I've been offered. I'm still thinking. Should I move this site to a place with commericals? I'd still get control of content, but you'd have banner ads popping up while you read.

Would you still read?

-- Anonymous, April 03, 2000

Answers

Well, I kept reading House of the Moon, no matter how damned irritating it got, so yeah, I'd keep reading.

-- Anonymous, April 03, 2000

Well, if we knew with each one of those @$^# pop-ups that you were getting .0003 cents or something, sure. Or if administration was so much more convenient for you we'd see thirty new forum posts a day, sign me up!

But otherwise, I dunno. Pop-ups are to me among the most annoying of gadgets in the commercialweb bag of tricks. Frankly, the basic, modest feel of Greenspun is part of the appeal. And I'm saying that as a guy who just sunk way too much money in setting up one of those trendy Ultimate Bulletin Boards.

You know your admirers, Pamie. We'd stick 'round even if you were back at Geocities!

-- Anonymous, April 03, 2000

Do what thy will. (I have WebWasher. I NEVER see ads at all.

It's heaven.)

M

-- Anonymous, April 03, 2000

Pamie, I'm assuming you mean the site, not the forum. (If you are talking about the forum, then ignore the rest of what I say.)
If you could just have the banners on your page, like the option they give you at Angelfire, that would be okay. If you could scoot them way down to the bottom of the page, that would be even better.
But popups? Oh, I hate hate hate popups. I'd still read Squishy - it's more addictive than cigarettes - and if you were getting some money for it, that would be fine.
But if you decide to go for it, and have any sort of choice AT ALL, go with the on-page banners. Less annoying, and less stress on tired, cranky computers like mine.
Animate.

-- Anonymous, April 03, 2000

as long as whatever it is, it doesn't BLINK in NEON colors, i'd be happy.

and no tie-dye motifs, either. god i hate tie-dye.

-- Anonymous, April 03, 2000

I mean a place hosting my site, like ChickClick. it's not pop-ups but banners run at the bottom of the page. like on mightybigtv.com

Just for clarification.

-- Anonymous, April 03, 2000

Banners, yes.

Popups, no. Crashes my computer sometimes.

And I love Squishy, so I hope that getting paid wouldn't change the site at all--you know? I love the funny stuff but I also love the "inner Pamie" stuff too. I loved your entry about your grandmother. I hope that stuff would stay and it wouldn't become an all-humor site or anything like that.

Melissa

-- Anonymous, April 03, 2000

Squishy is sometimes the only thing that keeps me sane. It's only right that you get paid for my therapy, you know? Seriously, if the content didn't change it wouldn't matter to me.

-- Anonymous, April 03, 2000

if you could promise that the banner ads would be static....not all flashy and blinky and such like at mightybigTV...crashes my 'puter AND makes it real obvious that i'm looking at not-work-related stuff...

-- Anonymous, April 03, 2000

At this point I'm so addicted I'd still read if *all* the words were flashing neon. That's the power Pamie has over me.

-- Anonymous, April 03, 2000

to paraphrase Bob and David (I think it's them that said it), I would read the shit out of it!

-- Anonymous, April 03, 2000

A resounding yes. You've got me addicted. So much so that I've just put up my own journal, and am already wasting scads of time trying to get it running properly. I must say, though, that banners and pop- ups are infinately annoying, and I may just visit once a week when I'm in a particularly non-irritant mood, then catch up on your entries.

-- Anonymous, April 03, 2000

OOps. Forgot something. Happy Birthday to youuuuu... Happy birthday toooo youuuuu.... Happy birrrrthdaaay deeeeaaar Paaaammiiieee.... Happy birthday to you!

-- Anonymous, April 03, 2000

You sell out! Boo! Hiss! Boo!

That's probably just a jealous reaction to the fact that you can actually get paid for your content.

Besides, providing this 'free' entertainment to us costs you a bundle. No reason why you shouldn't get paid for your content.

And I promise I won't mention the phrase 'sell-out' again.

Much.

