Misleading "Download" ads Thread

Hi! I'm trying out IndieDB and it seems really nice, except for one thing: the ads on my game's page are just big buttons that say "Download Now", which seems pretty misleading. I've nothing against ads, but I feel like these particular ads are just going to trick people into thinking they are the official download button for the game — they have no information about what you're going to be downloading, so the reasonable inferrence is that it's the game on the page, but it's not.

My suggestion would to be to disallow ads of this nature, as I think it would help build trust with visitors.

I believe I noticed the advertisement you are talking about, and it clearly states the name of the product you would be downloading (unless it is another one? which I have never seen so far).

Of course it can still be misleading for those that do not read the few lines of the advertisement other than "Download now" but those not reading a few words would be at fault for not doing so.

Need a screenshot so we can investigate if possible please.

we definately shouldn't have any ads running like that? We are very careful to run ad friendly units, so people don't resort to adblock. Do you have a screenshot?

If you guys are asking for the one I have seen, it is this one:


Not sure if it is the same one, it kind of fits the description (the "download now" text) but this one seems totally harmless as it specifies what it is about.

Hey, thanks for the response. These are the ads I mean:

Yes, I know people should read before they click, but c'mon! If you go to a page to download HAPPYAPP.ZIP and you see a big button on the screen that shouts DOWNLOAD NOW with tiny grey text on a light gray screen that says click to download supermalwarepro, a lot of people are gonna be tricked. Anyone who defends this deceptive practice and says "it clearly states the product you're dowloading" are probably behind the scam, IMO.

Sorry Fredashay but you misunderstood what I meant.

I believe it is not misleading the advertisement I saw above, the one with the green button, and I was thinking he was talking about the same advertisement, since I never seen those white ones before (probably the advertisements shown are different for everybody?)

If I have to judge the white ones then yeah, they look a bit misleading for those not used to this website, at least in my opinion.