Gah. Ok, so after further investigation into my settings over at Burst Media, I discovered what the problem was. Apparently -- unless I simply can't find it anywhere -- they removed a feature that allowed me to say "don't display more than X pop-up ads per user per session." When this feature first debuted, I set it up so that people shouldn't get more than like 2-3 pop-up ads over the course of one browser session.

Since then, apparently that restriction was disposed of, yet I was still subscribed to all these pop-up ad campaigns. Actually, this probably explains why RinkWorks received a boost in earnings a couple months ago.

Anyway, I have since unsubscribed from all pop-up advertising campaigns, leaving only the pop-under ads (which make more anyway, paradoxically enough).

> ... (they don't make sounds, thankfully, but these recent Expedia ads that pop crap up all the damn time are driving me batty)

I ditched the Expedia campaign. Incidentally, if you ever *do* get an ad on RinkWorks that make use of sound, let me know, and I'll be quick to dump it.

> The real fact of the matter here is that pop-up advertising is an awful way to generate revenue for your work -- *nobody* likes it, and from what I can tell it doesn't generate very much revenue anyway.

Pop-under ads account for roughly half of RinkWorks' total revenue from advertising. It's too much for me to dispense with entirely until I have a job that pays what I was making before I was laid off last year. But I agree with what you say, and I look forward to when I can dump them.

> I, for one, would much rather be able to just buy a RW subscription (or something) and not have the damn ads. Everyone would be happier: I wouldn't have to put up with your ads, you'd get more money.

In another post, Grishny said:

> But the real question is, would it be worth it to you to do that? I haven't a clue how much work it would be for you to set up an ads-free version of RinkWorks, how difficult it would be to keep non-subscribers from hacking their way into it, and whether it would generate enough revenue for you to make up for not having the ads.

It'll have to wait until after I get back from Ohio, but it's entirely possible that I'll be able to continue to offer an ads-based version of RinkWorks, while simultaneously offering a subscription service that allows access without any advertising at all. I'd have to sit down and figure out how much I'd have to charge to offset the missed ads, but I'm sure I could come up with a reasonable guess.

I've already pretty much decided to charge something small for the upcoming follow-up to Murkon's Refuge, but maybe what I should do instead of asking for both a non-ads subscription and a series of one-time game fees is offer two levels of subscription service: one that just removes ads, and one that removes ads *and* provides access to whatever subscription-only content areas I might come up with in the future.

Thoughts?