If you’re here and reading this, we are thrilled to have you. Sincerely. PolitiZoom is a grassroots website. We call ourselves The Little Political Blog That Could because we started out in 2018 with barely no views and we have grown to having, in our best month to date, 1.6 million. That ain’t hay.
Now recently we have changed our ad structure and I get it that the ads are more intrusive. Evidently some of you have decided to go to ad blockers. That’s your prerogative, certainly. But we don’t get paid when you do that. Today I looked at our pageviews on Google Analytics (from yesterday ) and our pageviews that we got paid for and we didn’t get paid for 10% of our pageviews. This is due to ad blockers.
Friends, I get it that aesthetics are important, but if you take the food out of our mouths we can’t survive. It really is as simple as that. When I did a fundraiser recently I mentioned that the ad recession has cost us money and so has Elon Musk and his machinations on Twitter, X, YZ, whatever he calls it at this moment.
We also had an ad provider that wasn’t delivering on promises and so we dumped them and we’re with someone else now and trying to get rolling there. So far we’re doing okay but we can’t get around the basic problems of art v. commerce.
I would give this all to you for free and run ad free and make this a boutique literary site if I had the financial means to do so. And if I win the lottery, we will go that direction in a heartbeat. Or to very few ads, certainly. But we don’t have that option. We simply do not.
All the writers here work very hard. I live on the computer. If you could see my house right now, it looks like a pig sty. I’m not joking. I put off cleaning and I let things stack up because I am driven to write and be at the computer. I’m online a good 16 hours a day and on an off day when I have business out of the house I’m online 12 hours. And I love what I do, so I’m not complaining.
But please don’t sabotage us! Please. I don’t want to get to the point where I have to put a paywall on things. But if ad blockers are going to rob us of money that we’re legitimately entitled to, then I may be forced to seek that solution.
Some of you have been very generous. I am humbled by your generosity and your support. But obviously we’re attracting other kinds here and maybe that’s just the way of the jungle.
I am going to put a Donate button on the site in the next few days. Maybe that will bring in a little coin. We can only go so far and we’ve had a brutal year. It has been tough financially. And I want to see our writers paid. And I need to scrape out some kind of a living. I do the bulk of the content here and manage the site (and again, I love what I do) but bottom line, this place HAS to pay my light bill and buy me groceries, car insurance, all the necessaries of life. Or, I have to find a part-time job and then I can’t devote myself fully to this work and I don’t know what would happen to the blog. I suspect it would go to hell, frankly.
If you haven’t contributed yet and can do so, go to PayPal, [email protected]. Donations are tax deductible and I’ll give you a receipt.
Now one last word to the people that come here and post pornographic pictures in their avatars. We don’t want you here. Or, let me put it this way: you’re welcome to stay if you can use a normal photo. We are not a porn site or a dating site, although I’m happy to report that I personally know of marriages between people who have met on political websites. We wish you the best of luck. But if you’re looking to lure somebody in to God knows, using a provocative photograph, you will not do it here. I delete them the instant I see them. And I’m going to look for a way to instantly ban anybody who posts one of these things. (And I’m talking about women in lingerie sprawled on beds. C’mon man, as Joe would say.)
That’s it, friends. I am very open to hearing your views on our ads, if any. If there’s a suggestion you can make that is doable and isn’t going to lose us a lot of money, I’m open to it. We are a community here and you have a voice. I am listening.
I honestly don’t mind the ads. I grew up with network TV and the constant ads. besides without ad breaks on TV when do you get a chance to get a snack or go to the bathroom? on the site I even get some ads that are interesting, although most are not. having a paywall would bug me because I hate having to put in passwords on my phone. my dos centavos.
And I was asking for exactly that, your input. I don’t want to go that route, either. I’m just doing the best I can to get us some payment for our labors. I may very well reduce the ads at some point, but I have to run with maximum ads first and see what happens and then try something else and monitor that. Rome wasn’t built in a day.
I too grew up with network TV. Unless it was PBS, everything had commercials and boy oh boy a bunch of them. PZ is no worse than some sites and a heap better than most.
Thank you very much. At least we’re not hitting you with an immediate blocking banner asking you if you want to join up or continue as a non contributor like they do at Crooks & Liars. And I like that site, that’s my one criticism.
We may have less ads. I have to experiment and see what’s what before final decisions are made. The readability of the site is key to me. I’m a writer first, a businesswoman second.
I have turned mine off for PolitiZoom. Is it OK if I leave the tracker block on? That’s the one I actually worry about. I’ve left it on for now at least.
