We are considering getting rid of advertising, much to the fanfare of many readers. Unlike the favorite meme of the left that we are in the employ of “big oil” the reality is that we aren’t, never have been, and never will be. WUWT’s “big oil” donations are about as real and valuable as these carbon credit certificates.
We don’t get that much from advertising, and lately it seems like it has become too intrusive, and slows down the site. In actuality, our ad partner is serving more ads than ever before for even less returns. It’s seemingly the law of diminishing returns in action.
If we do eliminate the advertising, we would be moving to a donation support model and will be encouraging donations more regularly. Some of you have already setup monthly donations, and for that we are very grateful.
Of course both Charles and I are curious how our audience will respond so we set up these two polls to help in our strategic planning.
Thanks again for all the great support we receive, both in emails and comments, and of course for your generous financial contributions as well.
Anthony Watts, Charles Rotter
Anthony,et al:. Fine idea to go with donation only…suggest you somehow “tag” those that periodically donate…I would be happy to poney up a extra donation now and again when your budget is stretched.
Note that I was going to make a donation right now…but on my android phone, and no obvious donate button…will do once I am back on my PC. Should be a quick mobile platform edit.
Also, would prefer to have a choice other than PayPal….or even a physical address to send a check or info to make a electronic transfer…eft.
Perhaps consider posting a monthly budget target with a donation progress bar…then if you want to increase…provide a bit of an explanation…and the new target.
I have to believe wuwt has enough support to fund any reasonable budget.
Regards
Ethan Brand
“Also, would prefer to have a choice other than PayPal….or even a physical address to send a check or info to make a electronic transfer…eft.”
Me, too. I still write checks.
I made my donation for this year ($500). I don’t like monthly installments, maybe it’s because I’m older and just don’t like things that resemble bills.
I won’t necessarily donate monthly, but I will on a regular basis. Thanks to Anthony, Charles and all the contributors to postings at this website. I have learned quite a bit about climate and energy issues.
I would be happy to see those ads go because their headlines/bylines are (in my opinion) an insult to one’s intelligence. They treat you as though you have the IQ of a child or teenager. I would gladly be a regular contributor to see them go.
“They treat you as though you have the IQ of a child or teenager.”
Or an alarmist.
I shouldn’t have said that! 🙂
To me, this is like a magazine subscription, I’d donate $25.00 a year to keep it going.
The donate button did show up, but in an unexpected place. Make it obvious at the top of the home page.
Best
Ethan
Use both methods and you will get a better response, also if you supply a bank a/c deposit number as well its much easier from my end and I find it less intrusive. Each month I do my bill payments and if I have your a/c number in front of me its easy to add a donation without providing too much of my personal info.
Linux Mint – Free – gives a 10y old laptop the performance of a 1y old laptop – zero bloat
Brave – Free linux browser – no tracking and very fast and zero popup ads unless you opt in for their ad program (for rewards)
LibreOffice – Free MS Office equivalent suite of products – fast, efficient
No more BSOD or annoying ‘strokes’ that windows frequently suffers from
If WUWT goes donations then a one time is preferable
I’ve commented here a few of times over the last decade+ that I’ve been aware of this site, so I am probably more representative of lurkers than an active participant. I use an RSS feed that updates daily, so most of the time all I look at are headlines.
I don’t actually click through an article that often. It’s become clear to me that AGW is a post-scientific topic, and no amount of evidence will sway the True Believers. I do very much appreciate that there are other topics covered on WUWT, and if I look at the things I’ve archived in the RSS feed, almost none of them over the last year or so relate to AGW (nor to the COVID panic).
All that rambling aside, I am one of the many who use an ad blocker. I’ve had too many bad experiences with malicious ads served on sites that I frequent to leave that attack vector open. I’d be willing to participate in a monthly or annual rate, but, to be honest, even $10/month is more than I can justify for the time I spend on WUWT.
Since that’s not a helpful answer – at the level I participate with WUWT, I would be willing to contribute $25/year as a “Lurker Level” member. Maybe I don’t get to participate in the debates in the comments section, but at least I’m not entirely a freeloader.
I’m with you.
These ads don’t pop up or interject themselves into posts. They aren’t intrusive. I say, leave them.