-rich http://www.inferiority.com rich@inferiority.com

-- Anonymous, April 03, 2000

Pam, you rock. Really and true, cross my heart. Entertaining your readers has become a job for you -- and one for which you really ought to get paid for, seeing as how you're very serious about it. My quibble - and it's a little one - is that I tend not to check out any of the Chick Click sites unless a friend tells me something good is up. That banner on the bottom drives me batty. It shortens the screen and is terribly distracting. But sure, I'd follow you over. Just like just about everyone seems to be planning to. Maybe you should, henceforth, refer to yourself as the Pied Pamie. Or Jesus. Or James Pam, the hardest working chick in the journaling business...but that's not really catchy enough, is it?

Very happy birthday, too.

Yours Truly,

Secretly Bitter Girl, the Barely Paid Writer

-- Anonymous, April 03, 2000

Why shouldn't you make a buck or nine while keeping us entertained?

go for it.

alli

-- Anonymous, April 03, 2000

P.S. Huge congratulations on the offer. It's an awesome opportunity, and I know everyone who loves you is very proud of you for being so wonderful you get paid for it.

And hey, as I reader, I feel validated.

-- Anonymous, April 03, 2000

I'd still read, although I'd probably roll my eyes a lot if the banners of which you speak are of the Geocities "I won't go away until you click three buttons on me" sort. If instead it's Chickclick-esque page-bottom banners you're talking about, not only would I continue to read, but I wouldn't be annoyed. In either case, I'd be kind of pleased to think that my reading gets you money, as your work on this site is definitely deserving of pay.

-- Anonymous, April 03, 2000

I hate the mightybigtv banners because they mean I can't save the page to a disk. I have to do this because my work sucks. So it would annoy me for that reason. I also stopped going to dollheads (sicksadworld) because she sold out hardcore. BUT your content is much better. No matter what, I'd find a way. There's no way I would stop reading.

And, to be brutally honest, if someone was going to pay ME to do my journal, I would probably do it. (Just pass that along to your new sugar daddies. The witty and brilliant Monique is willing to sell herself to the high bidder. That's Mo-nique. With a Q.)

-- Anonymous, April 03, 2000

I think I'm pretty much in agreement with everyone else here. I think it would rock if you were able to get paid for something we all enjoy so much.

However -- I also agree about the flashing/animation/popups. No thanks! I also dislike the way mightybigtv has that permanent banner at the bottom of the screen (I know it must have a name, but I don't know what it is) that not only makes the viewing screen smaller but you also can't make it go away by scrolling down.

BUT -- I will put up with almost anything for my Squishy! In other words, no matter how annoying, yes I would still read. So you go girl -- you do what you gotta do!

-- Anonymous, April 03, 2000

Yes, absolutely. I don't mind most banner ads, except for the flashy ones that make me have to take a momentary computer break. The only thing that would make me sad would be if squishy moved, so it wasn't at pamie.com anymore. Pamie, would it have to move, or would they just start putting adds up on your site?

-- Anonymous, April 03, 2000

I don't see why not. I mean, what does it matter in the long run if we all just sell our souls? I mean, can you even do that? Like, I've had a number of days when I was real short on money and hadn't eaten for quite some time and if I knew that I could just go somewhere and sell my soul, I'm sure I would have hocked it by now. As it stands though, a soul's not worth very much until the physical part of that soul does something remarkable, "makes a name" for itself or something. And when the soul matures, then by god, it's time to start selling it!! You don't have to sell it all at once (and that's the great part about it). Apparently one can portion out one's soul over a long enough time that it effectively anesthesizes the pain of integrity loss and leaves the creative faculty virtually in tact. Apparently the only major drawback from the whole process is the loss of the aforementioned "integrity", which in the pantheon of human psychology, is what the appendix is to the human anatomy. With the "creativity" virtually in tact, one can continue to create for all one's life and not have to work at Publix or McDonald's when they retire.

AND ANYWAY!! Isn't that the point? Isn't that what we all want? To sustain ourselves doing what we love? Isn't that the AMERICAN DREAM?

