1. You LOVE The Toast and want to keep it going.
2. You like good deals and good websites, and you want to enjoy 50% of the regular subscription rates to four of the best sites out there.
3. As a thank-you to our supporters, your name will appear on an extra-special fancy supporters list that all of us here at The Toast will consult regularly in order to contemplate your excellence.
4. You will gain exclusive access to our upcoming site chat feature, including invitations to chats with our authors and contributors.
5. The Internet is still free, but bringing you great content ain’t cheap. A Good Web Bundle helps support the amazing writers that make The Toast what it is!
We know you all like sharing, and you can always spread the wealth — split the bundle and give four of your best friends something to click about.
Thank you for supporting The Toast!
Tags: good web bundle, support the toast
But will it make the ads go away??
(For the record, most of them don’t bother me EXCEPT 1) ones that auto-start video, because it makes everything crash, including my music player; 2) ones disguised to look like actual articles, because that’s an unpleasant deception and moment of dissonance when I realize I thought you had something to say about, say, divorce, or a satirical article on Why You Want to Live a Healthier Lifestyle, but actually it’s a company unironically trying to sell me something.)
Good luck with this, at any rate! I can’t say I’ve heard of the other sites mentioned…
If you use Chrome, you can stop the auto-play videos from loading by clicking on the little page symbol in the URL field, to the left of the site name. In the list of permissions, you can block “plugins”–autoplay videos usually need the flash plugin to run. You can probably do this in Firefox and Safari too if needed.
The Toast is one of only two sites I have whitelisted on Adblock, and this is the only way I can keep most ads showing without crashing everything. Hopefully it works for you too.
Thank you so much for that tip! Yes, currently The Toast is my *only* whitelisted exception on Adblock.
ETA: I just looked at the donation page, and it’s interesting that it says they won’t use auto-play music ads. I guess silent auto-playing videos aren’t exactly the same thing, but I wonder if that page should be updated to clarify, so it doesn’t seem disingenuous.
It’s pretty straightforward to me. Please understand that we can’t pay the rent, eat or power a website with Internet love. Thank you for reading us.
I understand. Sorry to sound like I was complaining! You run a great website.
yeeessss, thank you! I couldn’t figure out how to block just the video ads when they started making my browser crash, so I took The Toast off my Adblock whitelist a couple weeks ago, and I’ve been feeling guilty about it.
I can confirm now that this works in Firefox. You have to click the little lego block to the left of the URL, and then it lets you block Flash specifically, rather than all plugins.
WHOA! Learned a new cool computer thing. THANK YOU.
THANK YOU.
I would pay the Toast money to stop having so many ads over everything. I had to stop commenting because every time it would take me to a bunch of different sites instead of posting my comment.
Wow — I’ve never had that redirect problem.
I have some screenshots I keep meaning to send to Nick, but never getting round to it. I think it is *mainly* an iPad problem, but happens on the computer occasionally too.
I think it may just be mobile versions, because the reason I’ve been mostly silent this week is because I keep getting redirected while using my Android device.
It happens to me fairly often, using both laptops and desktop computers (I don’t have a smartphone or tablet, so haven’t used the mobile version).
My iphone does this, too!
Please send them! I want to hear more about this so we can fix it
I’ve definitely had this happen one time on a pc.
I’ve never bothered to report this issue because I couldn’t figure out what information about it would help you solve it. What do you want to know? What we clicked and where we ended up?
Yes please!
I’ve had that iPad problem, too.
That’s a known bug when it comes to clicking on ‘read more’ and they are working on it – I sent a screenshot of my misdirectingness to the bosses this week. They’d probably want examples of this variant too.
ahh, that’s good to know! I sometimes get taken to some other random page (as though I’d clicked on an ad) when I try to open article links in new tabs. mildly annoying in that I have to remember what I was trying to look at & go back to it, but then again I can’t really complain about giving them click-throughs.
I didn’t read this post the first three times I saw it because I thought it was another ad! well, I guess I thought it was an ad not written by Nicole and Mallory.
More off setting of the ads would be nice, though I want the Toast to succeed financially more than I care about avoiding “sponsored content”.
we are working on it. Thank you for reading us.
I will be honest, I have no interest in the other four sites in this bundle. Is there going to be some kind of Toast-specific way to set up a recurring donation and get access to this chat thingamajig?
This is what I want, too! On the bundle website, it does list a price for Toast subscription, so maybe that WILL be an option?
Yeah, I don’t particularly want any of those other sites, but I do want to support the Toast and that chat thing sounds fun.
Same here! I already have a MeFi subscription and don’t really have an interest in the other sites. I will happily throw all of my disposable ca$h money at Nicole, Mallory, and Roxane, though.
There IS a Toast-specific way to set up a recurring donation – they’ve just been really subtle about it. It’s the blue button that says “Click here to support the Toast” over in the right-hand column of stuff. You can select a one-time donation or a recurring monthly donation of whatever amount you want. I have a monthly donation going so that I don’t have to feel bad about using AdBlock on the Toast.
