when I come to log in of a morning, it says in various spots "register to remove these adverts". But there are no adverts!

Adblock?

not that I'm aware of. Apparently I have it installed but not enabled (don't even remember doing that). Same in Firefox where I don't have it installed at all.

Happens to me too at work. No adblock.

sometimes they show, sometimes they don't

and

As I've said elsewhere, I get that occasionally. Logging out and back in fixes it.

No, this is without being logged in.

 

I never get them being logged in.

 

Basically, the ads seem not to be showing for guests, which is the point of the ads isn't it?

Ohhh, ok. That is queer then :Y

Apparently, having looked into it, it's Google showing an empty space (or if the Adsense account holder chooses, a coloured square or a static image) if there are no relevant ads to display.

I don't know what criteria they use to determine what content to use to display the advert, I would presume page content but there doesn't appear to be any concrete information.

And I swear there used to be an option to "Show Public Service Ads" when there were no relevant Ads, but that option appears to have disappeared from the Adsense control panel.

Bleh.

So, if someone (hypothetically speaking) were to start a discussion about, say, handbags and handbag related products, we might get some adverts appearing from Google?

Bags, Thomas Tank Engine paraphernalia, Password recovery tools. Anything

Mancunian web design?

Anything but that.

Indeed. There have to be limits. We have a classy spamming portfolio and we don't want to drag it down-market.

I got some ads today! Shock.

Me too!

I AM BEING ADVERTISED AT TOO.

It works!

Hmm.