"When Slashdot increases ad sizes, it plans to
introduce a subscription service for people who want to pay for an
ad-free version. Jeff Bates, who runs the site, said Thursday that
Slashdot will launch the new ads and subscription service early
next year. The cost of the service has yet to be determined.
"The larger ad formats are coming about really because, as Bob
Dylan put it, 'The times, they are a'changing,'" Bates wrote in an
e-mail interview. "While we'll still be mostly featuring the
468-by-60 banner, we're trying to work with our advertisers and see
how we can work together. Rest assured though, we'll still be only
having one ad per page."
Slashdot's move to a larger ad format and a subscription service
mirrors the decisions of many companies attempting to capture new
revenue in a battered dot-com economy. CNET Networks, publisher of
News.com, introduced the new ad units earlier this year, followed
by other online media outlets such as The New York Times. and
Salon.com, which offers a subscription service free of
advertising."
