jasonclarke.org - Latest Comments

Re: Why the gdgt+AOL union is a rallying cry for the WordPress community

John Saddington — Thu, 14 Feb 2013 13:05:16 -0000

great thoughts - and already great conversation.

Re: Why the Bangor Daily News “ad frame” is bad for you, and what to do about it

Marshall Kirkpatrick — Thu, 24 Mar 2011 03:21:51 -0000

Exponentially! The editor said his publication's traffic is growing exponentially! With that kind of growth, you'd think they'd be *printing money* just with standard ads on site! ;)

Re: Why the Bangor Daily News “ad frame” is bad for you, and what to do about it

Casey Chapple — Thu, 20 Jan 2011 07:04:27 -0000

Jason, of course you are correct. Your answer to William Davis said all that needed to be said, except this: I spent years in Maine and believe it's one of the best places on earth. But, by definition, it's provincial and slow to catch on to evolved ways of doing things. It's nice to think Maine should stay this way, but in this particular case, it's important that the BDN bow to their grownup brethren and abandon this sleazy practice. What would happen, I wonder, if the New York Times tried to do something like this? I think law suits would be popping up within days.

Yes, it's true that most readers don't care enough about how their web pages are delivered to them to take action against these practices. This apathy may be enhanced in Maine, which may be a cheerful thought to Mr. Davis. "These rubes won't know the difference." So it is left to people like you, Jason, to point out the depravity of this behavior. These people, who no doubt call themselves "journalists", are supposed to be community leaders and role models. The last thing they should be doing is using cheap tricks pulled from a bag of exploitative trash no self-respecting publisher would touch.

So your tiny revolution got mentioned in Romenesko today. That's how I got here. Perhaps it is the beginning of the end of Mr. Davis' resorting to such devices to pay his way. If so, you should be proud and mindful that you've contributed admirably to Maine's estimable stash of soulfulness. In advance, confidently, I congratulate you.

Re: Why the Bangor Daily News “ad frame” is bad for you, and what to do about it

Jason — Tue, 18 Jan 2011 16:26:02 -0000

Hi William,

Thanks for taking the time to offer your perspective. While I appreciate your willingness to be transparent about this issue, I'm pretty surprised at some of the claims you're putting forth.

First off, you focus your defense on ads themselves- since that seems like a distraction from my main point, I'll be crystal clear: I'm not opposed to the Bangor Daily News running ads on the site; far from it. However, it is explicitly unethical when you place those ads on a non-removable iframe over *other people's content*. That, unlike @SunJournal's opinion, is *not* how the internet works, and if it were, the whole lot of it would be a wasteland of pop-unders, text overlays, and other crud. And if your answer to avoiding the threat of a paywall really is a non-removable ad frame, it seems that you're skipping over the wide variety of creative- most of them above-the-board- approaches to growing newsroom revenues that are being tried by organizations all over the world (including some college papers, weeklies, and others).

Let's take a look at your next two claims. You write that "others see [the ad frame] as a positive", which seems baseless and pretty unlikely. As for your claim that "you usually don't expect it to leave the site", it sounds like you're blurring the line for your visitors between navigation points (which visitors expect to keep them on the site) and outlinks, which visitors explicitly do think of as taking them out to another site. There is generally an obvious difference in both design and context for those two types of links, and even basic internet users learn the difference after just a short time on the web.

Finally, in reference to the publishers who are having their sites trapped within your ad frame without their consent, I am frankly highly suspicious of your claim that you "ask most of them first." The notion that you hold up an article from being posted so you can personally email places like Down East magazine and Forbes.com to get their permission before linking to them seems difficult in terms of your deadlines and other constraints. Even if that were true, it only shows that you know your ad frame is questionable- otherwise, why bother to ask first?

I can appreciate your struggle to balance revenue and pageviews with the interests of your readers- but more often than not, if you align those interests you will be better poised for success on both fronts.

Re: Why the Bangor Daily News “ad frame” is bad for you, and what to do about it

William P. Davis, online edito — Tue, 18 Jan 2011 04:25:05 -0000

Jason,
I don't think many people have been deterred. I haven't heard from anyone else — and our readers are very vocal — and despite the bar our traffic continues to grow exponentially.

I'm not saying an iframe is going to save the industry — there are many variables to the solution, and ad revenue is only one of them. But it is one of them.

Re: Why the Bangor Daily News “ad frame” is bad for you, and what to do about it

Jason — Tue, 18 Jan 2011 03:37:01 -0000

Dan, thanks for writing. While you're making disclosures, I'd also add that you and Will are both co-founders (your own words) of an online newspaper, MaineObserver.net. I'd count that as a far more relevant disclosure than you stringing for the BDN during college.

