Why do I see ads when logged out, but not logged in?

July 22, 2005 6:20 AM

I see BlogAds. No, wait a minute, I don't. How come I see the BlogAds and Google Ads when using IE6, but not Moz5 or Opera7? Do most MeFites see them or not?
posted by ZenMasterThis to MetaFilter-Related at 6:20 AM (16 comments total)

Are you logged in on IE6? (Logged in users aren't shown a lot of the ads.)
posted by gi_wrighty at 6:39 AM on July 22, 2005

My question is why do I see the BlogAds and Google Ads on all the other blogs regardless of browser, but it's browser-dependent on MeFi?
posted by ZenMasterThis at 6:45 AM on July 22, 2005

Are you logged in on one browser but not the other?
posted by caddis at 6:54 AM on July 22, 2005

I see no ads in either IE or Firefox when logged in but do see them when not logged in. One quirk: logging out seems to have undone my preference for plain text with white background on the front page.
posted by caddis at 6:58 AM on July 22, 2005

Also, when you follow a link from somewhere else to MeFi, you'll see the ads and not be logged in for that page view, even if you are actually logged in. (At least, it's this way for me.)
posted by taz at 7:07 AM on July 22, 2005

A better question would be why do you regularly visit MeFi with three different browsers?
posted by Plutor at 7:11 AM on July 22, 2005

why do you regularly visit MeFi with three different browsers?

To be logged into three different sockpuppet accounts?
posted by caddis at 7:20 AM on July 22, 2005

I block all ads.
posted by stavrosthewonderchicken at 7:38 AM on July 22, 2005

Yeah, when I logged-in w/IE6 the ads went away. Why is MeFi set up like this?

I don't understand the "sockpuppet account" comment; I have just one account, if that's what you mean.

Am I the only one here who regularly uses three different browsers? I don't wear the same underwear every day, either!
posted by ZenMasterThis at 7:39 AM on July 22, 2005

>>why do you regularly visit MeFi with three different browsers?
>To be logged into three different sockpuppet accounts?

...you see, it would be this mat that you would
put on the floor, and it would have different conclusions written on it that you could jump to.
posted by Wolfdog at 8:08 AM on July 22, 2005

I don't understand the "sockpuppet account" comment

Relax, it was just a joke. Some people might use different browsers for that, but I have no reason to believe you do. I was just being a bit of a provocateur. Sorry.
posted by caddis at 8:40 AM on July 22, 2005

I don't wear the same underwear every day, either!

But, do you wear three pairs at once?
posted by caddis at 8:41 AM on July 22, 2005

ZenMasterThis writes "Why is MeFi set up like this?"

So Matt can make money by showing ads to users without accounts. One of the perks of having an account is not having to see these ads any more when you're logged in. If you're not logged in, the site won't know not to show the ads to you. It could track by IP, but that's not a good idea because many people could be behind a single IP due to NATs or web proxies, which many companies and ISPs use.
posted by zsazsa at 8:46 AM on July 22, 2005

I just wonder about the proportion viewers WITHOUT accounts. I would think Matt could grab a lot more eyeballs sooner if he didn't exclude subscribers. Do a lot of other blogs do this for their subscribers?
posted by ZenMasterThis at 10:12 AM on July 22, 2005

I just wonder about the proportion viewers WITHOUT accounts. I would think Matt could grab a lot more eyeballs sooner if he didn't exclude subscribers.

Yeah, but active members rarely click on ads. They're here for the content, not the ads. Random people might get here for any number of reasons and in the case of Google ads, sometimes they offer links to better info than the comments here. I exclude subscribers from ads as a perk of them paying for an account. They've ponyed up the dough and help support the site, probably way more than all the ads they would ever get.

Do a lot of other blogs do this for their subscribers?

I'm not aware of too many other blogs that even have subscribers/members, but I've not heard of others doing it. I think they should though.

Also, when you follow a link from somewhere else to MeFi, you'll see the ads and not be logged in for that page view, even if you are actually logged in. (At least, it's this way for me.)

That's odd, and it shouldn't be that way. Your logged in cookie should be mapped to *.metafilter.com so any link here should pick that up.
posted by mathowie (staff) at 10:24 AM on July 22, 2005

Thanks, Matt!
posted by ZenMasterThis at 10:28 AM on July 22, 2005