Friday, October 12, 2007

A note from 4Shared

Well, last night I contacted 4Shared about their suggestive ads. I did get a positive response already this morning from one of their people (see below).

A couple things I'd encourage you to do: (1) Write to 4shared. Let them know that you don't appreciate the ads that their ad agency is including. (2) Download a popup or flash blocker. I didn't even realize there were ads on 4shared, because mine blocked them. Most are free and do a good job. I'm not going to suggest any, because I haven't really studied which are good/bad, which have spyware, etc. But do a bit of looking and get a blocker on your computer. (3) When you see a 4shared suggestive advertisement, take a screen shot, note the site/link, and send it to 4shared.

Here is the message I sent and received from 4shared:

(From 4Shared) Hello,We do not actually manage advertisments on our site, but an advertisement company does. We would be very grateful to you if you send us links to those advertisements and also make a screenshot when you see it next time. Sorry for the inconvenience. We will try to fix the problem as soon as possible.
Thank you.
Best regards,
Olga
support@4shared.com

(My Message) Original message: I have had a few people mention that there are sexually explicit ads included when they download files I'm sharing. I will say that 4shared is better than most, however, I'm disappointed that the "filters" are slipping. One of the files I uploaded was titled "filmstrip" and was blocked, because of the word "strip" -- with that type of censoring (which I was thankful for), I expected more from the censoring of ads. People I've asked have said that they're seeing more and more "questionable" ads on 4shared. I encourage you to keep it clean, as you have done in the past. Thank you. Sarah

12 comments:

Brooke - in Oregon said...

Good Morning Sarah!
Good for you for writing to them and it sounds like they are open to helping with the fix. I never see these either because my pop blocker keeps them away (thank Heavens)

I am totally behind on downloading so tonight I will 'get it going'

Thanks again for all you are creating and for the overall theme of putting God out in front. I totally appreciate it!

Anonymous said...

I'm so glad you send them a message reguarding this... I noticed, too, that all of a sudden there were DISGUSTING ads on 4shared!!! There I was trying to d/l some Christian quotes, with that smut on the screen! Awful!!! I wasn't sure we could do anything, I thought we'd have to deal with it, but I will be taking screenshots and sending them to them, because who wants to see that???!!!

:) Hugs!!! :)

Anonymous said...

Thank you for writing to 4 shared for all of us. I'm glad that they actually answered you and are wanting to address the problem, and not just say "deal with it". Keep up your good work. We appreciate all that you do!

Sweet Pea said...

Thank you for your concern and your action, Sarah! My computer blocks most of that stuff.

I also wanted to thank you for introducing me to Chris Tomlin's "Amazing Grace!" I didn't know perfection could be improved upon, but I think he's done it! I keep your site open so I can hear the song over & over! It has also made me interested in seeing the movie. Do you know if the story John Newton (the author of the song "Amazing Grace") is included in the movie?

Anyway, thank you so much for your positive stand in so many ways!

Blessings,
Susan

Zan said...

Sarah thank you for looking into this and letting us know what we can do to fix it :)

Christine Smith said...

when I have downloaded from 4shared lately, I've gotten some HORRID stuff, too....and a pop-up blocker does nothing because the images are part of the page.... :( thanks for letting them know. Next time I get something nasty, I am doing a screenshot and sending it in too

Anonymous said...

Hey, Sarah, thank you for emailing 4shared, I will be emailing screenshots as well. Just thought I would pass on that it is part of the page, and not a pop up that comes on, so pop up blockers don't help. And I think part of the reason so many people have not seen it is that it is such a new thing--and only comes up randomly. Maybe the flash blocker would help (saw that in someone's comments.)

Thank you for all you do! :)

Stephany13 said...

Thank you for finding out what we can do to fix the problem.

Unknown said...

I commented below but once again, thank you.

Anonymous said...

I have never seen a pop-up on either your blog site or on 4-shared. I guess I my husband has my protection set up well. I have to admit you made me a little nervous about downloading from 4shared, but I'm going to have to get over that because I can't resist downloading your fantastic templates and kits. Thanks for sharing your talent.

verabear said...

it's good that they seem to be open about doing something about those ads. I honestly don't bother looking at the ads anymore but i'll be on the lookout :)

Cynthia said...

I emailed 4Shared too because someone mentioned the ads when downloading some stuff I offer to the homeschooling community. They replied with the same email. But, like you, I have never noticed the ads (besides text ads) and let 4Shared know that I chose them BECAUSE of their clean look and ads. I wasn't sure if it was a glitch, but when I saw your post, I figured it must have happened to quite a few people. Hopefully the more positive feedback they get, the cleaner they will stay!! :)

Thanks for all your great freebies and to all who participate. I love it all!!

Blessings,
Cynthia