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MNHQ

Skimlinks on Talk

17 replies

AmyGMumsnet · 03/02/2017 18:54

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

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MNHQ

JustineMumsnet · 06/02/2017 10:04

Hi all,
Sorry you're not keen on these links. Obviously we do have to pay the bills and we are constantly trying to find the least intrusive ways of doing so. Over the past few weeks we've rejected various high-impact ad formats - pushdowns, expandables and interscrollers - which you'll increasingly notice on other sites and which feel like the way online advertising is going. The revenue that we currently make from the banner at the top and the square one at the side on desktop is therefore under threat and the pressure to be more intrusive, not less is growing.

We've always been against a paywall philosophically because we think Mumsnet should be available to everyone, not just those who can afford it. I also doubt it will work as a substitute as many folk are just against paying. That said, it's possibly something we could experiment with as an alternative - e.g. pay for the ad free version and we are also looking at alternative ways to generate revenue other than advertising. I'm sure we'll get there over time but until we do we've got to pay the bills somehow.

Obviously, the last thing we want to do is ruin your user experience but, in truth, there's got to be a compromise somewhere and we think there's an argument at least for these word links as at times at least they have some utility. It may well be something that feels less irritating in time - often these things are less noticeable once you've got used to them. So can we give it a few weeks please and see if the irritation fades a bit?

MNHQ

JustineMumsnet · 07/02/2017 08:19

@AliceInUnderpants

For reference for MNHQ: www.mumsnet.com/Talk/_chat/2846336-Is-anyone-else-finding-the-word-sainsbury-s-as-a-link-to-the-website

And to everyone else, there's details there of what information MNHQ are selling about our usage, and also details of how you can block or opt out of this intrusion.

I'd also quite like a response to my question about whether we are to expect from now on that all clicks on this website are now hidden marketing attempts, despite not being apparent.

Hi Alice - this is not something we've tried to hide from users. Hence this conversation. As said, we need to generate revenue somehow as this is a large site and expensive to run. We're not passing your data or putting big intrusive ads up - things that many sites routinely do - we're turning a few mentions of shops into links which may even be useful sometimes.

In truth, none of these decisions are easy. I'd rather Mumsnet was completely devoid of marketing but it's just not realistic so until some rich philanthropist comes along and offers to bankroll us we do need to generate revenue somehow.

MNHQ

JustineMumsnet · 10/02/2017 12:02

@LilithTheKitty

Wasn't this tried a few months ago and lots of people hated it so it was stopped?

Not that I recall - think you are thinking of native-style ads in Talk which we removed and are working on to make a clearer, better user experience as we speak.

I'm checking on the colour thing and will see if we can come up with an option on that.

Thanks for the feedback.

MNHQ

KatherineMumsnet · 13/02/2017 13:49

Thanks for all your feedback, everyone.

We're looking into whether it's technically possible to have no links on sensitive topics - will get back to you as soon as we know more.

RockNRollNerd, we currently won't accept direct advertising from the following companies and types of company:

Payday loans, baby food marketed for babies under 6 months old, follow-on/formula milk, gambling, cosmetic surgery, Nestle (formula milk marketing in the developing world), publications like The Sun, Zoo and FHM which overtly objectify women, porn, and Seaworld.

We also have the following blocks in place for automatically served ads (Adsense/Adwords):
Bingo/lottery, casino/gambling, cigarettes/cigars/tobacco, dating, credit cards, weight loss, gaming/online/video games, guns/ammo/weapons, loans - home/mortgages/students/financial aid, medical - hospitals/plastic surgery/quit smoking, online videos, pharmaceuticals/drugs, religious, psychics, adult sites, virus scanner and credit reporting. And if we spot things we don't like the look of, or MNers report them, we'll block them reactively too.

Hope that helps - we'll get back to you on the Skimlinks questions as soon as we've got more info.

MNHQ

KateMumsnet · 13/02/2017 14:17

Herewecomeawassailing, here's an example of the kind of native content that Justine talks about in the article.