As for me personally, I am a big fan of the sell-out and follow them closely (it's hard not too, there's so many of them). The most important question I feel that one should ask one's self when considering selling-out is: "Did I get mine?" For example, I tend to live by the metaphorical standard, "If I'm gonna get fucked, at least kiss me."

Back to the question at hand. I would definitely continue to read squinchy and offer you sincerest congratulations on the ripening of your soul. Personally, I also aspire to soulsale and have hopes that my own will ripen in the next 2-3 years. When that happens, I know that at long last, I will have conquered the dizzying wheel of Fortune and brought her to yoke beneath the hard heel, my boot of purpose. And when THAT happens...

...peace on earth (when the angels fall) ...joy to all mankind (when the angels fall)

-- Anonymous, April 03, 2000

Of course.

-- Anonymous, April 03, 2000

pamie, do what you need to do. I'm not sure what's driving your thoughts on this, but if it makes your life easier, or happier, or whatever, just do it. I hate banner ads/pop-ups also, but I'll stick with you! I'll second the emotion, that I'd also be saddened if you weren't at www.pamie.com anymore!

Happy, happy birthday!

-- Anonymous, April 03, 2000

I find the Chickclick banners to be supremely annoying, but of course I'd still read.

I've gotten advertising offers before (just to put ads on my own site). I've been weird about accepting anything like that. There was a point a month or so ago when traffic spiked up and stayed steady, and I realized, hmm, if I could get a penny a pageview, I'd ... well, okay, I'd make about $10-15 a day. Which is why I decided not to go with banner ads. Unless it makes it so I can quit my day job (a DOLLAR a page view! yeah!) I'll probably just keep doing what I do.

-- Anonymous, April 03, 2000

*snapping on the rubber gloves*

Excuse me, Miss Pam, but I need to make a call.

-- Anonymous, April 03, 2000

Of course pamie. We deal with MBTV and Hissyfit, it's a way of life.

-- Anonymous, April 03, 2000

Sigh. Yes.

Although I stand by my position that pop-ups suck because they are not 100% browser-friendly, and certainly screw with browsers for the vision impaired.

I, on the other hand, will put up with it, because, as it has been said, Pamie rocks.

-- Anonymous, April 03, 2000

Yes,of course, I hafta have my Squishy! Even if it means those gerrgerrgerr pop-ups!

-- Anonymous, April 03, 2000

Of course I would, you crack me up... and shit, if you can get paid to make me laugh (almost) every day, then go for it... I'll ignore the banners... or if they're interesting, I'll even click on a few.

As echoed, I'd be a little more leery of coming around if it was a geocities.com pop-up thing, but I'd manage.. either way.

-- Anonymous, April 03, 2000

I'll continue to read Squishy with banners, given the following conditions:

I want to fill out a market survey that evaluates and analyzes every shred of personality and existance I possess for customer interest and purchase value. I want the ads to be so finely tuned to my psyche that I cannot possibly resist their purchasing pull. I want the ads to use the greatest display technologies so that I can wallow in the glory of possessing the latest browser with the hottest plug-ins. I want the ads to speak to me in a soothing and sultry female voice with a dialect and inflection precisely tuned to my demographic. I want to turn my wallet over to the Dot Com Deity and become a 21st Century Global Consumer. I want to click until my fingers fall off. I want only the EXCLUSIVE OFFERS and HOT DEALS for which I have been SPECIALLY SELECTED.

-- Anonymous, April 03, 2000

Yes. I'd still read it, but only because I'm a whore.

-- Anonymous, April 03, 2000

Girl's gotta make a living somehow.

-- Anonymous, April 03, 2000

Hell yeah....

I read Byte and PCWeek and Salon.com and a whole bunch of other sites that have ads so why wouldn't I read Squishy with ads? (Just please not those popups that obscure text or stuff from doubleclick.com, thanks.)

Happy Birthday!

