Scott blacklisted Mango Sauce because he mistakenly believed that there had been a previous violation. There hadn't - but, when I emailed him to point this out, he decided to dig his heels in.

Hello David,

I apologize for the delayed response to your email, and appreciate your thorough response. Please know that ad-serving to www.mangosauce.com was disabled because we found that the site contains content we consider to be intended for a mature audience.

As you correctly mentioned, your site hasn't previously been in violation of our policies. However, we feel that advertisers may be uncomfortable showing their ads on pages within mangosauce.com , so due to the violation we found, we'll be unable to re-enable ad-serving to the site.

Additionally, while reviewing your account, we found that you're currently showing ads on pages within the "Mature (18+ only)" section on www.thailandstories.com . We kindly ask that you remove the ads from pages in this section of the site.

We greatly appreciate your cooperation and your understanding. Thank you again for taking the time to communicate your opinions and perspectives regarding mangosauce.com .

Sincerely,

Scott
The Google AdSense Team

The advertisers that Scott purports to be so deeply concerned about are the very same Bangkok real-estate agents, private detectives, travel agents, visa brokers, gay sauna proprietors and "Westerner meets Thai bargirl" novelists who purchase banner advertising on StickmanBangkok.com alongside stories about the naughty Bangkok nightlife scene. His concerns are obviously misplaced.

In any case, Google's AdSense Program Policy quite reasonably allows webmasters to publish adult/mature content on their sites so long as Google ads don't appear on the same page. Mango Sauce was in full compliance with this policy long before Scott ever blacklisted it but, just like the mean-spirited counter staff of the Thai Embassy in London, he seems to be making up the rules as he goes along.

Stickman displays Google Ads too - just like every other expat-orientated website in Asia. Mango Sauce is arguably the tamest (and certainly the funniest) of the lot, so it looks like Google's maverick enforcement officers are planning to kill-off the entire Asian expat genre.

Our reading choices might soon be severely curtailed. Where the deranged decency zealots at the Thai Ministry of Culture didn't care to tread, Google has lobbed in a hand-grenade.

As well as being anonymous, unaccountable and out of control, Google's enforcement officers are also highly error-prone. I have no involvement whatsoever with ThailandStories.com (apart from publishing a review of the site a few weeks ago) but, in another feeble attempt to justify his arbitrary actions, Scott accuses me of being the owner and gives me a stern warning about the site's adult content. In doing so, he's violating the trust of the real owners of ThailandStories.com by discussing their private business affairs with me. Being completely unaccountable, however, Scott probably couldn't give a damn.

I emailed him yet again to correct his latest mistake and I also appended a long list of famous-name websites that display Google Ads beside adult material far more explicit than anything that would ever appear on Mango Sauce. (Ironically, I compiled it from a 2-minute Google search. It makes you wonder what people like Scott actually do all day. Perhaps they should spend less time shooting hoops or circling the Googleplex on scooters and more time actually working. My granddad would've told these fashionably disheveled weekend snowboarders to get their hair cut but they're probably visiting the "Googlers Salon" three times a week as it is. And they get dressed in the dark.)

Hello David,

I appreciate your understanding and your clarification about any affiliation with thailandstories.com. I apologize for the confusion, and I've made proper note of this.

Thank you additionally for notifying us of other sites in our network that may be violating our policies. These sites will be reviewed for violations, and action will be taken if deemed necessary. Thank you for your concern in this matter.

Sincerely,

Scott
The Google AdSense Team

The reply was predictably facetious. Scott addresses me as if I'm a prudish decency campaigner rather than a critic of Google's vague and inconsistently applied rules.

Not content to destroy Mango Sauce on the basis of allegations that he now admits were false, Scott is clearly deriving some enjoyment from taking the piss out of me - because he can.

My intuition tells me that he's doing all this in a fruitless attempt to impress an attractive female coworker (the one who does the tasteful gothic spreads in SuicideGirls.com and who he'd like to get to know a little better - albeit at the expense of both me and 100,000 blameless Mango Sauce readers. He's wasting his time, though, because, with so many hip 20-something computer-genius millionaires knocking around the place, she's not going to cop-off with some petty-minded minor functionary with a chip on his shoulder).

It's time to take a stand against Google's tyranny.

What can I do to help save Mango Sauce?

Quite a lot, actually:

Readers
Bloggers/Journalists
AdWords advertisers
Google insiders
Google shareholders
Celebrity supporters

Readers

I'm an avid reader of Mango Sauce and I'm as pissed-off as you are, David. Up until now, I had quite a high opinion of Google but now I'm beginning to have second thoughts. What can I do to help?

1. Email Google at this address:

press@google.com

Remember to mention the name Mangosauce.com when you��re flaming Google and be sure to ask a question. That way, they can't just hit the delete key. If you don't get a reply, just keep on emailing them every day until you do.

2. Email this article to your friends and colleagues and get them to do the same.

3. Tell the story on any web forum that you belong to and include this link:

http://www.mangosauce.com/about/google_kills_dissident_blog.php

4. Contact any politician or journalist that you know and include the short press-release below.

Bloggers/Journalists

I'm a fellow blogger and/or professional journalist. My readers aren't particularly interested in Thailand but I want to support your campaign by focusing on the Google censorship angle. All our livelihoods are at risk - not to mention our freedom of speech.

You might have to rearrange the words a bit but this is the basic story:

---------------------------------------

PRESS RELEASE

Google silences dissident blogger

This week, Google killed-off the popular blog Mangosauce.com by pulling the plug on its AdSense advertising - which came as quite a shock to the site's 100,000 regular readers.

The remarkable success of Google's AdSense program has spawned a new breed of pro-blogger who can, for the first time, earn a living from what was once just a hobby.

The benefits for the web are obvious but there's also price to pay. Google now censors almost everything you read. If the public likes a blog's style but Google doesn't, the Delaware-based company can withdraw AdSense funding with a single keystroke and leave the site dead in the water.

For the unfortunate blogger who's invested years of work in a site, it's as crass as being fired by text-message - and no less devastating.

Google has a duty to withhold ads from websites that might cause offence but the process by which the company arrives at its judgements is deeply flawed. With so much at stake, you might imagine that the process would be fair, transparent and accountable - but it's not.

Google's rules are secret. There's no judge, no jury and no right of appeal. The executioner is an anonymous 20-something snowboarder who, in the case of Mango Sauce, acted with the swaggering impunity of a Roman Emperor.

Full story here:

http://www.mangosauce.com/about/google_kills_dissident_blog.php

Unless they act quickly to put their house in order, web-search giant Google might soon feel the heat of a sharp backlash from the embattled blogging community - and possibly the Federal Government.

Google looks set to become the new Microsoft.