I don’t know if they’ll find a way to integrate monthly donations into the “sponsoring member” or “chat feature” stuff. (Also, even though I’m not super involved in it, it seems to me like Toastie Twitter is the Toast’s chat feature already.)
I actually just did this yesterday, and for the exact same reason! But I felt like it was kind of pushy or braggy to say, “I just did this, where is MY promised chat feature??”, haha.
Nick will be around later to field questions, as this is his baby!
Do you know when Nick will be around? I’d like to come back to this thread for that.
He is at the conference where Anil Dash is talking about this whole thing right now, he’s happy to talk when he gets back later today.
Here I am! AMA
Ahhhh darn work making me work! Thanks for your other responses on this thread. Glad a post is forthcoming. Will it shed any insight on how you came to bundle with these particular sites? Maybe I am just uncool but Meta Filter was the only other one I’ve heard of and this site does have historical ties to a whole other network of blogs that were not included. I’m sort of willing to try new things but what is your pitch for these particular things?
SUPER excited about holiday merch! Remember Hanukkah starts in less than a month and my holiday budget will probably run dry before that. Take my money now!
So, if I’ve been donating for a year(ish), does that mean anything for anything? I mean, I’m cool with just warm fuzzies and helping the Toast, but it sounds like you’d really prefer a one-time donation.
It does! I am going to do a page too. I’ll sort it out. Thanks EC. You are absolutely right.
Let me know if you or Maria need help. She and I have spoken of web-ish things before.
Wait – is this different from sending The Toast (very modest) recurring $$ each month? Wouldn’t that already make me a supporting member?
Yeah, exactly. I’d be a little upset if someone told me “your support doesn’t count because it’s not enough and furthermore, you won’t be entitled to any cool stuff because, poor”.
I’m 100% positive that’s NOT Nick’s mindset, just my own hypersensitive take on it.
So, maybe a sliding scale like a PBS thing: “$” dollars gets you the tote bag, “$$” gets you the boxed DVD set, etc.
Is there an amount we can donate directly to The Toast to achieve the same result? I have absolutely no use for any of those other four sites (sorry; I’m sure they are very nice sites) but I am quite willing to donate to The Toast and the possibility of a Toast chat feature excites me to an almost inappropriate level.
Everything ArsenioB_Ham just said.
Same here!
This. I’m really not interested in the other sites but I’d be interested in more Toastie discussion/socializing.
You can always just donate whatever you like through the donate button on the right side of the page. The chat function will be free.
okay what is chat and how is it different from just commenting, is commenting going away or am I missing something?
It would be a new, extra thing!
Commenting is definitely not going away. Like Nicole said, it’s just a new free fun extra thing we want to give you.
I totally do not trust this because a lifetime membership at metafilter costs $5, not $60, and it’s not a yearly anything. I’m really up for paying (separately) for Toast chat though.
ETA: apparently it’s crappy misleading wording for metafilter but done by the founder/admin and not some weird scammy thing. I still am cool with paying for Toast chat.
Yeah Meta Filter is the only site but The Toast that I even recognize (sorry other sites!) but the MeFi name confused me. And I agree, that is misleading information that shakes my confidence in this project.
I think I’m going to hold out for a Toast specific thing, even if it ends up being a little more expensive. And if they don’t offer it then we can all continue connecting through free facebook and google groups like we already are.
“I think I’m going to hold out for a Toast specific thing…”
This whole comment right here! 🌟😻 (yesterday’s emoji article tinkled my fancy!)
MetaFilter has recently gone through a significant drop in ad revenue due to changes Google made to their algorithms and instituted an optional one-time or recurring donation for “supporting” members.
Which I know, because I am a member and have also donated. But the description “one year paid membership” is hugely, hugely misleading, especially as the “lifetime right to post” comes after it as if it were secondary. Though Matt Haughey says that the wording there will be changed.
metafilter costs $5, not $60 Same as in town.
In all seriousness, I came here with the same question(s) as you, jillheather. Curious how this will pan out.
Another confused mefite here. I guess if I were really keen-eyed I could’ve put it together from “recognition as a supporting member” but there’s no way that isn’t basically deceptive to someone who hasn’t been following along.
That said metafilter is pretty damn great. (And if this can prevent mlkshk from going out of business that would be nice too.)
Yet another confused mefite and toastron. The metatalk thread has clarified some things but I am still not convinced. I donate individually to each (and to Newsblur) so I’m not sure I’ll participate in this. Or is there some benefit to the sites to have the bundle succeed? Would it be better to get the same $ from an individual via the bundle vs directly?
Toast chat will be free! Yayyyyyyyy. Look for my post on it soon.
Yeah, I would definitely buy-in to just The Toast if possible.
100% to a prorated Toast version. I definitely believe in paying for consistently great content; I’m just not really that interested in the other sites.
You can! You can always just donate $ to us if you want by clicking on the right rail button called “donate to The Toast.” And we will be the only ones to receive that $
I was just wondering today if you’d considered going to an ad free model supported by subscription. Because I love you guys but the ads, man…
We might do that at some future unspecified date. We have overloaded Maria with work on the site right now and she is working a lot on The Butter, mobile, a new chat function etc. Thank you for reading us and I will keep this in mind moving forward.
