Thanks for your support!
by Mike
Hey EXKCD fans! I'm Mike, the creator of this here website. And this is Jeff, the powerhouse writer that gets all the content up. We used to have google ads up here to cover our web costs but they banned us because of click bombing and took all our money. We never wanted to ask you, the fans, for money, but I recently had to leave my job and I'm trying to raise some money for some cool new projects. So we're adding a donation button to the site. If you like what we do please feel free to throw a buck or two at us. We'd greatly appreciate it! But no pressure! Just keep enjoying the content.
Happy Friday!
Update: The donate button embedded in the post wasn't working. So you can click on the button in the sidebar over there on the right.
Thanks, Mike & Jeff
April 12th, 2012
Have you tried explaining to them that you were not responsible for the click bombing?
April 13th, 2012
It doesn’t matter who did the click bombing…
If click bombing happens, then Google can’t charge the Advertiser.
If Google can’t charge the Advertiser, then there isn’t any money to pay the publisher.
April 13th, 2012
I see what you… well, I got the joke.
April 15th, 2012
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O7OqEnPHVDk&list=PL96B2AB716E9BD4DC&index=24&feature=plpp_video
April 12th, 2012
“feel free to through a buck or two at us”
*throw
April 13th, 2012
Thanks!
April 13th, 2012
You may want to take a look at http://www.projectwonderful.com/
They are who I switched to after getting Click Bombed and banned.
April 20th, 2012
I’ve been very impressed with Project Wonderful’s set-up. Reports are that it doesn’t pay as well as a similarly sized area hosting one of the more generalized ad providers, but the drastic increase in control, options, and connection with a particular advertising community should be worth it – especially if the alternative is not hosting an ad box at all.
April 13th, 2012
Stupid click bombers.
April 13th, 2012
Maybe you could consider Flattr too?
April 13th, 2012
Please add a flattr button to your posts (one for each post).
April 14th, 2012
Seconded! Er, thirded! It would be a perfect way to fund your site. And it could also serve as an unscientific poll to measure if not your best explanations, then Randall’s most confusing strips.
However, using Flattr on every post might violate the non-commercial clause of the Creative Commons license on the strips. Flattr on every post would be cool, but you’d need to ask permission to do so, particularly since the strips are embedded in the posts.
April 13th, 2012
What’s a click bomber
April 13th, 2012
Click bombing is when someone — or a script they’re using — (very) repeatedly clicks on pay-per-click ads on someone’s site, to get the site owner’s ad account shut down. Pay-per-click ad servers like Google Ads will lock the account if this happens, in case the account owner — or someone acting on their behalf — is trying to inflate their ad revenue (i.e., click fraud). Andrew put it quite well above, in the second comment.
Judging by my search results, it seems the best defense is for the account owner to frequently check their ad stats, and report their own account if they see a suspiciously large number of click-throughs, before their account gets locked.
April 14th, 2012
I still don’t understand it. Why can’t Google charge the advertisers when click bombing takes place? I’d expect them to say, “Your add has been clicked – give us your money!”
April 15th, 2012
Because they are *fake* clicks. If Google allowed and charged advertisers for click bombing, the advertisers would go somewhere else.
But they could be a bit more… smart about it. Like listen to what their publishers have to say or implement anti-click bombing strategies.
April 13th, 2012
Any chance of allowing us to donate thru a means other than Paypal? I closed my account with them awhile back due to some of their policies. Would love to support you guys, but not sure I want to sign back up with them. Maybe something thru Amazon or someone?
April 13th, 2012
If you click the Donate link on the upper right hand side of the page (as opposed to the one in the message) it takes you to a link where you can just enter in your credit card info.
April 13th, 2012
Where do we tell PayPal to send the money? explainATexplainxkcd.com?
It doesn’t fill in when the PayPal page opens and logs me in.
TAKE MY MONEY PLEASE
April 14th, 2012
I see a gmail address on my Paypal form.
At the top, in bold black.
April 13th, 2012
So it has come to this.
April 13th, 2012
Come to what?
April 13th, 2012
You. Me. This moment.
April 14th, 2012
We should perhaps use this joke a little less frequently to keep its effect.
I meant to post it here the first time.
April 15th, 2012
So. It has come to this.
April 15th, 2012
Come to what?
April 15th, 2012
You. Me. This moment.
April 21st, 2012
…dot tumblr dot com
April 14th, 2012
Add a flattr button (https://flattr.com/) and you will get my money.
April 14th, 2012
We should perhaps use this joke a little less frequently to keep its effect.
April 20th, 2012
Done. $2………..
April 21st, 2012
Best thing you couldn’ve done in this case was:
https://support.google.com/adsense/bin/request.py?&contact_type=invalid_clicks_contact