-------------------------------------------

I'm a fellow Thailand blogger who's currently much more popular than you and the adult/mature content in my Readers' Submissions Section makes Mango Sauce look like a bake-sale at the Mother's Union. The modest revenue from Google AdSense is the last thing that stands between me and a clich?�d balcony death-plunge from the 88th floor of the Baiyoke Sky Hotel so it goes without saying that I'm shitting myself as I wait for the heavy knock of Google's murderous storm-troopers on the door of the fan-only windowless room in a crumbling shophouse off Petchaburi Road that I jokingly refer to as an apartment.

Hi Stickman. We compete for the same readership and advertisers but, if Scott The Google AdSense Team sets a precedent by axing Mango Sauce, your concerns are probably justified. Even if you stump up the extra 500 baht a month for an air-con room, the shit is definitely going to hit the fan at some stage and, when it does, we'll have nothing left to compete over.

An outpouring of public anger is the only thing that's going to save us both from Google's tyranny so I urge you to publicise this story and ask your readers for their help before you too hear the clatter of jackboots ascending the shabby vinyl-floored staircase beside your shared bathroom.

I know that you go drinking with most of the advertisers too so you might also consider asking them to email Scott's boss (see below) to tell him to pull his finger out.

The readers enjoy our friendly rivalry so, when all this blows over, I promise that we can pick up exactly where we left off.

AdWords advertisers

I'm a Google AdWords advertiser and Mango Sauce was directing large numbers of highly relevant visitors to my site. It beggars belief that Google pulled the plug on such a lucrative advertising relationship. They didn't ask my opinion first but I'd like to make it known to them now.

Use the "contact us" link in your AdWords account. They don't have a menu option for complaints, so you'll have to select "other."

Google insiders

I'm a Google insider who did rather well out of the IPO and now, at the age of 43, I'm considering taking things a bit easier and setting up a second home in Phuket with my beautiful Thai girlfriend. I sometimes read your blog for inspiration - as do quite a few of my colleagues. I've never liked that boy Scott and I strongly disagree with his stupid decision (and his fashion choices). What can I do to help?

Email this story around the Googleplex and then have a quiet word with Google CEO Dr. Eric Schmidt. If you are Eric Schmidt, you don't need any advice from me.

Google shareholders

I'm a Google shareholder and I'm concerned that a rash of stupid decisions like this will adversely affect the company's profitability (not to mention its reputation). Mango Sauce was generating tens of thousands of dollars in ad revenue and I wonder how many more Mango Sauce's there are out there being axed for no justifiable reason. I invested in Google to make money, not to have some capricious and unaccountable junior employee throw away my share of the profits on a whim. There's clearly a problem with the company's internal controls. Who do I complain to?

These people:

investors@google.com

Celebrity supporters

I'm a celebrity, politician, diplomat, captain of industry or some other public figure who takes a few minutes out of my busy schedule each day to have one of my aides bring me a leather-bound executive summary of the latest happenings on Mango Sauce. I can give you sixty seconds. Shoot.

Have your people call Eric Schmidt's people.

Discussion

If you wish, you can also leave a comment below:

Email someone now or this will become Mango Sauce's book of condolence.

[Posted to About by David]

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Readers' comments

BW says:

Here are some more smut pages that Google has no problem in taking revenue from: CamCandy.com (Watch them having sex on real live cam!), TheFreePornKing.com (The #1 sex pick of the king! Extremely good porn--100 % free.), BarelyLegal.com (The premier porn site from Hustler), BarelyLegalFree.com (100% Hustler, 100% Teen).

Glad that Google is looking out for us.

HEIL GOOGLE!!!

April 25, 2006 4:54 PM

IC says:

Quick searches for "gang bang," "blowjob queen" and "anal slut" yields a plethora of "Sponsored Links."

Hooray! Double standards are cool.

April 25, 2006 6:42 PM

james steele says:

It's amazing the censorship coming from google and yahoo. porno offered throughout the web, but a simple story about ping pongs in patpong is crushed by google.

especially considering the bestially and child porn and rape vdos offered on google.

Where is this leading

the end of ree speech. the end of free thought

April 25, 2006 7:40 PM

Barry Price says:

That utterly sucks. I've posted the "press release" on my own blog, and will certainly email Google to let them know my opinion.

I'm moving to Thailand in less than a week, and the idea of writing an account of my adventures similar to Mango Sauce or Stickman had seemed like a particularly good idea until I read this.

It's just a shame that there's no real alternative to AdSense - whilst Google is still far from the evil bad guy that Microsoft is portrayed as, monopolies on anything are rarely a good thing - this is a perfect example of why.

Perhaps a tip-jar might be an idea?

April 25, 2006 7:48 PM

Jim Boy says:

Having to come back to Blighty from the Land of Smiles is one thing, but the threat of no more updates from Mango & Sticky is too much to bear. Hardened by years of Asian travel there's not much round here to get me moving these days. But do nothing and we'll wake up to a world distorted by Google-twerps. Far more fun to mull our BKK gonzo's. I'll email the 'Plex now and let you know the reply.

April 25, 2006 8:03 PM

ty says:

umm... yeah google is being a real pain in the ass with these things (this not the first time) capitalisme, monopoly & internet. whats new?

but holding google responsible for 'the end' of mangosauce? i would almost think mangosauce is a member of shin corp and it has to shut down after internal problems but to not lose face thaksin tells the outside public and media that he holds google responsible, and even opt for moral/direct attacks against google...

come on lets face it... mangosauce is over. David had a original blog bout bangkok that was different then others... it appealed to many expats and other people related to thailand. but everything is well said and i think that the whole 'exploration of the bangkok scene' is over. though new visitors could still enjoy reading the archive....

if google was really the boo-man , then why dont just break with google and all the other ad/commercial/search site's and just keep doing what ur doing without 2nd or 3rd parties? i guess that already was a problem for some months before all this happened...

nevertheless; thnx David for ur blog. it was a nice time surfing ur site.

----------------------------------

Hi TY

I don't fully understand your message but I interpret it as "Why don't you just carry on blogging for free. No one is stopping you."

It might look easy to you, TY, but creating a popular website and dealing with the correspondence it generates is actually a full-time job. It's a bit like being a magazine editor - except that you can't afford to hire any staff.

Even if you enjoyed making doughnuts, how many shifts at the doughnut factory would you do for free? Particularly if it meant that your own family would be dining from a dumpster.

The "exploration of the bangkok scene" might be over for you, but my stats indicate that millions of others feel differently. Now, of course, they won't be able to do this research because panicking Thailand webmasters are, at this very moment, frantically removing thousands of pages of content.

If that isn't censorship, then I don't know what is.

You allude to Mango Sauce's hiatus but this has nothing to do with Thailand's Prime Minister. I simply didn't have the resources to carry on working full-time for free.

