First of all, hello to everyone at booman. I have registered here as result of the recent spats at dailyKos and I’d like to try out an idea here on friendly turf before cross-posting.
First, from my imaginings about what must go in Markos mind: Markos doesn’t want to have to be an advertisement policeman. I can understand that he would not want to have to patrol his ads, or to set the precedent that he would do so. He probably takes a “package” of ads of some sort, and would find it somewhat difficult to pick and choose ads on a regular basis. Also, he does not want to lose the revenue generated by the ads that get placed on his site.
Second, many people, including me, find the ad in question to at least be “out of place” on the dailyKos site. Some find it downright insulting, and I tend to agree. My reaction was to ignore it and keep plowing through the meat of the diaries and comments on important topics. However, I could not help but be pulled into the fray, and I responded deep into a 500+ comment diary with the following proposal:
If Kos is happy that the ad is generating revenue and is not in the least concerned that some find it offensive, I do not agree with him. However, he is also human and deserves forgiveness if he will take the ad down and replace it with something else. If he does so, I will post a diary asking everyone to please click thru on every ad he posts to replace it. If he does not replace it – I may leave, too.
Does anyone think that this idea is worth pursuing?
In a later reply in the same thread, I said:
I do not buy the idea that successful compromise always leads to neither side being happy. I feel that this is a defeatist attitude. Compromise can sometimes lead to both sides being happier than they were before. Hence, my suggestion that if Kos took down the ad, I would spearhead a movement to make sure that his revenue from ads INCREASED. To me, this seems to be a good compromise. Those who are offended wouldn’t have to look at the ad in the sidebar, and Kos wouldn’t lose ad revenue. The proposed solution requires Kos to take the ad down, but requires those who object to it to click thru the replacement. Then we could move on without losing valuable voices in the community and Kos could continue to generate the revenue he needs to power this site. Everybody gets what they want in return for some minor inconvenience to both sides.
If we vote with our clicks at dailyKos, we might get some response. If we enrich his pocketbook by clicking on replacement ads furiously and quickly, and promise to click an ad every time we go to the site, wouldn’t that be constructive and helpful to Markos AND the community AND the website itself?
