Wordpress Adsense Plugin Takes percentage .. BEWARE!

[Davioli]

I was randomly checking my page source code for something.. and found an adsense PUB ID that did not belong to me.
Erm.. how and why would someone elses adsense ID be on my website?

I immediately ran a check for the PUB ID on Google and saw this:
WordPress › Support where can I report a plugin?
WordPress › Support All in One Adsense and YPN Is NOT Free

Apparently leaving the field blank in the settings for the "All in One Adsense and YPN" plugin gives 8% of the impressions to the plugin developer.

It does not mention anywhere on the settings page that by leaving it blank you are donating your earnings to the developer. It didn't mention anything when I installed the plugin as well.

So.. any good FREE or ONE TIME FEE plugins available that don't take a percentage?

[Davioli]

Just read this on the second link provided above:

"Yes you are right Albert, but I thought it was fun for a while to see if people actually read or modify the source code. Anyway the option is in the new version now, to turn the donation completely off by putting 0 in the box. Have fun with your blogs! "

It seems placing 0 in the box should elimiate the rotating od PUB ID's..

I guess thats problem solved then.. but I would have appreciated it if it was mentionec clearly in the plugin page. Anyhow.. good plugin otherwise.

[Dr.faizan]

Mate this is not for every adsense plugin. I am using adsense injection plugin and I guess it is not serving its own ads... Try that one..

[Underground SEO]

That's bad, but a very clever way to profit from a free plugin!

[timpears]

It is not a bad thing really. If the plugin does what you want, and you benefit by the process, so they take a small cut of your revenues, then everyone benefits. Right? It might have been nice if you had been informed about it though.

[Jacob Martus]

It's probably pretty dangerous to just let your adsense publisher id be sitting on whoever downloads your plugins blog. You could be violating adsense TOS and not even know it. That's a dangerous thing for the plugin creator to do if you ask me. I would never do that.

[JoshOm]

(bow) to the developer of this plugin ))

[jasonmorgan]

So.. any good FREE or ONE TIME FEE plugins available that don't take a percentage?

learn how to write your own plugins else you're at the mercy of others

[Davioli]

Originally Posted by timpears

It is not a bad thing really. If the plugin does what you want, and you benefit by the process, so they take a small cut of your revenues, then everyone benefits. Right? It might have been nice if you had been informed about it though.

Erm..It is really really bad that he didn't inform people who were using his plugin. Even NOW there is no mention as to how you can turn off the donations. I had to see the support forum to find out.

[DireStraits]

Hi,

I've been using this plugin on my Wordpress-based Adsense sites for some time, and I've always made sure to set the percentage box to 0 so I'm giving nothing to the plugin author.

If you visit the authors website, though, there is actually a disclaimer on the plugin page right at the top explaining about this.

Also, there *is* an option to turn it off (by inserting a 0 into the percentage box) on the plugin settings page (accessed via the "Adsense" tab in your Wordpress admin section).

Sure, it's right at the bottom and could be missed unless you're careful, but it's not like it's been hidden or doesn't exist. You should've seen this when you went to insert your publisher ID and configure your plugin settings.

[Davioli]

Originally Posted by DireStraits

Hi,

I've been using this plugin on my Wordpress-based Adsense sites for some time, and I've always made sure to set the percentage box to 0 so I'm giving nothing to the plugin author.

If you visit the authors website, though, there is actually a disclaimer on the plugin page right at the top explaining about this.

Also, there *is* an option to turn it off (by inserting a 0 into the percentage box) on the plugin settings page (accessed via the "Adsense" tab in your Wordpress admin section).

Sure, it's right at the bottom and could be missed unless you're careful, but it's not like it's been hidden or doesn't exist. You should've seen this when you went to insert your publisher ID and configure your plugin settings.

I have seen the last part of the settings page. Most people(including me) would leave it blank thinking that if I did not set any percentage then it would take nothing(It does say donating is optional). It doesn't even mention that if you leave the field blank the plugin developer takes 8.3% of your revenue.

here's how it appears on the settings page:

Donations
You could show your support for this plugin's development by optionally donating a percentage of your ad revenue
Percentage: (blank box here) eg. 5 means 5% or exactly once per 20 page views

While it may appear on his website... a lot of people download plugins using wordpress's own internal search and install setting.
I do regret not going to the website and seeing the disclaimer for myself.

[Zeb]

Yep some plugins do take a certain percentage of your adsense ads. Be sure to check the options of any adsense plugin you use.

Another one that is quite sneaky are themes. Some theme developers insert their adsense id without you knowing. Check this by viewing your page source and look for other adsense id's other than you own.

