I have the same question. Hope there will be an explanation asap.
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I have the same question. Hope there will be an explanation asap.
I also noticed this issue. I'm using the "Blue Moon" theme. I will try changing my theme. If this is a new edublogs policy, there should have been some notice ahead of time. This is unacceptable for a school blog and I am quite offended by having these ads forced uppon us! Edublogs, do you have an answer??
Content Links in the middle of my posts which include unauthorized advertisements is unacceptable. One of the reasons I moved my blog to Edublogs was to avoid ads in my blog, and this is even worse than Adsense found off to the side which people can easily ignore. Please remove these or let us know if they are here to stay, I will move my blog to another more school friendly blog host if thats the case.
http://thenextstep.edublogs.org
Hi Guys,
Apologies for this, it was a bug in our system and should be fixed now, we have been experimenting with (extremely occasional) advertising in order to support Edublogs and you can find more information here: http://edublogs.org/forums/topic.php?id=5303&replies=3
It should be fixed up now.
Cheers, James
BTW, @fwms, as per the link supporters are exempt from this experimentation.
Hi James,
Just went to old class blog http://tasteach.learnerblogs.org and noticed there were content links in there.
At least three of my students' blogs have content links. The links are to a variety of places including online gambling. Disaster!
The blogs affected are:
http://beau56c08.learnerblogs.org/
http://kim56c08.learnerblogs.org/
http://tim56c08.learnerblogs.org/
There could be more but I'm not checking because a side effect of the ads are that the blogs are taking *ages* to load (I'm on dial up, just to compound the problem!) If anyone wants to look the links to all blogs can be found here: http://56c2008.edublogs.org/student-blogs/
James,
Been a week since I noted that contentlinks ads were in my class's old blog. Looks like most of them are those in learnerblogs rather than edublogs by looking at the other posts on this forum.
Visited my old class blog again http://tasteach.learnerblogs.org and noticed there were content links still in there.
My students logged onto their blogs at school yesterday and half of them had the advertising links showing - no idea why the other half didn't. They are all learnerblogs.
Sorry about that - learnerblogs are actually no longer supported so if you could get them using Edublogs.org (they can use the Manage > Export feature to add content) then you won't see this again.
Noooooooo. :-(
Imagine the time it would take to transfer over 28 blogs, reset all the themes and widgets (which didn't transfer when I moved our class blog to Edublogs), teach the kids their new addresses, teach the parents their new addresses, teach the kids their new passwords and usernames (or just transfer over the old ones one at a time)...
I understand Learnerblogs is not supported (we've discovered we can't add new users or upload avatars for the kids) but I figure we'll put up with that for the rest of the year. Is it now going to be the norm for adlinks to appear in these blogs?
Nope, actually the links should hardy be appearing at all, we'll look into it.
Ads still appearing in http://tasteach.learnerblogs.org Not really a worry to me as I have all the blogs now in edublogs, but if any people do visit old blog, will look awful.
http://nhcsmedia.edublogs.org/
This is the blog for our ICT Literacy Program and our school's Library Media Center. I have similar a Edublog blog for another ICT/LMC in another school. Have blogged at this site for over a year. Tonight I noticed these "Content Link" ads all over the blog. I have gotten teachers started with Edublogs blogs and, just two weeks ago, we set up an entire fourth grade with your blogs. To have these ads show up is most distressing. Is there a way to eliminate them, please. I am using Safari 3.1.2 and Firefox 2.0. Please advise ASAP - before my principal sees them. I don't want anything to discourage our administrators from letting us use Web2.0 tools with our students.
We are trialling some of these ads - only to be shown to users who are not logged in or regular users of the site.
If users are logged in, or visit the site more than once they won't appear.
Or, if you upgrade to "Edublogs Supporter' they won't appear to anyone (roughly $2 per month)
Apologies for any inconvenience - but we've gotta pay the bills somehow.
I understand the need to sell advertising to pay the bills, but nothing is more intrusive (or ugly) than these "Content Link" ads. I say intrusive because when I write a post, I decide what gets linked and what doesn't. Now it looks like I've linked to a bunch of external sites that have nothing to do with my post (with a garish double underline to boot). I think you'll lose bloggers and potential supporters with this type of invasive advertising.
You do see James suggestions up there, right? 2 bucks a month gets rid of them.
Maybe if you had a better suggestion to offer to take the place of those adverts, I'm sure James will be willing to try it.
