Don Draper would approve.
So I'm over at The Pit (aka fanfiction.net), and once again I'm reminded of how much I can't stand how that site has become littered with ads. They're so obnoxious and distracting while trying to read. The design of the site is still vintage 1994, and I like it that way, and it wasn't so bad when they just had text ads. Text ads don't stick out on a site like FF.N. But I guess that was the problem. So now I've got to deal with blinking flash shit all up in my eyeballs while I'm trying to get my nightly fix of Spock/Uhura smut and it's really harshing my squee. God bless Adblock, but seriously? I shouldn't need it over there.
I don't know what a better alternative would be though; obviously they could start charging people, but it would take a lot to get anyone to pay to access the Pit. Paid accounts would have to give you special benefits...like maybe give you personalized fic recs Amazon-style, or allow you to personalize your reading window (OMG COLORZ!), or give you permission to put hyperlinks in your fics, or give you a magical search function that weeds out all the shitty fics. (I think that last one alone would be enough of an incentive.) Or, they could charge you every time you post a fic to the site. Which actually does not sound like a bad idea, if it would mean that every time ~*EdWaRdLuVvEr123*~ wanted to post her Mary Sue fic, she'd have to get Mummy's credit card permission. But I guess that goes against the whole free creative spirit of the site.
Shame.
I don't even know what FF.N needs ad dollars for, except to pay for server costs I assume. But they got away without ads for so long. Craigslist, which is also stuck in the early 90s, still manages to operate ad-free and they get waaay more traffic than FF.N. (Okay, CL basically IS one giant ad, but that's not the point. And they only charge for a few things...I think to post job ads and certain real estate ads? Otherwise it's free to use.) How the hell Craigslist makes all their money I don't know, but it makes tons, and without annoying flashing shit in the way.
Now I admit, at least they have the decency to try to tailor the FF.N ads so they're relevant to your interests, so for example whilst perusing said Star Trek smuttage I often see ads for the Illustrious 22k Gold Captain Kirk Card or Netflix and movie channels, stuff that someone on a fanfic site might actually be interested in. Those are mixed in with the usual crappy insurance/weightloss/WHITEN YOUR TEETH IN 3 DAYS!!! ads.
And yet I find it a tad ironic that there's also advertising from Comedy Central, Paramount, NBC, ABC...yeah, more than relevant, but these are channels owned by companies that at the same time have no problem yanking vids off YouTube, sending cease-and-desist letters, and generally condemn and fear derivative fan works. (And let's not even get started on their thoughts on slash.) It's like missionaries walking in on a brothel and being like, "We look down on you and think you should change your heathen ways, but would you mind giving us a blowjob or two? :D?" It really goes to show how greedy they are the internal conflict media companies seem to be having between desperately clinging to their copyrights for dear life, and the knowledge that there is lots of money to be made off fandom. (Note that we can't make any money off of fanfic, but they can.)
But then last night this ad showed up on FF.N:
and I kind of forgot what I was so cranky about. In fact I forgot again just now.
O HAI THAR.
Advertising I can finally get behind. Or on top of. Or any way he wants me, really. That face could sell me anything.
Yeah.
mmmmm Sylar. What was I talking about again? I forgot. Did you know you can watch full episodes of Heroes on NBC.com for free?
I don't know what a better alternative would be though; obviously they could start charging people, but it would take a lot to get anyone to pay to access the Pit. Paid accounts would have to give you special benefits...like maybe give you personalized fic recs Amazon-style, or allow you to personalize your reading window (OMG COLORZ!), or give you permission to put hyperlinks in your fics, or give you a magical search function that weeds out all the shitty fics. (I think that last one alone would be enough of an incentive.) Or, they could charge you every time you post a fic to the site. Which actually does not sound like a bad idea, if it would mean that every time ~*EdWaRdLuVvEr123*~ wanted to post her Mary Sue fic, she'd have to get Mummy's credit card permission. But I guess that goes against the whole free creative spirit of the site.
Shame.
I don't even know what FF.N needs ad dollars for, except to pay for server costs I assume. But they got away without ads for so long. Craigslist, which is also stuck in the early 90s, still manages to operate ad-free and they get waaay more traffic than FF.N. (Okay, CL basically IS one giant ad, but that's not the point. And they only charge for a few things...I think to post job ads and certain real estate ads? Otherwise it's free to use.) How the hell Craigslist makes all their money I don't know, but it makes tons, and without annoying flashing shit in the way.
Now I admit, at least they have the decency to try to tailor the FF.N ads so they're relevant to your interests, so for example whilst perusing said Star Trek smuttage I often see ads for the Illustrious 22k Gold Captain Kirk Card or Netflix and movie channels, stuff that someone on a fanfic site might actually be interested in. Those are mixed in with the usual crappy insurance/weightloss/WHITEN YOUR TEETH IN 3 DAYS!!! ads.
And yet I find it a tad ironic that there's also advertising from Comedy Central, Paramount, NBC, ABC...yeah, more than relevant, but these are channels owned by companies that at the same time have no problem yanking vids off YouTube, sending cease-and-desist letters, and generally condemn and fear derivative fan works. (And let's not even get started on their thoughts on slash.) It's like missionaries walking in on a brothel and being like, "We look down on you and think you should change your heathen ways, but would you mind giving us a blowjob or two? :D?" It really goes to show how greedy they are the internal conflict media companies seem to be having between desperately clinging to their copyrights for dear life, and the knowledge that there is lots of money to be made off fandom. (Note that we can't make any money off of fanfic, but they can.)
But then last night this ad showed up on FF.N:
and I kind of forgot what I was so cranky about. In fact I forgot again just now.
O HAI THAR.
Advertising I can finally get behind. Or on top of. Or any way he wants me, really. That face could sell me anything.
Yeah.
mmmmm Sylar. What was I talking about again? I forgot. Did you know you can watch full episodes of Heroes on NBC.com for free?