skiguide - 9:01 pm on Nov 30, 2001 (gmt 0)

rogerd,

About Guide here -
I'm trying to understand your post, and I think i get it for the most part, but I'm somewhat confused by: "The free listings were few in number and were on a subsequent page." if you can make that a little clearer for me, that would be great -

this is what I think you need answered:
About seems more "commercial" lately because we've undertaken a new initiative to help readers find products related to the topics they're interested in (and, of course, generate some revenue via click-thru deals to a comparison shopping engine)

You probably saw a Guides "Top Picks for X products" - which links to the products of THEIR choosing (editorial control), usually offering the user their choice of where to buy from - so no individual site is paying for a link.

the only "paid" links on About are via Sprinks - and are designated quite clearly as non-editorial content.

but it's not just about the money - it's about what users 'need to know' or want to see. Users seem to be getting the info they want quickly & are responsive to this change so far. it could be a good thing.