[JamestheJust on Elance]

Anyone who "bows down to" or gives some kudos to a sneaky bait-n-switch, or underhanded practice like this lame did with this plugin (and how others do so with their themes) needs to take a course in ethics.

Remember that? Ethics?

Let's see...I can't or don't want to work for my money...so I'll invent a "free" plugin and *steal* as a way to say "thank you!"

Yeah. Makes sense.

It's actually crap like this that makes me hesitate to say I'm an internet marketer, or that I'm making money online. Sure, the developer mentions that you can switch off the donations...but man up, already, and quit obfuscating your earnings tactic.

Lame.

[Chris-]

BlueSense does something similar, but in a different way. They put several ad-blocks on each post, and all but one, they tell you about and give you a very easy way to change to your own publisher ID, but one they leave the Script in the page without telling you about it, or making it easy for you to change it (unless you look!). Easy enough to change by editing, if you look through the code, though

Chris-

[jasonmorgan]

Let's see...I can't or don't want to work for my money...so I'll invent a "free" plugin and *steal* as a way to say "thank you!"

Write your own plugin. It's very simple.

What is that you say, you don't know how or don't have the time?

Well, someone else made a plugin that you are using so I wouldn't exactly call that person lazy and not wanting to work.. in fact, they are smarter than you are since they are were able to devise a way to make money through developing a free and very popular plugin. A couple of hours or days of work that returns steady flow of cash for years to come... that's working smarter, not harder.

Is it a big shady that the developer wasn't up front about shaving a percentage of the hits, sure it is.

But that developer certainly isn't lazy or dumb.

[MrMoneyGuy]

i left mine blank lol now i have changed this to 0 he is not having anymore lol

Although im sure i have seen his google adsense number in the plugin code i will have a look and get back to you all

[redrossero]

I have the same problem with YPN and easy adsens eplugins. I inserted the code manually and my clicks reappear. My understanding is that they take more than few percentents. Actually, they stealing from you. You see impressions in your channels but no clicks, be aware of this.

[palms]

Originally Posted by JamestheJust on Elance

...lazy or dumb...

That developer would have to come UP a few notches to be considered merely lazy or dumb, since he's now underhanded, sneaky, and generally dishonest.

He is no better than those utility developers who create "free" programs whose REAL purpose is to reset all your affiliate CIDs to THEIRS so you get ripped off.

[actionplanbiz]

ya i noticed this last week, same plug in. different Pub ID. but maybe just pick a different theme that comes with adsense options?

[ericshef]

Thanks for this I would have never saw that sneaky very sneaky

[JamestheJust on Elance]

Originally Posted by jasonmorgan

Write your own plugin. It's very simple.

What is that you say, you don't know how or don't have the time?

Well, someone else made a plugin that you are using so I wouldn't exactly call that person lazy and not wanting to work.. in fact, they are smarter than you are since they are were able to devise a way to make money through developing a free and very popular plugin. A couple of hours or days of work that returns steady flow of cash for years to come... that's working smarter, not harder.

Correction: i DON'T use the plugin - I manually install. I did, however, notice that not too long ago, my AdSense PubID was changed...I changed it back, reported the &*%! to Googl3, and that's that.

You make a couple of assumptions, and are dead wrong. The first, as I noted, is that I use this plugin - as I said, I don't.

If I did, however - this is a bait n switch, not good business - and it IS lazy, and dumb.

If you think it's smarter for Jack the Ripper to come quietly behind his victims versus an all-out frontal attack...no. He's dumb.

Stealing, by way of fine print or hiding your true intentions, is neither intelligent (any chimp or chump can steal, even Kindergarten kids can steal - does that require intelligence?), nor dilligent.

It's lazy and dumb.

Don't assume I'm dumber than some 3-toed sloth who won't man up and come correct, but has to resort to shady business tactics. I don't take the position that simply because you've made money, you're intelligent or diligent.

This guy's a real piece of refuse, but then again I notice you dodged entirely my comment about ethics altogether...

[Leslie B]

Originally Posted by Davioli

So.. any good FREE or ONE TIME FEE plugins available that don't take a percentage?

I use the whydowork adsense plugin. It's pretty easy to use and I haven't found a reason to suspect that they're taking my money

Leslie

[InitialEffort]

Just found this out, I'm extremely unimpressed with the plugin.

EDIT: The AzSno Adsense Plugin is the alternative I'm using.

[Fernando Veloso]

Good to read some opinions here. My ignore list appreciates it.

Plus, me and my sane and ethical business partners appreciate it too.

[WareTime]

Yet another reason to not blindly trust wordpress plugins. There is no free lunch.