I am asking because I was livid when I saw this on my blog that has a No-Ads upgrade: http://onecoolsitebloggingtips.com/?attachment_id=17332

Increasing page views means more income for WordPress.com so "no" I don't accept the it's not commercial advertising interpretation. Any widget plonked onto my blog that drives traffic to any external sites is a form of advertising that increases page views and income.

1. Are you in a position to promise that my blog at http://onecoolsitebloggingtips.com which has a NO-Ads upgrade will not be used in any future experiments like this one?

Are you in a position to promise that my blog at http://thistimethisspace.com which does not have a NO-Ads upgrade will not be used in any future experiments like this one?

Thanks, in advance, for your answers.

I have the no-ads upgrade. Will I know need to pay for a no-'you might also like' upgrade? I do hope not...

I understand it's not 'advertising' in the sense of the stuff that one can apply the 'no ads' upgrade to but it is still advertising other blog posts on other blogs. I do not want people to be sent off to sites other than my own. Please, please ensure that there is an opt out - not just for business sites but for everyone.

If you want everyone to click on it, you might have to tell them what it is, otherwise the only people who click are going to be the people who recognise it and like it and your results will be biased.

I love it here on WordPress.com. The themes are great -- a big thumbs up in particular to the Theme Foundry -- and the support (WP and Theme Foundry) is brilliant. I don't really want to go elsewhere, but I can't have that box on my sites. I've disabled my domains to reduce/kill traffic for now, but I need to know whether to set up alternative sites.

Please can you give me an idea of when the off button will be available?

Thanks.

On tags etc, no, not the same. Plus they tend to be small (and in some themes, you can hide them -- e.g. the very lovely Portfolio).

Tags don't pop up. My issues with the button, aside from the randomness of the links, are also the aesthetics and the quality control. They're not ads. We all understand ads -- they're there for commercial reasons and I had WordAds on one blog. But a "you might also like" button is different; it implies a similarity between the content. Even if the links were related, which they're not yet, they're not quality controlled in any way. Do I want my potential post on religion and Christmas to be linked to a church site? A religious nutter? A condemnatory atheist? No.
Not to mention comments. I like comments, but this little box waits till the reader's right down at the end of the post and then just as they reach the comment form, *up it pops*. Oh hello.

My latest click sums it up perfectly. I wrote a post on other people's short fictions -- well written stories that I enjoyed and want to share with my readers: http://traceyupchurch.wordpress.com/2012/12/06/other-peoples-shorts/
*pop* -- YOU MIGHT ALSO LIKE this: http://odizzey.wordpress.com/2012/12/02/calculating-insanity-blogaton-blogadda/

…it would only show other children's sites.

I think you mean "should only show"
as gilbrown said:

Our goal is to gather some data on how well the algorithm works.

http://en.forums.wordpress.com/topic/you-might-also-like-pop-up-box?replies=40#post-1089662
It's apparent that the algorithm is not yet very well refined.

It's not whether I like the pop up or not -- I can't send my readers to random sites.

That's why I said it would have to be properly content sensitive so that, in your case, it would only show other children's sites.

@notawoodpecker My main issue is with my non-premium theme which I set up for children. It's not whether I like the pop up or not -- I can't send my readers to random sites. (I've already been diverted to a religious suite and blog marketing site, it's not appropriate.)

Here's where my creative writing post pop-up box sent me:
http://narrowmindedproductions.wordpress.com/2012/12/02/poll-video-of-the-year-2012/

...and my blog post about school homework sent me here: http://lafleurphoto.wordpress.com/2012/12/02/gifts-of-the-magi/

... a pop up on a post about head lice directed me here:
http://paniniamerica.wordpress.com/2012/12/06/looking-for-luck-panini-america-presents-another-knights-lance-scavenger-hunt/

...and a post advising on weather conditions and freak waves on a UK beach sent me here:
http://freefallinginto40.wordpress.com/2012/12/07/the-decision-having-a-3rd-baby/

So is it OK to subject young readers to random wordpress posts, under the heading "You might also like"?