It isn’t so much the intrusiveness (though the ads that pin themselves to the bottom are somewhat intrusive), it’s the NSFW content of the some of the ads that’s the biggest problem with them, IMHO (see the ad image posted by another user further up the thread for an example of what I’m talking about)
.
Unfortunately, I never get those sort of images 🙁
I don’t have a problem with adverts but they should be ideally ghettoed in a limited area of the screen and should not delay page loading by more than about 20%. Modern adverts become ever more intrusive. A good example is how TV sound volume ratchets up during the advert break. Targeted adverts are actually good. The thing that really annoys me is page loading delays due to pages waiting on advertising content. Finally when the content arrives it’s often not even customized, So one wonders – if it’s just standard advert content why weren’t they caching it better. All-in-all, the most annoying jerks seem to get jobs in advertising and delight in making the user experience ever more miserable.
Funny thing you mention the sound level of TV ads. The other week I was watching a show on Tubi on my Roku and noticed that the ads were actually noticeably quieter than the show I was watching. Not sure if it was Tubi or Roku that was responsible (or just that the show was particularly louder than normal) but it had me thinking “why can’t ads always be like that!”
While I have donated to some of the special causes here in the past, I was really hoping for a Professional version of WUWT, that had exclusive content not available to a ‘free’ version of WUWT. I think it would be a big hit, and I would especially subscribe to something like that, maybe paying $250 a year for a professional subscription.
That way, maybe Griff and the other trolls would have to pay to join, or they would only be able to access the free version of WUWT. That could run in parallel with some of the pro content, but the professional version would perhaps have much more content and perhaps layman courses in specific related climate subjects by educated authors. Or ask an expert a question, and everyone on the pro site gets access to the answer. I have 1001 questions.
Considering what I have learned here the many years I have been hanging around, the best thing I have learnt is critical thinking. And to practise my writing skills. I have to admit that much of my life I was influenced by many sources that I know now to be corrupted, because I hadn’t honed my critical thinking skills. That is probably the most important thing I have learned here, so I will continue to donate from time to time. But I also see so much more opportunity for WUWT to offer some type of professional version that would bring enough funding to continue a free site without advertising for the masses.
A professional version would be a bubble.
Try the intellectual agility of academia if you want that.
No way that I would get in. Because I am not from the prevailing political paradigm of the site.
This site isn’t like the typical lefty sites you’re use to. Unlike those sites, there’s no “cancelling” people for their political views going on here. You’d get in, politically you’d be in the minority, but you’d have no problems getting in.
I wasn’t even aware that there were ads on WUWT. Apparently using Firefox lets me avoid them. As I continue to learn a lot from the site, it’s definitely worth paying a subscription fee in the future. I just remitted $120 to compensate for lost ad revenues in the past.
Keep it free and open to all !!!
If you need more revenue try a having a Patron Membership. I would join for a reasonable annual fee. Say $200. I don’t see any ads on this page. And when I do see them, they are relatively unobtrusive.
even Patreon is removing certain sites /blogs etc that arent pc enough for the few moaners
Patreon gives in to cancel culture. Even if WUWT manages to have a Patreon account, I doubt it would be long before Patreon cancelled them. Best to avoid Patreon.
If I don’t want ads like in news sites, I use BRAVE browser.
First and probably last posting.
The current version of Malwarebytes kills most advertising. I read WUWT every day and I never see any ads here.
I’d be willing to give 50 notes a year ,once ayear ,pp is ok for me ,also keep in mind pp can if pushed close down payments to individuals and organisations. I don’t contribute much but I sure learn a lot. I see the adds , but if the content of what I’m reading is interesting there not a problem.
On the ads, I had to switch browsers on my iMac to only viewing WUWT using Firefox, with Firefox set to “strict” privacy and blocking all pop-up preferences settings to stop all the pop-up ads on WUWT. Using Apple’s Safari browser to view WUWT even with all the settings I could lock down and restrict, I could not block all the popup Ads and especially the annoying one at the bottom of the screen that usually covered content. I would click it away and then it kept coming back. Since I went using on Firefox and “strict” setting and block popups, the ads that can make it through are just a few at the side bar.
There is a huige advantage to using two separate browsers in this way since I use G-mail (logged in with my gmail credentials) and watch some Youtube vids occasionally. It means Google can’t ad track me across browsers since I don’t log into Gmail or Youtube on the Firefox browsers, I remain an anonymous visitor anywhere I browse using Firefox. When I’m on Safari, any site I visit Google can track me since that is where my G-mail and Youtube log-in resides with those tracking cookies.