I have to admit that I hate the underlines there as well. I travel a few sites who use them as well.
You do realize that most sites do some form of adverts like that now a days right?
Not trying to be negative but I'm hoping that you realize that if James doesn't make enough to running the dozen servers on the back end and pay for the bandwidth, this site doesn't exist.
I was just getting ready to start blogging with one of my classes but need an answer to this first. Does each student blog have to pay a supporter fee in order to not have ads? Our parents won't be logged in so they'll see the ads and that's just not acceptable. We don't have any budget so having to pay $25 per year per student would be cost prohibitive for us. I understand that the bills have to be paid and could live with ads on my blog or upgrade my blog but I just can't do it for every student.
Afraid so unless James says otherwise. Best bet would be just a single class blog with all of the students as Authors or contributors depending on if you want to review what they write first.
Thanks - not the answer I wanted to hear but it was what I thought. I guess I'll have to rethink student blogging.
I can't believe this - ads on Edublogs..... And we have to pay to remove them. And to think that I really talked you guys up in an ISTE webinar a couple of weeks ago. I have another one this week and I can promise you I'll say something about the ads forced upon us. Will be changing platforms with all of my students this week.
What, you can't believe that a free site, hosting, for free, blog for teachers and students, supporting, for free, feature development and innovative new practice might want to find ways to pay for their hosting bills or time?
wordpress.com has ads (it costs $30 to remove them there - and you get nothing else), blogger is one big google ad, typepad costs etc. etc.
Please go ahead and say anything that you want to whoever you want, you're entirely within your rights to do so.
But also you could look into getting a Campus installation http://edublogs.org/campus/ for your institution or area which would give you everything and more than you get, for free, here and never have to worry about a single, occasional, unobtrusive ad that no regular or logged in user would ever see.
I understand that you have bills and need support. But I can't pay $25 per student. Wordpress.com's ads are not as intrusive as what you've introduced here. These are garrish and distract the reader something terrible. Many of us have come to Edublogs because it was ad free. Many of us have invested considerable time and had to exhibit considerable patience while things got going and/or fixed. I just wish you'd given us some lead time, some notice of some kind that this was coming. It's been a terribly bumpy ride these last few months and to now have this. There is no way I can even begin to afford this fee with 75 students......
@drmike: you did read my post, right? "I understand the need to sell advertising to pay the bills" It's the intrusive form of advertising I'm objecting to, not advertising itself. James is offering a free site. Advertising on free sites is almost a given. Advertising that alters the content that people post is unacceptable. As you said, "I hate the underlines there as well". What I'm suggesting is that you find a less intrusive form of advertising such as text link ads, Bidvertiser, or even Google AdSense.
The Campus installation is a great idea. I think free blogs with little or no advertising must give James a pool of potential clients for the Campus packages. Though I admit it's got to be tough getting people to open their wallets (or add to their school budgets) with all the belt-tightening going on.
If teachers can budget $2/month for one Edublog, then try Kim Cofino's idea of a single class blog where all of the students are contributors using the linked gmail feature for simple logins. Here's her post (on Edublogs):
http://mscofino.edublogs.org/2008/02/05/students-as-contributors-on-edublogs-the-quick-and-easy-way/
I started using edublogs after using Wordpress.com for a year for a personal blog. I wanted a safe blog site for my students without ads etc. Wordpress contains topics not appropriate for students (including mine).
Imagine my surprise at 5 am this morning (November 10, 2008) when I opened my blog and saw the ad links. At work I checked back again and they appear in Firefox, but not Internet Explorer. I thought I had done something wrong. Then I did my research and read the above posts. I log in frequently as my blogs are new so I ruled out the lack of logging in.
When I read your post about costs, I understood, but I am very dissapointed. Yes, I understand about making money, but I have a concern about your arguement. You state:
"wordpress.com has ads (it costs $30 to remove them there - and you get nothing else), blogger is one big google ad, typepad costs etc. etc."
Wordpress does charge, but they state:
"To support the service we may occasionally show Google text ads on your blog, however we do this very rarely. You can remove ads from your blog for a low yearly fee. In the future you’ll be able to show your own ads and make money from your blog."
Notice the words "occasionally" and "very rarely." As, I mentioned, I have been using Wordpress.com for over a year now and I do not have any ad links on it! Not now not ever! After reading their posts on this subject, most of us do not have ads. I am new to you and already have it on my two blogs! It seems to be the rule rather than the exception.