Jim

-- Anonymous, April 03, 2000

Pamie, your site is my favorite site soI wouldn't mind the banners!

-- Anonymous, April 03, 2000

P.S. Uh... will this be on the same server that your GetReal column is on? Because that is an extremely sloooooow loading page... bottom banner keeps blinking back and forth between two images while the main body of the page doesn't load and doesn't load and sometimes clicking on Stop will make the main part appear but sometimes it really hasn't loaded. (I've got cable access so it must be really painful with a phone modem.)

Jim (again)

-- Anonymous, April 03, 2000

I definately would. Like many of you are already saying, as long as the content is the same I can overlook the banners. Take the opportunity while it's there!!

And, I just wanted to say that my birthday is also arriving (4/20!). Woo. =) lol And Happy Birthday to you Pamie, of course! =D

-- Anonymous, April 03, 2000

I'm a'jumping on the bandwagon...

Short version: what they said. Longer version: Yes, I'd read you. Yes, I'd be proud -- if you can make some cash doing this, *go for it.* You deserve it, truly.

No, I'm not a big fan o'banner ads -- the ones at "Chickclick" are particuarly annoying; they should at least give you the option to turn it off once you've seen it. But they're not so annoying that I wouldn't read you anymore.

Oh, and Happy Birthday!!!! :)

-- Anonymous, April 03, 2000

Jim: it IS excruciating on a phone modem. Oh, yes, indeed.

The thing I worry about with banner ads and readers is not losing existing readers; I'd hope most of them would stick around. I'd be afraid of turning off new readers. But that might only be a problem within the online journaling community; I think other folks on the net are used to seeing banner ads and don't really care.

-- Anonymous, April 03, 2000

Go for it. Honestly, the ads don't even register with me anymore.

Also, for the people trying to read at work in a non-obvious manner, you can position the window so that the ads are off the bottom of your screen.

-- Anonymous, April 03, 2000

well. yes, i would still read, but damn, those geocities ones are annoying as hell. if they were like mbtv, i suppose i wouldn't really mind all that much, it's just annoying when things get slow. however, i am a squishy slut, and i don't think i could stay away, even if the banners were those crap ones like at geocities.

-- Anonymous, April 04, 2000

i'd still read.

-- Anonymous, April 04, 2000

sure, I'd still read. I've read pages with banners before and it's not that bad. sometimes it'll crash my computer but it's worth it to read if the page has content like this one. I'm addicted. have been since I first step foot on this page 2 weeks ago. I don't know why I never came sooner!! aack. too hilarious.

I wish I could get paid for my content..geez. I've been writing since 1997. aaah, but I'm not jealous or anything = )

-- Anonymous, April 04, 2000

Pamie, you definately deserve to get paid for what you do. But if you're talking about the banners that chickclick have been putting on mighty big tv? They suck. Really annoying.

I don't think it would stop me reading though.

Congratulations and happy birthday

-- Anonymous, April 04, 2000

OK, maybe i'm gonna say something that has been said already, but i just don't have the time right now to read all the other posts.

Don't do it. of course I'll still read it, but i'll hate for it. The ChickClicks banners shorten the page, the mightybigtv banner system id unstable for most old browser versions and stop you from printing the page [i swear, you have to load the page, desactivate java, and then reload the frame in a nother window to be able to finally print a recap. Why do I do it? because seometimes i have the time to print but not to read during the day, so I read at night... And my computer is at work only.]

you know what? even though i think it is dangerous to get money from audience [makes the writer a whore, mostly, and it's probably hard to resist], i would pay you to read squishy. I really would.

I'd like better to know i'm paying your hosting somewhere than read your journal with pop ups everywhere, or banner ads with java at the bottom stopping me from printing...

If you want to make money out of it, not just pay the hosting but get paid to write, that's a whole ifferent issue to me, and i don't think the problem is to find if your readers will follow, but to question wether or not you feel like geeting paid, earning money, to write down all these intimate thoughts...

