10 Feb 2016

How to lose 20% of your readers in one day

I was reading "How WIRED Is Going to Handle Ad Blocking" article and didn't know if I should laugh or cry. Here are some excerpts:

On an average day, more than 20 percent of the traffic to WIRED.com comes from a reader who is blocking our ads. We know that you come to our site primarily to read our content

Translation: we know that more than 20% of our users hate our irrelevant ads covering half the page. Fucking freeloaders, we can't make a penny out of them!

We know that there are many reasons for running an ad blocker, from simply wanting a faster, cleaner browsing experience to concerns about security and tracking software.

Translation: we know that ads can be obnoxious and sometimes distribute malware. Hell, big companies like Forbes distributed malware twice last year. We don't care, as long as we get paid.

So, in the coming weeks, we will restrict access to articles on WIRED.com if you are using an ad blocker. There will be two easy options to access that content.

Translation: WIRED just gave a middle finger to 20% of its users. What a great idea!


EDIT: lots of companies seem to be reacting to WIRED's move in one way or another. For comparison, here's the comment by Stack Overflow advertising managers. Now, that's an attitude that actually makes sense!