Althouse: Options.

January 24, 2019

Options.

69 comments:

Sydney said...: Are you asking us to vote?; 1/24/19, 2:08 PM
Nonapod said...: AdSense is silly. It just shows me ads of things I've already looked at from NewEgg and Sweetwater or wherever.; 1/24/19, 2:09 PM
Sydney said...: I still can't figure out why I was seeing those Ashley Madison ads. I never look at the kind of stuff that would make anyone, even a bot, think I favor adultery or porn. Although, I do sometimes search for CDC guidelines for STD treatment.; 1/24/19, 2:13 PM
Oso Negro said...: Oh HELL no!; 1/24/19, 2:18 PM
Enlighten-NewJersey said...: If the work required to make some money on the ads is worth it to you, then keep them. I pay them no attention so, it really doesn’t matter to me one way or the other.; 1/24/19, 2:22 PM
Ralph L said...: With my adblocker off, I still don't see ads. There must be another one in Chrome. I shouldn't complain, but I don't mind supporting some sites, not this one, of course.; 1/24/19, 2:23 PM
Meade said...: Good decision. Looks better already, in my opinion. Decluttered. Those ads brought us income but did nothing to spark joy.; 1/24/19, 2:26 PM
Darrell said...: Those ads brought us income but did nothing to spark joy.

Do not spank Joy!; 1/24/19, 2:31 PM
MadisonMan said...: I ignore things I don't want to see. Works with ads.; 1/24/19, 2:36 PM
Ignorance is Bliss said...: You mean now I'm gonna have to go out of my way and actually search for Ashley Madison?; 1/24/19, 2:38 PM
Char Char Binks, Esq. said...: I want a third option.; 1/24/19, 2:38 PM
Char Char Binks, Esq. said...: If I had more income I could spank Joy more often.; 1/24/19, 2:40 PM
RBE said...: Sparks joy not see another Ashley Madison ad and other ads to products and services I would never employ. I did ask not to see those ads but they kept popping up. Thanks.; 1/24/19, 2:41 PM
JRoberts said...: Thanks for shutting off the side ads. I pretty much ignored them, but the recently increased frequency of the Ashley Madison ads was starting to feel like a NSFW situation.

In appreciation for shutting off the ads, I think I'll place another order through the Althouse Amazon Portal!; 1/24/19, 2:42 PM
Nonapod said...: I want a third option.

Yeah. Like maybe ads for fictional products and services, like sausage catapults, underwater toasters, or a dinosaur walking service.; 1/24/19, 2:43 PM
stonethrower said...: This blog is thoughtfully written, and issues are explored so wonderfully. I vote for whatever benefits you the most.; 1/24/19, 2:43 PM
J. Farmer said...: My father is a gadgety/techy kind of guy, so we always tended to have the latest stuff growing up. We had a Netscape browser by 1995, and prior to that used online services like Compuserve, Prodigy, and even prior to that bulletin board services. I vividly recall my parents being upset after I spent nearly two hours on a BBS reading a computer game walk through, not realizing that we were incurring long-distance telephone charges the entire time.

In all of the years I have had online services, more than 3/4 of my entire life, I have never once clicked on a single ad.; 1/24/19, 2:48 PM
CJinPA said...: YES, unless you don't want to. Get as much compensation for your work as you can. Ads are worth it for me, as a daily visitor.; 1/24/19, 2:48 PM
gilbar said...: yea! i appreciate it!
i know you think you'll miss that revenue stream; but don't worry profits from all those rat stickers and magnets should make up most of it!

ps. received mine today! Thanx Meade!; 1/24/19, 2:53 PM
Chris of Rights said...: Go ahead. I don't mind. I may even turn my adblocker off. I'll agree with those that says that adsense ads in general don't seem very useful to me. They show me ads for things I've already looked at and often already bought. I bought a new SUV for me and a new Minivan for Mrs. Rights last summer. For months all I got was car ads, for the exact same two cars I purchased.

Now if you could turn off the "select all squares with store fronts" thing in your captcha, that would make me exceptionally happy.; 1/24/19, 2:55 PM
YoungHegelian said...: I always thought the model in the AM ad had a nice rack for a bot.