It was actually Google AdSense that rescued the site. It wouldn't have made me rich but at least it allowed me to carry on doing what I wanted to do. No other advertising opportunity even came close.

However, what Google gives, Google can taketh away.

David

------------------------------

April 26, 2006 4:05 AM

Travelfish says:

Very bad news -- you've earned more than your fair share of guffaws from me...

Have you considered alternatives? Adrite, yahoo etc to replace the google-stuff.

April 26, 2006 9:27 AM

Homeland Stupidity says:

As someone who pays the rent and bills from Google AdSense, I am always concerned when something like this happens. I almost never talk about sex at all, though, so I probably will never be in this situation myself, but I have gathered a few things from others' experiences:

The original message was probably automatically generated. Google's crawler, while it's deciding what ads to serve for your page, tries to determine if it's sexually explicit by whether you've included too many particular sex-related keywords, and if so, your ads are history.

Google is located in the United States. While there are many good things (and bad) about the U.S., its people are still very sexually repressed, owing to a couple of centuries of religious oppression masquerading as religious freedom, and this shows even today in the country's culture and business practices.

Finally, bad publicity is probably the best way to get anything done about your particular situation. The problem is that those in the best position to publicize the situation are also AdSense publishers, and may be hesitant to lose a revenue stream. (Even the New York Times uses Google AdSense!)

April 26, 2006 9:46 AM

Graxdon says:

http://digg.com/technology/Google_kills_Mango_Sauce

Spread the word...

April 26, 2006 10:36 AM

JW says:

Google kicked us out for no reason. Then a year later let us back in.

At that time, I put it back on the sites, and after we ran up a few hundred dollars in a few days then banned us again saying that we were previously banned, and thus cannot be reinstated.

They did it, and then stole viewers from us.

I emailed them a handful of times, and never heard back afte the 2nd email.

Google truly sucks.

April 26, 2006 10:51 AM

Steve says:

As you are most certainly aware, Google has had to self-censor in order to play ball in China. I'm sure you are also aware of the massive Thai police web censorship in Thailand. Could there be a connection here? It is entirely possible that Google is trying to create an impression of wholesomness in Thailand so that they can open a sales office in Thailand without difficulty from the cops. If this is the case, we might expect further incidents. You'll have to get over the hypocracy of what they're doing. Thialand, even more than America, thrives on hypocracy.

BTW, I'm an AdSense advertiser selling Thai products, though my ads never showed up on your site. I'll send them a note anyhow. This sucks.

----------------------

Hi Steve

The Thai police don't hesitate to block sites that they disapprove of. They monitor Mango Sauce very closely - but only to find out what we crazy foreigners are up to.

Before I went on hiatus, Mango Sauce was considerably more popular than the Tourism Authority of Thailand's website and the positive effect on tourist arrivals was probably measurable.

The Thai Government is very welcoming of foreign journalists - particular if they say nice things about Thailand that might bring the tourists in. Mango Sauce did more good in that respect than the New York Times could ever have done.

The Thai Government would certainly never ban the site. In fact, I'm hoping that they might quietly apply some diplomatic pressure to have it un-blacklisted.

Regards
David

-----------------------

April 26, 2006 11:17 AM

Udi says:

http://publisher.yahoo.com/

There are certainly alternatives.

April 26, 2006 12:12 PM

Clark says:

Yahoo doesn't allow international publishers. There are alternatives but it requires allot more work on your part.

April 26, 2006 12:50 PM

Khun Sanuk says:

While this certainly sucks I can't for the life me figure out why you send them a list of other sites. I am fairly certain that that was the reason I too this morning got an email from Google telling me the same thing.

Now, I do not think you did not intend any harm with giving them the list, but what where you thinking????

I think I can still salvage this, but in the meantime I have had to pull down the ads on the board until I can find a solution to this.

Khun Sanuk
Nanaplaza.Com

-------------------------

Hi Khun Sanuk

I fully understand the panic that you're in right now (I've been there myself) but, as I explained above, Google is systematically targeting every expat-orientated website in Asia and it was inevitable that your turn would come.

Did you seriously expect to be permitted to carry on publishing your speciality stuff after mainstream Mango Sauce was exterminated?

When the Nazis came for the Jews, would you have tried to blame the Rabbi? For heaven's sake, Khun Sanuk, wake up and smell the coffee. There's a "final solution" going on around you and hiding under the bed won't help.

You are, however, probably right in suspecting that someone with a grudge (or a commercial interest) informed on us in the first place. That's how things work, unfortunately, and we'll never find out who it was.

Paradoxically, it was Google who (inadvertantly) informed on ThailandStories.com to me.

The emergance of this new site - which was unique in actually paying readers for their submissions - probably ruffled a few feathers in the fractious Thailand webmaster "community" and someone might have done something a bit silly.

Those who live in glass houses etc...

Unless we webmasters stand together, we'll all fall separately. Keeping our mouths shut isn't going to help. We've got millions of readers on our side and plenty of options.

Yesterday, I asked ThaiVisa.com for some publicity but George hasn't replied yet. I also asked Stickman. He gave me a fast response but, sadly, not the one I was hoping for.

I truly don't understand their motives. Unless my fellow Thailand webmasters change their tune pretty quickly, I won't be sending a wreath to their funerals.

If you're fearful of taking Google on, Khun Sanuk, just direct your readers here.

I've got nothing left to lose.

Gentlemen - we have to stop bickering right now and start fighting the real enemy - Google. The readers want all of us to survive and our only weapon is publicity.

Regards
David

----------------------------------

April 26, 2006 1:20 PM

Dave says:

I have emailed the following to google though it may be no more than an exercise in "tilting at windmills"

I am incensed that google has taken upon itself to be the nets moral guardian by stopping google ads being displayed on www.mangosauce.com . I find little on the site that I consider adult 18+ content and in fact would not mind my 12 year old daughter reading it if she were interested.

Considering there are vastly more pornographic sites out there that have google ads, how is it justified that this innocuous site has been singled out??

Being the biggest and arguable the best, google has a moral responsibity to free speech and not to impose moral strictures other than when a site is promoting a breach of the law which the above site is not.

Your actions go against your credo "Do no evil" as you are exercising censorship powers by taking away the livelihoods of bloggers who don't fit within your narrowly defined moral parameters.

Is their a hidden agenda?

Why is google behaving in such a manner as to please only the religious zealots out there?

April 26, 2006 1:34 PM

Khun Sanuk says:

Thanks David, but I intend to ignore this and make some changes to be more compliant, as I am fairly certain that complaining to Google will not make them change their mind.

As for them targetting every 'every expat-orientated website in Asia', yours was the first I heard about having a problem. Mine the second. That hardly qualifies as 'every expat-orientated website in Asia'.

I have also spoken with both Stickman and Mike from ThailandStories.com and neither of them have received an email from Google (yet?).

