Yes, ads are back on YWS

Hey all,

Several years ago, I took down ads on YWS for a few reasons. One was that they simply weren't necessary for funding the site anymore. Donations covered a portion of the cost, and server / hosting costs were coming down. But secondly, Google was introducing changes to its privacy policy that raised some concerns about the privacy of users under the age of 18. In particular, it was launching personalization of ads for all users, and treating anyone 13+ as an adult.

Since then, Google has shifted course by disabling personalization of ads for users under the age of 18. It's also implemented the option of tagging a site as teen-safe, which I'm doing for YWS. This should disable personalization for all users, though I'm still in the process of figuring it all out.

But also, costs have only grown, and I want to develop YWS as a viable revenue stream, which would allow me to spend more time developing the site. I'm hoping to introduce new features as well as evolve the site into WriterFeed, but it's difficult right now to justify the amount of time needed to do that.

I understand that pretty much everyone will be annoyed by the presence of ads. Quite frankly, I always use an ad blocker myself, though I do disable it for certain sites (like YWS). But I'm hoping they're unobtrusive enough that you'll soon develop ad blindness. If any ads are particularly annoying though, or you come across an ad that seems directly targeted to you, or see an offensive ad, please let me know either in this thread or by PM.

Check your dang email!

Aet Lindling wrote:Check your dang email!

Sorry!

Oof! Definitely understand the need... any way we could have a "Pay for a "Subscriber Account" for an ad-free version?" Just an idea!

That giant bar at the top will take some getting used to... Does seem slightly more annoying on mobile than desktop at the moment.

I guess @alliyah is right that you might consider adding a payment option or even opening up donations again if that would help, even in some small way, with the maintenance of the site.

I do get an ad that is directly related to me. its an ad from the website I am supposed to buy my HS graduation cap and gown from and contains the full name of my school and state so I don't see how it couldn't be directly targeted to me unless its freakish coincidence.

Thought I would let you know as you said this isn't supposed to happen and this might help you sort out the issue.

here's a screen shot with my schools name blurred out.

I second Hkumar's idea of opening up donations again! I find that 'turn off personalisation' settings can be quite unreliable.

I also didn't think to take a picture of it but earlier, I got an ad for a politician not just in my state, but in my county >.> I'm not a minor so I don't know how much that changes things, but it did make me do a double-take.

I keep getting these ads for bikini pics of different celebrities, not sure if that counts as inappropriate but it's certainly very annoying, especially when in school



i'm also getting location specific ads, this one specifically included my town name (blurred obviously)

Lol my ads are huge. Not sure if I can develop this sort of ad blindness...

I second the opening up for donations!

I got a ad for a Canadian university, although not super targeted, it does feel its using my age and location. I agree with others regarding donations.

Location tracking at least is normal. All that's going on with that is it checks your IP address, and then delivers an ad based on your area.* But, I'll check to see why personalization is still happening as some of the examples you all shared go beyond that.

I am checking into why the mobile ad is so huge. Technically, it's supposed to be the same on mobile and desktop, but Google changed a lot of things since I last used Adsense. One of the things they changed is Google now "optimizes" ad sizes. Optimize here is short for, "make it as annoying as possible so users are more likely to see it." Obviously, ads have to be at least somewhat obtrusive, but you also don't want them to be so obtrusive that it deters people from coming back.

Donations will be opening back up soon.


* The exception to location tracking is if you're using a VPN. If you're using a VPN and still getting ads based on your area, then that's definitely an issue.

Also, thanks all for reporting the inappropriate ads. Blocked a lot, but if you see one, please report it. Based on the categories I've blocked, there should be zero, so I also reported those advertisers to Google for ToS violations.

hey, this one specific ad keeps popping up for some reason, is there any way you could block it too?

I'm also getting the weird bikini ones like @bladsassare