What happened to the web ads?

October 8, 2005 8:11 AM

What happended to the web ads?
posted by warbaby to Etiquette/Policy at 8:11 AM (44 comments total)

they disappear if you're logged in, no?
posted by amberglow at 8:15 AM on October 8, 2005

and they were annoying so why do you even wonder?
posted by wheelieman at 8:17 AM on October 8, 2005

I've had myself perpetually logged in for so long that I had to log out to realize what you were talking about.

banner ads at the top of the blue? holy hell. glad I paid my five bucks.
posted by shmegegge at 8:26 AM on October 8, 2005

Matt discontinued them, per a post here in MeTa (which I am unable to find).
posted by KevinSkomsvold at 8:50 AM on October 8, 2005

Kevin, unless we're all talking about different ads they are still on the page when you're not logged in. Here's a screenshot of your recent touchscreen thread, which includes keyord-targeted ads.
posted by yhbc at 10:04 AM on October 8, 2005

Ah Commish, you're right. I was thinking of the textads.
posted by KevinSkomsvold at 10:29 AM on October 8, 2005

Yeah, Matt killed the text ads in anticipation of Projects. I believe he let them all run their course and they ended a few months back.
posted by dobbs at 10:51 AM on October 8, 2005

Yeah, I have taken on some new advertisers and if you're not logged in you might be seeing big skyscraper ads and the existing google text ads. There might be small square ads on the front page in the future as well.

The upside to a couple new ads here and there is that I can make enough money to support myself full time, and I'm soon going to be doing just that -- dedicating my full time attention to fixing and coding new mefi features and writing on my other blogs. I'll post a big announcement when I make the jump but it's coming very soon.
posted by mathowie (staff) at 10:52 AM on October 8, 2005

good wishes to you Matt as you make that change!
posted by Rumple at 11:04 AM on October 8, 2005

we've heard that one before.
posted by keswick at 11:12 AM on October 8, 2005

keswick, I left my job of almost four years. My last day at work is Oct 27th.
posted by mathowie (staff) at 11:53 AM on October 8, 2005 [1 favorite]

Matt--it's fantastic that you can finally support yourself with this thing. It's about damned time. Congrats!
posted by frykitty at 11:59 AM on October 8, 2005

congrats to you, matt. I'd always assumed that mefi/pvrblog/wholelottanothing was your total income. Now I wish i didn't bad mouth you so much to my parents all the time about jrun issues.

my mom in particular is getting sick of hearing about it and has taken to screaming "leave that poor boy alone!" every time I bring it up.

but in all seriousness, congrats. it occurs to me that the textads would also encourage those $5 donations to come in, which works out in your favor too. does the page mention that a donation makes the ads go away? I'm too lazy to check.
posted by shmegegge at 12:25 PM on October 8, 2005

Good luck Matt.
posted by caddis at 12:57 PM on October 8, 2005

A brave new world Matt! Congratulations.
posted by LarryC at 1:51 PM on October 8, 2005

Wow! Matt, you gave me much-needed encouragement when I asked if I could make a living freelancing (so far it's looking good), and I'm delighted to see you'll be getting out of the rat race yourself. Good for you!
posted by languagehat at 2:34 PM on October 8, 2005

Holy cats! This makes us, like, your bosses, or something. Bon chance, user #1!
posted by steef at 2:55 PM on October 8, 2005

Good luck pulling it all together Matt. It's always nice to see somebody that can do what they love on their own terms as a way to the bills. I'm still looking for a way to cover my expenses by listening to records and drinking mescal.
posted by Slack-a-gogo at 4:06 PM on October 8, 2005

The fact that I don't see any ads is nice, but the fact that I can't advertize to logged in users would be annoying if I had any products or services to sell...
posted by delmoi at 5:31 PM on October 8, 2005

I imagine that a large % of hits Mefi receives are from non users, or from users that have to log in so they get at least a ad flash before entering the tender loving arms of no-ad.

perhaps I am wrong?
posted by edgeways at 5:46 PM on October 8, 2005

Shut. Up. Delmoi.

(Spoken in tone of voice used in movies where someone finds themselves face to face with a cobra and their friend advises them "Don't. Make. Any. Fast. Moves.")
posted by Bugbread at 6:20 PM on October 8, 2005

I just felt bad throwing ads at people that pay money to be here. Maybe I'll just have the flash ads show up, and none of the google text ads, since those are mostly good for random searchers.
posted by mathowie (staff) at 6:47 PM on October 8, 2005

keswick wins the douche of the thread award.
posted by Mid at 7:19 PM on October 8, 2005

don't get snarky at me just because your tongue is massaging haughey's prostate.
posted by keswick at 7:22 PM on October 8, 2005

I liked the textads.
posted by bingo at 7:33 PM on October 8, 2005

Well, good on ya mathowie, I look forward to seeing what happens.

