Having been a long time consumer of Online Opinion I have been appreciative of the site and what it affords people like myself who enjoy having their views challenged with information and debate.

Not ever having had a credit card in my life I have found the opportunity to monetarily support Graham and the others involved in this venture to be problematic.

In the past I have assuaged my guilt knowing that the ads I am exposed to are bringing in some revenue for OLO and have often taken the time to click through, hopefully to some small effect.

I recently had my young nephew using my computer and I took issue with ads that were being presented on some of the quite ordinary sites he was visiting, especially those touting extreme games.

I have since installed Adblocker and Ghostery which are very effective. Yet I know that by doing this I have effectively stopped any monies accruing to OLO from me using this site.

After installing Adblock there was a very simple plea for support which I was more than happy to oblige. It was simple, effective, took very little of my time, was virtually risk free and had a nice salutation to finish. Just how I like it.

Quote

Thank you so much :D
PayPal will email you your receipt.
You just helped me and my wife pay the bills, and helped fund AdBlock development. You officially rock.
...
- Michael and Katie

End Quote

So this is a plea for OLO to explore the option of us 'adblocking ingrates' to contribute via Paypal. Having set these up before I know there is not a hell of a lot involved and I am positive it would be worth the effort.

Csteele – I would be happy to contribute a small sum from time to time to avoid the AIDS of our civilisation Advertising.

Advertising lies or at best tells half-truths. It cultivates a myriad of parasitic activities that add to the expense of most of our goods and services. It pays for absolute garbage on or TV’s and pays for individuals like Bolt and Jones.

I say remove advertising as a tax deductable expense and let us choose what we pay for directly, not through advertising.

Despite Producer's negativity, I agree with Csteele in that PayPal would be a good idea for this site.

Many people, especially older supporters, are hesitant to use credit cards online, and others, like me, have actually been burned using them before.

I actually like advertisements. I have even accessed some from this site, and purchased goods.
So Producer, rather than banning all advertising, why not just block them on your computer, and leave the rest of us to shop....by Paypal.

I second Producer.

Today I was looking for something and my friend said "oh, I just saw an ad on TV for what you are looking..." - I stopped her there and then and said "thank you, but I don't want to hear any more, I don't want to know who they are, I refuse to benefit from advertising and I have a policy of trying to avoid those businesses who do it".

Advertising is a mild form of violence, creating harmful materialistic impressions in the minds of passers-by, seducing them to slave harder in order to purchase goods and services which they otherwise would have no interest in buying. If two or more mature people agree to harm each other, I have no right to stand in their way, but they should not receive societal-appreciation for their bad acts in the form of tax deductions. I made no such mutual-harm pacts myself, and so I have no TV, do not listen to commercial radio and have a sticker on my mailbox and the best tools installed on my computer to prevent these things from showing up. If I were not able to block the ads on this site, then I wouldn't be here. And yes, I will be happy to contribute my share of the OLO costs.

Suseonline says – “So Producer, rather than banning all advertising”

I don’t like being verballed. What I did say was “remove advertising as a tax deductable expense”.

We all pay for advertising in two ways even if we switch the off.

1. As mentioned prior advertising increase the price of goods and services for everyone whether they support it or not.

2. It robs government (us) of badly needed of revenue due to its tax deductibility status.

So Suseonline, next time you are shopping for an advertised product, think of the homeless and hungry of this wealthy country. Perhaps the youth that considers alcohol attractive or the one who has anorexia because advertising says it’s sexy. I could go on and on!

>>I actually like advertisements.<<

You're weird Suse :)

Ads are annoying except for the occasional funny one. But it's the ads with an audio component (TV, radio, some online) that really grate on the nerves rather than the purely visual (print, billboard, some online). OLO's ads aren't annoying enough to warrant blocking.

Cheers,

Tony