For the past few years, WordPress has put a little box at the very bottom of our posts with the notice “Sometimes, visitors may see an advertisement here.” That implies — and it used to be the case — that they would place ads at the bottom of our posts. And, of course, they’ve always told us that if we are logged into our account, we won’t see the ads.
However, this year, WP has begun to put large ads all throughout our posts. Even though they still “say” that an add might appear at the very bottom — which implies that the bottom is the only place ads will go — they are popping ads into our posts in as much as 4 or 5 places, interrupting our text, and then throwing in more ads at the bottom of the post.
I don’t argue that they have a right to put in an ad or two if they offer the web space free, but, in my opinion, they have been very deceptive about the whole thing since the changes this year, and — also in my opinion — one or two ads at the bottom of the page should be sufficient. Moreover, some of the ads are offensive and vulgar, and can, at times, seriously conflict with the purpose and tone of the blog itself.
So, folks, don’t stay in the dark about your blog or website. Be sure you log out of WP and then pull up your site while you’re logged out. Do it regularly. You need to be aware of what the general public sees whey they visit your site.
Other WordPress users are not supposed to see your ads either — although several times recently I’ve seen them even when logged in.
But it’s important that you be aware that a whole lot of people visiting your site are being exposed to tons of ads that you may not even agree with at all. At least if you are aware of the specific ads, you can say something to your visitors if necessary — or be prepared if you get any negative feedback or reaction from visitors who may be judging you by the ads they see on your site.
WordPress has really been pushing hard lately to get everyone to purchase a blog rather than use the free service. I understand that they want and need to make money. But these pressure tactics — including deluging our posts with mass advertising — seems a little over the top for good customer relations.
The Happy Wordcrafter 
I noticed that when I was reading your story. I just scroll past. I am intelligent enough to realize that the ads are a product of WP and NOT reflective of the person or their blog. And, I do agree that their are far too many ads these days. ~Shalom, Bear
This why I have paid for my blogs over the years. As a Christian, I have been leary as to what they might choose to put on it. It irritates me to have to do it, but that is why I chose to pay. I am considering dropping one of them again. Now they have also chosen to charge separately for the domain, which just gave them an 18% increase.
I had another site that I paid for for years — with GoDaddy, but I finally dropped it when I made such good connections on WordPress, because I have to work much harder to make those connections with the other site — since it’s on a totally separate platform and not in a sort of “family” of bloggers that can just click a button to be connected. But for the past 7 years, WP has put only one ad on my pages — if that much — and they have been ads that didn’t conflict with the tone or spiritual content of my sites. However, this year, all that has changed, so I’m probably going to have to go back to buying one or two sites and cutting out the rest. If I have to go back to paying, I’ll go back to using just GoDaddy. I already pay for my personal domain name and my ministry domain name with them, and I’ve kept those just in case. GoDaddy is a much, much better company to deal with. They have tech support 24/7 by phone and they are super nice and helpful.
You sound as upset as I am. Maybe I should retire from blogging. 12 years IS a long time. That thought has crossed my mind more often lately. Not sure I would want to move to a new platform and start anew. At 76, it is time for the younger generation to step forward. Especially Christian young people.
But you must remember that Moses, Joshua and Caleb didn’t even get good and started until they were 80. 🙂 🙂 🙂
You just had to remind me of that, didn’t you. 🙂 Onward, forward, keep on keeping on. I hear you and I agree. Just like you, overwhelmed with things at the moment. This too shall pass.
I do have to say that the idea of starting from scratch on a new site is more than I want to think about. But I think most of these platforms have a process by which they can just transfer everything that’s published from one site to another. But, in all honestly I’m so overwhelmed right now with work and trying to counsel a family member who lost her husband last week, and deal with the death of a dear friend this week, as well as try to minister to his wife — as well as trying to save my huge beautiful Blue Spruce tree, which suddenly looks like it’s in the process of dying — that I frankly have thought about just shutting down all my Internet work. Of course, considering something so drastic is probably a sure sign that I need to take some time and let things settle a while before making that decision. I know it sounds silly to say I’m so concerned about a tree, but I’ve raised this tree from a baby and had to pray it through from the beginning. It has a lot of emotional meaning for me, and I just can’t bear to lose it right now. ( I can’t afford it either. Cutting down a 25-foot Blue Spruce is a very expensive undertaking.)
Also, I wouldn’t be nearly so aggravated about it if WP had contacted us and told us that they were hurting for money and were going to have to start putting more ads on the free sites. At least we would have had fair warning and could have re-evaluated our decision about upgrading. But they haven’t been above-board about it at all. They still say that they “might put one ad at the bottom of our posts,” but what they actually do now is slip in 4, 5, and 6 ads on every post, that disrupt our text, and then drop down another ad from the top that also interferes with the content. They are using all that stuff like “strong-arm” tactics to try to force us to switch to paid sites. It’s the underhandedness of their actions and treatment that is really getting to me.
Hang in there. You teach this stuff. You can’t change, or you would have to re-write your lectures. 🙂
Well, yeah, there is that …….
Maybe I just need a change in layout or something. I think I’m getting bored with my own website. How sad is that?????
🙂