Advertising is Tripod's primary source of revenue and ad revenue helps defray the enormous cost of hosting hundreds of thousands of Tripod member's Web sites. The decision to begin advertising on member pages was made with the help of member feedback. Way back in August 1995, Tripod was faced with the dilemma of how to continue offering our Web page services given the significant cost. Tripod has advertised on member pages ever since, and continue to keep members involved with every decision affecting them. With the help of extensive feedback from our members and our advertisers, Tripod identified a number of issues with advertising on member pages.
Advertisements placed directly on member pages interfere with the design of member pages.
Putting a the legal disclaimer on member pages is unattractive. Advertisements are more effective if they are more visible. Tripod tested two alternatives to address these issues, an interstitial page served before entering a Tripod member page and a pop-up window served simultaneously with a member page. The interstitial page was not an adequate solution and member feeback was generally negative. The pop-up window was a better, less intrusive option and has the added benefit of providing a useful navigational tool for connecting with the Tripod community.