Would I prefer no ads? Well, yes. But I'm not paying for the upkeep of this blog, am I? If ads lighten the burden & put food on the table over there at MeadHouse in frosty Madison, then I'm perfectly happy to live with them.; 1/24/19, 2:57 PM
Char Char Binks, Esq. said...: I suspect Chris is a robot.; 1/24/19, 2:58 PM
JackWayne said...: Chris, if you’re logged in as a google user, for example, you can just hit publish. You don’t need to prove you pass the Turing test.; 1/24/19, 2:58 PM
rhhardin said...: I could never pass any of the select all squares ... etc because the picture was never clear enough to tell, the time I had to do it using a dialup laptop when century link crapped out. Centurylink gave users no day off on the bill, by the way.; 1/24/19, 3:02 PM
rhhardin said...: No ads means Althouse can use foul language now.; 1/24/19, 3:10 PM
Jim at said...: No Adsense displayed. But I sure see this a lot. Including right now when I tried to click on the comments:

"Whoops, that's an error.
We apologize for the inconvenience.
Try refreshing the page to see if things are back in order."; 1/24/19, 3:13 PM
Paul Mac said...: Ann,

Sign up for Brave Rewards/Payments Ann then you can get paid or tipped by folks using Brave Browser on your site just for the time they spend on it.

https://brave.com/faq/#for-publishers

Brave is a privacy focused browser based on Chromium (basically it runs just like Chrome but tries not to be evil like Google has actively worked to be since dropping their early catchphrase.; 1/24/19, 3:13 PM
Michael K said...: My father is a gadgety/techy kind of guy, so we always tended to have the latest stuff growing up. We had a Netscape browser by 1995, and prior to that used online services like Compuserve, Prodigy, and even prior to that bulletin board services.

You sound like one of my kids. Yes, I argue with them, too; 1/24/19, 3:19 PM
Chris of Rights said...: ✔ I'm not a robot

I am logged in with a Google Account, and I get the Turing test about 1 time out of every 3rd comment I post. It's beyond irritating.; 1/24/19, 3:20 PM
Dave Begley said...: No longer will I see ads from law firms in Wisconsin. Yeow!

And the next BIG revenue stream after the AMZN portal will be Althouse's Rats. It will be HUGE!; 1/24/19, 3:21 PM
Henry said...: I guess everyone got the Ashley Madison ads.

For some reason, everywhere but here, I get ads for professional Cricket.; 1/24/19, 3:26 PM
Mike Sylwester said...: We need an option to show only ads illustrated by women with beautiful busts.; 1/24/19, 3:32 PM
Mike Sylwester said...: I want to see any ads posted by the Internet Research Agency in Moscow.

Those ads guide my voting decisions.; 1/24/19, 3:36 PM
Tank said...: Whatever. I don't notice those ads unless someone mentions them and I purposely look for it. Like Farmer, except for the Althouse Amazon Portal (if you count that), I've never clicked on one of those ads.; 1/24/19, 3:38 PM
Lucid-Ideas said...: I want to see ads for puppies. The ones I mutated are all grown up and I need a fresh batch. There's a dual benefit for the other readers in that they get to look at cute puppies, which everyone really seems to enjoy.

We get to see them. I get to mutate them. Come on. I have babies that need to be "served".; 1/24/19, 3:39 PM
AmPowerBlog said...: Keep Adsense but don't allow Ashley Madison to show on your blog. You can make good money with Adsense, so why not keep it? You don't charge readers a subscription. So, keep making money if it's available to you.; 1/24/19, 3:41 PM
iowan2 said...: The side ads where background. Other than the nice rack, I can't tell you what the other ads where. So, if it generates income to sustain your passion, I'll stick with you.; 1/24/19, 3:45 PM
RBE said...: But...if it helps pay the bills, keep the ads.; 1/24/19, 3:50 PM
Wince said...: I used to keep clicking on the women's swimwear ads so they would fill the area with scantily-clad women.; 1/24/19, 3:52 PM
Ralph L said...: not realizing that we were incurring long-distance telephone charges the entire time.

