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"As a reminder of your support, you’ll see a thank you message - often accompanied by a pixel pattern - where you might normally see an ad." Why not remove the

by sigmar 12y ago

"As a reminder of your support, you’ll see a thank you message - often accompanied by a pixel pattern - where you might normally see an ad." Why not remove the frame entirely for participants? Since each website has to opt-in to this, I can't see why they wouldn't be able to remove ads "transparently" (ie without the user ever knowing they were there)

JoshTriplett 12y ago
Don't underestimate the psychological value of reminding people that they've done something they want to feel good about. As long as it doesn't add to page load time, a reminder saying "thanks for donating to support this page via Google Contributor" in place of an ad helps keep this program in people's minds, keep them willing to pay, and help them think about it at some time other than when they see the cost charged.
- TeMPOraL 12y ago
  Indeed. It's a little thing, but even a small icon at the top of the page that tells me "I'm supporting this site with cash, I'm awesome", would be a small self-esteem boost; a reminder that I do reward the author whose content I benefit from, and a nice feeling that he's getting my money directly. Just keep it unobtrusive. Come to think of it, where I'd really like to have it is the browser - say right there in the address bar, next to the RSS button (please, please bring it back!). This way it will be unobtrusive, in a consistent place, and won't interfere with the page layout. Win-win for everyone.
derefr 12y ago
Presumably because the specifically-sized iframe might be part of the site's design, and Google doesn't want to muck with it if the site designer might have been too lazy to foresee the problem (because Google would be the one getting blamed.) They could obviously tell the site the ad should disappear with a JS event or somesuch, though, at which point the DOM can rewire itself.
mattnewton 12y ago
It might be for technical simplicity: this method requires no more work from the site designers, who are often contractors or otherwise expensive, and off the top of my head I don't know how they could do this kind of disabling on the client side without allowing someone to make a plugin that tricks the site into thinking it is in addless mode.
bluthru 12y ago
The pattern is what worries me most. It should be understated and transparent. More visual noise seems like a distraction.

by sigmar 12y ago

JoshTriplett 12y ago

Don't underestimate the psychological value of reminding people that they've done something they want to feel good about. As long as it doesn't add to page load time, a reminder saying "thanks for donating to support this page via Google Contributor" in place of an ad helps keep this program in people's minds, keep them willing to pay, and help them think about it at some time other than when they see the cost charged.

TeMPOraL 12y ago
Indeed. It's a little thing, but even a small icon at the top of the page that tells me "I'm supporting this site with cash, I'm awesome", would be a small self-esteem boost; a reminder that I do reward the author whose content I benefit from, and a nice feeling that he's getting my money directly. Just keep it unobtrusive. Come to think of it, where I'd really like to have it is the browser - say right there in the address bar, next to the RSS button (please, please bring it back!). This way it will be unobtrusive, in a consistent place, and won't interfere with the page layout. Win-win for everyone.

derefr 12y ago

Presumably because the specifically-sized iframe might be part of the site's design, and Google doesn't want to muck with it if the site designer might have been too lazy to foresee the problem (because Google would be the one getting blamed.) They could obviously tell the site the ad should disappear with a JS event or somesuch, though, at which point the DOM can rewire itself.

mattnewton 12y ago

It might be for technical simplicity: this method requires no more work from the site designers, who are often contractors or otherwise expensive, and off the top of my head I don't know how they could do this kind of disabling on the client side without allowing someone to make a plugin that tricks the site into thinking it is in addless mode.

bluthru 12y ago

The pattern is what worries me most. It should be understated and transparent. More visual noise seems like a distraction.