THANK YOU, you're a decent person.
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Rant What kind of sorcery is this?!
- Thread starter White Haus
- Start date
THANK YOU, you're a decent person.
That is correct, it costs me more to run this site than I make at this point. Descent people understand that the rest are just.......
I sincerely appreciate those who financially support the site through subscriptions. I have been running forums since 2001 and sold a few before Facebook's rise destroyed the forums industry. Fred, who owned this site, was acquired by me, which helped him enjoy a good retirement before he passed away. I have done a fantastic job keeping the site going and free from non-industry members. It real simple if you don't like the site than GTFO it...... so the rest don't have to here your crying....and bitching.....
Whilst I HATE ads.. As you say - it costs money to run any site..
I'd far rather have a site with ads, than no site at all.. These days there are very few places for sign minded individuals to get together.
So from me.. Cheers Mate..
rydods
Member for quite some time.
After a while you kind of forget the ads are there, it's more of the initial shock. Some of them are things that I've already purchased in the past so I have no interest anyway. I think if they followed you around or popped up when your mouse scrolled over the add, that would be more annoying.
I'm here to get and give what advise I can each day for about 10 min so I don't mind.
I'm here to get and give what advise I can each day for about 10 min so I don't mind.
White Haus
Not a Newbie
Paul, first off let me say that I appreciate you and everything that you do around here. My post wasn't intended as a personal attack towards you or the site.
I understand that it must take a significant amount of effort to keep this place afloat and I'll be the first to admit that I don't know a damn thing about running a forum or the advertising/income challenges that go along with it.
That said, the ad placement, design, and "sneakiness" has absolutely changed over the last couple of months. I'm not talking about the google banner ads that take up 30% of my monitor real estate.
I'm specifically referring to the blue bubble ads scattered all over threads as well as under member names, and the random words being hyperlinked to Amazon were never there before.
Not trying to call you out on this, just trying to understand how to get rid of them. Is it possible that this is strictly a Google Chrome issue? I don't run Firefox anymore and won't even bother opening Edge for obvious reasons.
I find it surprising that a web browser could hi-jack your site and insert ads throughout without your consent, but then again what do I know.
With all that being said, if it is actually the case that purchasing a premium membership will make all these pesky ads go away and will help support the site, I will be happy to do so.
WildWestDesigns
Active Member
There is a fine line between monetizing and ruining UX. If enough people are complaining about UX, may want to look into it.
As to rather or not something has gotten worse, it doesn't necessarily mean that ad amount/placement has gotten worse, but neutering the effectiveness of blocking such things has gotten worse.
Since going to Manifest 3, Chrome has blocked the effectiveness of Ad blockers, so while it may not be explicitly this site doing it, yes, it could very well have gotten worse, because Chrome may now be neutering extensions that had blocked it (typically Google directs the direction of the internet given the market share of Chromium based browsers and up until recently were major ad revenue for FF, that represents 2/3 of the mature stable render engines for the web). So while it may not have changed in 5 yrs, it did change and combine that with Manifest 3, people may now being seeing it. So as far as they are concerned it is very much a recent change as they are now seeing it.
As to rather or not the owner is here every day. Some of that is perception based. Being active in the boards, contributing comments etc. People rarely notice lurkers, be it regular members, premium members, owners, or even unregistered guests.
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WildWestDesigns
Active Member
Manifest 3. Edge is Chromium based, so even at that, not doing much difference. Firefox, major ad revenue at least used to come from Google. Go figure. How Chromium goes (base for Chrome), so to the the rest of the browsers. Maybe not so much webkit, but really those suck as a whole with the exception of using it as a strip down version of Electron. Most iOS and Android apps use Webview and some desktop apps as well (Canva being the one most on here are probably aware of).