I'm truly sorry to hear both you and Will- ostensibly the next generation behind the Slates, Salons, and blogs from my era- espousing the notion that the last great idea out there to save web journalism is for one publisher to force its own adverts over other people's content in a non-removable iframe. I mean really, is that all there is?! As for your comment that "if a bunch of people dislike" tricks that newspapers try to pull to force readers to stick around their sites-- I'm sure you already know that is exactly what *is* happening all across the web, in greater numbers each year. I look forward to people like you and Will working harder to change that for the betterment of newspapers- and the public they serve.

Re: Why the Bangor Daily News “ad frame” is bad for you, and what to do about it

Dan MacLeod — Tue, 18 Jan 2011 01:27:15 -0000

(Disclosure: I used to string for the BDN and I was an intern there the summer of 2009.)

Good points, but I'm with Will on this one. While the bar is kind of tricky and somewhat inelegant, I don't see it as being unethical. They're still driving traffic to other sites — they've just found a way to monetize outbound links. As Will said, beyond charging users for content, there aren't a whole lot of options.

Their idea drove you to find an innovative way to get around the bar. If a bunch of people dislike it, they'll get their news elsewhere and the BDN will be forced to find a new solution to fund the kind of journalism no one else can afford to do. That's the Internet.

— Dan

Re: Why the Bangor Daily News “ad frame” is bad for you, and what to do about it

William P. Davis, online edito — Mon, 17 Jan 2011 23:50:37 -0000

Jason,
Thanks for your comments.

I can tell you that, as a journalist, we don't necessarily love ads. But I can also tell you it's not cheap to maintain and build the most popular site in the state. It's even more expensive to actually populate that site with content — the BDN employees more than 50 full-time journalists. It's more than 'a few extra cents,' it's the logical solution to avoid putting all our content behind a paywall — which I think would be pretty unpopular. While ads are sometimes annoying and unsightly, they allow you to get the news you and millions of others in and out of the state want without actually having to pay for it.

While you see the frame as degrading your viewing experience, others see it as a positive — when you click a link, you usually don't expect to leave that site.

I'll add that you are the only person to complain to us about these ads, including those we link to. We ask most of them first, and you should remember that it benefits their bottom line as well.

The bar will certainly evolve over time, but for now it will probably stay as-is.

Re: Moorelies.com is back!

someofthem — Sat, 09 Oct 2010 12:13:54 -0000

Just try and register at MM's to leave a comment - doesn't work. I guess I'm supposed to think it is just me, but moore likely Moore doesn't really want to receive contradicting FACTS.

Re: Moorelies.com is back!

RuinGarcia — Mon, 21 Dec 2009 16:14:03 -0000

Hi, Jason... here's Juan sin Miedo again. I bet you sure remember me from the good old days at Moorelies.com.

Yes!

The "twisted reddish devil".

I have recently read rumours about Moorelies.com being back, but I haven't been able to contrast that point yet. I guess that it's more than probable since you made a big cash out of your first try to ruin Moore's reputation.

Be sure that you'll find me in whatever blogs you may start. I'll be very, very pleased to comment against all of the rageous conservative dogs that gather your website.

Yours,

truly

the lib bitch

Re: 2008 movies of the year

Jason — Thu, 19 Feb 2009 02:14:00 -0000

We took Henry to Space Chimps! I'm not surprised you rate S.M. higher than Pineapple - that was a tough call for me.

Re: 2008 movies of the year

Ben — Wed, 18 Feb 2009 21:43:52 -0000

That's kind of crazy that you only saw 18 new movies, but I probably saw about the same, or less. I could only think of like 3 or 4 new movies I saw in the theater.

I too liked Burn After Reading. I also liked (in order):
Milk, Slumdog Millionaire, Dark Knight, Man on a Wire, Benjamin Button.

I like Sarah Marshall more than Pineapple Express and Hamlet 2 more than both of those :-)

PS what possesses one to watch Space Chimps. That's like when I rented The Stupids starring Tom Arnold. You did that one to yourself.

Re: 2008 movies of the year

timothy allen brown — Thu, 22 Jan 2009 01:50:11 -0000

i really liked burn after reading, i guess that'd be my favorite. i haven't really looked at any lists or thought about it...b/c i usually don't see the best films of the year til june of the next year...or, as was the case with the GG's, have never heard of the acclaimed ones!

Re: Moorelies.com is back!

shaun — Sat, 03 Jan 2009 15:09:41 -0000

Hi folks, Happy New Year to you and yours have read THE book and fascinated by the self proclaimed "hero of the people" or should it be- hero of the gullible. Just if someone can clarify a point made on p200 of MMIABFSWM-

CNNs Lou Dobbs asked Moore about alleged inaccuracies in SWM, Moore replied "How can there be inaccuracy in comedy? Did Lou also make some mistakes and have to apologise? This is what an apologist for Moore claims.