I am sorry you have to ad the ads as it might change my using your blogs. I was wondering if you could you move the ads to the tags rather than the text itself? Or if you could offer a no ads for a fee that covers all blogs by administrator (or up to a certain amount) rather than $25/blog?
Just some thoughts....
text link ads
Just as an aside, they don't handle multiple blog sites like this one. At least not on a normal basis. It would actually be a turn off for most advertisers as most of them are looking for sites about specific subjects, not sites like this one that cove hundreds of different topics. One of my own clients tried this route and wound up just dropping it.
forbc, yes, I read your response. May I ask if you read mine?
If teachers can budget $2/month for one Edublog, then try Kim Cofino's idea of a single class blog where all of the students are contributors using the linked gmail feature for simple logins.
Now I know you didn't because I made that suggestion previously in this thread.
May I also ask why you're directing your suggestion to me instead of directing it edublogs staff? Please note the Volunteer bit under my username. I'm just hear trying to help out. Google Adsense is also used and I have to admit that it's not as bad as how wp.com has theirs. Please see the link below.
Do note that instead of complaining about something that I really can't change, I'm trying my best to improve what I can.
libraryalice, I'm sorry to disappoint you but you do have adverts on your blog at wordpress.com. You just don't see them when logged in.
For examples, please see here: http://wank.wordpress.com/2008/02/26/define-broke/
If you give the url of your wp.com blog, I will be happy to provide screen captures of them for you. They're fairly easy to reproduce and usually appear when ever someone comes into your blog from a search engine like Google. (ie Every time you see an inbound from Google, those folks are seeing adverts.)
Adverts can be removed for a large series of blogs with the Campus program. That's for a managed install of a site similar to edublogs. You can find more information here: http://edublogs.org/campus/
They do charge, but they state:
Please also remember that they went six months before admitting that they were running adverts even though example after example was provided to them and deleted on sight by staff when brought up in their support forums. What Matt admits to and what is actually occurring on that site has been proved to be two different things many times over. Do also remember that they state they believe in Free Speech.
Wordpress.com's ads are not as intrusive as what you've introduced here.
At least James isn't running Scientology adverts. *chuckle* I bet a whole lot of parents would love seeing those.
I'd have to go digging for it but a couple months back Raincoaster was complaining about how she got her wp.com blog reported to Google Adsense as a splog because she had quoted a single line from somewhere else, linked back, the original saw the usage, saw all the advertising plastered on her site and complained to Google that her site was a splog. I can't find the thread right off where she tells this story though. (I'll find it later if anyone really wants to read it.)
What wp.com tells you and what they actually do are two separate things.
And here we go with the "I hate Dr. Mike. He's mean!" posts....
edit: No, I'm not providing a link.
drmike: I hate to dissappoint you, but I have gone to my Wordpress blog many times without logging in, from browsers that were cleared (flushed etc.) before going to it, and from a Google search many times and I have never seen an ad! Maybe it is my subject matter that keeps the ads away. My Wordpress blog is anonmyously written because of the subject matter that it addresses. For this reason I cannot send you the link.
I chose Edublogs because it came highly recommended, it is based on Wordpress, which I had experience with so the learning curb was less, and it states it is advertisement free right on the front page:
"Edublogs are completely free, without any advertising, and come with 100MB of free upload space (easily extended to 3 Gig) and a heap of great features"
I am not trying to start a pointing finger contest or who is better contest. I am just stating my experiences and what is revealed on the sites. I am a rather novice user of the new web 2.0 technology and am just trying to find some way of supporting my students and learning. That is why I made the suggestions at the end of my comment post. We need to work together to find solutions...
@drmike: Reading your suggestion reminded me of Kim Cofino's step-by-step instructions using the linked gmail feature. So I provided the link after reading your comment. And no, I didn't mean to direct the alternative advertising suggestion at you; I'm well aware that you spend many hours providing information to Edublogs users as a volunteer. Voicing concern over the form of advertising used isn't complaining... it's providing feedback. This probably isn't the place to do it anyway.
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I was updating one of my blogsites this weekend. I noticed that when I changed the theme "ContentLinks" ads started randomly appearing. I cannot have this on my school's blogs. I changed the theme back to "Borderline Chaos" which doesn't appear to have the pop-ups.
Is this a feature on all themes now? Is there a way to turn it off? If I become a supporter, would this feature be removed?
Thank you,
Jackie