Webdiary - Founded and Inspired by Margo Kingston

Mahmoud, I have trained myself for many years to block out ads in print as well as visually. I am a market researcher's nightmare. Lots of people do. The only purpose to an ad is to allow one to get comfortable during a long movie or the cricket.

Ah Terry I just installed Firefox 1.07 and the Flashblock current build is for 1.06. I had a couple of problems with it before in that for some weird reason the browser kept returning to an older install which I had left on because I did not want to lose my bookmarks. I need to be selective too with my Flash blocking because I do not want to miss out on the joys of Samorost or Crimson Room.

Now back to our regularly scheduled broadcast...

I've no problems with ad's, and may even click on a few if they are interesting.

However, I have stopped visiting websites that use intrusive ads. Please - no popup's.

From a marketing perspective, those adds that use Flash are a lot more attractive than those HTML ones that just sit on the screen. If a company wants to attract the Webdiarist to their business, then I would put my money on Flash ads than HTML ads to gain interest. They are simply more attractive.

8 000 — 12 000 views a day! I am impressed, I would not have guessed it to be that high. Good work all and thanks.

I also agree with the others. Please don't have any of those very distracting and annoying hyperactive, flashing, jumping, smoke-and-mirrors-and-bells-and-whistles type ads. Just plain old fashioned static ones.

Good stuff.

Paul Walter with vehemence: “Advertising has ruined SBS and ABC.” Amid several more emphatic flourishes.

Then ed Hamish: ‘your feedback is noted Paul. I think we're on the same wavelength here.” Yep.

Yair but… we can’t have WebDoovers scrounging prawn heads from rubbish bins and dog-ends out of pub ashtrays.

This is about Margo & Co reaping some just reward.

Ads are designed to be offensive, after all, but provided they also are able to be ignored, go for it. Classified?

And a jolly good $aturnalia might be had by all.

$ Peter "The Dead Soul, but..." Woodforde

OK - note taken, and the reference to possibility of Flash taken out of the above!

Dee Bayliss, I find Flashblock another essential Firefox extension.

I agree with Paul. Keep Flash content out. Ads can contain links if need be to advertise websites with all the bells and whistles. My online newspaper reading pleasure, not to mention my concentration, have been greatly enhanced since I activated Adblock in Firefox.

I would love to see all ads small and plain with a single harmonious colour background but I guess I am dreaming, especially when we have to keep all those starving graduating multimedia developers in work.

Great! I may take some ads myself.

Uurrrkkk!

You won't have those awful b-y flickering, jumping things that some other sites have? Please. Nooooooohhhhhh!!!...

For Crissakes, if you must have these blasted things, will you at least have them bloody unobtrusive so they don't bugger the rest of WD?

Advertising has ruined SBS and ABC.

ed Hamish: your feedback is noted Paul. I think we're on the same wavelength here.

Margo & David, well done. My hearty congratulation for the forthcoming new home and revenue stream. I look forward to 2006 for bigger and better thing with Webdiary.

Next year, 2006, will be the Year of the Dog in Chinese Astrology. This little compilation about the Year of the Dog is very apt.

In the year of the Dog needs to be independent!. In 2006 the Dog is asked to be less dependent on the tried and true, and to find safety in other ways. This is a Water Goat year, inviting the Dog to be more in tune with the Universal Tao than with self. if Dog can just learn to stay in the background. In business and money matters, Dog is to make solo decisions and act on them, with no one's approval except her own conscience. Accomplishing this independence creates good money karma.

In the West, the Dog is man's best friend, but in Chinese Astrology this Sign is a little more unpredictable than that. Dogs are loyal, faithful and honest and always stick to their firm codes of ethics. However, this Sign has trouble trusting others. It's generally quite trustworthy itself -- except for the occasional "little white lies" the Dog tells in order to make things go more smoothly. The Dog makes a wonderful, discreet and loyal friend (despite any white lies) and is an excellent listener. This Sign tends to root for the underdog and its keen sense of right and wrong makes it duty-bound to the core. The Dog's mantra seems to be, Live right, look out for the little people and fight injustice whenever possible.

