Are OzBargain owners hypocrites?

[Deactivated] on 27/07/2015 - 21:24

This may get me thrown out of OzB, but here it goes:

Scrolling down the main page I noticed an ad for vyprvpn VPN service.

Now I have had competitor vpn for many years now and use it mainly when I travel and use public wifi.

BUT when I log into a public wifi through competitor vpn I cannot search or login to OzB. I have to use my cellular data without VPN.

So my question is: Assuming that the owners of OzB make money from vyprvpn advertising, does that not make them hypocrites when they wont let me login to the site using a competitor VPN service?

Site Discussion

Comments

  • Logical on 27/07/2015 - 21:34

    Da/ Ja

  • nocure on 27/07/2015 - 21:45
    -2

    Haven't you got anything else to do?

  • [Deactivated] on 27/07/2015 - 21:51

    Your assumptions are probably wrong, so there.

  • iridiumstem on 27/07/2015 - 21:51
    +3

    I thought Ozbargain blocks all vpns?

  • jason101 on 27/07/2015 - 21:56
    +3

    I think you'll find the ads are generated and placed by google or another advertising providers based on your previous search activity or websites you've visited (deals you've perhaps clicked which have planted cookies on your machine) and not directly by Ozbargain. You've been watching too many conspiracy theory films. Actually the truth behind how you are selected for certain ads is probably scarier than your actual assertion.

    Last time I looked at an Ozb post for free condoms or something there was an oo.com.au ad in the top right corner enticing me to buy a rubber vagina….and you thought you had problems with VPN ads.

    • Nutrino on 27/07/2015 - 22:02

      Thats excatly right, i was searching on the Good guys website for some small appliances, and long behold, the exact same items i was looking at was on the bottom of the ozbargian website in the form of an ad.

  • Moderatorhamza23 on 27/07/2015 - 21:59

    Hi invalidwithoutphoto,

    If an IP address is blocked on OzBargain it simply means there was some sort of spam on that IP address or IP block and we banned it - this is quite common with VPN services as you can imagine. Which VPN company provided that IP address or similar is completely unrelated. The ads you are referring to on OzBargain would be coming through Google Adsense and as far as I understand they would be tailored towards you.

    Could you contact us via TWAM and let us know the IP address you are trying to use to see if we are able to unblock it? We can't guarantee anything in regards to unblocking VPN IP addresses but we can certainly see what we can do.

    Thanks

  • iChopstick on 27/07/2015 - 22:12
    +1

    Not sure about VPN been blocked, but OzBargain has nothing to do with the ads. The ads that you see are tailored for you by Google AdSense, everyone sees different ads. If you are againest the ads, you could always turn them off in options.

  • retiredfeline on 27/07/2015 - 22:17

    Sites using AdSense don't get to choose what ads appear, although they can opt out of various categories of ads. Google decides what ads appear based on what they guess about the user. So you're reading too much into the VPN coincidence.

  • Davo1111 on 28/07/2015 - 00:01
    +1

    before kicking up a stink, why didnt you just TWAM? i see a twitter account, a linkedin account, an email… there would be quite a few ways to contact them to get around the block.

  • NoClue on 28/07/2015 - 02:08

    What ads? O' I just realized I don't use IE I have Firefox and no script, mind you I have to switch things on occasionally. Even when my computer becomes wayward and stumbles on those morally questionable sites I don't get ads. Hmm,that explains why I was on a friends computer the other day and ads kept pooping up, I thought he was infected with something as he was running malwarebites or something.

    I guess the internet is not an innocent place as it once was;)

    Sorry just dribbling for I have never seen/noticed ads on OB so I found the post strange.

  • Davros on 28/07/2015 - 06:11

    No problem with cyberghost5

  • scotty on 28/07/2015 - 09:18
    +1

    Assuming that the owners of OzB make money from vyprvpn advertising…

    Maybe.

    The very reason we use Google AdSense exclusively (rather than selling ads directly from the advertisers) is so that I don't have to deal with the advertisers. It's Google who decides whichever text ads or banner it should show on OzBargain. I have no idea what banners are running on this website and I don't care whether it's VPN provider or good ol' Gerry that's advertising here.

    … does that not make them hypocrites when they wont let me login to the site using a competitor VPN service

    Nor do I have any idea what "competitor VPN" you are using. As hamza has stated, we only block VPN endpoints when there are spammers coming through.

  • [Deactivated] on 28/07/2015 - 18:34

    Scotty et al, thank you for the explanation, but…

    I understand that certain ip addresses may have been used for spam in the past so you block them. One of the primary reasons I use vpn is to access online banking, paypal, etc. But I have never ever had my access to online banking banned when connecting thru my vpn provider.. Same for ebay / paypal / online coomerce sites. And there I was thinking that exposure to online banking details was much more sensitive to spammers and hackers than ozbargain's search results.

    But who am I to know, right?

    I get your point about adsnse though.

    • Moderatorhamza23 on 28/07/2015 - 18:45

      When we say spamming, we are talking about users signing up to OzBargain and posting SPAM in the deals or forums section generally (which is often done through a VPN). Blocking those IP addresses isn't really relevant to PayPal or online banking sites as far as I am aware, more so forums or similar where spam can be submitted. We retrieve information from forum spam databases in addition to manual bans on trouble IP addresses.

      Once again if you contact us through TWAM and we can probably give you more specific information there once we know the details.

      Thanks

      • [Deactivated] on 29/07/2015 - 10:40
        -2

        Will you now ban the user from gamers-outlet for selling fake licences? That seems to be fraud.

        • rompastompa on 29/07/2015 - 10:52

          What has that got to do with the original post?

          Their IP pool may be banned, which may affect you if you're using the same service..

    • Davo1111 on 29/07/2015 - 10:19

      Nothing to do with adsense. It's about stopping spammers/sockpuppeters/trolls from posting/bypassing bans. Spammers want to hide their real location, so they use VPNs to try and get around blocks.

      It's not just ozbargain, some online commerce sites will block transactions from overseas IPs, because in the past they've been used for credit card fraud.

      • iridiumstem on 29/07/2015 - 12:04

        True, for example, you cannot access JB HiFi from Korea :(

        • altomic on 29/07/2015 - 22:36
          +1

          South and North.

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