David Kanter (dkanter@realworldtech.com) on 4/22/12 wrote:
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>>If I visit a website, I do that because I want to visit THAT website, not some
>>random crap on the internet. By not hosting the ads >yourself you don't take responsibility
>>for them (and also slowing down the loading).
>
>>That you go through an advertising network doesn't mean you can't host (and select)
>>the ads yourself. Maybe they don't give that option, but >it's technically possible.
>>I'd call it quality and content control, but if you don't care about that for your
>>site, fine. But don't whine I'm not loading random crap >from the internet.
>
>Advertising networks will not give you that option unless you are a giant site.
>
>I loathe the reality of this situation, since I have no control over the ad network.
>They could serve ads quickly, or they could stall out.
>
>What's most aggravating is that the ads often cause articles/forum posts to load slowly. That is a total affront to me.
>
>However, unless we somehow grow the site by several orders of magnitude I'm stuck with that problem.
>
>The alternative is to implement some sort of ad-free, paid subscription. Which is quite sensible.
>
>Actually, if you are big enough like the NYT or WSJ, you can just put up a pay
>wall altogether. But that's not really a good solution for more boutique sites.

It seems to work for LWN.net.