Dogs can also be rather dogmatic, too. They don't go in for light social banter; instead, they go straight for home, expostulating on the topics that are most important to them. At these times the Dog's narrow-minded or stubborn side can become apparent; this Sign has trouble staying light and calm when an important issue is at stake. This Sign can also be very temperamental; mood swings characterize its emotional life and often the Dog needs to run off to be alone in order to recuperate. Part of the problem is the result of this Sign's load of irrational fears that turn into niggling anxieties that turn into hurt feelings and occasional grouchiness. This sensitive Sign needs to warm up to others over time and gradually learn to trust them. Without that trust as a foundation, Dogs can be judgmental and coarse.

Ah Paul Walter , Capitalism wins! My money was on the right horse.

I'm sure the good people who will advertise here will understand their audience and only show relevant ads (if not then nobody'll click through and they'll get the message).

And to add my 2-pence worth - no pop-under/overs!

Hot Diggety Dogged!

Catching up on the comments: definitely no pop-ups ever!

Good idea. Of course you have to run ads, and they have to be noticeable enough to make the advertisers' $ worth spending. When are you going to seek subscriptions? Or subscriptions to some high value content?

ed Hamish: Webdiary policy, which we're quite dogged about (and I know I speak for Margo), is that all of Webdiary is for all no matter what.

Good move. We all hate ads but it brings in $ and is the way to go to keep WD moving along. Those behind it deserve at least some recompense for the effort. If I am faced with popups, Flash etc I don't mind. They are everywhere else and restricting your potential client base is not a good move.

I don't actually notice ads much anymore despite the number and variation. There are utilities to deal with those you don't want to see anyway so I see no real problem.

As long as they don't become part of the posts I can't see why we should be affected at all.

Re Woodforde and dog-ends, when you all fall upon hard times also, I promise I'll share my bottle of metho, B.O.ed jocks and my reserved corner of the gutter with you, whenever you need it.

Just make sure you bring some of the dried pie crusts from the rubbish bin just over there with you, before you get here. I get hungry too, don't forget.

I am glad you are younger than me, Solomon. You may live to find your victory a Pyrrhic one.

Ok, ignoring the broader fight for a second here, Paul, I think advertising on Webdiary is an exciting development, rather than something to be dreaded. I'm proud of them for taking this step and it is a victory, of sorts, given the hostility of the target audience. It could easily simply not have happened and that might have meant the death of webdiary. At least now it has a fighting chance.

ed Hamish: Webdiary policy, which we're quite dogged about (and I know I speak for Margo), is that all of Webdiary is for all no matter what.

Subscription doesn't have to mean restricting the website. Why not open subscriptions, but make it clear that the only benefit to subscribing is the warm fuzzy feeling of helping Webdiary. Perhaps better called 'planned giving'? (Not calling it a subscription might also help with tax aspects??)

I reckon at least some keen people would be prepared to subscribe to something that is available without a subscription, just on the basis that it is an easy way to make a regular contribution. Not everyone is motivated by "what's in it for me".

Hamish: basically John, agreed!

David: how about if we rename the "Donate" box to "voluntary subscriptions"? From the comments people send in with their payments, that's how many of them see it anyway.

Hi Robyn - I do have the traffic stats, and it seems that most Webdiarists read it at work (sshhh, don't tell the boss!). Joining the two weekend days on most weekends would get you pretty much the same number of views as a 'working day' as we might call it. I guess Webdiary is a sort of electronic water-cooler ...

All the prices are bargains ....

I'm not sure about counting the weekend days as one. I don't have the site stats but I imagine it gets a fair bit of traffic on the weekend when people have more time. Seems like a weekend ad would be a bargain priced one!