Guys, I think there's a problem with the ads on MSPA. (Hristy we 3<>3 you)

[projectlex]

O_o why does Ricky look like a crying version of Rick Astley?
Also, the chick looks like Angelina Jolie...
And the dude with the shades reminds me of P-Diddy

[NotASenator]

O_o why does Ricky look like a crying version of Rick Astley?
Also, the chick looks like Angelina Jolie...

It's because he's tracing actual photos of celebrities.

[projectlex]

That would explain that...still looks uber creepy

[tynic]

I think you'll find it's James van der Beek.

also byrobot did it better.

[NotASenator]

Byrobot is the Daniel Boone of celebrity tracing.

[Drillgorg]

That explains a lot about Byrobot's art style that I didn't understand before.

[setPoint]

Usually I have my adblocker on :P I really don't have time to screw around with ads when I have such a tiny screen. I know it's revenue for AH and all, but then you bring up the point of the crappy intrusiveness of them. Add that to everything else and... it's one of those why bother situations.

[AProcrastinatingWriter]

... it's one of those why bother situations.

Because

it's revenue for AH

...kay but seriously now, what do you mean by 'everything else'?

[setPoint]

Everything else being the process of turning off your adblocker specifically for one site, just so you can get a bunch of smut ads shoved in your face. If he wanted the money my views got him, maybe he could not let such ads be shown on his site :|

Also I'm currently using a netbook, so the ads take up as much of the screen as the comic does :U

Edit: Oh, then I'm doing absolutely nothing wrong. Yay.
I imagine most people block the ads but weren't stupid enough to post here xD

[keepster33]

Uhhh... Dude that's not how project wonderpful works. Its a flat rate paid per day for ad space. Not a pay per click or pay per view. Advertisers look for high traffic sites in general.

[Hella Geoff]

"I love Project Wonderful. It's so baaad,"

- Barton Lucas, Late 19th Century Humourist and Great American Author

We are speaking with the utmost sincerity and seriousness with the preceding quote, despite Our inability to comprehend such contradictory West American Modern vernacular. The bidding system, combined with both publishers and advertisers, makes for some seriously entertaining and all-out confusing advertisements. Adwords is like YouTube, and Wonderful is akin to Blip/Nicodo/[Insert other Video Hosting Service Here] in that both Adwords and YouTube are owned by Google and suffer from the policy of "OURS. ALL OURS. EXCEPT FOR WHAT BELONGS TO COMPANIES WHO HAVE MORE M$NEY THAN US, OTHER THAN THAT; OURS!"

Also, We're pretty sure that Google allows not any advertisements to cater to the intergalactic gangster/hutt crimelord demographic.

[DevilEd]

I'm getting a ad saying I get high interest rates because kangaroos have a history of loan default.

[Sozoku]

I understand that advertisements are here so that Andrew doesn't have to pay money to run the site, but I think some advertisements are more explicit than others and should not be advertised.

[projectlex]

I haven't seen this one before...

[Glee Unit]

show spoiler

hide spoiler

The ad that always weirded me out the most was the one for the short story "Pride's Prison." Read this and help bullied kids learn coping skills or something. This isn't the only webcomic where I've seen it advertised.

I gave into curiosity, and read a bit. It was...interesting. It read like something that had been written by a literate, articulate, sensitive person from a different dimension.

The writer is desperate to communicate something beyond my capability to understand.

show spoiler

hide spoiler

Glee:

Thanks much for mentioning my story on this forum. It’s most appreciated.

My first reaction to this thread is that one would think that the website’s owner would be less than thrilled to have a discussion devoted to panning the ads of his sponsors! But I say: “To hell with that!” As the (very) late President Andrew Jackson so succinctly put matters many years ago, “If you can’t stand the heat, then stay out of the kitchen.”

I realize it is always somewhat risky to place an ad on a website that is or has a discussion forum. However, we must all learn to gracefully accept criticism, the praiseful as well as the negative. I’ve been fortunate in that most gratuitous comments I have encountered regarding my story on various forums have been positive. I deeply appreciate people just taking the time to read it. Even though it is free access, in actuality little in life is entirely free. One’s time is precious and to ask for it is to ask for something valuable. Therefore, I thank you accordingly for having extended yours.

Reading over some of your notes, I think there is very little beyond your power to comprehend. You are articulate and most thoughtful. I enjoyed your “…from a different dimension" remark! One of the reasons why I like to post on websites like this very fine and popular web comic is that they attract many younger people. Although the primary thrust of the story is a kid’s (very typical) personal reaction to severe school bullying, peripherally it is intended as social commentary.

Although my youthful kidnap victim is portrayed as being very bright, he also appears incredibly naïve when he is suddenly confronted with a seemingly friendly stranger. At first thought, this might seem very unrealistic and a poor characterization on my part. Yet, it isn’t. There is nothing atypical about this particular kid (at least in that respect) in his environment. That is the “different dimension” of which you speak, I think.

It is impossible to impress upon younger people today how radically social mores have changed from that time period, a relative mere eye blink ago in time. You can watch all the reruns of sixties sitcoms on cable that you’d like, and yet you can never fully understand. Thus, I hoped the story would help point this out and bring some semblance of comprehension, particularly to more astute readers.

However, the main point of the story involves school bullying. It is not intended to "enlighten” people to the fact that school bullying occurs, as everyone already knows that. Rather, it is to let people know how severely bullied kids feel in their private moments and why they so often react to it as my young character does: by keeping quiet about it and desperately trying to hide it from their families and neighborhood friends. In most cases, that answer is not fear of retribution from bullies as one might expect.

