What is this image? It is a screenshot from my iPhone of a Daily Kos action “popup” or whatever you want to call it. This site has been using these for years to organize us and to guide our outreach and efforts to change things in the world. Usually it is a petition. I have signed many.
But this one is not a petition, it is an advertisement for Aspiration.com, a private online bank and brokerage looking for customers.
Note that I am “logged in” at the top right. I have a subscription so I should not see advertisements. This is an ad. Not a petition or call to action. I see it despite being logged in. What is going on here?
Recently I have seen other complaints by subscribers to DK about the Civiqs banner, suggesting that it is no more than an advertisement for another venture by the owner of the site. I also wish that it did not show on a logged in subscriber page. We pay to not see advertisements. If you want to show ads, show them, but don’t charge money to not show them and then STILL show them.
Especially when you disguise them as an action item that we are all used to seeing and clicking on to try to HELP things be better. That is the ultimate betrayal, really. We are here to act and this is not an act, it is an AD!
Especially hiding it as a kind of service to the community by showing the same polls 24/7/365 when a simple link to Civiqs somewhere would let us guide our own interests. It is an AD!
Whoever is making these decision at Daily Kos is eroding good faith. It is really not good business or good activism I love the site. I have been here since 2004. I pay for the site. Why is DK trying to subvert good will?
Love,
Apotropaic
Edit: 21 Votes and 18 of them say that “Ad Free Should Mean Ad Free”. Only one vote says that people should be able to lie to make money. Not sure why that person would be on Daily Kos, but hey.
There seems to be a misconception of my point among some. DK does not ALWAYS put a petition or pop up in front of us when we load the page. It may be more common on Mobile, I don’t know, I usually am on my phone so maybe I notice it more.
Regardless, even if you don’t see what I see, it is still real and in the DK ecosystem on at least a percentage of page loads. It is an advertisement in a position on the page that is usually reserved for not only content, but important calls to action. It isn’t ok if it is only on Mobile. It isn’t OK if only some of us see it. It isn’t ok, period.
Even for those who DON’T pay for ad free daily kos should not have to be tricked into clicking an Ad in a location on the site where they are used to clicking to take action in the world.
I think this needs to stop, right now. It is not ok. I do not believe for a second that Markos would disagree with me. I hope it is taken care of.