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Reddit To Start Showing Ads

blog.reddit.com — According to their blog part of the reason reddit was acquired was so that eventually it could be used to sell advertising. It was only a matter of time I guess.

Who dugg this? Made popular Mar 30, 2007

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  • fotbr, on 10/12/2007, -10/+45Yes, I block ads everywhere. Even digg.

    I'm not going to click on them. I'm not going to buy anything from them.

    I also change the channel to avoid commercials on the radio, and on TV.

    I'm not going to tell you you can't have ads on your site. Just don't tell me I have to look at them.
  • inactive, on 10/12/2007, -1/+22I don't see it as a big thing.

    I'll still visit reddit regularly. A busy site isn't cheap, so it's understandable. Plus the crowd there is a little more down to Earth than the people that roam here sometimes.
  • cinnix, on 10/12/2007, -2/+15When you watch Lost on TV, do you sit through the commercials too out of decency, or do you use that time to have a piss and get a beer etc? People can choose whether or not they want to view a sites ads. In the case of Digg, I chose to view them, as they are unobtrusive, and I like what the Dig team are doing. But viewing the ads is NOT compulsory, don't make it sound that way.

    And Mozilla choosing to alienate adblock users? Newsflash biatch, check out what addons the Firefox team recommend https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/recommended. Fact of the matter is, Mozilla don't get most of their financial support (from Google) through Adsense, but rather that innocent looking Google searchbar on the top-right there.
  • championchap, on 10/12/2007, -0/+11It's like a more intelligent Digg.
    Comments sections on here are often filled with competing fanboys.. this is true on reddit too, but the arguments are usually more in depth and intelligent.

    I dont see it as a competitor to digg really though, more of a compliment.
  • omnidugg, on 10/12/2007, -3/+14Some people see reddit as a competitor to digg. http://reddit.com/
  • fkr3, on 10/12/2007, -25/+36Way to support the sites you use. Do you block ads on digg too? Seriously you guys are sooo cool.

    Advertising isn't evil, sites do cost money to run, that cost gets bigger as sites get more popular, and no, you don't have an inherent right to view the sites without ads. Your right is to go to a different site if you don't like it.

    I can't wait for the day Firefox has to make a choice between alienating their precious little adblocking kiddies, or alienating Google, who funds pretty much all of Firefox through advertising agreements.
  • aldomatic, on 10/12/2007, -3/+13reddit, is more politically geared than digg.com
  • Mootabolife, on 10/12/2007, -0/+8And that's the way I would like to keep it. What's wrong with having a tech site where you can joke around at? I don't want another Slashdot where if you say something that doesn't break new ground in rocket science you never get seen.
  • nekitip, on 10/12/2007, -10/+18Greasemonkey ad-remover script out in 10, 9, 8...
  • BRODEL, on 10/12/2007, -1/+8Kind of funny you bring up blocking ads on digg because I normally surf digg at work and home with firefox and adblock enabled and I put Vista on a laptop yesterday and went to check digg after a fresh install of firefox and was like what the hell is up with all of these damn ads? I am so used to not seeing them that they annoy me that much more when I don't have adblock.

    As far as complaining that I block ads, why do you care? I am not going to buy anything from the ads anyway and it just makes the site easier to look at without pictures. Also, it IS my right to block content I don't wish to see on my computer. If I go to a site and it wants to load malware or spyware do I have to let it do that too since it's what the site wants to load?
  • inactive, on 10/12/2007, -0/+6saying that viewing ads is compulsory is analagous to DRM saying you can't listen to your music on your ipod and 3 computers at the same time, even if it's only you using all of them. they are all idiotic. you send out an HTTP request for something, whether it involves payment or not. but i feel that what is sent back to you in return is yours to do whatever you want with as long as you don't interfere with anyone else. i feel that we have an inalienable right to copy any copyrighted materials legally received, for personal use only. an inalienable right to use any browser to view a webpage, including a browser that does not display ad-related content... and so on.

    that said, DRM is just stupid, but as long as something similar doesn't get passed for advertising, i say it's your right whether or not you block ads. the files Digg sends you are your choice how to render them.

