[Sticky] Let's Talk About The Ads

I see the comments, I've read your emails, so let's just put all our cards on the table and get this over with.

 

The ads suck. They suck for me, they suck for you, they're annoying and invasive and a pain in the ass to deal with. Nobody, including me, will argue any of those points.

 

But, what I think is lost on some, if not most of you, is that I don't have some rich fucking uncle or a money tree in my backyard that makes all of this happen. The money to make this come to life each morning has to come from somewhere. 

 

In about 10 days it will be 23 years that I have had to beg, borrow, steal, sacrifice, scrimp and save just to keep these lights on for all of you. And God willing, hopefully I can do it for another year.

 

But in those 23 years, I have never asked a single one of you to pay for anything, I've never locked anything behind a paywall, I've never withheld anything so I could charge you a subscription or a membership fee and I've never just straight up held my hand out and asked you for donations.

 

Which brings us back to the ads. If I was to turn the ads off and if I don't charge any of you any money, you can see how that isn't a sustainable business model. 0+0 is always gonna = 0

 

I'm not sure if any of you know how advertising works but, the ones that piss you and me off the most, the ones that interrupt what you are doing, the ones that you have to click to close, the ones that block other shit you are trying to see, well unfortunately folks, those are the ones that pay us the most money. 

 

But, the reality of this situation is that you are gonna either need to suck it up, put on your big boy pants and close a few ads or you're gonna need to get out your credit cards.

 

So, it appears we are at a crossroads and I'm happy to hear anyones suggestions on how I/We can give you the experience you want, but also not go bankrupt. Because unfortunately, we can't have it both ways. Someone needs to pay to keep this going. It's either the ads that pay for it, or it's you that pays for it. 

 

And to quote ol' Stone Cold... that's the bottom line.