WiGLE.net sells out for fun and profit

[uhtu]

INT0RNET - local champions of independent network identification and aggregate stumble mapping, WiGLE.net announced today a test of ad-supported services on their site: http://wigle.net/.

"As maintainers of the world's largest collection of ambient observed network data, WiGLE has a distinct obligation to ensure the future viability of our provided services", noted project founder Bob 'bobzilla' Zilla. "that, and i'm sick of eating ramen to afford the bandwidth those barcodes take to run."

It's just a test. we'll see how it goes, if its unbearable, or doesn't end up paying for our hosting costs and setting arkasha up in caviar pyjamas like he likes to be kept, we'll knock it off. really. we're not bad people. well, i'm not.

i'm sure google isn't going to steal your personal data or anything horrible like experimenting on monkeys. i mean, they borrowed our logo color scheme, they like us so much.

[mycroft]

that's a heck of a verbose way to say "we apologize for exposing you to ads, but all free things eventually sell out."

[uhtu]

brevity is the soul of wit.

[izzy4505]

Well, the good thing about google's ad program is it's not annoying like most. Nor is it in the way very much. However, I'd caution about getting to ad happy. The coolest thing about WiGLE is that it's above and beyond all of the more commercial sites, both in the community, the site design, and everything. I'm sure this is not your intentions, but in a few years, you WiGLE guys might refer to this message.... Don't take something good like it is now, and ruin it with more ads than content.

Anyway, don't get me wrong, I see that it is entirely necessary, and it's non-invasive. Just don't turn WiGLE into another netstumbler.com.

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Edited 12-02-03

Wow, that post did not come out right at all. Anyway, it's not what I said it's what I meant. I am supportive of WiGLE's form of funding. I think it's necessary to keep such an awesome project going.

[DaClyde]

I dunno, I think it balances out the page nicely, in a somewhat unsymmetrical fashion.

[bobzilla]

It's analogous to our mental state

[uhtu]

concordantly!

[bobzilla]

Vis-à-vis

[arkasha]

Ergo!

[izzy4505]

Hey, can one of you forum admins just remove my post entirely by chance? I'll be forever greatful.

[bobzilla]

None of us were offended by that post, and it makes a good point (not to go overboard with ad goo). We won't do any more ads than the google ones, and we'll stop them if a) they don't raise enough to make it worth while or b) people really hate them. Maybe I'll set up a vote thread for them.

IMO the google ads are kinda neat in that they're on topic and somewhat low-annoyance. Seeing some of the stuff people are trying to sell is amusing.

At any rate, it's an experiment, we'll see how it goes. We don't mind criticism, it's how things get betterer. You should hear some of the things uhtu says...

[izzy4505]

Lol, yea but that's the thing is I didn't want to critcise at all. Lol, oh well anybody reading this thread can probably figure that out.

[wos]

Is in inappropriate here to add a suggestion to check out the WiGLE.net store at http://www.cafeshops.com/wigle? All proceeds go to supporting WiGLE.net.

[audit]

Selling out is such a bad term for this. I don't see a damn thing wrong with it to help pay for costs. We're looking at doing the same thing at michiganwireless to help pay for the bandwidth costs that we have.
As everyone who provides sites like this knows, it's NOT cheap to run these types of sites and can only get more expensive as the sites get bigger.
IMHO, if someone doesn't like it, deal with it.

audit