Seems to me there is no good solution, but i still think that geeting money from nice readers wanting to help is kinda better than selling your writing to other editors.

i dunno. it's up to you anyway...

good luck and happy birthday [i'm 27, and believe me, it's ok :-)]

-- Anonymous, April 04, 2000

Pamie, do it. I'm amazed you haven't been getting paid for this so far - it's the consistently best site I've found. You should be getting paid for being this funny.

(and Happy Birthday!)

-- Anonymous, April 04, 2000

Yes I would, but I'd feel dirty about it.

-M

By the by, my birthday was Friday, and I can't quite cope with being 27. Of course, in less than a month I will be a father also... so I've got to cope with that...

-- Anonymous, April 04, 2000

Hello!! Why are you asking? Take the money!! And Happy Birthday, sell out.

-- Anonymous, April 04, 2000

We love you, Pammie. You should get paid. Go for it. :-)

-- Anonymous, April 04, 2000

Happy Birthday! and heck yeah, I would still read. As long as my work Internet lets me get to the site. They have a filter on Internet so I don't know if I could still get there.

-- Anonymous, April 04, 2000

Call me weird but I don't mind popups at all. One click and they gone. Banners on the other hand suck. I would definately keep reading Squishy. As others have said Miss Pam YOU ROCK.

-- Anonymous, April 04, 2000

Yes. Without question. Think of it this way--the columnists you enjoy on Salon, etc. have ads all over the place. Why SHOULDN'T you be paid for this?--Al

-- Anonymous, April 04, 2000

is it gunna be that friggin monkey that skitters across the screen at the speed of light?!? Go for it. Happy Birthday!

-- Anonymous, April 04, 2000

The ads I'm not worried about, Im worried that after you are getting paid all the bigs bucks and become a big star that you will forget all the little people on the forum.... hehehe Happy Birthday... 25 is the greatest age ever... I'm stopping right here...

-- Anonymous, April 04, 2000

Hey there pamie - I just have to put my two cents in.

The main way I read your page (and yes, I am SUCH a geek) is on my Palm Pilot while I'm riding the bus/train to and from work. I download your page using Avant Go. Which is great by the way... its like having company during my commute! Avant Go, unfortunately, does not support frames.

So I guess what I'm saying is, I would still be able to read your site if you had banner ads. But if they were in a frame, like MightyBigTV, I would not be able to sync you to my PalmPilot for company anymore. And then I would have to go back to reading big heavy books, or unwieldy crinkly newspapers. Sigh.

-- Anonymous, April 04, 2000

Wherever squishy will go, I will go. 'Nuff said.

-- Anonymous, April 04, 2000

Pamie, I'd follow you anywhere. Go get the bucks, you deserve it. Thanks for being part of what keeps me sane everyday.

-- Anonymous, April 04, 2000

If you want to get paid for it...do it! I can always close down the pop-ups (I do it for every other site I go to, it seems) and banners don't bother me at all. You could have purple bunnies popping up,and I would still check it out. Matter of fact, the bunnies might be a great addition....

-- Anonymous, April 04, 2000

Ugh. Banners and advertising suck and I *especially* hate the way that Chick Click does it's banners. Their frame banners take up most of the page and you can't get them to stop *and* they suck the bandwidth like no other. Whatever system they're using for their ad-serving really, really, pounds the connection.

Personally, I find chick-click kind of icky in the way it's capatalizing on a network of women-centered sites which should be able to exist ad-free. I know that you're pro-chick-click but its commercial nature gives me the heebie-jeebies.

-- Anonymous, April 04, 2000

Of course I'd still read. You update regularly and your writing is consistantly great. No question: I can deal with a few ads and banners in exchange for the daily enjoyment I get from your journal.

-- Anonymous, April 04, 2000

I'm afraid of the repercussions of such an act. While I think Pamie, Xeney et al. should be paid for something they put so much time into, I think that's going to turn the whole concept of journaling into a race for advertising dollars. "If I get more hits than you, I can make more money..." etc. I think it should stay like poetry- an art form nobody pays for, and something nobody in their right minds would do "for the money"...