We finished "The Hour" on Acorn last night, set in the UK during Suez, and the avant garde of soft boys, Ben Whishaw, made a looong trunk call--on someone else's phone! Guess the writers didn't know how expensive that was. They did show the BBC people not even bothering to claim they were impartial and not anti-Tory and anti-Empire, so at least they weren't hypocrites.; 1/24/19, 3:56 PM
Static Ping said...: You do you.

For some reason I keep getting ads for gay vacations in Israel. I'm not sure what to make of that.; 1/24/19, 3:57 PM
Dust Bunny Queen said...: I use an ad blocker and my internet security software blocks ads, banners and any pop up windows. I can decide which sites to allow to show me ads and turn the function on or off at will. I do allow ads on this site as they ads seem to be fairly innocuous and don't pop up all over the place creating annoying boxes to click off.

I forgot how horrible ads actually are when I spent a week with a relative and had to use their computer without ad blockers. It was AWFUL. Almost unusable.; 1/24/19, 4:02 PM
ALP said...: I get ads for puppies all the time in my Instagram feed - can we get that here? Don't know why- don't follow anything dog related. But I do want a dog really badly and have for years..how does the Instagram robot know THAT?; 1/24/19, 4:02 PM
Freeman Hunt said...: I didn't get the Ashley Madison ads. I mostly got ads for things I'd recently purchased or insane things. "You just bought this sweater. Would you like an identical one?" or "How about a helicopter taxis you around?"; 1/24/19, 4:04 PM
Darrell said...: It's been years since I saw The Hour, but I remember the part where they first started to use film cameras. There was a big Socialist march and the police were just observing and making sure that the group stayed together. At some point, thugs from the group attacked the police horses and the police gave chase. The edited film made it look like the police attacked the group for no reason. And that whole setup was presented as a triumph for "truth"--the power of images in television news. Sickening. I really thought the people behind The Hour didn't get it at all.; 1/24/19, 4:14 PM
Ingachuck'stoothlessARM said...: after the ad where Jesus beats Satan arm-wrestling popped up,
there was no way we could have voted for Hillary after that,
so yeah, they're annoying, but damn informative!; 1/24/19, 4:19 PM
Meade said...: Jesus is a Russian troll farmer.; 1/24/19, 4:27 PM
BJK said...: I can only assume there were not enough adulterers in the blog audience to make the AM ads worth all the hassle which came with them.; 1/24/19, 4:33 PM
Leland said...: Commenters, buy more Amazon, donate, or get your own blog...; 1/24/19, 4:39 PM
Anne in Rockwall, TX said...: If you have had ads on, I've never noticed them. Keep them and enjoy the money.; 1/24/19, 5:01 PM
Fen said...: Via Ace:

Trump: LOL I'm Authorizing $7+ Billion for the Wall GFY

-Ace of Spades; 1/24/19, 5:06 PM
Birkel said...: Income to you at modest inconvenience (despite the complaints) is a good trade-off.
Take the money, whatever it is.; 1/24/19, 5:06 PM
Wilbur said...: Wilbur sez there ain't no Big Rock Candy Mountain. If you need ads, use 'em.

I found the ads on this site about the most un-intrusive around next to no ads at all and always appreciated that. I didn't even notice their present absence until I read it in the comments above.

I kinda' dug the Ashley Madison ads if just for the eye candy. And truly, anyone who thinks they're going get some strange from/through that site is too stupid to help.

When I was at Illinois a few decades ago, my roommate and lifelong friend noticed that I was reading a magazine without looking at the double page ads, or for that matter without looking at any ads at all. I just then realized that when reading I instantly and unconsciously could tell there was nothing to read when there was a double page ad, so I just turned to the next page without looking at it at all. This astonished him (a near-brilliant fellow who got his MBA in Marketing and had a very successful career) that I could or would do that.

