Thom has all the rights in the world to be busy with his studies/being sick or whatever, but it makes you wonder ... If Thom where to jump ship (which gets ever more likely the more time passes) will OSnews be able to survive?
(If Thom were to turn rouge or greedy he could just start his own site and take all the advertisement(which I block with AB+) money for himself and pay for CO2 reduction to save the planet. Wouldn't that be something?)
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Member since:
2005-08-12
Member since:2006-01-04
I knew these comments would come.
I have two simple rules to for unblocking sites I like:
1. Don't take vertical screen space (e.g. put the ad next to the content not above it. I have only 16:9 and 16:10 screens)
2. Don't flicker/flash/animate etc. I just can't stand that. Sorry.
If one of those requirements isn't met Adblock stays activated.
I am sorry but OSnews fails both requirements.
Member since:2005-06-29
The problem with that is twofold.
1) everybody has their own requirements, and we can't follow them all.
2) even if we did, people would find other requirements to still block ads.
Like I said though, I can't really get worked up over it because it's kind of like spam: sure, I can complain about spam all I want, but that won't make it go away. Likewise, I can get all worked up over people using ad block, but that won't cause people to unblock us, now does it?
In the end though, it's really simple: more money equals better articles. I can only do so much - I'd love to travel to events and meet people face-to-face, but that simply isn't possible. We'd also love to do more proper hardware reviews, but without money, that's a no-go too.
We're doing whatever we can within the current boundaries. If I really were to leave (NOT GOING TO HAPPEN ANY TIME SOON, SORRY), I'd make sure the team would know it well in advance, and I wouldn't leave anyway until a proper replacement was found.
Member since:2006-01-04
Just to be clear, I don't want you to leave. Although we don't always agree I like your work a lot, otherwise I wouldn't visit this site so regularly.
As for the money .. I have no real solution. I would suggest a LWN like paywall, but you have to provide really high value content a very focused audience for that to work .. so that is not an option.
Maybe be more flexible with ads, I wouldn't mind text only ads to the side, but I will not accept animated gif ads at the top. Sorry.
Problem probably is that what I would accept is not really paying well 
Member since:1997-10-01
I'm sympathetic to your "requirements." I would absolutely prefer to have small, text-based ads tucked into the margins of the OSNews site. Just like the people who make TV shows would prefer that you be able to watch them without being interrupted with commercials.
Problem is, nobody will pay any money for small text links in the margins. People advertise because they want their advertisements to get noticed.
I'm pulled in two different directions as far as advertising intrusion goes. If it were up the advertisers, they'd take over the whole page and have loud music and dancing cats. Of course the readers don't want any advertising at all. It's a real balancing act to try to have advertising that's prominent enough that they'll pay money, but not so intrusive that it pisses off the readers.
As for supporting the site, if for whatever reason you feel you can't stand to view the site with ads, I'd ask that you consider using the Shopping page when you look for items to buy. That way we can make a little money from our commission with Amazon and Nextag:
http://www.osnews.com/shopping
As for Thom, I'll have to give a mea culpa. When Thom needs to take a break, I need to pick up the slack and post more stories. We'll try to do a better job of coordinating.
Member since:2005-07-24
Member since:2005-11-10
Member since:
2005-06-29
You seem to imply there's a lot of demand for people who have a compulsion to bring Fiona into every conversation and who are obsessed with unicorns and pixies.
I ain't going anywhere, and even if I were, someone would take over. The universe has a way of working things out.
As for the adblock thing - if people want to block our rather friendly ads, then so be it. We live in a free world 
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Member since:2005-07-06
Member since:2005-07-06
Member since:2005-07-06
Member since:
2007-03-26
It seems odd that you comment about this site could die without Thom, but then the next moment you boast about how you don't support the site (via ad revenue) yourself.
If you're genuinely worried about the state of OSNews, then theres 2 simple things you can do:
1/ Don't block the ad's
2/ Write or submit your own articles.
It's that simple
Member since:2006-01-04
Member since:2005-07-06
Member since:2005-06-29
Everybody thought the same thing would happen if Eugenia left - and poof, there I was.
This idea that OSNews can't do without me is nonsense, as it implies that I am somehow special or whatever. The only thing you could consider "special" about me is that I hung in there, where others came and went. That's all. That's not a special ability no one else has.
OSNews most certainly does not depend on me.
Member since:2007-03-26
Member since:2006-05-09
Member since:
2005-07-06
Member since:
2005-07-24
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