Anyway, we'll see what happens, but I do not share your thoughts on this. My money is on someone 'ratting' on your site and mine being targetted either as a result of your emails with them or someone 'ratting' on me as well. I guess we'll never know.

And while I do agree that Google are overreacting (and showing a serious amount of hypocrisy) the fact of the matter is that the combined income of all Thailand expat sites is nothing but a drop in the ocean for Google. You can create all the uproar you want, but it is very unlikely anything will come of it.

Sorry, David, probably not what you wanted to hear.

Khun Sanuk

PS You might want to think about contacting the other people on the list you send Google. Maybe they can still prevent this from happening to them.

--------------------

Hi Khun Sanuk

I sent Google a list of pornographic websites containing Google Ads just to make a point.

In my experience, concrete examples make a point far better than just asking an audience to take someone's word for it.

Putting the interests of a bunch of anonymous pornographers before your own clearly makes you a more virtuous man than I. Step up and take the applause.

The owners of these porn sites are clearly taking the piss and Google (despite its faults) has a duty to advertisers.

I'm not advocating a free-for-all.

Thanks for the advice but I've no intention of sending warning letters to filth-peddlers (even if I could find their email adresses).

Incidentally, I'm not asking you guys to actively support me - just link to me.

Why does this have to be so hard?

If you don't want to help, however, let's just leave it there.

It's at times like this that you find out who your friends are.

Regards
David

April 26, 2006 4:58 PM

Simon Leufstedt says:

Bad news, but Im sure you can find alternatives to AdSense.

I got banned from AdSense but I found AdBrite.com. AdBrite is making me more money than AdSense did so I am in a way kind of happy that they banned me :)

April 26, 2006 5:43 PM

Khun Sanuk says:

I'm a bit surprised why you are lashing out to me? Granted I should not have jumped to conclusions and assumed you named my site (although in my defense I think that assumption was not all that outrageous) and I apologize for that, but as far as I can tell we are both in the same predicament. I am not your enemy.

I too have been hit hard by this, losing $300+ / month from one day to the next. Money that paid for our running costs. As a result of losing this, there is now a chance that I will have to close down my site; a site which has been running for close to 10 years, I might add.

The difference between the 2 of us though seems to be that I see no point in a useless battle against Google, but prefer to focus my energy on finding other ways of making money (and I would be happy to talk about this with you via email).

As for finding out who your friends are, frankly put we are not friends. I do not even know you. As far as I am aware this discussion is the first communication we have ever had.
Oh, and have a look at the news forum on my board. Your plight *is* being discussed.

Khun Sanuk

---------------------

Hi Khun Sanuk

I'm not the lashing-out type. You came to my door asking for a straight answer and you got one.

I must confess that I too went through a brief period of post-AdSense anger but I overcome it by avoiding all email contact with the outside world for the first 24 hours.

I know where you're coming from, I've been there myself and I'm not mad at you. In fact, the resulting debate has generated some much-needed publicity.

Drop me a line if you want to talk privately.

Cheers
David

--------------------------

April 26, 2006 7:44 PM

mmm says:

Dominant position maybe, but Monopoly? There's other ad networks available.
As someone pointed out, you should try Yahoo or Adbrite.

April 26, 2006 7:58 PM

bill says:

If you get no value from google, you simply don't allow them access to your "free" content. They live off the goodwill of publishers and lead the world at large that they own the information, they don't. Block their crawlers, no content, no google.

They are not entitled to your content. Block the robots with .htaccess

RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} ^.*Googlebot.*$ [OR]

April 26, 2006 7:59 PM

bill says:

I also suggest that you put "not available on google" in your marketing/promo/pages. Promote other engines.

April 26, 2006 8:02 PM

markus says:

I sent an email to google. I hope this works out in a sensible way.

It's always about the money. Who's getting the money, and from whom. If someone is supporting you then they own you. It is quite stupid however since the advertiser needs the entertainer and vice versa... So any discussion regarding the viability of the arrangement should be on equal footing, right?... A unilateral heavy handed killing-off of a thriving functioning website comes off as fascist propaganda bullshit. There needs to be alternatives to prevent this kind of crap.

Good luck. I'm pulling for you guys to survive and keep doing what you're doing.

April 27, 2006 6:18 AM

JJ says:

Where is Dana when we need him the most? I am appaled about this story David, and will do my little bit to help you get Mangosauce back up and running.

Chok dee maak krap!
Johnny

April 27, 2006 7:32 AM

BanGoogle says:

pffft it's time everyone starts stripping adsense off their pages. I'm tired of them always in my face.

Google did Mango a favor. Get creative and find more profitable ad partners. They're out there.

April 27, 2006 10:21 AM

shaky says:

I am gutted.

Anyway, what you need to do is you need to get this on the Digg front page. Massive traffic.

So, everyone needs to join Digg and click on the 'digg it' link under the number to the left of the article title.

April 27, 2006 4:58 PM

sniffer says:

I am properly outraged by the sanctimonious and incompetent pricks at google and have sent an email of complaint.
And yet...I can't help feeling it's a bit of a merciful release for Mangosauce. Compared to the glory days of a couple of years back, recent postings have been infrequent and of a lower standard. Sorry to have to say this but it's seemed for quite a while like David's heart hasn't been in it. I'm sure that such a talented writer must have other outlets and genuinely look forward to reading more by him.
Meanwhile, if you want a truly hilarious read, go to the "writers I like" (or somesuch)section on Stickman's site. With such insight into the literary giants of today, the star critics of The London Review of Books etc must be looking nervously over their shoulders.
Anyhow, heartfelt thanks, David for the many hilarious postings during the time the site's been running

----------------------------

Hi Sniffer

I'm sure a lot of people will agree with those sentiments.

Ironically, I was planning a return to daily postings just as Google pulled the plug.

Cheers
David

----------------------------

April 27, 2006 5:39 PM

MajorTom says:

Hang on tight!

MangoSauce will not die!
Yahoo will soon save the day.
http://publisher.yahoo.com/

The G$$gle dictatorship will be challenged.

And by the way, porn is not only, bukkake and ass to mouth dot com sites.
There is plenty of softcore/artistique sites that will be glad to have you as an affiliate.

Another good option.
With your traffic, you will make more money in a day with the tame.
http://asiafriendfinder.com/go/g651590-brk
than you made with G$$gle.

Keep up the good work.
Regards
MajorTom

April 27, 2006 8:34 PM

French Guy says:

Google is not the Internet and the Internet is not Google...

"Google kills Mango Sauce" ???

Com'on... Get over it... Why are you so upset at Google? It's just another crappy U.S. entity trying to rule the world.

April 28, 2006 8:49 AM

mad_dog says:

Your website seemed to be blessedly anti-sex tourist to me David. Shame on you "Scott" may your father squander your inheritance on beer, Viagra, lady men and homes in Surin, Nong Kai and Udon Thani.