There has been a rash of suicides amongst children (something virtually unheard of in my younger character’s time) in recent years due to school bullying. In virtually every case, the reaction of (very good) parents has been one of being absolutely stunned. They never saw it coming. Therefore, the story is intended as a warning to parents of school age kids—and to younger people like many here who will be parents one day—not to simply accept their kids’ pat answer of “Fine” when asked about school.

Many parents might be astonished to learn what accomplished child actors their kids have learned to become; how the instant smile appears right on cue the moment he or she enters the door after school each and every day. The answer as to why this should be is so powerful a force that many kids have actually taken their own lives rather than having been willing to ask for help. Imagine that.

On behalf of all bullied kids, past, present and future, thank you again for having my ad “weird you out” (er, perhaps “found strangely intriguing” might have been a more euphemistic characterization <G>) sufficiently to have read at least a portion of the story. Perhaps when you have some time one day you might consider finishing it. The ending is sort of bittersweet. And yes, the story does seek to teach some coping skills. I’m afraid this world will never be free of sadists, of any age. Unfortunately, such a world is the only one we have. I fear that is a fact that will never change.

Best regards,

Don Schneider

Hey Don! It is beyond cool/interesting that you found your way here. I feel oddly like I summoned you by mentioning your story (I don't know, maybe you were on the forums anyway?)

I clicked on your ad in the first place because I was bullied as a kid. When I saw that the protagonist of your story was kidnapped (albeit by someone with his best interests at heart,) I started worrying, and it may have unfairly colored my perception of your story. At your encouragement, I'll give it another try.

[DevilEd]

The new banner. You may now say what.

[tynic]

Uhhh... Dude that's not how project wonderpful works. Its a flat rate paid per day for ad space. Not a pay per click or pay per view. Advertisers look for high traffic sites in general.

While this is true, the estimation of traffic is based on ad views. So while the link is not direct, it is there.

[Donald Schneider]

"Hey Don! It is beyond cool/interesting that you found your way here. I feel oddly like I summoned you by mentioning your story (I don't know, maybe you were on the forums anyway?)

"I clicked on your ad in the first place because I was bullied as a kid. When I saw that the protagonist of your story was kidnapped (albeit by someone with his best interests at heart,) I started worrying, and it may have unfairly colored my perception of your story. At your encouragement, I'll give it another try."

Glee:

Once again, on the contrary, thank you for your time.

About the beginning of the story, I’m afraid many have that reaction. I realized that would be the case when I plotted the piece. It’s a sign of the times. Is that the only reason for a man to abduct a youngster? Is it even the most likely reason? (No, that would be, far and away, custody disputes.) This too is a matter of perspective. Although my youthful character is scared crapless, of course, even he has no fear of that. This is part of the social commentary aspect that I referred to previously.

(The reason why is explained both in the story and in my author’s commentary at my website, which, by the way, takes considerably less time to read. If he’s coherent enough to think anything, my guess would be that he thinks it must be a case of mistaken identity; the man thinks he’s some rich kid. (Which terrifies him all the more thinking about the man’s reaction when he realizes his mistake.))

Why the man feels compelled to kidnap the boy rather than just approach him is also explained both in the story and the commentary. The abductor is characterized as a real straight arrow. So why is he acting in such an apparently inconsistent manner?

Never fear. Ironically, the story is published on one of the most conservative zines on the internet. (Conservative in terms of what they will accept regarding sex, language and violence, not politically. The editor is a semi-retired university professor who had been a “Clean for Gene” (Eugene McCarthy, a very liberal senator who ran for the Democratic Party presidential nomination in nineteen sixty-eight) type in his youth. Nineteen sixty-eight was the year when everything began to change.)

For the same reason why I have the man kidnap the boy, there is no sex or profanity in the story. (Which, regretfully, is hardly a selling point these days.) This is not prudery on my part. I wanted the story to read as realistically as possible, even within the framework of a fantasy (or soft SF) piece. Vulgarity would simply be unrealistic for these characters. I think the dialogue is very realistic and character appropriate. Regarding the abduction, there is what I at least hope is some amusing dialogue concerning it towards the end of the story. This came from a real incident many years ago.

I’m very sorry that you had been a bullying victim as a schoolchild. Should you finish the story, I’d be interested to read if your reaction to the bullying was similar to my character’s or had you taken a different tack.

Anyway, thanks again!

Best regards,

Don

P. S. Technically the adult is the protagonist and the boy the antagonist as the former advances the action while the latter resists (to whatever limited extent he can in this case). Although the protagonist of most stories is the most sympathetic character, that is not necessarily the case.

[Mockby]

Imagine if some Betty Crocker ads began showing up.

[laserdogbad]

The new banner. You may now say what.

whats on it? is it really sounds of women peeing

[projectlex]

Does anyone else get the feeling that AH gives these guys (Veins, etc.) a major discount for adspace just because of the insanity of those things?

[Kamikaze Scotsman]

The new banner. You may now say what.

This is advertising sound files. The yellow plug is video, it should be white and red plugs on that cord.

[Bandages]

The new banner. You may now say what.

This is advertising sound files. The yellow plug is video, it should be white and red plugs on that cord.

It's not even advertising sound files, it's just a link to that stupid book that keeps getting advertised

inb4 the author makes an account to tell me his book isn't stupid

if you advertise a book with sound clips of "girls peeing" your book sucks

[Drillgorg]

Don't be hatin' on Drew, he is pretty cool. At least as cool as a guy with a neck beard can be.

[keepster33]

Uhhh... Dude that's not how project wonderpful works. Its a flat rate paid per day for ad space. Not a pay per click or pay per view. Advertisers look for high traffic sites in general.

While this is true, the estimation of traffic is based on ad views. So while the link is not direct, it is there.

Really? Those sneaky bastards. Always one step ahead.