Internet

Internet - Blogging

pseudoexpert.com now has no advertising. I am trying this as an experiment, and hopefully it will work out. It shouldn't be too much of a stretch for this site, as it is my personal blog and not making wheelbarrows full of cash in the first place. Ideally, I would like it to work to the point that I can implement it on my other web sites.

While I personally have no problems with internet advertising, recognizing it as the price I have to pay for the content I enjoy, I appreciate that people HATE ads, to the point where they run ad blocking extensions for their web browsers and will flame you into oblivion should you suggest there is something wrong with doing so. This is all a different argument, and we've discussed it to death already. This is me seeing if there is a way for me to generate a little bit of revenue without shoving ads that may not be wanted down my readers' throats.

I have implemented the above tip jar half banner that appears after the comments section of each content piece and on category pages. It is not on the front page, nor does it appear on the section pages. This is the least intrusive way I can think of to ask people who find my content of value to leave a tip via PayPal. I am taking the advice of those who disagreed with my position on internet advertising and trying to find an alternative means to monetize this site. Whether you use the tip jar or not, I would welcome your comments on the subject. Tell me what you think.

Updated 17Dec2009:

MONETIZATION FAIL

I'm willing to give anything a go, but frankly not monetizing your site with ads is dumb.  All you ad blockers didn't utilize the tip jar, so now you can all go back to blocking my Adsense units. Merry Christmas.

Internet - Social Networking

Tweetdeck just so destroys the rest of the integrated social networking clients that I've kind of quit looking at the competition. That and being an AIR app I can have the same interface whether I'm using my Mac or my Ubuntu laptop. I really like Mixero, but there hasn't been much movement there for a while, and it was still lacking Facebook support.

Today Mixero released version 0.52, which added support for Twitter lists and Facebook. I still haven't played with it too much because I wanted to write this while it was fresh news, but so far the Facebook support looks good. It doesn't look like YouTube links are supported at this early stage, but I'm sure the guys at Mixero will be sorting all the Facebook functionality out as they go now that they've rolled it into their client.

Tweetdeck and Seesmic pretty much dominate the integrated client market at this time, and I don't see any of the other clients doing anything to change people's minds. Mixero could be the one player that attracts users away from other clients once it has become more mature. They take a different approach than the other clients, and the avatar mode is a nice idea that others only implement clumsily with hidden modes and HUD popups on your desktop on update. If you haven't tried Mixero yet go check it out. It's a nice client with a different approach, and it warrants keeping an eye on.

Internet - Web design

I am a little obsessive when it comes to good markup. I guess it's a laudable goal, to produce markup that should render exactly the same provided you are using a standards compliant web browser. The fact of the matter is that in my case it's probably equal parts that and obsessive compulsive behavior that motivates me.

I was excited when I first read about the HTML 5 specification, and this blog is valid HTML 5. Writing for HTML 5 is very much like writing strict markup, which means you will spend a lot of time hunting down offending entries as the spec is more demanding in your adherence to good practices. What I really liked about HTML 5 at first glance was the ability to deliver audio and video content that was not dependent on some third party browser plugin. Not every user has control over whether or not they can install a plugin on the machine they are using, but if their browser is HTML 5 compliant then that will no longer matter. It's a chance for web developers to make sure all their users can enjoy the rich content they want to embed in their pages.

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Internet - Blogging

A couple of weeks ago I wrote an article for Connected Internet. This particular article used a provocative title and opening paragraph, because I wanted people to read it. The article asked if it was time to start blocking Firefox users due to ad blocking extensions, and equated ad blocking to theft. Actually, if you read the article it's pretty clear that's not the message, which is actually a discussion of ad blocking from a web publisher's perspective.

However, people being people, within a short time there was quite a negative backlash against the article. This included a pretty lopsided bashing in the comments section of the article. I also received a mention from the Electronic Freedom Foundation, a Washington lobby of lawyers who defend criminal activity on the internet digital freedom. This was followed by a condescending article on Tech Dirt. Finally the bow was tied with CNN's SciTech Blog quoting me directly.

While some people would have been happy to get their 15 minutes of fame, I wasn't. I found it a little embarassing actually. It was not my intention to create such a violent reaction, I just wanted people to consider that all of the internet content they enjoy comes with a price. To my mind the people who were not willing to support the content they enjoyed by enduring the ads that made that content possible either didn't understand that those ads are what makes the whole endeavor of web publishing possible, or they are bunch of selfish individuals who value their comfort more than they value their social conscience. I guess they are entitled to that disposition; they certainly appear to feel that they're entitled to everything else.

I feel the same way now about the topic as I did when I wrote the article. I am not above being wrong, and when proven to be so I will quickly fall on my sword. In this instance I am merely disappointed that so many people lack both social conscience and the ability to reasonably discuss a topic they disagree with your position on. I thought we had risen above the old days of the usenet flamewars, but I guess people still use their anonymity on the web to act as badly as they ever have.