The only ads that bother me are the blatantly righ-wing-slanted ones anyway. And, yes, I have seen a couple here (nowhere near as bad as the Crooks & Liars Newsletter runs., and nowhere near as many on a percwenta basis.)
I don’t even know what a tracker block is. If it doesn’t affect our bottom line, by all means leave it on. I appreciate it if you could take off the ad blocker when you come here. That way we get what we’ve earned. That’s all I ask for, is what we have legitimately earned.
If you see right-wing slanted ads, I’m not sure how you see them. What I know is that Google will tailor ads to your taste. If you want to get rid of offensive ads, do what I do. I click on items that interest me, copper pans, beautiful shoes, that kind of thing, and then I see ads for those.
I’ve learned to search and then click on pretty things – purple glass vases, old roses, artists paints in lots of colors. Makes the page more interesting!
That is exactly my point. I’ve been looking recently at Waterford crystal, which I do intend to buy. And so ads for lovely crystal and china have been popping up.
Done. Never had an adblocker. Pony up people! We need this place!
Thank you for your support, my friend. We all need to hang together as Democrats. You remember Margaret Mead’s observation: “Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed individuals can change the world. in fact, it’s the only thing that ever has.” That’s what we’re about here.
And as we get closer to the election we’ll be posting links to worthy Democratic campaigns and doing everything we can to get the right people elected.
I don’t mind the ads, mostly, as long as they VARY a bit. I get sick of seeing the same ones over & over again, relentlessly. It’s improved a bit since I moaned about it the other day, but I don’t trust it to stay that way.
And if I ‘X’ one out, in frustration with it, it just carries on repeating. So that one becomes intensely annoying. If only Google would respect my bothering to ‘X’ one out, and do it immediately (provided I only did it to a few of them!), I’d have more respect for them.
To get rid of ads you don’t like, just go shopping online somewhere. For instance, if you would look at men’s clothing for a day or two, Google will know you were looking at those sites and send you those ads. Or cars. Or houses. Gardening tools. It doesn’t matter what “it” is, just find something that you wouldn’t mind actually seeing come up as an ad.
The ads are a shade intrusive – but if it helps keep the site up and running, I can put up with that.
However, the one REALLY annoying ad is the one at the bottom of thje page which hides the ‘scroll to top’ button
I’m not aware of that. I’ll have to look into it. Thank you.
Plus, the bottom line here is that it costs “x” amount for us to even be here. We have to pay the hosting provider, the tech support guy, the email people, the advertising guy, so on and so forth. And once those fixed costs are met, then we get paid. This is a labor of love, no two ways about it.
I don’t mind ads, it’s business
I’m a kos guy that likes Ursula and Murphster
And please never tell Murphy to spell check or edit. We know and him, why I never had a a kos account, human Grammer police 🚔. If you need ads to keep this alive. Do it. Love you guys.
Technically I should fix Murf’s errors, since I’m the editor. And sometimes I do. But I can’t be everywhere at once.
Thank you for your support, Steve. It’s great having you here.
We love Murph just the way he is.
Spell checkers are notorious for messing things all on their own: it wouldn’t be the first time I mis-spelt the word I was using but, because the incorrect spelling was also a word, the spell checker didn’t catch it.
disclaimer – I can spell (and always came top of the class in primary school for spelling) but my keyboard has a mind of its own
I already contribute to the site monthly, and also sent what I could donate, but I will not tolerate ads.
Look, Nonya, if you’re chipping in, then by all means use an ad blocker. My plea was to the people who don’t chip in and who, by use of an ad blocker, prevent us from getting what we rightfully have earned. But that’s not the case with you if you’re a patron. Not at all.
Thank you for your support.
Sorry Ursula if I sounded irritated, I did not mean to. I will continue to support the site. I appreciate all that you and the other writers do to keep us informed.
No, I didn’t take it that way. You’re in a different category. We worship our patrons. The site wouldn’t be here without you guys. We have to have some reliable income to pay the overhead, otherwise we’re screwed and that’s where the patron goes to.
That said, I am very concerned that so many people have turned on ad blockers. We are literally not getting paid what we deserve because Google won’t pay us if there’s an ad blocker on — even though we have the traffic that should get us paid. This is heartbreaking.
Ursula, I don’t mind the ads – not a problem for me. I also think a donate button might be good. My dealings with PayPal have not always been smooth so I hesitate to use it. Thanks to you and all the writers and commenters – keep up the good work.
We will. I think the Donate button might help as well. Again, it’s one of those things that unless you try, you don’t know.
