If you see ads on my blog, rest assured that I didn’t place them there. The company that hosts this blog, Automattic, does occasionally post ads. Because I never visit my blog when I’m not logged in, I never see them. (And, I’m told that if you use Firefox, you don’t see them, either.) That’s how they allow us to blog here for free. Somebody’s got to pay the bills.
After a long wait, WordPress announced today that we can pay them to keep ads from appearing on our blogs. But before I do that, I just wanted to check with y’all. Have you seen ads on this site? If so, did they mess up the way the site looks? Finally, do you think it’s worth it to pay not to have ads?
VIVIAN J. PAIGE | All Politics is Local 
I’ve never noticed any ads, and I’m using Internet Explorer. Is it worth it to get rid of the ads? Well, sure it would theoretically be worth it to me if someone else paid to get the ads of of blogs. I feel the same way about television, but since I’m not the one signing the checks, I’m not expecting anything. 😉
I use Firefox and Chrome and I can’t recall seeing any other than all that Democratic stuff you plaster your site with.
🙂
Frankly, I think that you DESERVE to get some money with this site.
I’m using Opera and I can’t recall any ads, either.
I really hate ads on sites. Yes, I know folks want to make a few bucks off their blogs but I find most ads quite a distraction.
It would be useful if y’all could keep an eye out, since I can’t see them.
If they become annoying, I don’t mind paying to keep them off.
Oh – and Andre – Automattic gets to keep all the money from the ads. There is no revenue-sharing arrangement.
I haven’t noticed any intrusive ads here. But I question why your host server would put up ads without your permission and then not even pay you for clicks.
Blogger doesn’t do that. I know you don’t like Blogger and I’ve got to admit I like the layout of your site a lot. But I find Blogger easier to navigate (bear in mind that I’m both technologically inept and also too impatient to mess with anything too complicated) and they don’t do strange things to my site that I don’t agree with. I don’t want ads on my site and I don’t have them. But if I did have them, I’d want some recompense for them.
The ads are a part of the TOS. Folks have been asking for a while to be able to pay to have them removed. They have finally gotten around to it. Prior to the option, it really wasn’t any point in mentioning it to my readers. And honestly, I understand why Automattic has to have the ads. After all, as someone else said somewhere, Blogger has Google’s checkbook so they don’t need the ad revenue to offset costs.
One of the reasons I chose WordPress for my own blog is because of the horror stories I heard from Blogger users, primarily related to hacking. Security is pretty important to me. I’ve been involved in self-hosted blogs and websites that were taken over time and again by hackers and it just isn’t fun.
Anything that you use regularly is easier to navigate 😉 When I contributed on Blogger blogs, I found Blogger hard to use.
Oh – and the site layout? Glad you like it 🙂 It was a lot of work but I think I’ve got it almost exactly the way I want it.
One more thing: I’ll bet I know why none of you guys have seen the ads. Apparently, they aren’t shown to regular visitors. I guess folks who find me thru a search engine see them, though.
I don’t see ads, Vivian. Like the layout. Good job!
Oh yes, I do use Firefox.