MNHQ

KateMumsnet · 13/02/2017 17:05

Hello folks - it looks as though it will be possible to have Skimwords links appear in a different colour to regular links, and to exclude them from sensitive topics as well.

It's going to take a little time but we'll get started on the work tomorrow and keep you updated on progress.

Thanks all

MNHQ

MNHQ

KateMumsnet · 14/02/2017 15:21

Hi folks

Thanks for all your comments - here's a quick update on where we're at.

We've made sure that Skimwords won't appear in sensitive topics, and as requested they're now displaying in a lighter blue, to distinguish them from links posted by other MNers.

We've also adjusted the density at which Skimwords works, so there should be fewer instances of phrases like 'fuel pump' linking to car parts sites.

Thanks again for all your feedback - as Justine said up thread, we're going to give this a bit of time to bed in and then take another look. It may be, as with previous changes on MN, that this takes a bit of getting used to, but feels less intrusive over time.

Thanks all

MNHQ

MNHQ

KateMumsnet · 14/02/2017 15:23

Grin

Mentions of car parts will, however, continue to link to car parts sites...

MNHQ

KateMumsnet · 15/02/2017 08:29

Alas I think not BIWI - but I will double check.

MNHQ

AmyMumsnet · 16/02/2017 10:17

Hi folks,

Changing the auto-links to light blue was the quickest way to differentiate them from other links, but we'll get Tech back on the case and see if we can choose a more obvious colour.

MNHQ

AmyMumsnet · 17/02/2017 15:23

Hi Hemi, that sounds strange. Would you be able to point us in the direction of a post which is linking incorrectly and we'll take a closer look?

MNHQ

AmyMumsnet · 20/02/2017 13:06

Hi folks,

We are aware that Skimwords is linking some words rather over-enthusiastically, and we're continuing to test the settings to try and stop this happening.

perfectly, we have disabled Skimwords on sensitive topics - could you please send us over the rape thread you're referring to so we can take a look at what's happened?

RedandYellow, Skimwords will only be linking to mainstream shopping sites so you shouldn't be landing anywhere which is promoting racial hatred or disablism. We also have the ability to exclude certain sites from linking so if you do see anything unsavoury let us know and we'll put it on the exclusion list.

Thanks for flagging the issue with the link colour on mobile, we've passed this on to tech who are working on a fix.

We're going to give this a bit of time to bed in now but we'll continue to monitor the situation and in the meantime thanks for all your input.

MNHQ

AmyMumsnet · 22/02/2017 14:51

Hi folks,

We've passed on the Doctor Who linking problem to Skimlinks and this should stop happening shortly. We'll continue to look out for any other over-zealous linking and block those phrases from the system.

Tardis
MNHQ

JustineMumsnet · 24/02/2017 09:50

[quote AliceInUnderpants]@JustineMumsnet - how long is a few weeks to see how things go? What is the review process? Is it going to taken onboard what users think of this sneaky, inaccurate advertising scam, or just whether it's making MN money?

What is the review criteria?[/quote]

Hi Alice - a few weeks is well, a few weeks - at the moment we're tinkering with the settings to try to make it work better and stop linking to random words like Doctor Who. There are three settings, Maximum, Optimum and Minimum. We were at Optimum originally (and blue links) but since monday have reduced it to Minimum to try to cut out the rogue words it's picking up and linking to and changed the links to magenta.
We'll review the performance of the new setting after the weekend, assess the revenue and of course your feedback and take then a view.

Thanks for all the input.

MNHQ

AmyMumsnet · 24/02/2017 11:28

Hi folks,

We've had another tinker with the back-end and most nouns should no longer auto-link. @Waltons, we're adding your name to the exclusion list now, although it might take a little while to update.

MNHQ

JustineMumsnet · 02/03/2017 10:34

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.

MNHQ

JustineMumsnet · 02/03/2017 11:04

@olderthanyouthink

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

well that would be nice of you Smile

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