April 28, 2006 8:06 PM

Sack says:

Google licks the sweat off a dead mans balls...I've been battling with them for years.

Yahoo is not the answer either as they've chosen to assist political regimes in imprisoning exercisers of free speech.

The only options are to:
1. Constantly battle with those pricks
2. Wait for a new search engine to become popular, this will eventually happen as those who made google what they are are getting tired of being treated like shit as they only try to please the shareholders.

For now, google is the main game in town when it comes to marketing.

Hopefully David will start posting again...my email has been sent.

Good luck!

April 29, 2006 12:11 AM

Miss Knees says:

I doubt my opinion will be very popular, but here goes:

While I can see that it is upsetting to a site owner to have their main source of revenue shut off fairly abruptly, I don't think that this indicates a larger problem at Google. I know that people are quick to judge any large company as "heavy-handed" when enforcing rules, but it's the larger companies that have so much to lose if they allow something questionable to slip through the cracks. And I don't think that the lack of a last name in the correspondence is questionable, either. Most companies in which I have worked customer service encouraged reps not to use last names, in part because of issues like this one. A customer becomes disgruntled, whether rightly so or not, and suddenly your name is posted all over the Internet. This opens up an individual to personal attacks by misguided fans over something that is most likely a company policy and not the arbitrary decision of one rep.

As for the issue of whether they should re-enable ads on this site after you made the effort to comply, I do see your point. On the surface, it sounds like you made a valiant effort to comply with their terms. However, I'm not well-versed in their policies, therefore I can't make a judgement about whether their refusal to enable ads was unfair or not. In my opinion, when you don't like what a company does or how it enforces its policies, you simply use another company. Google's Adsense is NOT the only game in town. Yahoo offers a similar program (which I understand you may not qualify for, as a non-US publisher), as does AdBrite. And AdBrite does not have any rules about restricted material at all, which may make it a good choice for any site that may occasinoally "walk the line."

As a blogger who runs a site with adult content, I certainly wish that Google didn't put restrictions on site content. But I discovered that I didn't qualify early on and researched other options and am doing quite well without them. Perhaps as other services that are less strict grow, Google will open their eyes to the opportunities that adult sites and even some of the "unworthy" non-adult sites can offer their advertisers. While I think that your experience is a good warning for other bloggers not to put all their eggs in (Google's) one basket, I don't think it's worthy of a huge public outcry.

April 29, 2006 6:01 AM

Anonymous says:

I asked Scott (or zgod for his friends), and he certainly knows you - you rode an elephant together in Phuket remember? Anyway check out his myspace page and I'm sure it will refresh your mind: http://www.myspace.com/zgod

April 29, 2006 7:42 AM

Khun Sanuk says:

Miss Knees are you sure about the adult content not being a problem for AdBrite?

I got this from their terms and conditions:

"Subscriber (whether a publisher, advertiser or otherwise) warrants, represents and agrees that it will not contribute, submit or make available through the Services, or use the Services in connection with, any Content that is infringing, libelous, defamatory, obscene, abusive, offensive or otherwise violates any law or right of any third party."

Sounds to me that this could still be used to shut down pretty much any site they deem 'offensive' or 'obscene'.

April 29, 2006 7:47 AM

Plastikman5 says:

Good morning, just sent the following email, this is my first post and not my last, keep it alive please.

"Hi I regularly read this site and blog as I myself have lived and still am a regular visiter to Thailand to see my family. Many times I have used links from this site to book flights, arrange hotels and as links to other asian websites. Certainly the content in this site/blog IS extremely funny but never offensive, nor any of the links to other sites.
Can you tell me why this very entertaining and informative site has been scuppered? Is this mistake going to be reviewed quite soon?"

April 29, 2006 1:56 PM

Alexia says:

Good luck getting any sort of assistance from other expat webmasters. Paranoia is ripe out there in farang webmasterland. My experiences with a couple of them have been less than jovial. Stick seems like a nice enough guy, although he often comes off as being a bit aloof. Another forum site operator must have run a gulag in his former job, deleting posts from users left and right if they are deemed, even by the longest stretch of your imagination, as 'inappropriate'. I can only guess that, unlike yourself, these uptight expat webmasters are a fair bit short of a sense of humour, and scared shitless the Thai police will come a knocking any minute. Your bit about "a clich?�d balcony death-plunge" may ring a bit too close to home for these folks.

BTW, did it occur to you that someone from farangs.org may be behind the crackdown on the farang operated sites? I could easily imagine them systematically sending in "complaints" to google. Google, being as big as they are, probably relies on people dobbing in other sites in order to weed out the rifraf. It's probably very easy to game that system if you have an agenda.

Anyhow, good luck to you!!

April 29, 2006 2:03 PM

Plastikman5 says:

Has Khun Netchanok Klinkesorn taken a new boyfriend by the name of Scott by any chance?

April 29, 2006 3:09 PM

Tilak says:

They did the same thing with me. So I did a Appeal, But they never responded, So y don't u try some alternative such as clicksor or Allfeeds etc

I have sent a email to press@google.com, Hope they respond to our calls

Regards
Thilak
(www.thilak.co.nr)

April 29, 2006 10:46 PM

Stephen says:

I sent Google an email.

Boy they sure are becoming Big brother

Kind regards and best wishes
from RE_fuse in Thailand and mango Sause reader

April 30, 2006 10:02 AM

AnonyMouse says:

Check out WebmasterWorld's AdSense forum
http://www.webmasterworld.com/forum89/

they have some good advice in situations like this (although take care not to mention your site by name or URL there).

May 1, 2006 3:58 AM

Simon E says:

What gets on my nerves about Google is apparently you cannot include gambling or adult material on your site whether you are using the google adsense or the google adwords programs.

But they will allow rip off get rich scheme websites, how to cheat at poker websites and any other under handed scheme to rip people off as long as they do it by abiding by Googles rules.

Is this morally correct, i think not.

In my opinion if Google Adsense it would be dangerous. (Pun intended)

May 1, 2006 5:25 AM

Tim says:

I've given your story what publicity I can on Cultural Snow. I think this is really a case of a small number of US-based companies trying to turn the endearing anarchy that makes the www so much fun into yet another corporate cartel.

And I think 'Scott' probably has posters of Liv Ullman with elf ears on his walls.

May 1, 2006 11:31 AM

bufferBear says:

the answer is simple Watson.
you start up a usenet news group or google news group with a suitable title, it can be moderated or unmoderated. then keep your mango main page for graphics and titles and link it into the archive of mangosauce which is held on usenet or google news .Readers might have to get a newsreader such as agent or similar.usenet newsgroups are all censor free,the last bastion of free speach on the net.The usenet newsgroup could be called daveatmango or mangosauce or whatever .

