Recently I received an email from widgetbox. They are changing the policy regarding advertisements placed in the widgets/gadgets that are submitted to their directory. It is their site and they have full right to do this, as they should, but this act is bringing to light more fundamental problems. First, let me state that I am both an Adsense publisher and an Adwords advertiser so I understand this area from both sides of the fence. With that being said, I feel compelled to say that this backlash against advertising is getting out of hand, and the usual proponents of this idea are simply uneducated in the matter. If I spend hours, or even days, building a program that you download and use for free, then why should I not be able to place an advertisement on it? I have bills to pay and I have to eat like anyone else. In this economy it's not like there are any available jobs on the market. The utter ignorance of those who think that I (and other advertisers) should not have the money necessary to eat just so they don't have to look at an advertisement when they use my work/gadget/program for free is appalling! In regards to widgetbox...their proposal is pointless. We (TPCS) placed only one ad per widget and ALWAYS placed our ads on the bottom of the widget. This would allow the user to RESIZE the widget if desired and the ad would not be displayed. Still, many, many people would complain about the ads. You see, this is the caliber of people who complain about the ads...the one's who apparently aren't smart enough to simply resize the widget to hide the ad! Also, there are usually more than one version of any given widget. If the user does not like your version with the ad on it, he may like the other without. Isn't personal choice still an important right we enjoy? Bottom line: Regular people, trying to get by in a bad economy, WILL suffer and not be able to make certain bills, simply because some of you feel you shouldnt have to be bothered with ads (even though you will readily use the free products) and even though you have the option to resize the widgets (which would, in effect, hide the ads), that isnt good enough. Unbelievable!
It's a fundamental problem with large parts of the internet - the only income-generating model that gets used for most of the web is advertising revenue. But people hate adverts. But they also hate paying subscriptions and want services for free. It's the dilemma that dogs hugely successful enterprises like Twitter - very popular, used by loads of people, flavour of the month for discussion on SEO forums and blogs - and with no plan in place to generate income.