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From artstechnia.com

Did you know that blocking ads truly hurts the websites you visit?

There is an oft-stated misconception that if a user never clicks on ads, then blocking them won’t hurt a site financially. This is wrong. Most sites, at least sites the size of ours, are paid on a per view basis. If you have an ad blocker running, and you load 10 pages on the site, you consume resources from us (bandwidth being only one of them), but provide us with no revenue. Because we are a technology site, we have a very large base of ad blockers. Imagine running a restaurant where 40% of the people who came and ate didn’t pay. In a way, that’s what ad blocking is doing to us. Just like a restaurant, we have to pay to staff, we have to pay for resources, and we have to pay when people consume those resources. The difference, of course, is that our visitors don’t pay us directly but indirectly by viewing advertising.

The argument is simple: blocking ads can be devastating to the sites you love. I am not making an argument that blocking ads is a form of stealing, or is immoral, or unethical, or makes someone the son of the devil. It can result in people losing their jobs, it can result in less content on any given site, and it definitely can affect the quality of content. It can also put sites into a real advertising death spin. As ad revenues go down, many sites are lured into running advertising of a truly questionable nature. We’ve all seen it happen. I am very proud of the fact that we routinely talk to you guys in our feedback forum about the quality of our ads. I have proven over 12 years that we will fight on the behalf of readers whenever we can. Does that mean that there are the occasional intrusive ads, expanding this way and that? Yes, sometimes we have to accept those ads. But any of you reading this site for any significant period of time know that these are few and far between. We turn down offers every month for advertising like that out of respect for you guys. We simply ask that you return the favor and not block ads.

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I admit, I’m guilty of this. I just never gave it much thought.  I read that an ad blocker would get rid of those annoying ads, so I installed one and merrily went on my way. 

I get revenue from ads and I get content from other sites where I block ads.  I feel bad about this.  So, I’m changing the way I approach this. In the future I will allow ads from sites that I visit unless they have the really annoying ads that constantly pop up over the content or play audio automatically.  Heck, I might even wait and see if that’s too annoying.

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Three of us finally connected. (L to R – Gary, Me and Infidel)  I was inside waiting for them and they were outside waiting for me.  (Why wait outside when I could be inside drinking beer and seeing the ‘sights’ – DUH!.)  I had Gary’s phone number, but I had left it in my hotel room, so I left Hooters and went to my room (nearby) and found the number (after some trouble) and called Gary.  He said they were outside waiting for me.  Here all along I thought I was “Stood Up” and was planning that as the title for this post.  Anyway, we finally connected and enjoyed a nice talk for about an hour and a half.  LOL – Infi had to put his shades on for the pictures. 

 And here’s another with a waitress I didn’t get her name, but I think Infi got her number. You can click to enlarge it if you want.

Both really nice gentlemen.  It was a pleasure to meet them.  They both are planning to attend the BABBQ in September.

Thanks to Gary’s wife Arina (I think that was her name) for letting him come tonight.  It was his first visit to a Hooters.  It was Infi’s first visit – today.

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I hope the rest of you are enjoying the wittiness of Scott’s cracks… wisecracks that is, as much as I am.  He adds a lot to this site.  I especially enjoy it when he gets on a roll with a particular ‘theme’.  I enjoy everyones cleverness, but Scott goes above and beyond.

Thank you Scott and keep up the good work!

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I’ve been thinking about making a post about the spam comments I receive here on B&P.  I’d say I get a couple hundred a day.  The WordPress plugin I use catches probably 98% of it and puts it into a spam folder.  I go through it (quick scan it anyway) a few times a day just to make sure a real comment doesn’t get tossed in there by mistake.  That does happen, but maybe one a day, if that.  I think I catch most of them.  But on occasion a real comment might fall through the cracks and be lost forever.

The most annoying spam comments to me are the ones that go on and on… several screens for one comment.  Those are always just long lists of links, some not even linked up (just a list of words, a few of which are linked).

I know there’s not much more I can do to stop them, so I’m thankful for the spam filtering I have.  Below are some examples of some of the spam I’ve gotten the last two days.  I didn’t even list any for porn ads which I’m sure everyone gets.

Hi I reach this site by mistake when i was searching yahoo for this windows issue, I have to    [nothing else there] Looks like windows took care of that!

on a post about crocodiles: Fine blog. I got a lot of effective data. I’ve been following this technology for awhile. It’s fascinating how it keeps shifting, yet some of the core components stay the same. Have you seen much change since Google made their latest acquisition in the domain?  Google crocodile technology does keep changing.

Very nice site! cheap cialis  [Link removed]  Is it legal to use the words cheap and Cialis in the same sentence?  Now there’s an oxymoron.

I get hundreds (maybe thousands) of these: I can not agree with you in 100% regarding some thoughts, but you got good point of view. [Majority of those on funny picture posts.]   I CAN agree with you on that!

Hello, it looks like your site is up and coming in the         In the what?  Don’t stop now!

Hey, This is a awesome string. I found you on msn. Keep up the work.  String? Some people are easily entertained. Here, play with this cigarette butt I found.

Please also start a writing contest for bloggers with big prizes. It can become hugely popular: perhaps the most popular writing competition in the world if you plan it well.  I’ll get right on that.

I am searching for some info about spare parts and I’ve just found your site! A good read which I thought to be of value. I look forward to allow myself the opportunity to take in more.  Spare parts?  I guess it’s logical you’d look on Bits & Pieces for spare parts.

Cool post! How much stuff did you have to look up in order to write this one? I can tell you put some work in.  In truth, Gus does all the hard work.  I just cut and paste.

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