Again, I don’t click on didgusting garbage like these ads. Is there a moderator that will answer these questions? Can one of you answer if you pick these or do you have a right to refuse these and do not? Do you not think it’s important that this is being advertised here?
I have 3 religious ads on my page now. One about helping the cancelled priests. It’s a matter of principle. I love this site but I’d love if this was answered honestly so I have a choice whether I want to be here or not.
The short answer is no - nobody is picking the ads or has manual control over them, including me. It is extremely difficult to find ads that monetize on an "old school" forum site, and without a lot of maintenance involved. Unfortunately most of the major networks pay literal pennies or won't even approve the site due to the format. Silly if you ask me (but they don't).
Every now and then, this subject is revived and I understand a few people are really bothered by some of the ads. Maybe it's more, but I definitely don't receive any sort of steady flow of complaints. There seems to be a conservative catholic segment within the ad network that really hones in on Boston Celtics fans (a bit on the nose, I must say, but here we are). I don't see too many religious ads personally for whatever reason, but I have on occasion and I know they are sometimes over the top, so I'm not denying they exist.
I have no problem with some people who are genuinely bothered by some of the content installing ad blockers. Obviously it's not sustainable if everyone does that just for convenience, but I'm not in a position to maximize profit or anything like that. Just wanna keep the servers running.
What I can offer is to facilitate some sort of organized complaint and see where it goes. If someone is willing to compile a decent number of screenshots of religious ads they deem offensive, I will get with an account manager and see what's possible to filter or dial them down further. No promises, but I can pose it as a serious issue and press the issue to the best of my capabilities.
On a side note, if anyone knows a business who'd like to sponsor the entire site, or there's a groundswell of people who'd rather donate $$ every year, I'd take down the ads in a heartbeat -- it just hasn't been realistic/ panned out in the past.