The entire Freethought Blog network has gone ad free. Good. I’ve been opting out of the ads (and the corresponding share of the revenue) ever since a friend told me about the obnoxious, clickbaity crap that was showing up on my page:
“just so you know, this is the kind of ads we see…”
(PG-13 below the fold)
Here’s what I said at the time
What the actual fuck? You want misogynistic clickbait? We’ve got that! Naturopathic nonsense? Check! Ads in the middle of posts (so they look like I put them there)? You betchya! Popups? Oh, yeah! And all on my beautiful Volvox background.
Goddammit. I didn’t sign up to work for the National Inquirer. Actually, I don’t even know where the ads take you; I haven’t clicked on them, and I hope you won’t, either. Really, please don’t reward these bottom feeders. Starve them of nutrients and let their economic niche fade into oblivion.
Good riddance to bad rubbish. It’s not clear right now how Freethought Blogs will raise the revenue to keep the lights on, but I would rather go back to paying for my own URL than have that crap on Fierce Roller. Solutions are being discussed. Don’t be surprised if you see me and other FTB bloggers begging for money through Patreon or the like soon.
Just for your reference, I think the ads were customized a bit, based on the other search history of how that device’s browser was used on other sites. For example, my usual experience with the ads was that I recall usually only one or two at a time showing people in bathing suits etc, not 7 out of 9.
While I prefer no ads, I don’t yet know how sustainable the site expenses will be. Perhaps Freethought Blogs can do a common Patreon account to cover them with monthly donations, calibrated eventually to slightly exceed maintenance and repair expenses on average. Good luck.
I used to have these ads at work, where no cookies and history were saved. I think they were the default generic ones.
At home I had ads relevant to my search history, i.e. tools and crafting materials or PC games for example.