This is interesting. On Bloglines I'm seeing an image of a most hilarious ad placement. Yeah it's sad people died, but the ad next to it.... haha!

Then I click to view the actual post and it comes up with a funny, but not quite as funny, image of the baseball player and the google ads.

Posted by: Brooke at August 18, 2005 10:48 AM

Actually I don't think this is broken. It's possible that people reading the article are interested also in trying what he was using. I'd be willing to bet that these context sensative ads probably have a really high clickthrough rate when displayed in the context of an ad like this.

Posted by: Joshua Wood at August 18, 2005 10:48 AM

Two things.

1: Those ads aren't put there by somebody, they take things from the page, look for ads, and diplay them. If anything it's the script that's broken, not the page designer. It saw the word, found ad fr it, and put them there.

2: The word "Monday" is spelled wrong in the picture caption :)

Posted by: djbjrca at August 18, 2005 11:10 AM

Broken like a fox...

I'll bet sales spiked *big time* after MLB wannabes read the article and saw they could buy the same 'roids used by Palmeiro right over the web. I don't think the script is broken at all... it's working just the way snake oil salesmen want it to.

Posted by: Dave! at August 18, 2005 11:54 AM

Replace the name of the 'roid with "Oreos" in the main article, and you'll see ads served up for Oreo cookies. I'll bet Rafi wished he pigged out on Oreos rather than being the big fat cheater that he is.

It's just one of those unfortunate ramifications of not controlling these mindless ad servings better. They find keywords, match them up with ads that target those keywords and viola! Instant embarrassment.

Posted by: jennifer at August 18, 2005 02:23 PM

That would be a phonetical spelling of Monday if you were from Pittsburgh.

Posted by: Bob at August 18, 2005 03:19 PM

For the last several weeks, I've been unable to see the large-scale photos when I click on them. I just get a pop-up filled with nonsensical characters. Any idea why, or how I can fix it?

Posted by: Andrea at August 18, 2005 03:47 PM

Andrea, try and right click on them and select "open in new window" (windows; internet explorer), what type of internet browser are you using?

Posted by: noname at August 18, 2005 05:01 PM

Wow. That is broken. However, I think I might need to test the site's validity. I may do an experiment on Mondy.

-----------

Ads By Google

Broken

Great deals on Broken!

Broken at Bargain Basement

Prices!

ebay.com/broken

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Posted by: Kevin at August 18, 2005 05:13 PM

Also on the Palmeiro thing, Monday was misspelled in the caption under his picture.

It says 'Mondy'...

Posted by: Rosa at August 18, 2005 05:37 PM

NOT broken. The advertising engine is working extremely well. This is in fact the opposite of broken, this is something designed so well and so perfectly that no fault can be found with it.

Posted by: J. Scott at August 18, 2005 07:50 PM

OK, at least 4 people have commented on the misspelling of "Monday", but nobody noticed that "positive" has an extra T in it?

Posted by: AndyDan at August 18, 2005 07:54 PM

Someone isn't using their spell checker.

"Postitive"

"Mondy"

Interesting....

Posted by: [insert name here] at August 18, 2005 08:46 PM

I wish I had a picture of it, but this is an actual billboard-sized sign posted on the first baseline side wall of the Lake County Captains' Classic Stadium in Eastlake, Ohio (minors baseball for the Cleveland Indians)...

"Life is short, Play hard!"

- Brunner Funeral Home and Cremation Service

Posted by: Dan Lowe at August 19, 2005 12:52 AM

I agree with J. Scott. The engine found the roid, found the ad, and made magic. I'm postitive that in a month of Mondys I can't fault them for this. Works great.

Posted by: nyackjazz at August 19, 2005 10:33 AM

liberal hypocrocy, or the disadvantage of automation?

Posted by: Jay at August 25, 2005 04:16 PM

The "mondy" isn't broken. If yins were from pittsburgh like me, you'd know what i mean. :P

Posted by: real_saddam at September 2, 2005 04:31 PM

Will this ever be fixed?

Posted by: 1 at September 4, 2005 06:36 PM

thgis is broken and offensive for a wide avariety of reasons.

Posted by: Sido at September 6, 2005 08:11 PM

I'm surprised the ads don't advertize a wide selection of "Mondy" on Ebay.

Posted by: Gabriel at September 11, 2005 01:27 AM

Does anyone else notice that "Monday" is spelled wrong below the picture?

Posted by: Bret at September 11, 2005 05:34 PM

Yins are all boring an'at so I'm goin up Mant Washentin and look at dahn tahn. maybe ride the inclines and then go to Eat n'Park.

Posted by: Timm at October 24, 2005 02:48 AM