{"id":6704,"date":"2015-02-11T10:56:25","date_gmt":"2015-02-11T17:56:25","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/admin.patheos.com\/blogs\/frankschaeffer\/?p=6704"},"modified":"2015-03-12T17:34:53","modified_gmt":"2015-03-12T23:34:53","slug":"dear-patheos-reader-if-you-are-running-an-ad-block-while-reading-this-you-are-stealing-from-writers-like-me","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/frankschaeffer\/2015\/02\/dear-patheos-reader-if-you-are-running-an-ad-block-while-reading-this-you-are-stealing-from-writers-like-me\/","title":{"rendered":"Dear Patheos Reader: If You Are Running an “Ad Block” While Reading This You Are Stealing From Writers Like Me"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

Once\u00a0upon\u00a0a time people who read books and articles and listened to music and watched movies paid for their entertainment and learning experiences. Then they\u2013we\u2013got used to free art, writing, music and films. The Internet made this \u201cfree\u201d stuff possible. I like the Internet. But\u00a0thieving\u00a0is uncool. Mea Culpa! I\u2019ve done my share on online thieving. But that was before I thought about it.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

No, I\u2019m not talking morality here. I\u2019m talking selfish interest. See, I want there to be new music, books and movies. And if everyone is a rip off artist art will die.<\/p>\n

The problem is that things are complicated now and so I\u2019m not just talking about run of the mill stealing here. I\u2019m talking about something I\u2019ll bet you may never have thought about. I didn\u2019t until recently.<\/p>\n

I\u2019m talking about the \u201cAd Block\u201d rip off.<\/p>\n

I\u2019ll explain, but first let me get personal for a moment. I\u2019m a writer. All I have to live on is what my books make for me either in\u00a0sales on paper or online. These days lots of those sales depend on my blogging platform.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Blogging is a way to say what I think needs saying and also to keep my name in front of readers. And without that platform,\u00a0places\u00a0like Patheos, Salon and Huffington Post I can\u2019t earn a\u00a0living. Nor can any other writers except for a few big name celebrities. \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

So when readers use\u00a0Ad Block<\/strong> programs to read my material without the ads<\/em> <\/strong>I understand the aesthetic impulse but I wonder how they think that platforms that allow writers who are just working stiffs like me to exist at all will stay in business. You are already reading the work for free. Do you really want to\u00a0harm the site by blocking the last and only revenue source?<\/span><\/p>\n

You see running a site like Patheos.com (that gives me the freedom to write) and that provides me and hundreds of other writers, with a platform isn\u2019t free<\/strong><\/em>.<\/p>\n

The people who advertise count the number of times a page is opened with their ad on it. <\/strong><\/em>They\u00a0discount page views where the\u00a0Ad Block is used. In other words you block the ad and by doing harm\u00a0the lifeblood of the site.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

So those using\u00a0Ad Block aren\u2019t just reading for free, they\u2019re more or less shop lifting too.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

They are taking away the base that means people like me get to write. No platforms in this new writers online market equals no writers\u2013eventually. Do you really want only the vast media based sites to survive? Don\u2019t you want indy and feisty voices like Patheos out there? \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

So please think about it before you not only read for free but use a program\u2013that if everyone used it\u2013would shut down this \u201cbookstore\u201d the same way so many bricks and mortar stores are closed. I happen to know that there are so many readers using Ad Block already who are Patheos readers that they have managed to hurt this site. If that\u2019s you, did you mean to do that? I\u2019ll bet you did not.<\/p>\n

Thank you! Please just put up with a little intrusion and keep reading.<\/p>\n

Frank\u00a0Schaeffer<\/a><\/strong>\u00a0is a writer.\u00a0His latest book \u2014<\/span>WHY I AM AN ATHEIST WHO BELIEVES IN GOD:<\/strong>\u00a0How to give love, create beauty and find peace<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n

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Available now on Amazon<\/h2>\n
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Follow Frank on Twitter\u00a0<\/em><\/strong>www.twitter.com\/frank_schaeffer<\/strong><\/a>See Frank\u2019s paintings\u00a0<\/em><\/strong>http:\/\/www.frankschaefferart.com\/<\/strong><\/a>Follow Frank on Facebook<\/em><\/strong>\u00a0<\/strong>https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/frank.schaeffer.16<\/strong><\/a>Contact Frank at<\/em><\/strong>\u00a0<\/strong>http:\/\/www.frankschaeffer.com\/<\/a><\/strong><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Once\u00a0upon\u00a0a time people who read books and articles and listened to music and watched movies paid for their entertainment and learning experiences. Then they\u2013we\u2013got used to free art, writing, music and films. The Internet made this \u201cfree\u201d stuff possible. I like the Internet. But\u00a0thieving\u00a0is uncool. Mea Culpa! I\u2019ve done my share on online thieving. But […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1161,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[680,7],"tags":[1265,1269,1270,1268,1266,1267,432],"class_list":["post-6704","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-art-2","category-religion","tag-ad-block","tag-blogging-websites","tag-income","tag-rip-off-artists","tag-shop-lifting","tag-stealing","tag-writing"],"yoast_head":"\nDear Patheos Reader: If You Are Running an "Ad Block" While Reading This You Are Stealing From Writers Like Me<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Once\u00a0upon\u00a0a time people who read books and articles and listened to music and watched movies paid for their entertainment and learning experiences. 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