As for sending you money once a year, yeah probably okay. I know there are many many visitors here who would not risk their anonymity by making a donation via credit card, paypal, etc. So I’m not sure that (pay to play) would work for you Anthony and Chrles with the time you have to spend on the moderation and upkeep.
“I know there are many many visitors here who would not risk their anonymity by making a donation via credit card, paypal, etc. So I’m not sure that (pay to play) would work for you”
Well, if Anthony will provide an address, I would be happy to send cash as long as Anthony would verify that he received it via email. I would probably prefer doing it that way.
Go with $5 a month for ad free. You would be surprised by how many would. Perhaps an added incentive would be only people who are members can comment. Perhaps a $20 a month for some other benefit, like a gold name plate in comments.
I am just a permanent Lurker that likes to read people sometimes much smarter than me argue about things I can only begin to grasp. I just like to look at all the pretty graphs.
With that Being Said I would be more than happy to occasionally put a few bucks into a pot if it helps
Would be One-time only every few months.
I miss the Israeli tourism ads, with that spectacular woman model…it made me want to visit Israel, though my wife could never see the attraction.
The other ads, with the horrific photos that are somehow supposed to be clickbait, I could absolutely do without. I experimented with various adblockers and photoblockers on this site, just so I wouldn’t get physically sick at the sight of toenail fungus, or some other such disgusting thing. Nothing worked satisfactorily. But I’m Jake with a subscription on this site. Not on most other sites, but this one, definitely.
Download and use Firefox browser for this site and this site only. Set the Privacy restrictions to “Strict” and also check “block pop-ups” and you won’t see that stuff. Use your other browser for other websites where you have user logins like email etc.
Opera ( the fastest browser-in-the-West ) blocks everything you tell it to do and remembers set-up exceptions for individual websites if you choose to do so.
Yeah, I had to stop using Safari because it would hang all the time on here, but not a bunch of news sites I frequent. With Firefox it runs smoothly, and I don’t have the strict privacy setting set, yet.
The apparent “default” ads (when there’s no browser history to use) seem to be the most disgusting things they can provide. I’m a supporter of websites making money, even if via ads – it takes effort to maintain something like this. But the toenail fungus, poop ads, and huge globs of earwax are what prompted me to install an ad blocker.
I have made donations to specific projects here but not regular contributions.
The ads don’t bother me as I run the extension from adnauseam.io so it clicks on everything but ditches the responses.
I’m already donating $5/month, and support multiple sites/YouTube channels; seems to be a sustainable model
Expressing an opinion is part of the package, in my estimation
At 55 I learn new things every day, because I know what I don’t know (a lot) which is the problem with people like Griff.
Everything is the biggest word in the English language, by definition if you know everything you cannot learn anything new.
An abject lesson for all.
I used to think AGW was settled science.
Then I learned, much of it primarily here.
So I would donate.
But I now use an adblocker on chrome and no longer have issues with ads
I was on a donation based web site for a while and saw the good and the bad. The good was it allowed periodic automatic donations and one time donations. This allowed the member to contribute when and how they wanted to.
The bad was part of the donations weren’t reported and the expenses/needs were a complete mystery. It was especially bad for that site because the owner was living off the money and people had no ideal if they were funding a lavish lifestyle or if ends were barely meeting. I knew most of the time the owner had a pretty lean life but unfortunately she would post picture along with descriptions that suggested otherwise. Honest accounting so people know how their money is spent will encourage donations. This site is more trusted that that site but there may still be some that are unsure how their money will be used.
Whatever amount is chosen, I think there should be pro-rated options: annual, semi-annual, quarterly or monthly pay options. Example: if the donation is set at $100 annually, it would be $55 semi-annually, $30 per quarter and $12 monthly.
“Whatever amount is chosen”
The amount should be voluntary. Each person should give as they are able.
Yes, real socialism. Give what you can, take what you need. Fine, except when the entity providing what you take can no longer sustain itself because too many people do not give what they can. Then everyone loses.
Maybe a couple of “standard” options/suggestions and a “other” option. i.e. $5/month, $10/month, “other”.