Forum:Ads and random rant

While I can understand (but not endorse) the need for Wikia to put ads in the pages, I don't think it is properly used all the time. I checked my wiki (Combine OverWiki) without ad blocker (just to think that most people browse the web without one just gives me the creeps) and as an anon, and I saw this, while it should be this. There is this ugly, blinking, red ad that I'll never click on completely messing up the page. Why? Just why?

We try to have our articles as tidy as possible, and it's completely messed up by that picture forcing the text to go below the infobox, for some obscure reason. Ads, why not, but why in so inappropriate places? Isn't above and under the article enough? What's the point in carefully building our articles with images and text put in the best places to ensure the best reading if it's messed up in the end by unrelated ugly ads? Plus, I've had complaints from several readers who were infected by trojans by clicking some ads. So added to the high level of mediocrity of the websites linked by these ads, you get complimentary viruses! Ain't that grand?

And why add "EDIT! EDIT ME! AD CONTENT TO THIS PAGE! YES! YOU! DO IT NOW! THIS PAGE NEEDS CONTENT!" everywhere, even when following a redlink to a page that shouldn't exist anyway? It's not as if every single page was in DIRE NEED of content. And suggesting to users to add an image to a particular page for which no image even exists is just also completely silly.

People who don't know Wikia and reach one of its wikis for the first time will just think about us or any other admin that we suck, that we cannot make proper layouts, that we suggest random nonsense to users, and that we impose really annoying ads that transmit viruses, while we are not responsible. I'M SICK OF ADS! Ok, rant over, let's reregister and reenable the ad blocker. I hope I won't be in trouble, but I think I'm entitled my opinion. Klow 17:58, March 9, 2010 (UTC)


 * Ads are a necessary part of Wikia. No-one particularly likes it, but Wikia couldn't possibly pay its employees or hope to turn a profit and stay up without it. Ads are how users can create wikis here for free and get free hosting; it won't be going anywhere. Sometimes, however, ads can be placed incorrectly or a dodgy one can show up - you can report (or complain about) these at Special:Contact. The 888th Avatar   (talk)  22:10, March 9, 2010 (UTC)