If I may, let me solicit some opinions from the people here: Was that unusual or common? Or neither?; 1/24/19, 5:17 PM
Rockeye said...: If ads that barely register to my senses will get me rat stickers, then let them stay. Plus the writing is worth more than my cost.; 1/24/19, 5:19 PM
Original Mike said...: Althouse embedding ads between posts (as opposed to on the side) was the impetus for me finally getting an ad locker.

Thanks, Althouse!; 1/24/19, 5:24 PM
Black Bellamy said...: I command some of the highest programmatic ad bids I've seen because those guys think I'm an affluent guy who clicks on a lot of ads and buys a lot of stuff online, and my interests all revolve around expensive brands. I can see that because I work in adtech and I have access to tools that allow me to see the precise bid price that Google and other programmatic vendors pay for an ad impression. So where some ordinary Joe comes here, you're missing out on 4, maybe 5 cents. When I visit, you're losing a quarter, maybe more! I visit your site every day. Turn the ads back on. Don't miss out on that eight dollars!; 1/24/19, 5:30 PM
Birkel said...: Black Bellamy owes me 8 dollars.
I win the internetz.; 1/24/19, 5:36 PM
J. Farmer said...: @Static Ping:

For some reason I keep getting ads for gay vacations in Israel. I'm not sure what to make of that.

I get that one, too, but then again I've actually been on a gay vacation to Israel. I am concerned though by the number of ads I get for boner pills.; 1/24/19, 5:40 PM
Art in LA said...: As a fellow web publisher (we have a reference guide to books and literature on the interwebs), I say run the ads. AdSense gives you some control over what's displayed, right?; 1/24/19, 5:45 PM
Dust Bunny Queen said...: I am concerned though by the number of ads I get for boner pills.

Maybe your wife uses your computer and hence the ads?? (I'm joking!); 1/24/19, 5:47 PM
Phil 314 said...: I don't get ads on your site (work computer). I'll have to check home desk top.; 1/24/19, 5:50 PM
Bill, Republic of Texas said...: I don't get ads on your site

Me either. I use my Android phone 90% of the time.; 1/24/19, 5:54 PM
FullMoon said...: Never had an AM ad. Side ads only, generally featuring attractive women.; 1/24/19, 6:00 PM
stephen cooper said...: This comment has been removed by the author.; 1/24/19, 6:44 PM
Big Mike said...: Since I've been running ad blockers for years it doesn't make much of difference to me.; 1/24/19, 6:47 PM
Ann Althouse said...: I took the ads out for a number of reasons...

1. I don't like the way they look, and I use Ad Block myself (but not on my iPhone and iPad, so I was seeing them).

2. The rate of payment isn't good enough in proportion to the annoyance.

3. Google kept docking me $$ for violating the rules -- something about the content (which was never specified, so I couldn't avoid the problem even if I wanted to).

4. Some of you actively complained about the ads.

5. I did our taxes today and that forced me to look at the details and ask myself is it worth it.

6. There is still the Amazon portal and the PayPal donation button, and thanks to everyone who uses those things. I notice and appreciate it.; 1/24/19, 7:22 PM
Known Unknown said...: "I have never once clicked on a single ad."

They're not to click on. They're billboards, basically.; 1/24/19, 9:06 PM
Sprezzatura said...: There's no way that those algorithms are able to correctly pick ads for particular folks who view pages.

When I come here I always get ads for tiny dick fixes and check cashing and wheelchairs.

Anywho, a friend I know did need that stuff, and they weren't expecting the removal of the ads. Would you consider bringing back the ads for a week longer? That way my friend can jot down the contact info re the remedies.

Alternatively, can some of the other commenters relay their fav fixes?; 1/25/19, 12:35 AM
NotWhoIUsedtoBe said...: I have a problem with AdSense because they banned me for buying ads with a credit card with my own name on it, calling it "suspicious payments." No appeal, no way to ever advertise on Google again. Probably saved me money because I ended up advertising on BookBub and Goodreads, which are better targetted for my audience.

But AdSense is a bunch of jerks who can ban you for no reason and try to control the content of your page. Good for you for leaving, Althouse.; 1/25/19, 10:26 AM