Ad Block Plus Not Needed Here

This blog post has been on the tip of my tongue ever since I introduced display advertising. Here on the Tavern, I use a plugin called OIO Publisher to handle my advertising needs and it’s been the best $48.00 I’ve ever spent. In the sidebar as well as the blog header, I use a block of javascript to display the advertising zones. Unfortunately, these advertising zones are not displayed for those running Ad Block Plus in FireFox or alternate ad blocking software.

Back on May 11th, 2009 the creator of the Ad Block Plus extension proposed a change to his user base where occasionally, a new version of the software would suggest users to whitelist frequently visited sites. He has published the responses to the initial proposal in a follow up blog post along with his take on the feedback.

As an Ad Block Plus user myself, I actually wouldn’t mind a notification every now and then asking me if I’d like to whitelist a site URL since I visit it so much. I thoroughly enjoy browsing the web without having to deal with blinking ads, flashbased annoyances, etc. However, I can certainly understand the other side of the argument in that these advertisements are there to generate revenue for the site to exist.

I’ve been down that road of annoying advertising on sites so with that in mind, I am asking you to instill trust in me and whitelist WPTavern.com if you’re using Ad Block Plus or any other ad blocking software. As it stands, this site only displays images for advertising, nothing is flash based and there are no popups. I don’t plan on adding popups, popunders, flash advertising, surprise forms for you to fill out to give me your details, etc.

I am this websites advertising manager and since I have access to all the stats, I feel I can make a pretty good judgment on whether a piece of advertising will be relevant to most of the audience that visits this site.

The bottom line is, not every site on the net is filled with advertising evil, WPTavern being one of those sites. So I ask again that if you enjoy what is happening with WPTavern.com, to allow the advertisements to be displayed and hell, even check a few of them out as all of them are pretty much WordPress related. If you have any questions or concerns related to advertising, you can contact me here.