InsaneJournal Announcements

New Ads

squeaky

3/2/13 10:20 am

The new ads have been discontinued. This is due to overwhelming user feedback and a general distaste for the misleading and deceptive ads being delivered.

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• onesongglory

  3/2/13 03:23 pm (UTC)

  

  I think there's still a slight issue with coding, as now every post page I'm seeing "[Error: Global symbol "$catfish_ad" requires explicit package name at '/home/lj/htdocs/talkread.bml' line 801. ]" as an error message

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  • asummersday

    3/2/13 03:24 pm (UTC)

    

    I'm getting exactly the same message.

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    • renegadegrim

      3/2/13 03:24 pm (UTC)

      

      So am I.

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      • renegadegrim

        3/2/13 05:51 pm (UTC)

        

        It's fixed. Thank you, Squeaky, for everything.

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  • desertsonata

    3/2/13 03:24 pm (UTC)

    Me too.

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  • itwasarobothead

    3/2/13 03:25 pm (UTC)

    

    +1 this.

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  • myownfanclub

    3/2/13 03:25 pm (UTC)

    

    I'm getting the same error message as well.

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  • squeaky

    3/2/13 03:28 pm (UTC)

    

    Ok that's fixed

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    • onesongglory

      3/2/13 03:29 pm (UTC)

      

      Thank you so much!

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    • blakeoconnor

      3/2/13 10:20 pm (UTC)

      

      thank you!

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• blakeoconnor

  3/2/13 03:26 pm (UTC)

  

  getting the same error message as above.

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• starbuck

  3/2/13 03:29 pm (UTC)

  

  Same as above. It appears I can only read the original post when I click "leave a comment" but when I try to "read comments" it says that.

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• exploited

  3/2/13 09:57 pm (UTC)

  

  Thank you. They were extremely annoying.

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• igpayatinlay

  3/3/13 01:23 am (UTC)

  

  This is just a suggestion that came to mind reading posts and comments today, so it may not be particularly useful but I thought I'd pose it anyhow.
  
  I had no idea that turning ad block on meant that you got no revenue. You mentioned it's fractions of a penny - is that per page load, or some other measure? RPers in active games with multiple characters are probably loading at least a hundred pages (counting refreshing, commenting to an entry with multiple journals, long comment strings, etc.) over the course of a night. Eventually it would add up, right? Even if you figure it out so that we're only making a dollar per person per month, and only a quarter of users view ads, that could still be hundreds of dollars.
  
  Could it be possible to strike a balance? Find a non-obtrusive means of advertising (more subtle banners at the side, top, or bottom of entries), and make a conscientious campaign to explain to users exactly how ads generate revenue, and simple instructions for how to disable adblocking for insanejournal? Make a post here in ~announcements, showing how this would generate a reasonable amount of revenue if it's enacted en masse, ask people who support this strategy to make a post directing the attention of their friends lists to this post? I think a LOT of people here have a desire to help support the site. Not everyone can (or will) do so by paying for accounts or giving a monetary donation from their own pocketbook, but if they're made aware that they can generate $1-$5 per month, just by allowing ads, I think you'd get at least a few dozen people willing to make this change, if the ads being shown were safe and tasteful.
  
  Anyhow. Just an idea. :) I know you mentioned that it's difficult to find an ad company interested in partnering with the site - is this because almost all of us are savvy enough to have adblock enabled, or some other reason? Regardless of what you choose to do, thank you so much for all the work you put into maintaining this site. I'm really grateful, and I'll try to continue to support the site through paid accounts when I can afford it, and allowing ads when I can't.

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  • radiant

    3/3/13 07:12 am (UTC)

    

    This is an awesome post. Please take this into consideration, Squeaky!

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  • smuppeteer

    3/4/13 11:54 pm (UTC)

    

    Didn't there used to be Project Wonderful ads on IJ? I don't see them anymore even with adblock turned off.