May 1, 2006 12:57 PM

Miss Knees says:

I'm pretty sure about Adbrite. I think the language they have listed is there to cover their butts in the case of something incredibly offensive that causes public outcry, or some other content that they haven't yet imagined but that their advertisers would be upset about. While I was researching ad options, I wrote an email to Adbrite to be sure my site was fit to use their service. They assured me that adult content is okay.

May 2, 2006 2:25 AM

Dr Mabuse says:

I was a shareholder of Google and promptly sold my stock after reading your story. I cannot be a co-owner of a firm with that amount of discretionary censoring might, not-transparent processes, and inconsistent enforcement of contracts.

Your story should be read by more Google shareholders with a conscience and concern about freedom of expression.

May 5, 2006 6:29 PM

Magnoy says:

Google & Paypal are blocking "adult" people from access to what they deem adult material in any form and this is something I won't tolerate as it makes no-sense.

Why can't they creatively solve the problem instead? Creating something as an adult ad-sense section or an age verification in case of Paypal should be not too difficult for those "tech wizards". It gives me the impression that some catholic priests are making the policies at Google & Paypal

Recently I tried to purchase the movie Jan Dara from Yes.Asia with PayPal and I was informed that I can't because it's an adult movie...simply outrageous.

The reply I received from Paypal to my inquiry as why adults can't buy adult movies was obviously machinated pretending to be from a real person. Of course it was in no way answering my question and even addressing me without putting Mr. in front of my surname. I never got an answer to my second mail and received an automated 'are you satisfied with the response from Paypal customer service?' questionnaire.

Have bots taken over Paypal? Can't see no signs of customer service whatsoever.

I sent a letter to Google also telling them that I won't buy shares of a company which tries to play nanny for adult people in China and on pro-bloggers as Mangosauce

Good luck and try to keep up this site

Magnoy Samsara

May 7, 2006 9:16 PM

Zammo says:

For sure it's a shame, but face it, at the end of the day MS is a site for sex-tourists and sexpats. Google probably realise this and don't really care to what extent their rules are being violated.

--------------------------

Hi Zammo

You might be right about the assumptions that Google made about Mango Sauce but I wish that people would actually read the site before passing judgement.

Even a 5-minute browse would confirm that it's written for a much broader readership than the one you suggest.

If I was writing a non-explicit site about gay lifestyles there would be no problem but it might take another 20 years before society comes to accept that white guys who date Asian girls aren't actually doing anything wrong.

David

--------------------------

May 13, 2006 12:43 PM

julian says:

Hey there - just ask politely for Scott or someone in the AdSense team to contact you and provide your phone number. You'll be able to sort it out over the phone much more effectively than email where it is easy for a customer rep to seem heavy handed. I bet he is a lot more reasonable over the phone. If there's still a problem, ask to speak to a *policy specialist* in the AdSense team for clarification on how you're contravening AdSense policies. This will escalate your site to a specialist for a more considered ruling rather than Scott's seemingly arbitrary decision. Good luck.

May 21, 2006 12:31 PM

Alex in Japan says:

I sent this letter to google...in response to the blacklisting of mangosauce.com

Dear Google persons,

I am dumbfounded and upset to hear that
http://www.mangosauce.com
has been blacklisted from the adsence programme.

As I understand it..the site has been blacklisted for showing google ads alongside adult content. And despite deligent efforts to put the matter right.......even though google has no clear guidelines in this regard and that many many other sites to the same and worse......Google is inflexible in the matter!

I am losing interest in the internet.

I might even cancel my broadband connection. Mangosauce.com is a truely intelligent and humourous site...amidst a sea of pornography..........
Mangosauce.com is in no way pornographic.

The rational assumption....therefore is that Google.com is a reactionary organisation run by religious zealots on a moral crusade..or that the companies who make Google.com rich are run by people who are religious zealots on a moral crusade! And I have resisted using the proper noun "American". Irony is dead...but I will say it anyway....if it wasn't for internet porn there would be no google! You really think all those nerds were surfing the net for cooking recipes?

I'm just done with the internet! Before Mangosauce.com..I had all but given up on the interent as a domain for illiterates and corporate propaganda.

I think the internet is dead.........and YOU killed it!
GOOGLE killed the internet!

Yours sincerely....
And this is a serious email..so I will use my real name..the one I was registered as at birth..as a real person.....and that makes me a lot more accountable than....the "Scott" from google that killed mangosauce.com

Alistair Wakefield

PS: I'm willing to say all the same ....in any medium..and in any place in the world.and defend this in a court of law! My reputation on the line.

May 25, 2006 9:54 PM

Grunt says:

I cant be the only one here that senses a bit of feminazi pandering by google in this decision.

This is along the same lines as the absurd "International Marriage Broker Regulation Act of 2005" that demands all American men get police checks before they can send so much as an e-mail to a foreign lady.

Mango Sauce portrays western females as they truly are, and in stark irrefutable colors. This truth, if not snuffed, stands a chance of spreading to an even larger and increasingly discontented segment of the western male population.

The feminazis, like all parasites, will not give up their perch willingly. They have grown quite comfortable keeping men in a legal and cultural gulag.

The "marriage strike" ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marriage_strike ) is ample proof that there is a silent rebellion afoot.

I started my foray into the subject of foreign ladies back in 1993. I married my Ukrainian bride in 2004...finally!

I do keep track of the "mens movement" and I can honestly say Mango Sauce is the most mature, concise, and powerfull site discussing the incredible options western man have. If they choose to take advantage of them, that is.

Mango Sauce is also one of the precious few sites that spares its readers the usual foamy mouthed, never ending vitriol spewed forth by seemingly every mens rights site out there.

David truly knows that the best way to portray western females is with humor, because they are nothing if not a complete and utter joke.

Be a real shame if this Mango Sauce were cut from the roster.

June 1, 2006 2:51 PM

bangkoksexydotcom says:

How about Yahoo and MSN they bought have working programs now :) Just keep it going and do not put ads in random. Maybe do not have ads from yahoo, google and msn where it says SEX put some other ads there. I know many forums in do like this.

Keep it up !

June 9, 2006 2:39 PM

withheld says:

Hello, well I love your site I find it very entertaing!However, I am sorry to be the one to inform you that your followers comments posted on your site, are indeed racist and and loaded with profanity.White women all over the world would be considered a race wouldn't they? Most of your readers, hate white ladies!! We are also the strongest consumers there are so if you offend us your gonna get bit!Your readers have such a hate on for "farang" chicks as I bet you do as well,since you allow such content to be viewed on your site!Not olny do companies discourage employees not to use last names they discourage first names in alot of cases as well! How much are you willing to bet that "Scott" is a white women?I would be willing to bet you alot!!I am a "farang chick" who loves to read your articals and postings.Its your postings that you allow,im sure that has offended them.Maybe I'm wrong all together but those are my thoughts on the whole thing.We white women are a stong economical force,we are worth far more than the opinions of a bunch of ugly perverts!If you go into your arcives and read you'll notice this I'm sure.

