Only because we have no advertising at all.
But, since our Freepathons take longer and longer to fulfill each quarter, the “No Ad” option may be slipping away here, too.
I already get “personalized” ads at “Commentary” magazine, “National Review Online,” “The Daily Caller,” and the “Drudge Report.”
According to Ghostery, Google Analytics is hard at work as I view this page. Whether it’s coming from FR or something that’s attached itself to my browser, I don’t know. But when I hit a different page, the warning went away.
I can live with banner & button ads on FR if they’re controlled by FR and not a third party such as Google. They could be screened to ensure that the advertisers share are values, and the advertisers would know the audience.
Another good way to raise money would be through affiliate programs with online bookstores. I’m not sure how they work now, but with Amazon you can set up links to specific titles and earn commissions when visitors make purchases via those links. I would love to see an FR Bookstore page.
>>I already get “personalized” ads at “Commentary” magazine, “National Review Online,” “The Daily Caller,” and the “Drudge Report.” <<
I am NOT a geek but I am sort of ‘capable’ with computers. If you use the latest browser with all the feel good attachments such as Active X and Flash you should expect to receive ads personalized just for you. That’s what they are meant to do.
I use Firefox 10.0, I know I am at least browser 15 updates behind the times. I do not have ActiveX or Java activated because they leave behind too many trails. I do not save my daily History or my daily Cookies because that is nothing but trails for others to market.
So, go into your Options / Tools or whatever the name is that control the features of your PC and shut down all the stuff you don’t need. Cut out the trails back to your PC by using MRU-Blaster and CCleaner everytime you shut you PC off for the night or at least once every day. Together they take maybe three minutes but they remove all the extra files the marketers use to track your every move.
Then add in tools such as AdBlock Plus and DoNotTrack. Make it hard for them to follow you around and you will rarely see an ad anywhere on the Internet.
It isn’t just the advertising, it’s the complete lack of ebedded videos (just the URLs) and all sorts of annoying javascripts that slow down page loads.
I wouldn’t read the majority of articles in media today if I had to travel to each of the source websites. Too many of them get bogged down loading their additional content.
“Just the facts, ma’am.” - Joe Friday