Comments on: Watch your ad space (please)

By: Eva

Eva — Thu, 02 Mar 2006 17:42:32 +0000

I agree, and I guess I don’t understand why people put ads up for revenue on personal blogs anyway. I see it all the time, and it puts me off, regardless of the ad content.

By: Carsten

Carsten — Tue, 28 Feb 2006 14:40:27 +0000

“Less desirable visitors”?

Okay, BoingBoing has been mentioned as an example and the only ad showing any skin aside from the face (I hope you dont consider faces offensive) are the SG-ads (which arent even shown at the moment). Even these dont really show anything which could be considered offensive - at least nothing you wouldnt see on the streets, in the park and on the beach all the time. So, what is wrong about people visiting such pages? Why are they “less desirable”? Are they filthy? Not pure enough for you?

By: joel

joel — Tue, 28 Feb 2006 12:36:12 +0000

i agree with you. sites with adds like that turn me off from reading them. if i can’t comfortibly read a website around my family i don’t get on them. replace the adult ads with ads for dog food, new cars, music or foods and you’ve got me back as a reader. *smile*

By: Pande

Pande — Mon, 27 Feb 2006 15:57:06 +0000

I think just adsense or another contextual ads are good for blogs.
Visual ads are very agressive.

By: Nils

Nils — Fri, 24 Feb 2006 14:50:17 +0000

@davert: Don’t annoy people with ads and they won’t block them. It’s as simple as that. And people who block them won’t be buying stuff from the ads anyway. Use the carrot, not the stick. Whining about giving up the site isn’t going to improve my opinion of a blogger.

By: Makki Studios

Makki Studios — Fri, 24 Feb 2006 09:54:48 +0000

Watch your ad space (please)

[^]Mark from Weblog Tools Collection wrote a good article about cleaning up the blogging act. To many blog sites are littered by ads with nudity and or vulgar language.
I also must say i much agree with Mark and also find it a real insult to me when i …

By: davert

davert — Thu, 23 Feb 2006 17:01:57 +0000

Firefox Adblock is your friend as long as you don’t mind webmasters giving up their sites because they can’t take time off from work any more…

By: Nils

Nils — Thu, 23 Feb 2006 14:38:06 +0000

Firefox Adblock is your friend.

By: Ajay D'Souza

Ajay D'Souza — Thu, 23 Feb 2006 11:17:19 +0000

Will agree with you on this one.

Though I rarely see ads because I either browse with Maxthon or Firefox with Adblock.

By: Matt B.

Matt B. — Thu, 23 Feb 2006 09:06:33 +0000

I don’t see any ads either as I’m using Firefox with AdBlock Plus. No popups, no ads : paradise

By: Johan

Johan — Thu, 23 Feb 2006 08:40:46 +0000

Just found out Boing Boing is blocked from work for me. Recently I’ve only been browsing the extracts via an RSS reader, so I hadn’t noticed. Somehow I do think the ads they show has something to do with it (reason was : Recreational / Nudity)

By: CountZero

CountZero — Thu, 23 Feb 2006 01:28:18 +0000

ads don’t bug me anymore since I started using firefox (then phoenix v0.2, when I ran across it) - just because of the adblock extension, which was my main reason to switch from opera to firefox. so it’s none of an interest for me what kind of ads are placed on any website - I won’t recognize them anyways

By: Marty

Marty — Thu, 23 Feb 2006 01:07:43 +0000

I totally agree. In fact, basically, the only pictures I have on my site are those o homeless dogs (who need homes desperately). that’s what is great about http://wordpress.com : no offensive, in your face advertising or pop-ups.

I think offensive ads maim the whole purpose of a blog.
I use OutPost Pro by Agnitum to filter out ads (in addition to firewall) and Firefox w. its many ad blockers too. My experience of the internet is much different from most people. I never see ads unless I want to.

By: billg

billg — Wed, 22 Feb 2006 23:24:41 +0000

After being away from blogging for a couple of years, I’ve decided to jump back in and have been designing a new site. Naturally, the notion of grabbing some ad revenue is appealing. But, I’ve decided not to alter my design just to run ads. I’ve seen too many sites whose ads spoil an otherwise attractive layout.

That said, if a site’s content — ads or otherwise — offends me, I’m not going back. This defeats the purpose of advertising, and blogging. If you run a blog, you’re reponsibile for all the content on it.

By: Gordy

Gordy — Wed, 22 Feb 2006 21:08:00 +0000

Amen! I have 4 children and having ads such as those are a definite turn-off.

By: Jason

Jason — Wed, 22 Feb 2006 20:30:54 +0000

I visited Boing Boing in IE 6.x and noticed a lot of ads. Then I visited Boing Boing in Firefox with Adblock Filterset G.update and Adblock Plus extensions installed. Most of the ads went away.

By: Dana

Dana — Wed, 22 Feb 2006 20:23:55 +0000

I haven’t had a problem with offensive language in ads, at least not in most of the blogs I visit.

What I have been seeing more and more than just drives me up the wall is ads that take up most of the blog.As well as ads strategically placed to make me accidentally click on them when trying to click on a navigational link.I absolutely hate that and never visit any blog that does that again.

Just last night I came across a blog with so many ads I don’t think he could even be called a blog.

More bloggers definitely need to control how and what ads are displayed on their site.

By: Fonzo

Fonzo — Wed, 22 Feb 2006 20:06:40 +0000

I agree 100%. And just like you, I purposely do NOT visit certain sites (or many blogs in general) for the exact reason that I never know what I am going to see.

By: Rich

Rich — Wed, 22 Feb 2006 19:40:41 +0000

I agree. If I’m checking out a site that isn’t adult content, I don’t want to see adult content in the ads. When that happens, I don’t go back, ever.

By: Seth

Seth — Wed, 22 Feb 2006 19:36:15 +0000

I’ve been blogging for a long time and have made a decision to not have advertising on my site at all. I realize I might be able to retain my modest fees for hosting by advertising, but feel that my content (however insignificant it may be) is important enough to ME, that I would rather it stand on its own, as a gift (that sounds more egotistical than I’d like) to the people who are nice enough to make me feel good by reading.

In the past I’ve published zines and reluctantly moved to publishing digitally and this has given me the ability to enjoy writing, and enjoy the fact that others apparently enjoy my writing at all.

This said, I do realize that not everyone is in a position where they can do all of their blogging without covering the costs. Those who have advertising must be aware of the impact the advertisers and advertisements have on their readership. Usually one focuses their writings and advertising towards a specific demographic. Though as a reader we may be offended at having found advertising offensive, and maybe let down by the author in unknowingly excluding us due to content, but at the same time it is to be expected.

The articles may be good, but playboy is still playboy.