June 13, 2006 9:57 PM

normalguy says:

hehe so funny to read this post of a desperate "white" (blonde?) female.

I think that was the most enjoyable so far.

Thank you :)

July 19, 2006 12:29 AM

P. De Baia says:

Good riddance is all I have to say.

September 28, 2006 5:06 PM

chris simmons says:

i got canned from google adsense for what i admit was a breach of the rules, so no i'm not making anything, but get this, i own another domain, so i thought my girlfriend could join adsense, she tried to, but just for trying she is banned for life cause the domain is registered to me, and she didn't even do anything, can you believe that?

September 30, 2006 11:32 AM

Hammer says:

I wanted to post this on our now some Hated and some loved John Galt!
Many of you wanted to know more so here is folks.
His real Name is Russell Keith Summers Jr.
DOB;11-13-1962
He lived and worked in around Florida so many places it would be to hard to place them all on here. Heres some..Tampa,Lakeland,Sanford,Plant City and of course San Diego, CA. He worked for Henkels and McCoy in Sanford,Fl which is the Hoover Company of of PA. in the USA. He worked the longest at a Pub just across the street fron the Univ. of FL at a Pub. As a waiter and a dishwasher. Old John Galt has NEVER married. Until his coming to Bangkok and falling into the making of cheap parts for motorcycles he has lived a very boring life. He has been writing me as of this week but only to see how much I know about his past. As he said Stickman did to him..He did it to me also when I quoted his most recent apt number in San Diego and have other of his life. He cut me off and went back to being the guy he really is..He like Stickman wants only to make money. Stickman had something to loose in his job. Rusell Keith(John Galt) said he only has life to lose now, because people are out to get him. I told him this..What happened to Live and let Live. Maybe then everyone would get back to doing whatever it is they do in LOS...What Wankers as some punter say:)

December 2, 2006 1:14 AM

Anonymous says:

Mango Sauce... the benchmark. David, Up to You!!!

December 13, 2006 5:50 AM

Bangkok Baby says:

I am sorry to hear this friend.
But Google clearly states in their terms of service that adsense shouldn't be used on Adults only pages. So whether you put on one page or 1000 pages of adult related site it is a violation of terms.
To keep their good will google have to take care of their adword advertisers. I am sure a Bangkok international school advertiser will not want his add to be displayed to guys who are looking for massage centers in Thailand.

But having said this I must agree that, it should have been easier for google to decide if the page contained any adult related stuff and display the accordingly. But google is not using adsense for adult ads. As you said, google is the place where you can place an ad for a porn site along with adsense ads. LOL! Pretty Gay
Don't worry buddy. You have other options like azoogle ads. I am glad to see that you have decided to put text link ads also. By the way I am going to buy a Text Link ad on your site. Cheers buddy.

December 22, 2006 2:44 AM

Publisher says:

We publish journals, websites and blogs on a variety of topics, mostly orientated towards the professional and financial sector. Google doesn't like us - and demanded we changed our own adverts - because we referred in them to "terrorist financing."

We have drawn attention to Google's seeming ability to work out what adverts are relevant to the content of a page - but in fact delivering completely inappropriate adverts. In fact, we don't have AdSense on any of our own sites because the results, as displayed on sites with related content, produce streams of adverts for fraudsters and charlatans - precisely the opposite of what content providers want to promote.

Perhaps they can't actually make their algorithms work properly and that's why so many of their services remain in "beta" for so long. Certainly, their News service algorithm isn't up to much. There's no reason to expect that their AdSense one is any better.

December 24, 2006 4:18 PM

eyepopper says:

In the recent Database article (Bangkok Post) 11 April, David reveals that he thinks with his Dick and not his Brain. Only a Dick as big as David could have balls to say and I quote (from paragraph 6, page D7) "There's nothing in Mango Sauce that will offend you."
I may not be offended, David, but you have yanked your pork too long if you think there is "nothing" in Mango Sauce that will not "offend." Personally, I like the links, etc., but let's take the picture of Jesus and the little boy (which as one commenter noted) it looked like the little boy was giving Jesus a BJ. Now, I DARE YOU dick brain to put a picture of Buddha or Mohamed with a child bent over in the lap like the Jesus picture. Do you think (of course not - you don't think) - would it be possible that a boy giving a BJ to one of these other major religious leaders MIGHT offend some people in Thailand??? If you can't see that you are not only a dick brain, but a limp one at that. Stop blaming google and wake up to the reality that your stuff is offensive to some people and just admit it!! Think things through before you ejaculate to a reporter again.

April 12, 2007 11:39 AM

Jake says:

I think that the real issue here isn't so much that you are offending google with what you perceive/and/or what you assume google perceives as you "pushing the boundaries". Nor do I care that google advertises on porno sites. There is a difference between looking at a naked spread of a woman and having an all-out hatred for women, especially white women, as is the case from all the entries (rants/slams at female writers) I have read thus far from you on your (probably as of now, discontinued) website. The issue at hand, quite simply, is that you are a misogynist.

If you take offense to what I've said, please don't hesitate to look up "misogynist" in the dictionary, or, better yet, your little at-the-touch-of-a-button "Wikipedia".

Cheers, and happy hunting,

Jake Stenson
Chicago, USA

April 27, 2007 10:50 AM

Dutchie says:

Maybe the problem was not the content itself but the profanity that litters readers' comments across this site.

Any potential advertisers would cringe at the language found on many parts of this site.

The topics of some of your (particularly well-written) articles may get close to the line but I would not be surprised if it in fact was the excessive profanity that caused the problem.

April 28, 2007 2:48 PM

Baby Driver says:

When one company has a monopoly you have to put up with the shit that its minions delivers,especialy after a hard night on crystal meth and crack cocaine. The only way to defeat these tyrants is to avoid all Google services and never click on one of their ads. Like the USSR it took a long time for reality to hit them but eventually it did. It looks as though it is about time an opposition to Adsense was established.

April 29, 2007 2:06 PM

Paul Barton says:

David,

I'm English, married to a Thai, 11 happy years we lived in libertine France. We're back in Bangkok, just built our ecologically friendly dream house and watching the censorship issue unfold each day.

But why is it happening?

