Skimlinks on Talk

[AmyGMumsnet]

Hi folks,

Some of you might have spotted a few more links in discussions across the site - this is because we're testing out a programme called Skimlinks, which auto-converts some of your brand mentions into links.

This makes it easier for you to have a look at products that other MNers happen to mention on the boards, and, if you decide to make a purchase from one of these links, Mumsnet benefits from a small commission.

Thanks all - let us know if you experience any issues that you think might be related.

MNHQ

*it's all for the greater good:

This makes it easier for you to have a look at products that other MNers happen to mention on the boards, and, if you decide to make a purchase from one of these links, Mumsnet benefits from a small commission*

Comments like that are the reason people are so annoyed. I assumed that comment wasn't from staff, but it was. Even my pre teen would hate being spoken to like he is stupid.

I could understand if the site wasn't created by users content, like the guardian, or if it was in the black. But 2 million profit a year is loads for a message board.

Someone said that is low compared to 3 million of MSE, but MSE is a very different site and makes a shit load of money from all the commission for expensive financial products. They got £150 for everyone they suggested to sign up to an Icelandic bank.

I imagine they get paid per click and action depending on the link, so people just clicking to see where the link will lead (like me!) are probably making the skim linking look successful.

And of course the things the skimlinks link to are a best tangentially related to the content of the post. So not that useful to users really.

Gee, thanks MN. I've just wasted a (slightly anxious) hour or so trying to figure out if my phone had been infected with malware. Then I cleared my browser history and data to be on the safe side, which is actually really inconvenient because it serves a purpose and now it's gone. (I also had to reset my MN password - I'd forgotten it as have the 'stay logged in' box checked.)

Then I thought to check here, only to discover you've opted for skimlinks. A heads-up would've been helpful.

I actually need a new shed. Shame I've put ad blocker on

Here's a link to a shed company I've put in just to be helpful, Beyond. If you buy a shed from there they will send me 5p and of course Walton$ herself will be rolling in it.

Just seen one of these on a thread about university. Someone mentioned i n s u r a n c e c h o ice
and it showed as a skimlink to god knows what. Nothing to do with the subject being discussed though. Who's going to see that and think 'oh, that reminds me, must get the car/house insurance sorted'?

Which adblockers are people using? I use 2 but these are still showing.

Found this www.avforums.com/faq/how-do-i-disable-skimlinks-skimwords.19/. Will it work if you put,
[noskim]This is some text I do not want Skimlinks or Skimwords to create a link in.[/noskim] on here? A faff, of course.

I use this one
adblockplus.org/

Hmm, I use that but it's not blocking these...

try clearing cookies from your browser, I think thats how skimlinks works (?)

See olderthanyouthinks's post above - AdBlock Plus has whitelisted skimlinks, so to get rid of them, you need to untick the option 'allow some non-intrusive advertising'.

thank you Tribpot!
(I'm even dimmer than I thought I was)

Excellent, it's worked! I'd looked on the exceptions list before bt it was long so didn't look very hard. Should have searched for the words.

Currently blocking 32 ads on this page - and the number keeps rising as I type.

What a shame that now because of MN people are blocking even nonintrusive adverts across all websites. MN might make millions but plenty of other website don't and are reliant on adverts.

I totally understand that people have to filter these intrusive light pink words, seeing that every one of them grows into this humongous, unclosable porn page that blasts out loudly. It would be different if they were just pink words people can either click or not.

I find them intrusive,, because they break the flow of reading. Just the SAME as if random WORDS were capitalised or bolded

Yes we don't have to click but it's quite automatic for me when I see a link to something I want more info about - then you find it's not giving more info, it's a link to a shed company. Or Amazon.

I know I have capitalised, boldes and underlined the wrong words there by the way

jdoe8 I agree that it's a shame that MN has meant that people completely blocked ads so they won't be seeing ads on smaller sites that just use ads to cover the hosting cost.

Mumsnet i have a very serious question upthread that no one has responded to and everyone needs to be aware!!!!!!!!!!!

Waaayy upthread TheSnorkMaidenReturns used the words local newspaper in her post and it has linked to Bristol news website.

I am worried this has outed her location and will happen to others with location services and whatnot..... PLEASE ANSWER!

Well, the ideal would be a humongous yet personal, and well run webpage, total freedom of speech yet moderated to remain legal, naturally free of charge and no ads whatsoever.

But since it isn't free to run, it could be user-paid, financed by ads or sponsored. Each has its disadvantages, but for me, ads are the best way. I would not want to pay and I imagine there would be an uproar if it was sponsored, any moderator decisions would be looked at with suspicion.

molly as far as I know the Skimlinks are tailored to the reader not the poster, the links aren't added when the post was written (hence posts from years ago also having them). Are anywhere near Bristol? Sometimes I get ads targeting me saying hey resident of click this. Sometimes they are very off, thinking I'm somewhere 20 or so miles away.

No that's the thing Older. I am as far away from Bristol as you could be and have never googled, searched or done anything on the laptop regarding Bristol, which made me wonder if Skimlinks uses a posters location services...

Oh molly... that link to "local newspaper" was there because the poster put the link there . I just went looking for the post and noticed I could see the link and I've got AdBlock on. The link is blue not the red the skimlinks are now.

I think that Skimlinks only gets your location when you click a link but with google analytics MNHQ can see where you physically are and what page you're on, how you got there etc. (I really enjoyed looking at this on one of the sites I built)

Ok thanks to everyone for the feedback. We've now had a couple of weeks of testing this and been able to gauge how adaptable and flexible it is operationally and how much revenue it generates.

Put simply, we've decided it's not sufficiently adaptable to the Mumsnet forum needs to make it painless for users. And in any case the revenue generated doesn't really justify the downside of carrying an extra format on the site.

So we are ditching it forthwith. Thanks for being part of the experiment - one positive thing that's come out of it is that we are looking at an ad-free subscription version of MN to offer more choice for folks of how they'd like MN to be. More on that in due course...

Thanks again to those who've taken time to give their views - we do always value and take them into account in our decision-making - and we appreciate your patience in allowing us to test a few things to help pay the bills and to keep the site on a secure financial footing, so we can make sure it's fit for purpose for the next generation of parents.

yay, I may turn the non-invasive ads back on