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    • igpayatinlay

      3/5/13 01:44 am (UTC)

      

      I think that IJ did use Project Wonderful at one time, yeah. It could be that Squeaky is looking at various ad options right now, so ads may change as he's trying to find the best solution? I know my friends and I are wishing there was a little more transparency in terms of the state of the site and what's needed to make it sustainable for the future, but I respect that it's not my business (er, economically, not privacy wise) so I try to recognize that without a good understanding of what's needed, my suggestions might not be very helpful.

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  • hafren

    3/6/13 01:40 am (UTC)

    

    I agree with this comment. My main complaint with advertising is never the ads themselves, necessarily, but rather the delivery. I dislike pop-ups, anything that starts playing music or sound automatically (that's likely to get an instant close on a tab - since I'm frequently browsing in a setting where sound is not a good idea!), and anything that generally looks 'sketchy' or 'not safe for work'. Give me advertisements for things that I use and I'm much less likely to feel tempted to use adblock.

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• astrids

  3/3/13 02:24 am (UTC)

  

  I'm starting to get a little frustrated that you can't find new ads, which you financially need. Not frustrated at you, but at the users. No ads that you pick are going to be liked, because ads suck. But you need them and honestly, we're just going to have to learn to deal with whatever you think is the best option. From what I gather the options aren't endless either, and I know you're doing the best that you can. Just keep this in mind the next time you find an ad provider. If you think it's the best option, go with it. Honestly, over half of the users here are never going to approve of new ads. Ever. Doesn't matter what kind they are, they'll always think there's something better that you can do even though they likely know nothing about it.

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  • tetris

    3/3/13 08:38 am (UTC)

    

    I completely agree with this. A lot of IJ users are spoilt as fuck, and need to grow up. This is a BUSINESS for squeaky, not something he does from the goodness of his heart. If he can't make money, it will eventually shut down, and most of us will be whinging again that we can't find a reliable server.

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  • notachesspiece

    3/3/13 05:59 pm (UTC)

    

    And while I agree some users will never be made happy, the ads that were just disabled were intrusive and harmful to peoples computers. Someone actually found a pornography ad. I don't think that's the sort of business Squeaky is trying to promote.

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• mercury

  3/3/13 03:03 am (UTC)

  

  It might be staring me in the face, but is there anywhere on this site where I could go to simply donate? I don't exactly want/need to buy paid accounts, but I DO want to give something back considering I use this free service every day, multiple times a day, and don't want to see it struggle because of revenue issues. Iwould be willing to simply donate a little money to help keep this place going smooth, if the option were available.

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  • foxfirefey

    3/3/13 05:10 am (UTC)

    

    There's a donate button on this page.

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  • radiant

    3/3/13 07:11 am (UTC)

    

    You could also buy IJ coupons for your friends.

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• cockleswent

  3/4/13 08:54 am (UTC)

  

  Getting this error when I try to upload an icon:
  
  [Error: Can't locate object method "as_string" via package "Unable to contact storage server. Your picture has not been saved. at /home/lj/cgi-bin/LJ/Userpic.pm line 486 " (perhaps you forgot to load "Unable to contact storage server. Your picture has not been saved. at /home/lj/cgi-bin/LJ/Userpic.pm line 486 "?) at '/home/lj/htdocs/editpics.bml' line 518, line 23. @ tugboat.insanewebhosting.com]

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• cat_mcdougall

  3/4/13 12:01 pm (UTC)

  

  Where are the icons? All my icons are not displaying and neither are anyone else's when I look at them.

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• tenbells

  3/4/13 02:11 pm (UTC)

  

  Thank you so much, Squeaky!

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• layout borked

  cea_bell

  3/4/13 05:36 pm (UTC)

  Something happened to my layout - it was fine until about a week ago, and now it's a hot mess and I have no idea how to fix it. I didn't change a thing (haven't even logged in recently). Is this due to the ads or some new kind of coding?

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