Are we, the annoying non-voting ex-pats giving Thailand a bad reputation? prolonging its image as the sleezy sex capital of the world? cheap living, and gorgous bar girls... perhaps Thais would like to be proud of their country for something else... say... as a business capital, an important economic mover in Asia, perhaps one day even have a car industry and well known Thai brands. When you think of NewZealand or Canada, you don't think...double penetration possible for 2000baht, 2 girls, 300x2 bar fines, well, I can afford it and still stay here another couple of weeks.
Now, having gang banged well and truely in France in the popular exchangiste clubs with my wife we are here again. It's so un-sexy. having to pay for sex is such a turn off. 11 years ago I saw the ping pong ball and popping ballons show in patpong, made me feel sad. I don't want to see this, it's not sexy it's degrading. In the end, I've stopped ranting about YouTube and all the green eyed pages and now try to be tolerant of this way of clamping down on what the internet kid generation will have as their first and lasting impression of Thailand and of Thai women. When I was a kid, just finding a torn out page from a sex mag in the mud on a bike ride was a trill beyond words. Dried out and hidden under my bedroom carpet, I saw my first naked woman. When I had my first kiss, touched my first breasts I was feeling excited but romantic. Pre- internet it was hard to get sex mags in England, certainly no hard ons or penetration shots, you'd have a heavy fine if caught bringing them back from the continent. There was a myth about the under the counter mags but never saw any. Until in recent times in England the only way you could jerk off with moving images legally was with the 'Lover's Guide' England has had strict censorship like the Thais, but not so severe.As an ado. my dad showed me his mags 'Mayfair' 'Club International'to help me understand womens bodies. I just felt so embarrased. I'd sneak off into his room and retrieve them from his wardrobe when he was out and masturbate. In France sex hasn't ever been a taboo. The group sex vdo's have always been on the supermarket shelves next to batteries and cornflakes for as long as I can remember. When you don't ban a thing, it isn't so exciting, and you don't really notice it or want it that badly. French kids seem so normal,well ajusted. They fought for freedom and equality and it's hard to imagine someone telling a Frenchman he can't do something and not set the streets of Paris on fire.
So, in the end, we know the Thai autorities are moaning to Google, millions of parents must too be moaning from all over the world, that sometimes it's hard to stop our kids seeing endless images of cum shots and double penetration before they've had chance to have thier first crush and kiss. perhaps Google know this and are doing token gestures here and there where the feeling is the strongest, and the strenght of feeling coming out of Bangkok at the moment is sending ripples Google is taking on board. They know there is a problem because you can type in anything and images will appear of anything from beheadings to Thai gangbangs. You don't have a shop owner telling you you can't because you're under 21 or 18 like it was beore. There's not a jot you can do practically
to censor sites, there's untold millions of them. Does it damage the way our kids grow up seeing these things?.I firmly beleive not actually, looking at France. But however, it might prolong the Thai's feeling of frustration at just not doing anything about the way their country is perceived abroad. I mean, I always feel a bit guilty buying a ticket to Bangkok, even though it's to visit my ageing parent-in-law, the same way I'd feel guilty about going to the counter with an arm full of sex vid's years ago. I've never had sex with a Thai prostitute and have no urge to what so ever. Not because I think it's wrong, not at all, just I can't get off thinking she's faking pleasure for cash and I can't get off unless I beleive a girl is really happy having sex with me and it's totally because she wants to and not for cash to help her parents in the north. I defend the right for people to be prostitutes if they choose. I think falangs here secretly crave love as well as sex, and feel an affinity with Thai women they just don't back home. They remember the flowers they get given on the way to the airport in the end, not the sex. It feels very foreign to be in a country that repects their King so much. Thais genuinly do. He's a great King and has never abused his power but has encouraged rural farming projects, research, (go buy a book he wrote about his street dog...)
When I went into my girlfriend now wife's bedroom 11 years ago, there was a huge poster of the king above her bed. In England we value the right to freely mock Prince Charles's ears and can't imagine giving that freedom up or a sexy college girl pining his mug abouve her bed either.(I actually really like P.Charles how bizarre does that make me?) You can't do that here, but it's o.k. as people don't want to. So, David, don't get negative on us. I've just started taking an interest in your kind of sites exactly because of the times we live in. Use it some how. censorship only draws attantion to the thing and you'll get more clicks, but also try to be repectful to the Thai authorities, you and I are a guest here and if we don't like it we should leave not change the country to suit our tastes. I'd be sad to see the end of Patpong, it is really run down and suffering these days,even though I don't like the place. I have great sex with my wife, and believe me in France we've done everything there is to do. The libertine clubs and exchangiste clubs and beaches make it a really hotspot of you're in a relationship with someone that wants to experiment too. After a few years though having sex on abed with 20 other people gets pretty ordinary and beleive it or not I'm glad to get a bit of censorship back again, it puts the x back into sex and takes me back to the good old days when I could jerck-off looking at a photo of a naked girl. Those days are truely over sadly.
The Youtube censorship thing was a mistake, it's only made mocking the King into the pastime of the moment for thousands who didn't even know Thailand had a king till recently.
How can Thailand be ready for internet freedom when even Penthouse Thailand, the only sexy mag can't even show a pussy. Thai's just arn't ready yet. Meanwhile the Japanese are having the most fun in Asia, they invent the craziest sex situations. However, there are no cheap hotels or 20 baht cow pats or 1000baht whores and the chances of marriage, well you've just got to find a partner, really love each other, because she ain't gong to need your ATM so you have to have some good human qualities for someone to love which is how it should be in the end and why, if we're here, we should aspire to or not be suprised if we and our sites and blogs get blocked. Thailand is on the move whether we like it or not, and google has declared who's side it's on. it's bloody complicated! By the way, I love your site, don't get negative, run with it to your advantage.

Paul and Khwan Bangkok.

June 3, 2007 7:51 AM

Paul Barton R.A. DIP says:

And there you have it.

Here is this guy David, running his site.

Please take note.

He reads all the comments we post, but, he posts the comments against his site too... he's living the principle of uncensorship. It's not a word, it's far deeper. It's a faith. He's a guy showing us that posting comments this way or that way only proves at the end of the day, we need to be informed and mature enough to make up our minds on every issue.
Mango Sauce is a living example of why we should try to keep open debate. I only wish we falangs had a voice here in Thailand. I mean we'ed love to be given a chance to speak to the Thai's about a real democracy but we sadly won't. So, Thai's take note, here's a falang posting negative comments against himself. Think about it. Could you do the same if you had a blog? If you're truthful and you would, then you understand and are ready for democracy.

Keep reading mango Sauce and we'll find the way to keep it open.

Paul and Khwan, Petchgasame
BKK

June 3, 2007 12:40 PM

Grunt says:

Funny how exactly a year ago, I was giving props to MS.

Added to it, reviewing the posts made back in 2005...great stuff.

Now, I say shut this site down so as to save what (very) little remains of the dignity that used to be here.

June 3, 2007 1:03 PM

Kwai Key says:

"He reads all the comments we post, but, he posts the comments against his site too... he's living the principle of uncensorship."

It's all a lie!!

June 5, 2007 7:35 AM