I've removed all ad network code from my blog
troyhunt.com
I've removed all ad network code from my blog
1–10 of 336 posts
Re: I've removed all ad network code from my blog
#2Kudos 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 know I need them, else I am protected by default. This shouldn't be required, especially for users who have no idea about these scripts and what they actually do.
Fuck that.
Re: I've removed all ad network code from my blog
#3The advertisement he refers to was a plain text bar at the top of the page with no tracking nor any distracting visuals. And when you scroll down into the article it disappears.
I dont see any problem with this kind of innocent unobtrusive level of advertising and frankly wish he kept it for his own financial gain and others used it as a model.
Re: I've removed all ad network code from my blog
#4Ok, 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?
Re: I've removed all ad network code from my blog
#5The advertisement he refers to was a plain text bar at the top of the page with no tracking nor any distracting visuals. And when you scroll down into the article it disappears. I dont see any problem with this kind of innocent unobtrusive level of advertising and frankly wish he kept it for his own financial gain and others used it as a model.
He still has this sponsorship message (which I am also totally fine with), but it seems to be blocked by uBlock Origin, if you are using that?
Re: I've removed all ad network code from my blog
#6Yes! 100 times yes! Great move.
I am not against ads. But I am against trackers. Wanna show an ad on your mysite.com ? then host the freaking file on mysite.com/assets/banner.{png,jpg,gif,whatever). but don't host it on ad networks. Those are blocked by my browser and I will not unblock.
Its for the ad networks to figure out a way to fix the way they see the numbers.
specially since the numbers are all wrong anyway. lets face it. you have no idea who visits your website nowadays. g analytics is a mess.
Re: I've removed all ad network code from my blog
#7Ok, 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 you want.
Of course the payment model would have to shift from displays to something like overall performance of the ads (by scanning outbound clicks and associating them with purchases) and pay by month. And some policing in order to avoid stuff like getting the ad from the network and never actually displaying it.
Re: I've removed all ad network code from my blog
#8Ok, 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 guess by supporting the "good" ad networks, if there's any that don't spam your service with 50 iframes and divs and just return simple ads no strings attached. That or if you're hosting a blog, use a known free host. I see Tumblr is working on allowing users to monetize their blogs and get a cut from the profits.
Re: I've removed all ad network code from my blog
#9Ok, 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?
> 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...
Re: I've removed all ad network code from my blog
#10Except that he is still using Disqus, which is free to use because they have moved to ad supported model (for the most part).
Even if he isn't running the ads, they are using the script to track users across sites and then feeding that into ad networks.