Why Pay?
The Quick Version
TwitLonger is better without ads and you can help make it happen. A tiny monthly donation towards the running costs of the site will help it move to a position where ads stop intruding on your content, your privacy and would allow the site to serve you better. With accounts from just £1 a month there's a level for everyone.
If enough people contribute to helping run the site, I will remove ads from the site for as long as donations cover the running costs. Even if this doesn't happen, your contribution will help keep the site going and contribute to its future development.
Sign up to support TwitLonger now.
The Long Version (why you want this)
Why No Ads?
TwitLonger is a big site. It serves millions upon millions of page views every month and requires a significant amount to be spent on servers and bandwidth. When I first started the site, I placed ads to cover these costs. As the years have passed, the site has got bigger and ads have got worse. They have become more intrusive, have employed dubious methods to entice you to click on them and even, at the most extreme, simply hijacked your browser to redirect you to app stores. It has become an embarrassment that your content has to deal with this and, frankly, I'm sick of it. Moving to an ad-free version is the right thing to do, but I can't do it without your help. Although it is a big site, only one person is involved in running TwitLonger, so it doesn't take millions of pounds a month to pay for the site and its development. If just a small percentage of the site users contributed just £1 a month, the site would easily be self sufficient and be able to move on to bigger and better things.
No distractions
When someone reads your content, they shouldn't be distracted by the ever more intrusive advertising that continues to make the web a worse place. Instead, your content should be front and centre. You shouldn't have advertising that might be contrary to your personal preferences, or be advertising something you don't like.
Faster
Loading ads on every page slows the site down. As more and more people move to mobile devices, this has a serious impact on their ability to read your content.
Fewer restrictions
When selling advertising, the ad companies place restrictions on the content you are allowed to post. I'd much rather have people free to express themselves. Some restrictions are, in my opinion, needlessly restrictive, stopping people discussing important issues and troubles. This doesn't mean TwitLonger will be a free for all. Abuse, bullying and illegal activity will not be tolerated, but content that may be considered more adult would be allowed.
More features
When I don't need to keep advertisers happy, my main concern is making things better for the users of the site. There are a number of things I want to implement on the site and elsewhere (native apps for iPhone and Android are a big request). In addition, there are fewer compromises required in the design of the site which are currently needed to place ads.
I'm in, how much?
TwitLonger supporter plans start at just £1 a month
Although each plan comes with its own perks, the main feature of the plans is to directly support services you use, reducing their reliance on advertising.
The basic level account removes ads from your posts and helps keep the site running. This is charged once every three months to keep the transaction fees down.
The Friend level account also pulls in your Twitter background image, to further customise your page with your own identity.
If you're a business that uses TwitLonger, the Pro account also allows you to add a Google Analytics tracking code, so you can see the reach and impact of your TwitLonger posts.