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Dear TPM : Is every penny of advertising revenue absolutely necessary?
I'm so very tired of seeing ads from the ultra right on TPM. I don't want to see endless repeats of the ad featuring Nancy Pelosi looking like a Harridan, with the tag Should Nancy Pelosi Destroy the Secret Ballot? Ditto unattractive pictures of Barack Obama with the same tag, only the name changed. I'm absolutely fed up with ads for fake polls with a nastily photoshopped picture of the President wearing a surgical cap asking whether or not I support the President's health care program. The former is supported by the national right to work committee, as right wing as they come, except for the latter, which is sponsored by Newsmax--collecting e-mail addresses from the unwary, and sponsored by the Washington Times and featuring such bigots as Ann Coulter.
Do you really, really need this money? I'd be happy to pay the equivalent not to see these ads. I don't want to be a captive audience for an attempt to spread an ideology which goes against every political belief I hold dear. Somehow, other advertisement supported blogs seem to avoid this kind of political pornography. Why can't you?
Do you really, really need this money? I'd be happy to pay the equivalent not to see these ads. I don't want to be a captive audience for an attempt to spread an ideology which goes against every political belief I hold dear. Somehow, other advertisement supported blogs seem to avoid this kind of political pornography. Why can't you?
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But aMike, Newsmax wants to know -- will YOU support the secret ballot?
August 17, 2009 9:30 AM | Reply | Permalink
Next time you see them, tell them I don't. (grin)
August 17, 2009 11:17 AM | Reply | Permalink
Firefox + AdBlock Plus = no ads.
August 17, 2009 10:04 AM | Reply | Permalink
Rec'd amike. Though I'm not sure what to think about this. If they want to help fund a liberal media website, why not? Yes, it pains my soul a bit everytime my eyes glance at those ads, but I figure they get little value for their money in terms of political converts.
August 17, 2009 10:10 AM | Reply | Permalink
There's something to what you say Obey. As much as the ads drive me nuts. I do get a certain glee thinking about how these ad dollars are being pissed away :)
August 17, 2009 10:58 AM | Reply | Permalink
The reply I meant to give got posted at the bottom. Poor cursor work on my part, sorry.
August 17, 2009 11:19 AM | Reply | Permalink
Here's a partial answer, with perhaps a fuller answer to be provided later. One has to begin with an understanding of how Google Adsense works. Basically speaking the publisher (TPM) receives revenue for both click-throughs and impressions.
an impression is
http://whatis.techtarget.com/definition/0,,sid9_gci212334,00.html
So TPM gets paid whether or not we click through. So far, so good--not much harm, not much foul.
But the publisher (TPM) uses keywords which let google determine which websites will have the ads placed on them. The more those key words appear on a page the more advertisements get directed to the page and the more the publisher earns. Warning: this is an oversimplification.
Prowl around google's adsense pages for a better explanation than I can give. But here's a bit:
https://www.google.com/adsense/support/bin/answer.py?answer=9902&cbid=-1rpsybns58ykh&src=cb&lev=topic
But here's where the problem come in, in my opinion. The number of key words which appear on the pages of the site becomes more important to the owner of the site than the quality of what the site presents. And the owner of the site determines what those keywords are. It makes no difference to the site owner whether or not the material makes sense or not, whether the material is incendiary or not, or whether the material supports the site's philosophy or not. In fact, controversial entries and responses are to the site's benefit, not because they generate light or encourage dialogue, but because they generate impressions and the web revenue goes up.
The end result, MHO is a cheapening of discourse, and the ultimate disappearance of some of our most thoughtful and care-taking community members. Why bother if the end result is going to behave like Gresham's law--bad money driving out good.
August 17, 2009 11:16 AM | Reply | Permalink
Thanks for that amike. I don't think I quite understand how this ad-generator works, but if your conclusions about the end-result are right, then we should be worried...
August 17, 2009 11:30 AM | Reply | Permalink
Ok here's a question. Based on your description of AdSense the key words could be as simple as Obama, healthcare, CardCheck, or Pelosi. Just going by some of the Ads we see on a regular basis. So while it may lead to a cheapening of discourse I'm not seeing it so far on the site. However, we do get the - I refuse to use my brain "birther" and folks that want to help us refinance our mortgage or get a good deal on a car. So . . . maybe your right :)
August 17, 2009 1:43 PM | Reply | Permalink
My understanding (which may be faulty) is that the keywords are proprietary, in the sense that the publisher decides what key words to use, can change them at any time, and the information as to what those key words is isn't public. So if "birther" became a word I was seeing more and more, I'd just add it to the keywords--and a page or blog which used the word would draw an ad to it, provided the advertiser hat the list on his/her list of keywords. Reminds me of those online adverts for dating websites. We'll see if adding the word "dating" to my blog page winds up getting a a couple of those adverts in the list on the bottom right.
August 17, 2009 3:17 PM | Reply | Permalink
I want to make sure I understand you here, Mike.
Are you saying that you wouldn't mind the ads as much if they were more appealing to your personal political sensibilities?
August 17, 2009 3:38 PM | Reply | Permalink
They're not appealing to my personal sensibilities, Gary. I favor the Union Checkoff, I've been a Union member since I was sixteen years old. NewsMax is atrociously right wing.
Simply put...I'm getting to feel used/abused by TPM, which cares not one whit what my sensibilities are as long as my behavior drives more advertising to the TPM website. So if I write and people are driven to my writing...fine. If someone writes absolute tripe and it drives enough persons to the website for a word war, fine too.
August 17, 2009 4:32 PM | Reply | Permalink
I understand.
I'm feeling a bit of apathy for TPM lately but I haven't quite been able to define it better than that.
I do feel that the intelligence of the readers/contributors is not being harnessed and integrated here in ways I think would greatly improve the overall experience. (I've written Josh about this but I've never received a single response or an invite to express my views/suggestions in person here in NYC.)
Really really bright reader/contributors seem to opt out of the TPM community eventually and while I realize that every enterprise loses good people, an organization needs to recognize these defections as lost opportunities.
August 17, 2009 5:13 PM | Reply | Permalink
I hope you'll get a response from TPM to your post amike. I think part of the reason we see such ads are because of the automatic rotation of ads and the way such advertising works on the net, but that's just a guess. I too, find it annoying to see such ads, on the other hand they are mostly wasting their money on such things at a site like this though, as we know, there are some Republicans who do visit here.
August 17, 2009 3:26 PM | Reply | Permalink