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I've removed all ad network code from my blog

troyhunt.com

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Re: I've removed all ad network code from my blog

#51

Post by fiatjaf »

yoz-y wrote: post #7
fiatjaf wrote: post #4

Ok, you have a sponsorship model that works because you're probably very famous. That doesn't solve anyone's problem, because almost no one is famous. How can we replace ad networks with something better and saner?

I had an idea at some point, but I do not know it if would be feasible. For me it seems that sponsorships/native ads are better than the usual banner style intrusive ads. Would it be possible to still have a syndicated ad network, but that it would feed you articles in some structured format, that you would get on your backend, and then insert as articles into your blog/website? This way you could format them any way…

I had an idea some time ago that would work somewhat like this: whenever you mention some kind of service or product in your articles, you would link those words to something like """ rel="nofollow">https://myadnetwork.com/", then the ad network would redirect the user to some paying advertiser.

Fallback URLs, location (for local businesses) and other customization options could be used to make it work better.

Some _optional_ Javascript could also enhance this, but not change it fundamentally.

Re: I've removed all ad network code from my blog

#52

Post by coldtea »

superkuh wrote: post #23

This is about equivalent to saying, "I've stopped beating my wife." only almost everyone beats their wife in the scenario. It's not that you've done good. You've just stopped being bad. Why does your personal website need sponsorship at all? Why should people pay you for it? This commercial mindset is very weird to me.

>Why does your personal website need sponsorship at all? Why should people pay you for it? This commercial mindset is very weird to me.

Because personal blogging can also be a business for some?

It's not like every personal blog does it -- the huge majority are their for free, with no ads or anything. But if you devote the time and effort, and have an audience, why not?

It's like saying pro dancers shouldn't exist, because tons of people also dance for free.

Re: I've removed all ad network code from my blog

#53

Post by jessaustin »

StavrosK wrote: post #42
r1ch wrote: post #12

You'll be surprised how much faster pages feel without ad scripts - I noticed significant improvements after implementing a no-ads premium option on our website. Even with an ad blocker, things just feel snappier if the scripts simply aren't there in the first place. I decided to go one step further with my personal site and eliminate all JS completely. I don't get enough traffic to make any kind of analytics or ad c…

> I don't get enough traffic to make any kind of analytics or ad code worthwhile. On a related note, does anyone else see GA being wildly inaccurate? My blog was on the HN front page a while ago, and CloudFront got ~600k hits, which should translate to about ~100k uniques (I cache), yet GA only showed 8k uniques. I'm guessing the HN crowd runs uBlock or some other blocker in its vast majority, so JS-based analytics a…

In your case, what does GA do, that something reading Cloudfront logs couldn't do?

Re: I've removed all ad network code from my blog

#55

Post by fiatjaf »

blauditore wrote: post #18
yoz-y wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I had an idea at some point, but I do not know it if would be feasible. For me it seems that sponsorships/native ads are better than the usual banner style intrusive ads. Would it be possible to still have a syndicated ad network, but that it would feed you articles in some structured format, that you would get on your backend, and then insert as articles into your blog/website? This way you could format them any way…

What you describe sounds similar to affiliate marketing [1]: Post a link to external services and get commission for clicks (maybe depending on conversion). [1]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Affiliate_marketing

Awesome. I never thought of affiliate marketing as a model for all kinds of ads, but perhaps it can work that way. Is there any affiliate-marketing-hub or something like that?

The problem with affiliate marketing is that you must trust the advertiser in reporting conversions and paying. You can trust Amazon and some other businesses that way, but not a small business.

Re: I've removed all ad network code from my blog

#56

Post by gpderetta »

fiatjaf wrote: post #4

Ok, you have a sponsorship model that works because you're probably very famous. That doesn't solve anyone's problem, because almost no one is famous. How can we replace ad networks with something better and saner?

The problem is that the current add model has converged to a local optimum (or, better 'pessimum'). The race to the bottom has lead to extremely obtrusive, performance-destroying, privacy invading, cheap-for-the-advertiser ads (when not actual malware); additionally has lead to a proliferation of content farms on one side and to the watering down of actual content on what were originally proper sources; finally, the availability of free content, even if of low quality, has made it very hard to build a profitable for-pay model.

Actively boycotting the current status quo by making ads no longer viable can be a way to force the system to settle to a different optimum.

Re: I've removed all ad network code from my blog

#57

Post by NoGravitas »

jerf wrote: post #38
lazyjones wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> How can we replace ad networks with something better and saner? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flattr Not enough traction? Someone has to start using it, people will adapt...

That use case seems to have been entirely superceded by Patreon. The fact that it isn't quite identical, well, that's part of why it has been superceded by Patreon. But both Flattr and Patreon miss the relatively involuntary nature of ad networks. Certain things can not count on being supported by eager contributors, and need to more-or-less force themselves in to somehow earn revenue. I'm not all that perturbed by s…

I'm not 100% sure if uMatrix runs on Firefox for Android, but I do know that uBlock Origin does, including in advanced mode.

Re: I've removed all ad network code from my blog

#58

Post by Avalaxy »

superkuh wrote: post #23

This is about equivalent to saying, "I've stopped beating my wife." only almost everyone beats their wife in the scenario. It's not that you've done good. You've just stopped being bad. Why does your personal website need sponsorship at all? Why should people pay you for it? This commercial mindset is very weird to me.

> Why does your personal website need sponsorship at all? Why should people pay you for it? This commercial mindset is very weird to me. reply

Troy puts in a LOT of time writing his blog posts, and they are extremely useful. I learned a lot from his posts, especially about Azure, deployments and security related stuff.

Re: I've removed all ad network code from my blog

#59

Post by skykooler »

bazillion wrote: post #41
fiatjaf wrote: post #4

Ok, you have a sponsorship model that works because you're probably very famous. That doesn't solve anyone's problem, because almost no one is famous. How can we replace ad networks with something better and saner?

I built what I believe to be the most sane way to "advertise" something: Let people buy directly from an image. This solves the problem of people not interested in the content, because of its unobtrusive nature -- if they don't hover over an item within the image, it's as if the "advertisement" isn't there. Check out my demo (desktop only) at http://www.worldlifestyle.com/testpost My website which you can sign up for…

It also looks like a lot of extra work per image to set up all the regions.

Re: I've removed all ad network code from my blog

#60

Post by zer0gravity »

tapirl wrote: post #48
yuvadam wrote: post #2

Kudos for removing all 3rd party scripts, not only ad networks. As builders of web systems, we need to be conscious of which 3rd parties are gaining access to private user data. There's no reason in hell any Google or Facebook widget should be embedded in my health care providers website, yet somehow that's a thing. Any other website is usually even worse. I personally use NoScript with whitelisted scripts when I kno…

> we need to be conscious of which 3rd parties are gaining access to private user data. Many big websites are hosted on IaaS services, such as AWS. The IaaS providers know most of your activities, without your awareness.

Commodity has its price.

Move fast and disregard all privacy isn't always an option, especially if you care about a certain moral hygene. But who cares in the post-truth epoch right ?

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