apartment therapy changing the world, one room at a time

Thanks for all you do to keep this site going. That CB2 video sounds fun!

Congrats on year 5!!

G'luck with the lawsuit.

Congratulations, but I do have to differ on your assertion that you "haven't really been concentrating on ads." The site is full of ads, even more so since the redesign. I don't particularly care, because they don't interfere with my enjoyment of the site, but it's totally disingenous for you to say you haven't been focusing on ads.

Also, the "sponsored posts" are clearly a blatant attempt to disguise advertising as legitimate AT post. Just get these people to buy ad space as it currently exists. Those posts are really sleazy. They make you, the proprieters of the site, look bad.

What does the Sunglass Hut have to do with AT?

Matilda (and others who are unhappy with the ads),

Just a quick thought - I use Firefox with AdBlock Plus, and I don't see a single ad when I browse this site. I actually had no idea there were any ads here until the brouhaha about the sponsored posts.

If you'd like to browse AP ad-free, I'd highly recommend it.

(AT renders beautifully in Firefox, too!)

um, that would be AT (not AP).

I love the site and think y'all are doing a great job. Until this came up recently, I never really noticed the ads. If I did, they seemed easy enough to ignore. Keep up the great work!

I'm not unhappy about the ads, that was my point. I'm unhappy about the sponsored posts, which are different.

I agree with Matilda. The ads seem to be everywhere, even in the middle of posts. I think the problem is they don't generate enough click-throughs so new ways of creating interest are necessary.

But I also agree with Maxwell that new types of ads may be cool, if done properly.

Tapping into the mindset of companies that put out the products we buy and like could be really interesting. They are not all fiercely competitive corporate behemoths but living businesses filled with people just as passionate about design as the typical AT reader. And let's face it, the typical advertising copy is usually not that exciting.

So my suggestion is to open up AT for paid posts written not by AT's own staff but by the people working for those companies. Call them guest editors. Allow them to talk freely about their products and their mission. Never mind they are not writers. I'm sure they'd all agree to have someone proofread their post. I would read their posts.

The sponsored posts are really pretty blatant attemps to hide that you are actually trying to get people to read these posts as if they are not ads. It cheapens you and what you are setting out to do here, and makes you look devious. I'd rather have larger banner ads than these, but that's just my opinion.

I would agree that hosting any ads that pretend to be the real item bring down the reputation of the host a *lot*. And are also an insult to the readers.

This makes me think of the radio ads that are the dj's talking about how they used this product or service and how great it is - and then recall that those ads are usually on (obnoxious) talk radio.

I really don't want AT to be talk radio.

And if you are taking general feedback-

I love love love house tours! But with the small cool contest and the large number of them last month, having the house tours at the same time was actually too much - maybe during contests you could push them back to the next month?

Also the trial posts for the bloggers being interviewed were fun, but again, confusing during the contest - the posts were likely to be voted on for the look of the places they showed versus their blogging abilities...

I think having the trial bloggers do house tours was a poor idea as well. I think most people didn't realize they were judging the blogger and not the house tour. I dont know, maybe it could have used a more obvious intro.

Overall, I really love this site to death. Thank you