4 ms·

Reddit uses Adzerk API to improve native ad system

39 points by javery 12y ago

ddorian43 12y ago
Was the previous reddit ad system opensource like their site is ?
- arbitrage 12y ago
  Reddit is only partially open-source. Parts of the site code are kept confidential.
  - raldi 12y ago
    Unless things have changed since I worked there, pretty much the only part that's not open source is the anticheating system.
  - linuxydave 12y ago
    Only the anti-gaming system is not OSS, for obvious reasons.
mrsaint 12y ago
Hmmm, I just tried to login to Adzerk using my account that I registered back in March 2013. It doesn't work anymore. I can still enter my username/password, but nothing happens. I can even reset the password. Perhaps it's because when I signed up, ad serving was claimed to be free for up to 100 million impressions per month. That changed: http://adzerk.com/blog/2014/01/an-update-about-new-free-adzerk-accounts http://adzerk.com/blog/2014/01/an-update-about-new-free-adze... "Certainly! If you signed up for an account before January 6th 2014 and were actively serving ads, you can still serve as many impressions as you want for free up to 100 million impressions per month. However, to contact Adzerk support after your 30-day trial ends, you must purchase a support app in the Marketplace." So I guess they disabled my account because I wasn't actively serving ads? It would have been nice if I had received some kind of notification at least.
- javery 12y ago
  Correct - we disabled all the accounts that weren't active when we made the decision to focus on larger customers. We didn't notify accounts because we didn't want people trying to game the system by artificially creating impressions to keep their account open.
  - mrsaint 12y ago
    Is that how you think of your customer base? Gaming you? Aren't artificial impressions against the terms anyhow?
    - orf 12y ago
      Someone who doesn't use any services (or log in for a year) can hardly be called a customer.
    - talklittle 12y ago
      Where's this entitlement coming from? From the sound of it, your account was serving zero ads at the beginning of 2014. You were clearly not a "customer" of theirs. There's no reason for them to offer you a free 100 million impressions on a service you weren't even using.
      - mrsaint 12y ago
        Where did I speak of entitlement? I merely commented on Mr. Avery's ways of dealing with unwanted accounts - those who no longer fit into his business plan. Saying that this stealth move was done to avoid users from gaming his system is ridiculous, because gaming the system would have been against the terms to begin with, and thus subject to account cancellation. There is no reason for him not to notify existing account holders. Heck, he could have done so after the decision was made, i.e. when it would have been too late for anyone to "game" his system. It's not that Adzerk doesn't continue emailing their "Zerkers" for other matters - in November I was notified of their "new homepage with new colors and logo."
moot 12y ago
We've been using Adzerk on 4chan for the past year and it's been a Godsend. We'd previously been using our own in-house rotation that had minimal reporting because every third-party we'd used in the past either a) fell over under load, b) was extremely expensive, or c) had a restrictive ToS.
- linuxydave 12y ago
  Well shit, if Adzerk can handle the traffic loads from 4chan (out of curiosity, how many users use adblock?) then it would be perfect for some of the projects I'm working on :)
  - billmalarky 12y ago
    Adzerk also serves reddit's ads. Edit: Well this is embarrassing, I was linked here through a user profile and didn't see that this thread was about reddit & adzerk.

39 points by javery 12y ago

ddorian43 12y ago

Was the previous reddit ad system opensource like their site is ?

arbitrage 12y ago
Reddit is only partially open-source. Parts of the site code are kept confidential.
- raldi 12y ago
  Unless things have changed since I worked there, pretty much the only part that's not open source is the anticheating system.
- linuxydave 12y ago
  Only the anti-gaming system is not OSS, for obvious reasons.

mrsaint 12y ago

Hmmm, I just tried to login to Adzerk using my account that I registered back in March 2013. It doesn't work anymore. I can still enter my username/password, but nothing happens. I can even reset the password. Perhaps it's because when I signed up, ad serving was claimed to be free for up to 100 million impressions per month. That changed: http://adzerk.com/blog/2014/01/an-update-about-new-free-adzerk-accounts http://adzerk.com/blog/2014/01/an-update-about-new-free-adze... "Certainly! If you signed up for an account before January 6th 2014 and were actively serving ads, you can still serve as many impressions as you want for free up to 100 million impressions per month. However, to contact Adzerk support after your 30-day trial ends, you must purchase a support app in the Marketplace." So I guess they disabled my account because I wasn't actively serving ads? It would have been nice if I had received some kind of notification at least.

javery 12y ago
Correct - we disabled all the accounts that weren't active when we made the decision to focus on larger customers. We didn't notify accounts because we didn't want people trying to game the system by artificially creating impressions to keep their account open.
- mrsaint 12y ago
  Is that how you think of your customer base? Gaming you? Aren't artificial impressions against the terms anyhow?
  - orf 12y ago
    Someone who doesn't use any services (or log in for a year) can hardly be called a customer.
  - talklittle 12y ago
    Where's this entitlement coming from? From the sound of it, your account was serving zero ads at the beginning of 2014. You were clearly not a "customer" of theirs. There's no reason for them to offer you a free 100 million impressions on a service you weren't even using.
    - mrsaint 12y ago
      Where did I speak of entitlement? I merely commented on Mr. Avery's ways of dealing with unwanted accounts - those who no longer fit into his business plan. Saying that this stealth move was done to avoid users from gaming his system is ridiculous, because gaming the system would have been against the terms to begin with, and thus subject to account cancellation. There is no reason for him not to notify existing account holders. Heck, he could have done so after the decision was made, i.e. when it would have been too late for anyone to "game" his system. It's not that Adzerk doesn't continue emailing their "Zerkers" for other matters - in November I was notified of their "new homepage with new colors and logo."

moot 12y ago

We've been using Adzerk on 4chan for the past year and it's been a Godsend. We'd previously been using our own in-house rotation that had minimal reporting because every third-party we'd used in the past either a) fell over under load, b) was extremely expensive, or c) had a restrictive ToS.

linuxydave 12y ago
Well shit, if Adzerk can handle the traffic loads from 4chan (out of curiosity, how many users use adblock?) then it would be perfect for some of the projects I'm working on :)
- billmalarky 12y ago
  Adzerk also serves reddit's ads. Edit: Well this is embarrassing, I was linked here through a user profile and didn't see that this thread was about reddit & adzerk.