Oh I understand, and just to clarify I really just meant to say that I bet there’s a market for an ad-free option.
Also tshirts. 🙂
i just want to say NO to this! please please please dont make the toast subscription only! some of us have NO money to spare and the toast feels like my only connection to sanity. i don’t care about the ads just please no subscriptions….
although…. if i stopped reading the toast every day, i guess i would have a lot of time freed up to do other things… but still!
It is our intention to always serve you free Toast. Thank you for reading us.
thank you! i’m sorry, just had a mini freak-out about nothing being free anymore, not air, not laughter, even the magazines at my library are behind a glass door now and you have to pay to look at them! the toast deserves money, but i just can’t pay for it now. thank you for clarifying!
I didn’t say or mean “subscription only.” Just that I’d pay an amount for an ad-free option. Maybe they can work it the mobile version at some point, at least. Lately it seems like I have issues with getting clicked away to an ad when I was trying to just comment, and sometimes it’s hard to distinguish between the ads and the actual posts. So those factors make Toast somewhat less appealing lately. Although actually it just means that I mostly read from my feedly stream directly rather than visiting the site much.
gotcha about the ads! i just totally freaked out about literally every single aspect about being human costing some kind of money, so i couldn’t process that you meant having two toasts, an ad free subscription version and a free version with ads. whew!
Is it weird that after seeing that picture of Nick on the bundle site – I sort of feel like I should be calling him Mr. Pavich?
Just me?
Such a Mister! Also, Nicole’s photo there is super foxy.
It’s not the years, it’s the mileage…
I am probably the only person who doesn’t care about ads I guess? I’m so desensitized to them probably!
I am totally in support of financially contributing to The Toast but I kind of hate chat functions? I feel like I’ll miss out on fun conversations people have there because I can’t be on it all day! Whereas with comments I can just comment on them at my leisure. This is totally a weird, me-specific anxiety though, so you do you.
I don’t mind the ads either unless they are redirecting me to them when I want to read an article, which is hopefully on its way to being sorted out.
I do know what you mean about chat functions as well, I’m in the UK so will be peripheral on it anyway.
What’s been bothering me this week is that the boxes around The Butter posts and sponsored posts look really similar, so I think I’ve accidentally been skipping some Butter goodness!
same! I’ve probably skipped right past about half of The Butter posts because I thought they were sponsored posts.
Just wanted to say this a result of a snafu on our advertising partner’s part that we’re working on sorting. If that doesn’t work soon I’ll just make the Butter posts neon orange and we should be good to go.
NEON, into ittttt
Yay! Thank you!
awesome, thank you!
Not a totally, me-specific anxiety; I feel the same way about the chat function, too! As for ads…meh, but wouldn’t mind paying a very modest monthly donation for an ad free site.
The comments will always be here. This is a chance to talk to someone in a smaller group setting. More in a post I am doing shortly
Oh, I see! I pictured it as a sort of “always on” chat room instead of, say, the Facebook chat one-to-one setup. Thanks for responding to my comment! The Toast is wonderful in every way.
I don’t yet know if I’m up for this, but I will say that I recognize all but one of these sites and they are run by people who those I trust like and admire so there’s that. I await further details!
They will be forthcoming!
I am 1000 percent willing to pay for a) no ads Toast b) mobile version Toast
Agreed.
A full-blown mobile version of The Toast is in development and will probably launch early next year or earlier depending how fast I can click and code.
In that case, will you marry me?
You are a hero!
YESSSS, you are a WONDER
I said this to Nick in email but if you need help with testing (alpha, beta, user, usability, accessibility, quality control) let me know. my username dot com has an email address. Could possibly also help with development (front-end) if it’s a minimal commitment.
In the same vein (Money for The Toast!), will you guys be doing any more merch any time soon?
I would absolutely live in a Toast hoodie day in, day out! And I would buy a gazillion Toast tote (toste?) bags. Even if they only had a Toast logo on them without any fancy stuff. I just like to align myself while wearing comfy clothes :p.
CAN WE HAVE FEEL THE BURN TOAST TRACKSUITS?
…I’ll stop now.
I would definitely love a line of Toast t-shirts with all the slogans we’ve been throwing around in the comments sections (like “big hair no heart” etc).
BIG HAIR NO HEART.
BIG HAIR NO HEART.
TOAST BAGS TOAST BAGS TOAST BAGS TOAST BAGS TOAST BAGS
There is a line of merch being created for the holidays at this very moment. I’m not sure about track suits, but it’s going to be some good swag
Yaaaaaaaaaay
Thanks folks! You can always just donate $ to us if you want by clicking on the right rail button called “donate to The Toast.” And we will be the only ones to receive that $. The chat function will be free but as I will explain tomorrow in greater detail, it will give you some access to special events we will do.
Well isn’t it a lucky thing that our birthday was last month and we have not yet hit up our partner for any gifts!
It does! I am going to do a page too. I'll sort it out. Thanks EC. You are absolutely right.
You can always just donate whatever you like through the donate button on the right side of the page. The chat function will be free.
Yes please!