Better betting

May 11, 2004 in Science & Technology

Back before I left Kinja, Gina and I made a bet about the ads on the Kinja site -- how long before non-text ads appear? Advertising has never been one of my favorite revenue models for a web site, and when we made the decision to go down that road at Kinja, it was with reservation that I agreed. Too often web sites allow the ads to run amok, ruining the experience of the site. But in discussing the ad approach, we agreed that we'd use text ads, and limit their placement. It sounded like a way that ads could work without ruining the experience of Kinja: reading.

But all you have to do is look at Nick's Gawker Media properties (Gawker, Gizmodo, Wonkette, etc.) to see that our view of advertising -- and belief of when advertising has run amok -- are not aligned. And I knew it was simply a matter of time after my departure that gaudier, flashier ads would appear on Kinja. So Gina and I decided to place a wager on exactly how long that would be. Alas, there were no winners, because we couldn't disagree about how long it would take. We both knew it would be fast. And we both bet it would be less than a month. I've been gone two weeks and two days from Kinja, and there's already a giant CNet ad right in the middle of the digests. Blech.

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July 28, 2006, San Jose CA
At the BlogHer Conference 2006, I will be joining Caterina Fake in a keynote discussion with Marnie Webb to discuss, "What's Next?: What's next in tech? Is 'Web 2.0' hype? Or hip? And what's next once you grab your brass ring?"