Imagine. "Here's a post about the bottom of the sea. (You might also like anal sex.)"
Could that ever happen?

Not on my watch.

Thank you! My boss would thank you too, if she knew about this.

For my personal blogs, it might be a nice feature if the suggested links are relevant to the topics I write about. Is this not similar to the old way global tags worked? Or how Reader works now?

As for "hoping" my comment was related to what martinremy said:

Any final version will come with more controls.

http://en.forums.wordpress.com/topic/you-might-also-like-pop-up-box?replies=32#post-1089662

This "feature" won't look very professional on a site that is being done for work. I would appreciate that it can be turned off.

I haven't personally seen it except for the png link the OP showed but a pop-up is just not pleasing, even on the bottom.

Pricing Model
Two Pricing Models:
Ad-Supported (blending Taboola Related Ads):
In this pricing model the publisher enjoys the Taboola service for free (no setup or monthly service fees) and lets Taboola blend highly-targeted, related ads within the video recommendation widget. No need for creating new real-estate and share in the revenue from that new revenue stream.
Of course – the publisher keeps 100% of the revenue on all ads sold against the lift in video views generated by Taboola.

Revenue from Lift (no Share Taboola Related Ads):
No setup fee, no monthly fee and Taboola does not insert targeted ads as part of the recommenadation list.
Taboola continuously runs an A/B test by presenting competing discovery algorithms to a small control group of 1% of your users and measuring the lift our product produces over that control group. Publisher pays a share from new revenue earned on video views only attributable directly to Taboola, based upon this measurement. http://www.brightcove.com/en/partners/taboola

This is nothing more than suggesting other free wp.com sites. People are always asking how they can get more reads and the answer is to participate more by going to other wp.com sites.

Now, if it starts suggesting off-WP sites, that would be something different.

WordPress.com provides a 30-day refund on all of our upgrades except Domain Registrations, Domain Renewals, and Guided Transfers.

Provided you are logged in under the same username account that purchased the upgrades, you can request a refund yourself directly from the Store section of your Dashboard
http://en.support.wordpress.com/upgrades/#refunds
If applicable see also http://en.support.wordpress.com/bundles/#canceling-a-bundle

The No Ads upgrade currently has no effect on this feature.

Will you please point me to the clause in the ToS that states that WordPress.com does not honor contracts such as this one?

To eliminate ads on your blog entirely, you can purchase the No-Ads Upgrade. The upgrade is especially attractive and useful to business blogs in order to eliminate any possibility of competitors’ ads displaying on their domains. http://en.support.wordpress.com/no-ads/

Our goal is to gather some data on how well the algorithm works. This will not be the final incarnation. Any final version will come with more controls.

I hope the controls include turning it off.

@gibrown, thanks for replying, that's interesting. I hope there's an on/off button because although it might drive traffic to us, as well as away from us, it's going to be very random. WordPress has such a wide range of sites, only a relatively small proportion are relevant to our readers. I'd prefer it if my readers were redirected to sites I choose -- I have a blogroll and use links in my posts which often include other wordpress.com sites, but ones that I choose. (My current site is new but marthawilliams.org has more examples.)

I've paid for premium themes on both blogs and just bought no-ads on my current site so am hoping I can opt out of the random links buttons very soon -- not so that * I * don't see them, but so that readers don't see them on my site.
Also I run a third site which is entirely for kids. If it's on that site, I'll have to close it. :((

Pretty unhappy. When will it go live?

First of all, thanks for letting us know you don't like this feature. We do listen. Some users do like it and are discovering interesting content from it.

We've tried to make the recommendations as unobtrusive as possible. The recommendation doesn't appear until your readers have reached the bottom of your post, and there's a close button on it.

You're as likely to be the recipient of traffic from this feature as you are to send someone from your blog to another blog. If content from your blog gets more clicks than other recommendations, you get more traffic than you give.

The quality of the recommendations will improve over time.