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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.
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.
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 risqué. 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.
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