Each week, I slip behind in my blog reading as I prepare this post (1LinerWeds) and my Thursday Doors post because I want to announce the Thursday Doors post on the sidebar of this post. Then, as the Thursday Doors contributions start arriving, I fall miserably behind in reading everyone else’s posts.
I let them pile up in my inbox, and I try to catch up on Sunday and Monday. As I was reading posts last week, I grew angry at WordPress. I had gotten used to seeing a block of nine useless, mindless, intrusive and generally insipid ads at the bottom of free blogs, but they had up’d their game. They were now plastering a video commercial above that block.
While normally a quiet, uninvolved introvert, I fired off the following tweet.
They responded, as most companies do when the potential to be embarrassed on Twitter surfaces—they denied the allegation and asked me to move our discussion into a Direct Message, i.e. an off the record thread. I did.
I sent them links to two blogs where I had encountered the collection of ads.
They—have you heard this before—were unable to recreate the problem and asked for screen shots.
I sent them two.
They replied with an explanation that belied their earlier subterfuge. Apparently, they do (sometimes) put nine ads on free sites—and I suspect they knew that when they directed me into a DM thread.
My one-liner is the highlighted part of my final reply.
I understand the necessity for being ad-supported. However, my original comment remains valid. This much advertising is way too much. I only want to get past it. I never look at these ads, unless I click on them by accident. You look at providing a free service to the blogger, as if it’s a one-way street. In fact. People are coming to the page to see the content created by that blogger. They certainly aren’t coming to see your ads.
My tweet had a couple minor typos—when do they not—which I corrected above. The original is in the slide show. I’ve received no further response, other than several likes of my original tweet.
This post is part of Linda G. Hill’s fun weekly series One-Liner Wednesday. If you have a one-liner, or if you would like to join in on the fun, you can follow this link to participate and to see the one-liners from the other participants.
All five of my current books are now available in audio book form thanks to Amazon KDP’s Virtual Voice process. The voice is AI generated, but I can honestly say, it’s pretty darn good. The audio books are reasonably priced (all below $7 US) and, if you already own the Kindle version and want to add an audio version, you can do that for $1.99. There is a five-minute sample on the book page for each book. If you’re interested, click on any of the Dreamer’s Alliance book links below the image or on the link below for my latest book.
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