posted on Feb, 8 2006 @ 05:02 PM
Friends, let me encourage you to just step back for a moment and observe your surroundings.
That's easy, right? You're at your computer, probably in your home, right?
Not entirely.
Via the internet, you are also in Simon Gray's place of business. Now, you might have guessed, if this is a place of business, surely some kind of
business is being transacted here, or else ATS would go belly up.
I happen to be a member of a certain editorial journalists' website in addition to ATS. I pay 5 dollars a month for it, there are only 800 posting
members, there is a 1500 character limit for posts, and the rule enforcement there is extremely strict- 2 strikes and you're banned. I will not be
renewing my monthly subscription there.
Did you have any idea how good we've got it here?
But then how is it that ATS can provide us VASTLY more service- more content from more members- and not charge us a single dime?
Your end of the transaction is INCREDIBLY light- in fact it basically works on the honor system. All you've got to do is tollerate a few ads which I
scarcely ever even notice. What's the worst that could happen- I mean the God-forbidden worst case scenario? You might see something you actually
want and find yourself spending 10 bucks?
It's not as if you've got nuclear secrets on your computer. If you're security conscious and yet choose to be on the internet it is to be assumed
that you keep your computer relatively free of sensitive information and keep adequate security in place.
Perhaps I shouldn't be so shocked, I mean this is a conspiracy site, but all this fuss is paranoia in the extreme.
ATS doesn't explicitly require you to expose yourself to the ads, or to click them, so do what helps you sleep soundly.
Please do not, however, make it your business to sway others, who are perfectly comfortable with the ad system, to take themselves out of the
loop.
When it comes right down to it, blocking ads DOES cost ATS money. Ads wouldn't be worth paying for if they didn't generate commerce. A certain small
percentage of people exposed to ads become interested in the advertised product and click the add.
You can never state with absolute certainty that you wouldn't do it, because for all you know tomorrow they might sell ad space to a company that
makes your favorite product in the whole wide world, when you didn't even know that product was still being produced.
For every member you remove from the pool of ad viewers, either yourself or others who you influence, you cost ATS a certain amount of money- a
trivial sum in and of itself, but a very significant sum when you realize that each individual member is part of a community of roughly 65K registered
members, and GOD KNOWS how many more unregistered viewers (note that there are often 5 times as many non-logged in visitors here as there are
registered members).
Last but not least, for crying out loud, get off Cmdr's back- and yes, this last sentence is EXCLUSIVELY addressed to the only person in this forum
who doesn't know how to pluralize the word "you"- the rest of this post is for him and others as well.