    the web is also largely supported by advertising, though, and while i feel it's your right to not display ads, you may be hurting their effectiveness (many people i know including myself have ended up clicking on ads even after thinking that i never would), and it is that tiny amount of effectiveness that means a lot to the advertisers, and that's exactly why they pay digg $350K/month. if they know that significant numbers of people are blocking ads, they will be inclined to pay less, and the only source of funding that keeps sites like Digg running will then die.
  • BESTenemy, on 10/12/2007, -0/+6 Alright, is there a difference between me blocking the ads and not blocking, but not clicking either? The thing that was going for google was non-invasive ad placement. Google's just about the only "brand" I don't mind. They manage to hide ads in place that don't bother me, where i don't click accidentally. Look at Digg and their video ads top right corner, those that you roll over whenever trying to scroll down to rate comments. They're the most annoying ads, and they are placed strategically. I am not going to click on them, but I do tend to click on them every once in a while by missing the thing that I was going to click on. Same goes for the top bar ad right between Digg section and the article titles.

    Supporting the site? Well, you don't support anything by simply looking at ads and not having them disabled. The sponsor makes money through people that not only click, but also buy. Sine I'm not going to do either of the two, I'm perfectly fine blocking the ads.

    Site has to make money? Well, don't we all. Everything goes through start up stage, expansion stage and what starts off looking like google 10 years ago ends up looking like yahoo's front page. If digg's on such path, then I have no sympathy. If digg falls apart and I'm forced to talk more to my friends in real life as oppose to online, then I'm all for it. It's just a site. They come and go. Those that stay end up a greedy wreck. Creators build up the market value and then sell off. Digg holds user interest as their top priority? Well, google CEO's have been getting $1 salaries. Has nothing to do with morals. It's a tax evasion technique, nothing more.
  • Haohmaru, on 10/12/2007, -0/+6I use the RSS feed in Firefox. Unlike Digg, Reddit sends you directly to the article, bypassing Reddit completely.
    If they don't change this, we'll still never see any ads.

    Maybe I've said too much.
  • jmaynardg, on 10/12/2007, -5/+10@fkr3:

    Yes. And I also turn the audio off on television during commercials. Bad maynard! Bad!!!
  • mcnappy, on 10/12/2007, -2/+6If you love it so much, why don't you marry it?
  • inactive, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4Ads only piss me off if they:

    1) Pop up
    2) Play annoying and loud Flash animation

    Other than that I ignore them. In all my years of web use I have yet to click on an ad.
  • Homunculiheaded, on 10/12/2007, -2/+5You should feel free to turn off ads, the web is designed with the intent of user control over the content. The point is to transmit data and then have the user determine the best way to view it, that's the root of why browsers render content in different ways. Additionaly things like CSS are meant to allow users to add their own style sheets to a site, and while you may not do this disabled users have for a long time. You should have control over the way in which you view web content, it's fundemental aspect of the web.


    Also do you watch commericials for television you record?

  • bloodguard, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3My rules for adblocking are simple. If it moves, changes, flashes, pops up or makes noise I block it. If it's a nice text or not to garish image ad it can stay.

    I'll even click a few a day just to get the site owners click count up.

    I usually wild card pretty broadly when an ad pisses me off though. So one obnoxious ad can lead to all of them being boinked.
  • bigdoug, on 10/12/2007, -1/+4More lines for me to ignore
  • Haohmaru, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3Reddit has only a fraction of the comments Digg has. The only reason I started commenting on Digg was that the RSS feed sends you to the comments page. Who can resist putting in their own 2 cents?
  • Haohmaru, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3I don't know about the whole "Reddit has a more mature audience" thinking, but the articles on Digg and Reddit don't have too much overlap and the ranking system is completely different, so I watch them both.

    Reddit has FAR less commenting than Digg though.
  • phynodedotnet, on 10/12/2007, -8/+10digg.com = slumming, pandemonium, dancing bears
    Reddit = thinking, learning, discussing
  • BRODEL, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2@r00tus3r

    I donate monthly to revision3 as well as twit. I also fast forward though the ads on DL.TV but to my knowledge there is no way to donate to them. I would much rather pay for a good service like digg or TWIT than to be forced to waste my time with ads that I have no interest in. Am I still selfish?

