Not my worst day ever, but close

Google can bite your butt if you're not watching
as I learned the hard way.

Tuesday, September 11, was not my worst day ever, but it came close.

I awoke in time to get ready for the 9/11 Commemoration at City Hall.

Before I got out of bed, I checked my blog posts from Monday night -- as I often do, because I finish posting at 2 AM or so and check back after sleeping to see if there were any typos that missed being corrected.

I read the blogs on my cellphone. I compose them on my laptop.

To my absolute astonishment, there was an ad for Bob Hugin at the bottom of the Plainfield Today post on my cell phone.

What!!!!???

I jumped out of bed and spent the next hour trying to fix the matter.

Google owns Blogger, the platform I use for my blogs. Maybe 8 or 9 years ago, I signed on for Google's AdSense service, which posts random ads on the blog. If folks click on them I get a fraction of a penny per click.

Not much money -- when we had TJ, I considered it "dog treat money".

You need to know that I have ad blocking on the browser I use for the blogs, since ads tend to get in the way while I am working.

The good thing is that I can get work done quickly without the time for ads to load. The down side is that I don't see the ads displayed on my own blogs.

The lesson for me is to pay more attention to what Google is up to and not just assume it will be harmless.

I have now made sure that no GOP ads appear on the blog, thank God.

A warning to others: Don't assume Google's algorithm will not bite you in the butt.

Though their artificial intelligence could certainly have learned from my profile that I am a Democrat (through and through), they messed up and sold the ad slot to the Republicans.

Word to the wise: Pay attention!

I certainly will from now on.

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 -- Dan Damon [ follow ]

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