Since starting this blog all the way back in 2011, I've avoided asking for donations or monetizing the site with ads. I hate obtrusive internet ads, and I want my readers to have a pleasant experience that isn't bogged down by ads. I also want for them to hopefully come away with the understanding that I share my genuine opinions and thoughts out of a true love and passion for the topics that I write about, rather than writing fluff pieces and click-bait for the benefit of multi-billion dollar international corporations.

The only ads that you've ever seen on this site (aside from ads that are in videos embedded from outside sources like Youtube) are the occasional Amazon Associates widgets. I have full control over what products are being advertised, and where and how frequently they are used. I always place links to products that are relevant to the post, whether it be a link to purchase the game that I'm reviewing, a movie that I'm recommending, a book that I'm citing, or so forth. I do this more to advertise products for the benefit of the reader, rather than as a revenue stream, since the revenue generated through these links is minuscule.

But this blog isn't free for me to operate. I'm not posting to a free public platform like Youtube, Wordpress, Squarespace, or Wix. I have been paying, all along, out of pocket, for the domain registration and hosting. Myself (and a small group of friends such as Chichian) are responsible for all the customization to the underlying blog engine, bug fixes, and content creation. It's a lot of work, and it's all done on my own free time outside of my full-time 8-5 job.

The monthly cost of operating this blog is roughly $100. At the very least, I'd like to earn enough to cover that expense. That way, the website would be guaranteed to continue operating, even if I were to lose my job or have my income reduced. If I could earn more, then I would like to branch out to more time-and-work-intensive projects. For example, if I were to earn somewhere between $500-$1000 per month, I could realistically reduce my work hours in order to spend a full day per week on content creation and research. This could allow me to move into creating video content, having a more regular timeline for strategy guides, producing more analysis posts, and maybe even creating more mods or my own small indie games. I doubt that I'll ever reach the prominence of some of my biggest inspirations, such as SuperBunnyHop, Errant Signal, Yhatzee, Jim Sterling, VaatiVidya, and so on, but I wouldn't mind giving it a try.

Most importantly, I'd like to thank -- in advance -- anyone who enjoys my content enough to contribute. The availability of crowd-funding has made it possible for more people than ever to be able to have the financial security and independence to pursue their dreams and passions. I'm thrilled to have the opportunity to do the same, and very grateful to those of you who make it possible.

If you don't wish to donate, or can't afford to, that's fine too. I also thank you for supporting this blog by visiting, reading, liking, sharing, and commenting. And don't worry, MegaBearsFan.net isn't going anywhere any time soon. I will continue to release content that I hope will be at the same quality that you've come to expect, and I have no plans to lock content behind a paywall.

And to all my raeders, I have a suggestion: find your own passion and pursue it. I encourage all my followers to pursue their own dreams and ambitions. Make your own blog or Youtube channel. Create crafts or art on Etsy. Write stories. Express yourself! Maybe, someday, I'll be supporting you on Patreon too!

Also, feel free to follow me on Twitter to keep up to date on what gets posted on the blog, and also to read other thoughts that don't necessarily get a whole blog post!

I haven't had a good rant on this blog for a long while. At least, not one that isn't part of tearing apart a terrible game in a review. But I have something that's been really grinding my gears throughout all of 2016, and I need to say something about it: I really dislike advertising. I have an especially intense dislike of internet advertising practices. It's not the ads themselves that get on my nerves; it's the ways in which websites and advertisers chose to deliver them. So many websites are crammed full of ugly, intrusive, and obnoxious ads that really hurt the experience of the user trying to actually view and navigate the website.

Streaming services like Comedy Central insist on crashing the video in the event that there's even the remotest hiccup in loading one of the five advertisements that it must play during the four advertising breaks that it includes in its half-hour episodes. I routinely run into issues in which the pre-episode ads fail to load, and so the whole episode refuses to load, and I have to ctrl-F5 to reload the page until it selects a set of five advertisements that actually work. But then it gets to one of the mid-episode commercial breaks, and even if the advertisements do load and play, the actual episode refuses to continue. Sometimes, I can hit the "rewind 10 seconds" button to fix the problem. Other times, I once again have to ctrl-F5 to reload the page, sit through the pre-episode ads again (hoping they don't cause yet another failure), then skip past the ad break in the timeline, watch the mid-episode ads (and hope that they don't also fail), and then maybe I can continue watching the content. This is why I haven't seen an episode of The Daily Show in a couple months and have no idea if new host Trevor Noah has finally hit a stride yet. I have similar issues with CBS steaming, which is why I also haven't been able to watch much of Stephen Colbert's new late night talk show. Sorry Stephen, I love you, but CBS apparently doesn't want me to watch you.

Issues with Comedy Central's ad-delivery abound: ads play over the actual content, their failure to load
prevents the content from playing, they have multiple ad breaks and not enough unique ads to fill them, etc.

To make matters worse, Comedy Central and CBS often doesn't even have enough distinct ads to fill up all these advertising breaks. I often see the same three or four ads in every ad break. Sometimes, the same exact ad will play back-to-back during the same advertising break!

Is this supposed to be punishment for not watching the show on cable TV? I actually do (at the time of this writing) have an active cable subscription, and that subscription does include Comedy Central and CBS. I could easily just DVR episodes of The Daily Show or Late Show with Stephen Colbert and watch them at home, but I prefer to watch them during my sit-in lunch breaks at work because it's just a more efficient use of time. Or at least, it would be, if it ever actually worked. Heck, on the DVR, I can just skip past the damned ads. I can't do that when streaming on the internet.

Comedy Central is far from unique in this regard. I've already pointed a finger at CBS as well, and this is one of the reasons that I'm not happy about Star Trek: Discovery being exclusive to CBS All-Access. I really don't want to pay for a streaming service to watch one show! Especially if it's still going to contain content-breaking advertisements that prevent me from even watching the show that I'm paying to watch...