Ursula I just maneuver around them. Your site reminds me there are thoughtful people keeping track of the goings-on. I wish I had more money to help you, but I won’t be going to ad blockers. I put up with commercials on tv, and the news shows aren’t half as interesting as your site. I marvel at all the writing you and the others get done. Keep up the good work. God knows we need the balance we’ll never get from corporate boardrooms!
We’re glad you’re here, Scott. You’re one of the regulars. We appreciate your contribution. We’ll get through this. It’s just been an intense year.
Ads are just background noise to me. I certainly can ignore them, and as your suggest, change them by “shopping” for what I like. As soon as I look for something I like, I get ads for those items. It makes it more tolerable. But I can ignore an awful lot in life and ads are just a minor inconvenience.
Pleasant ads do matter. I’ve been seeing ads for things that Le Creuset makes that I didn’t know existed, fancy fish bakers and what not. Gourmet cooking is my hobby, so I can look at those ads and check out those items anytime.
I removed my blocker, just for you fine folks.
You’re worth it.
God bless you, North. And I may reduce the ads. I don’t want to “drive” anybody to using an ad blocker. I’m just in a process of seeing what ads work, trying out different types, checking the revenue. It’s not an overnight process. And I don’t want to lose money doing it, obviously.
It’s the eternal struggle of art v. commerce.
Here’s my two cents. I haven’t resorted to ad blockers, but I’ve turned off sound and JavaScript, which helps keep the intrusion to a minimum. I was a web developer and can’t abide intrusive ads that interfere with the content, and your new ad provider is serving up some doozies. I hate the constant bombardment of images concerning bowels, farts, and other gross or disgusting content designed to elicit a strong visceral reaction. I even turned off images for a while, but that only makes the site unreadable. I’ll admit, I don’t come here as much as I used to, and probably won’t pay unless the content is free to paid subscribers or the ads improve.
You have the ability to improve the content of the ads. All you have to do is go look at anything for sale online that you like. In my case, I love cookware and all things having to do with cuisine, china, crystal, all that. And I look at jewelry, beautiful things. So I see great ads that don’t bother me at all. As a matter of fact, I find great buys out there that I didn’t know were there, which is the purpose of advertising, to hit the bullseye and give you something you actually want.
It is possible we could get a yearly subscription that would make ads invisible for subscribers. I will look into that, definitely. That’s occurred to me before.
I hear what you’re saying, Ursula, but I won’t waste my time fake-shopping for pretty things to fill the ad space I don’t want to see. I pay for Pandora and HBO because I never want to see or hear an ad. I’m far from the only one willing to pay for the privilege.
Ursula, we talked about this. Here’s where I’m at. I get a check every month. My dad problem is that the maga crowd doesn’t like that. Hell they have already let it leak that they have some goofy demands that are going to happen and if they don’t they will shutdown the government on Sep 30. These morons are idiots. And in 2020 we barely beat them back. And right now they are totally pissed because Joe Biden is running the best economy in years. And it’s starting to dawn on everyone that big business is the one screwing everyone. That debate was bullshit. And no I didn’t watch it. I like my tv. I watched morning Joe. Among others. What I seen after Christie and all his I’m holding Trump accountable. When they asked whether anyone would support Trump Christie raised his hand then pulled it back down real fast. Asa whatever was the only one not to raise his hand. Now you listen to Christie talk about Biden he waxes on about Budens failed policies. What failed policies. We have the number one economy in the freakin world. That’s a fact just came out day or two ago. Our problem is that big oil, drug companies, and the big retailers are making record profits by screwing the American public. They should be ashamed. Now getting back to our situation. I’m not starving. Matter of fact, my freezer is full of food and the wife keeps buying. But 2020 was a fight for democracy. Now, 2024 is going to be a war for our way of life. These republicans are morons. I’m thinking they didn’t even comprehend what they talked about in school. They don’t get it. They look at Russia and they see that they still watch it. Three or four channels controlled by the government. And you can forget about that Hollywood sh*t. Only government approved movies. We look at Florida. Desantis is a pu$$y when it comes to his policies. We all will be in trouble. Now maybe I exaggerate, maybe I don’t get close. But the point is. Your credit is good. Let’s worry about my actual writing and leave the rest to the big guy upstairs. I’ve been in what could have been horrific situations and managed to survive. For some reason so far God has seen to my needs. I don’t know and don’t care what you think about it. I’m a country boy and I will survive.
I’ll try without the blocker, but the last time I visited with it disabled, the site was unreadable.
Between the glacial page loads and the animated ads distracting my eyes, it was impossible to focus on the content. You also don’t make any money if people avoid the site.
Please consider a subscription option as an alternative to ads.