-- Anonymous, April 04, 2000

If it works better for you, go for it. You give us all this for free.

Hello, Amanda, I see you!!!

-- Anonymous, April 04, 2000

Of course! If you can get paid to write and still retain complete control over the content, then why wouldn't you? I would be very happy to support your writing by let a few ads load onto my screen (which I would no doubt ignore anyway).

-- Anonymous, April 05, 2000

I think everything I have to say has been said by others, but to add my drop to the flood...

With banner ads on the pages themselves, yes, I'd continue reading. On the other hand, the ChickClick model... shudder. I've liked what I've seen on my few visits to the sites in that group... but the frames and the ads have succeeded in driving me away. It's just not worth it. In Lynx, the sites are unnavigable, and in Netscape, they're far too annoying to be worth the effort.

As for how this would affect the personal (as opposed to commercial) nature of the site... well, that's for you to consider. Obviously, it would make a difference, but as long as you're comfortable with it, there's nothing wrong with that.

-- Anonymous, April 05, 2000

yes, I'd still read. I have to, I have no choice at this point. I'm completely addicted to Squishy. Some banners are not so bad, it just so happens that the ones at Mightybigtv are just a tad annoying because they flash at you all the time, I find myself very distracted and actually decide that I would have clicked on them, but because they are so blatantly annoying me - I simply won't. That'll show em.

So whatever you do, I will still read it, although i like it just fine the way it is.

-- Anonymous, April 05, 2000

Of course, it's good that you'd get control over content. Would you also be able to control the frequency? You have your own internal forces that drive you to write an entry every day, and those forces should stay internal. I don't mind banners one bit, but I don't want someone telling you you can't skip a day, or a week, or whatever, when you choose to.

-- Anonymous, April 05, 2000

Get your cheddar and benjamins!

(get paid)

-- Anonymous, April 05, 2000

Hey, for those of you who don't wanna look at the popup ads if she changes....

http://www.zoom.com/techsprt/adsubtract.shtml

Free software for blocking it.

-- Anonymous, April 07, 2000

I'm of two minds on this.

On the microlevel, I think writers deserve a shot at making a living at their craft. Having been a writer for a long-assed time and seen how much our culture can be "style over substance" and willing to shell out big bucks for passive entertainment while snubbing those who's art you truly have to interact with, I am not for a second going to say that a writer shouldn't have just as much of a chance as a musician or clothing designer to get paid for what they do.

So on one level, I say go for it.

On a much larger level, advertising-driven media is evil because, more than the Communications Decency Act or any other big government program, is the driving force behind censorship. There is no real range of thought or opinion on television or commercial radio. Why? Because everything has to be filtered through business interests. Will this help or hurt our sales? Will this attract the right demographic? Does this encourage or discourage consumerism?

It doesn't mean that Pamie would be csored bysome men in black who constantly monitored her posts, it means that Pamie has been selected because she already fits a certain profile, attracts the right demographic, and doesn't say anything too radical. I'm not by any means attacking Pamie's style or suggesting she change, I love Squishy and read it every day. What I am saying is that demanding that everything be "free" and relying on advertisers means we will only be able to read folks who write like Pamie, and there are thousands of other great writers out there who might even have a big audience but won't be given a shot because their audience doesn't buy enough new CDs or Carribean Cruises for advertisers to be interested.

I'm much more interested in a micropayment system where you would have a net bank account and every time you read one of Pamie's entries, five cents is transferred from your account to hers. I'm going to be doing a lot of work on this type of thing in the future.

And of course, ultimately I would like to see people take real power, real democracy, and real choice back into their own hands and create a society based around need, not around megaprofit for a few. A society where we could all realistically have a four hour workday and a four day workweek and have all the free time we needed to do our music, our journals, our art, without having to worry about getting paid for it.

I guess that's *really* big picture.

-- Anonymous, April 07, 2000

Yes, I would keep reading.

-- Anonymous, April 08, 2000