I noticed a few weeks ago that the Adlogger.org support forum was not working. I assumed that Trevor was having server problems and thought nothing of it. I then read a few references on DP Forums about Adlogger being "dead", and assumed they were referring to the fact that the server was down. But when someone came out and made a post referring to the development of Adlogger stopping I had to find out more, and I did:

It is now official: Adlogger is now is dead

Trevor Fitzgerald made the final entry in the Adlogger blog/site on July 12 that sums it up pretty well:

"Unfortunately the development of AdLogger has been put to a halt. Due to some recent changes in the Google AdSense program, AdLogger has been rendered inaccurate and useless. Despite the best efforts to circumvent these changes and maintain a high level of accuracy, our developers could not come up with a solution."

I sent Trevor an email asking for more information on exactly what did not work any longer, and asking for more information. I figured that since I've worked closely with Trevor in the past helping him test Adlogger and even donating to the cause, that he would answer all my questions. It's been several days now and I haven't gotten any response - clearly Trevor is too upset to respond (or maybe my email went into his junk-folder)..

The death of Adlogger creates a great business opportunity for anyone that can figure out how to accurately track Adsense clicks and block ads based on that information. Because Adsense does not provide any tools to website publishers to help prevent click-fraud this is potentially a huge market for someone to come in and take advantage of. Perhaps in the future Adsense can fill the gap that Adlogger has left by providing tools to publishers like click tracking or email alerts when configurable thresholds are reached. Even the ability to specify what domains your adsense PubID can be used on would also be a welcome change. I've read rumors of Adsense incorporating this type of tools into the Adsense program, but thus far these features remain nothing more than rumors..

I've used Adlogger for a long time and I'm really going to miss it. Although it has never been 100% accurate, it has been a great tool to help combat Adsense clickbombs and other click fraud related activity. Sadly, this morning I removed the Adlogger code from the site and wiped a small tear from my eye as I removed the final table from the database.

Labels: Adlogger, Adsense, The Site

¶ 10:18 AM