Re: Untitled

timothy allen brown — Sat, 27 Sep 2008 00:37:32 -0000

"obama likes fdr, who led the country through the depression, and mccain likes teddy, who spoke at his high school graduation" ~ stephen colbert

Re: Untitled

timothy allen brown — Thu, 25 Sep 2008 23:33:22 -0000

nader's got a few years on him! :)

Re: http://jasonclarke.org/2008/09/22/apples-in-maine/

timothy allen brown — Thu, 25 Sep 2008 23:30:15 -0000

it's fall, dude. it's fall everywhere, they just don't get as lucky as we new englanders do :)

Re: Untitled

Jason — Mon, 22 Sep 2008 15:19:29 -0000

Thanks Andy and Justin for two reasonable, thoughtful comments. I appreciate you both taking the time to respond in a respectful manner. It's a bit of light in what has been a somewhat disappointing few weeks in the political landscape.

Re: Untitled

Andy Baio — Mon, 22 Sep 2008 05:21:10 -0000

Thanks for the honest critique. You're the very first person that's mentioned the ageism issue on Waxy.org, and I'm glad you did.

In hindsight, you're right. The "Things Older Than McCain" site is an unfair (though very funny) line of attack. Generalizing anyone's ability based on age alone is ridiculous. I've edited my link text to reflect this, and I won't be defending the use of ageism in this election again.

As Justin pointed out, the Daily Kos link pokes fun at McCain's well-known unfamiliarity with computers, and I'm totally comfortable with that. Likewise, I reviewed the other 11 times I've mentioned McCain, and they're all fair, based on his policies and public statements.

Thanks for the feedback! Hope to see you back after the election.

Re: Untitled

Justin — Sun, 21 Sep 2008 01:02:12 -0000

While it's pretty clear we don't agree on many aspects of politics, I will grant you that ageism and sexism has been used many times in this election, both by commentators and by the candidates themselves. And yes, while I do support the very man you can't stand, I've been trying to be fair this time around by giving both candidates a chance.

For the sake of fairness, then, I'd just like to point out a couple of things. First, the link you point to in your fourth paragraph links to a page (and a comment, at that) criticizing the technological illiteracy that McCain has admitted, not his age. If you click on the "View Story" link above the graphic, you'll see the article to which the comment was posted states that the criticism is not one of age. (I'd agree that the link in the first paragraph does unfairly criticize McCain's age, though I do believe the issue should be considered in the election.)

I also just want to note that ageism doesn't always just swing one way. In May, McCain touched upon the issue as well. But that's another story entirely, I think.

Re: RIP, Gregory McDonald

Jason — Tue, 16 Sep 2008 11:22:20 -0000

Carl,

Thanks for the link. McDonald not only captured the essence of the newspaper, he did the same with political campaigns (The Man Who), conferences (Fletch's Fortune), the power of politics (Flynn's In), and perhaps most relevant to our times, "The Buck Passes Flynn" talks about the precarious balance of our financial systems over 30 years ago. Better, so much of what McDonald wrote in the '60's, '70's, and '80's is still relevant today.

And he did it all with grace. After all, this is a guy who never once used the word "couch" when "divan" would do.

Fans may or may not take solace to know there has always been a rumor of another "Flynn" novel which for unknown reasons has not been published.

Re: RIP, Gregory McDonald

Carl Natale — Tue, 16 Sep 2008 10:13:24 -0000

Thank you for letting me know about this. Gregory McDonald is one of my favorite authors. He had a talent for dialogue. The first chapter of Fletch Won is the funniest description of the newspaper business.

I miss Fletch and his son. And Flynn. I was hoping he would make more appearances on the mystery shelves. And I always will wonder what happened to Skylar.

This news has me scrolling through my memories created by his books. It will have me going through the day with a mix of sadness and amusement.

Re: Now auto-detecting Windows Mobile devices

Tyler — Mon, 14 Jul 2008 16:58:30 -0000

Jason,

I'm very interested in learning how you've done the auto detecting for mobile devices. I've been looking for information on the matter, but have come up with nothing. If you wouldn't mind dropping me a line, I would love to hear. Thanks!

Re: http://jasonclarke.org/2008/04/10/possum-drawing/

timothy allen brown — Fri, 18 Apr 2008 23:22:31 -0000

now see, this is good stuff :)

Re: http://jasonclarke.org/2008/04/10/possum-drawing/

PAPA — Mon, 14 Apr 2008 20:32:07 -0000

HENRY STAYS IN THE LINES BETTER