I can understand a slightly belated light-bulb going on over your head, what with the sales of Flickr and Upcoming and Weblogs Inc and all of that, and all those sweet massive piles of cash floating about our web friends and neighbours.

Know that if sometime up the road you do sell MeFi to Yahoo or someone like that, I for one will be very frowny indeed. But you'll be rich as freakin' Croesus, so I'm sure that won't bother you much. Heh.
posted by stavrosthewonderchicken at 7:34 PM on October 8, 2005

Hmmmm. I've got a book coming out soon and I wanted to tell people about it. Since I can't self-link without committing MetaSuicide or becoming a sockpuppet, what's an aspiring author and mefite to do?

Also I never could remember what the textads were called.

I suppose I can always get a MeCha pal to shill for me in the blue... But I'd rather not resort to subterfuge.

And congrats, Matt. There should be a party. No, make that there MUST be a party.
posted by warbaby at 9:34 PM on October 8, 2005

warbaby, I'm hoping to finish mefi projects before I start this stuff full-time, but at worst, it'll be shortly after Nov 1st.
posted by mathowie (staff) at 10:53 PM on October 8, 2005

Hey Matt, after MeFi projects, what are the odds of creating a newsfilter.metafilter.com section of the site? There seemed to be a lot of support for the idea in this thread.
posted by LarryC at 11:01 AM on October 9, 2005

keswick : "don't get snarky at me just because your tongue is massaging haughey's prostate."

Can we get snarky with you for being the douche of the week instead, then?
posted by Bugbread at 11:34 AM on October 9, 2005

I'm not creating a newsfilter anytime soon.
posted by mathowie (staff) at 11:50 AM on October 9, 2005

we do that for you every day
posted by matteo at 12:08 PM on October 9, 2005

we do that for you every day

Alas.
posted by LarryC at 12:14 PM on October 9, 2005

bugbread: why, did you disqualify yourself?
posted by keswick at 1:52 PM on October 9, 2005

oooh, burn!
posted by gleuschk at 2:04 PM on October 9, 2005

Congratulations, Matt! When you start working for yourself, you'll never have a better boss!

I have a friend who works from home, he finds it incredbly dull. Being your own boss can suck, in some ways.
posted by delmoi at 6:48 PM on October 9, 2005

I'm sorry, both of you, but the REAL douche of the week is "The Big Douche Chill" feature in the new Vice Magazine.
posted by scarabic at 7:10 PM on October 9, 2005

I for one welcome our new self-employed overlord.

But I'd still like a way to buy my way out of the self-link ala textads...

*sobs quietly*
posted by warbaby at 8:59 PM on October 9, 2005

Oh yeah? Well the jerk store called, and they're running out of YOU.
posted by cortex at 9:39 AM on October 10, 2005

keswick : "bugbread: why, did you disqualify yourself?"

No, I just wanted to doublecheck that us folks without our tongues in Matt's ass could also snark you.
posted by Bugbread at 9:51 AM on October 10, 2005

But I'd still like a way to buy my way out of the self-link ala textads...

I think I was one of the last people to buy one...and really, the sheer pounding that Mefi gets means that a 30k hit ad stuck around for maybe a day. Click through rates got phenomenally low...maybe a quarter or half what I saw in previous runs. (Still, it was one of the cheapest ads you could buy, I'll give ya that. And I wish there was a way to advertise to the community that is partially responsible for me taking the risk of going off and creating a business.)

What is this projects of which you speak, Matt? I've been out of the loop...it's my busy season. Can I get a pointer to a thread or something where what you're planning is elucidated? Danke!
posted by dejah420 at 12:49 PM on October 10, 2005

So if we were to pair them all up, which would we run out of first? Tongues or assholes?

And congrats Matt! Working for yourself is the best!
posted by Balisong at 8:15 AM on October 11, 2005

The fact that I don't see any ads naked, hairy butts is nice, but the fact that I can't advertize show my naked, hairy butt to logged in users would be annoying if I had any products or services naked, hairy butt to sell...
posted by Secret Life of Gravy at 8:59 AM on October 11, 2005

I just felt bad throwing ads at people that pay money to be here. Maybe I'll just have the flash ads show up, and none of the google text ads, since those are mostly good for random searchers.

If the implication is that you're thinking about having logged in folks see any ads at all, I hope you're joking. One of the things that makes MetaFilter a good community (which results in good posts, which results in non-member readers, which results in ad revenues) is the clean user interface, including the lack of ads.
posted by WestCoaster at 4:52 PM on October 12, 2005