    I also canceled cable long ago because of all the stupid commercials that interrupt the story line (as well as having to watch it on their schedule). I download the shows now with the commercials cut out so I don't have to fast forward though them. I would buy the ones on Itunes if they were given to me in a more portable nonDRM format... I like to watch the shows during my lunch hour at my desk at work.
  • inactive, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2ah, but a good of people visit social networking sites precisely for the comments, and they will have to visit the actual site
  • treelovinhippie, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2"According to their blog part of the reason reddit was acquired was so that eventually it could be used to sell advertising."

    I though it was acquired because Wired was obviously pissed off that Digg was stealing their traffic. So they bought Reddit and ever since they have been trying their damn hardest to bash Digg at every possible moment (buying clicks on Digg anyone?).
  • geekitechture, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Plenty of Greasemonkey scripts offer redirects to the website bypassing Digg completely.
  • geekitechture, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1> "greater than" sign
    < "lesser than" sign

    4 > 2

    2 < 4

    High school math.
  • theotherme, on 10/12/2007, -6/+6reddit > digg
  • CraigB12, on 10/12/2007, -1/+1I don't even read the comments on Reddit, i just go there becuase its quicker to read their headlines than anywhere else. Plus, can anyone name the things the advertise on digg without scrolling up to look at the advert? Honestly, I've never looked at them, and since they aren't being thrown in my face I don't even notice them.
  • KenOh, on 10/12/2007, -1/+1I've got this neat little script that I coded into my eyes that avoids advertising. Seriously, I don't really even notice they are there.
  • sharly2007, on 10/10/2007, -0/+0My rules for adblocking are simple. If it moves, changes, flashes, pops up or makes noise I block it. If it's a nice text or not to garish image ad it can stay. I'll even click a few a day just to get the site owners click count up. I usually wild card pretty broadly when an ad pisses me off though. So one obnoxious ad can lead to all of them being boinked. http://www.gwafi.com/home.html http://www.gwafi.com/links.html
  • 1point618, on 10/12/2007, -2/+1Yes, but the lack of comments isn't a bad thing. A large proportion of comments on digg are utter ***** simply because everyone thinks they need to add their two cents. ***** that *****, if you don't have something good to day, don't say it. At least comments are no longer 50% people admitting that they dugg the article (yeah, I know you did, the stats are right there), but it's still mostly 1 or 2 line BS posts to get post counts up. Also, the lack of real threading on digg is a major reason why there is no real discussion, when you have this many people posting a flat layout simply doesn't work. Reddit's comments are much better laid out and people don't post as many crappy comments.

    I'm still all about the comments on Slashdot though, the Karma concept is great, but because it is a 5 point maximum no one can too far ahead of anyone else, keeping it egalitarian still.
  • DSoM, on 10/12/2007, -7/+6nice stuff is that :

    Plus, I think we found a way to track the ads so we can let you vote/comment on them.

    very nice idea :) asd 2.0 :P
  • theotherme, on 10/12/2007, -4/+3It means reddit is greater than digg. But I'm just trolling. I visit digg more often.
  • inactive, on 10/12/2007, -7/+4So?

    I got nothing against making some extra cash.

    By the way, whats reddit?
  • inactive, on 10/12/2007, -6/+3i don't get this,... honest question, does that mean "reddit is better than digg" or that "digg's mouth is about to eat reddit"?
  • Haohmaru, on 10/12/2007, -5/+2Our could see it as reddit about to stab Digg.
  • protogenes, on 10/12/2007, -7/+3Who the hell are Reddit?
  • r00tus3r, on 10/12/2007, -9/+3I find it very selfish of people to enjoy a site, and then block out the ads that help to run it. What makes you think there's nothing there that you'll like anyway? I hope this is a trend that doesn't catch on, people really need to stop this ad war, it's one thing to hate spam, but when guys like kevin rose are legitimately trying to support themselves and the community with advertising, there's no reason to hate the ads. Come on guys.
  • ranjit, on 10/12/2007, -10/+3Reddit sucks eggs.... Digg all the way - come on man it an ugly site...

    And as for ads, use adblock. your life will feel a lot simpler...
  • fkr3, on 10/12/2007, -20/+7The truth hurts that much retard?
  • omnidugg, on 10/12/2007, -23/+5fkr3 you are either a moron or a troll. I suspect both. Welcome to my block list.

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