Respectfully Yours

I don’t respond publicly to an e-mail very often (read: never), but an e-mail I got on Friday evening is just begging for it. Being of weak will, I have no choice.

Before I go begin, a little preface.

At the beginning of last week, we introduced a new feature to the site, directly targeting those users with ad blockers. What happens, if you have one installed, is that when you come to the site, a small pop up appears over the site asking politely for the user to whitelist our list.

Regardless of what the user decides, they are able to close the window, never to be bothered by it again, free to browse the site as they will.

That’s it.

Over the week, we heard maybe a handful of complaints, but nothing deserving of a response. Until this fellow-

Hey there.

I’m not sure who exactly to address this to, so I figure I’d just pick a bunch of names from the contact page.

Internet ads are invasive, annoying, bandwidth-consuming, and rife with malware. This is why I use an ad blocker. I understand that you would prefer to serve as many ads as possible so you can generate more revenue. But so does every other site on the internet. I’m not going to give you special treatment because I find the webcomics you produce kind of amusing.

You’ve recently started putting a beg screen up demanding that I either allow ads or wait for the timer to count down in order to view the page. This is irritating, invasive, insulting, and (except for the potential malware) everything I’m trying to avoid by blocking ads.

Least I Could Do and Waiting For Group are no longer on my list of comics to view. I will also no longer consider purchasing merchandise related to either comic. You’re dead to me.

If you decide to turn that damn thing off, I might reconsider.

Yep.

So now let’s get into my rebuttal, where we’ll go line by line together.

Hey there.

Hi.

I’m not sure who exactly to address this to, so I figure I’d just pick a bunch of names from the contact page.

7 of us? You e-mailed 7 of us.

You believe that 15% of this company needed to be made aware of your unhappiness. Okay.

Internet ads are invasive, annoying, bandwidth-consuming, and rife with malware.

Invasive? Not exactly. You’re on my site. That’s like going to someone else’s house and complaining about the décor.

Annoying? I’ll give you that, sometimes they can be. We try to filter out the shitty ones, but sometimes they get through. We can do better if you tell us.

Bandwidth-consuming? Is it 1995? Are we on 2400 baud modems again? You’re running Netflix on 3 computers in your house. I don’t think Bandwidth is an issue.

Rife with malware? Not on AAA sites, my friend. Porn sites, sure, but not this one. We use Google to serve our ads. I tend to trust that they know what they’re doing.

This is why I use an ad blocker.

Personal preference, I get it.

I understand that you would prefer to serve as many ads as possible so you can generate more revenue. But so does every other site on the internet.

The way you tell it, I’m a greedy duck swimming around in my money bin.

In reality, ads don’t help us generate ‘more’ revenue, they generate revenue. Period. 80% of this site’s revenue comes from advertising.

We don’t want to serve advertising, we NEED to serve it. It’s how we keep our lights on.

And of course every site on the internet serves ads, it’s the only model that works.

This is the height of entitlement to me. Where do you think all that content comes from? It’s not wished into existence.

Every site you visit has staff, writers, editors, graphic designers, illustrators, webmasters, programmers, app developers etc.. And what’s even crazier, some of those people might even have families they’re trying to feed.

I’m not going to give you special treatment because I find the webcomics you produce kind of amusing.

Never asked for special treatment. Just basic courtesy.

Thanks for the backhanded compliment by the way, going to post it on my fridge.

You’ve recently started putting a beg screen up demanding that I either allow ads or wait for the timer to count down in order to view the page.

Begging? Really?

We’re Canadian. We don’t beg. We’re super polite. About everything, and in this case, we asked for consideration, that’s it.

Also, that pop up box you’re so angry about? It shows up ONCE, and then never again. And the timer? It’s 5 seconds. 5 fucking seconds.

Here, look.

5

4

3

2

1

That’s it. Close the window. Never to bother you again.

This is irritating, invasive, insulting, and (except for the potential malware) everything I’m trying to avoid by blocking ads.

Insulting? Insulting in the way you place no value on what we create? Or insulting that it made you feel bad for a second?

Least I Could Do and Waiting For Group are no longer on my list of comics to view.

Those guys at Waiting for Group are going to be bummed to have lost a super fan like you.

I will also no longer consider purchasing merchandise related to either comic.

That’s cool. In the last 15 years, you have purchased exactly 0$ worth of merch from us. I checked.

You’re dead to me.

Was I ever alive to you? An actual person?

If you decide to turn that damn thing off, I might reconsider.

Again, and I cannot stress this enough, it was a one-time pop up. You’ll never see it again unless you clear out your cookies.

We’re not forcing anyone to turn off their ad blocker. We’re asking you once, to whitelist our site, so that we can keep making comics for you every single day.

To everyone else, who supports this site, this comic, this team, thank you. Thank you for being the kind of reader we want to create for;

And for not being an entitled douchebag who decided his time was better spent e-mail us than clicking a goddamn X.

-Because I Can.