Welcome to the wonderful world of JS. This is why Google ads have also been a vector for malware as well. Why opening modern PDFs without knowing the source can be an issue as well. Even python can be used in such a way, since Excel can handle Python with built in support (depending on Excel version mind you), can be an issue. I used to get a lot of Office based emails from people that I didn't know with VBA, python etc scripts
Sorry, but I never see you post, and I did tag you in the last ad thread... and don't recall seeing a message. I can't find it anymore - but you can see from a screenshot that over 80% of the screen was filled with ads.... You say nothings changed, and I believe you didn't change anything... I've ran forums before, granted it's been 10+ years, so maybe things have changed... But back in the day even when using google adsense, suppliers would sneak in ads that go beyond the scope of adds you allow on the site. Theres banner ads, footer ads... and header ads, pretty much always on S101 - Then those blue boxes showed up... They were injecting themselves inbetween forum posts, Inside of the page links, in the topics... They were pretty much hijacking anywhere on the page they thought they could get some accidental clicks in - Those havent always been here.... whether it was added through a update, or just an ad that snuck in through google, no idea! But this isn't the first thread / first batch of people who thought something nefarious was going on with them and pointed them out. So when it was pointed out weeks ago...and you got tagged and no one heard a peep, I just assumed you don't check too often... Which even if you came on once every 6 months, there is nothing wrong with, My only hope was the site doesn't just disappear one day.
[Edit] I'll make you a deal as well, if you get rid of the blue box ads, I'll buy a yearly subscription and keep it running. I don't mind supporting websites, and if you're losing money, more than happy to help chip in
[Edit2] I turned off my ad blocker and it looks like they were gone.. so I subbed. For anyone else wanting to support the site... It's only $5 a month if you're committing to a year, less than a price of a coffee these days.
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Goatshaver
Shaving goats and eating bushes
Have you also considered a value for value model as well along with the subscription? Allowing people to donate what they can to the site for what they get from it.
Texas_Signmaker
Very Active Signmaker
This one works very well! Even gets rid of the ads on vidoes.
Gino
Premium Subscriber
Personally, they don't bother me, other than the content in some of them..... or what they seem to represent. The owner here has no control over that.
If this is what bothers some of you, it must be tough for you that cannot deal with such a trivial matter. How do you survive the real problems of life, let alone being in business if going on a forum and hafta navigate through a few ads. Cripes, I go through more silliness trying to access a question on the internet itself.
Everyone here, other than some obvious losers, are in business to make money and life in general, better. This place is NO different. If the owner needs to do things to generate some extra income, so be it. It doesn't amount to much, but lately, you're all complaining about so many things without any real life input, other than what y'all read and make up losing scenarios to compensate your foil hats.
Now, let's hear some real predicaments and deal with real problems and not this stupid sh!t just for the sake of talking nonsense.
If this is what bothers some of you, it must be tough for you that cannot deal with such a trivial matter. How do you survive the real problems of life, let alone being in business if going on a forum and hafta navigate through a few ads. Cripes, I go through more silliness trying to access a question on the internet itself.
Everyone here, other than some obvious losers, are in business to make money and life in general, better. This place is NO different. If the owner needs to do things to generate some extra income, so be it. It doesn't amount to much, but lately, you're all complaining about so many things without any real life input, other than what y'all read and make up losing scenarios to compensate your foil hats.
Now, let's hear some real predicaments and deal with real problems and not this stupid sh!t just for the sake of talking nonsense.
Smoke_Jaguar
Man who touches printers inappropriately.
Used to be a thing where sites would directly host and place the ads for sponsors. Would be cool to see, but maybe I am just an old nerd. Met some really good people that I like doing business with here, as well as my fair share of less desirable folks. Definitely well into the overall positive experience however.
WildWestDesigns
Active Member
Well most have, thru ad blocks or DNS sinkholes. However, think of this, once a company ruins the UX of a site (or program) that directly affects their ability to make money. It would be prudent to at least hear out the complaints and find out if something needs to be done about it, not to dismiss out right.
I would submit as someone that was a MM on this site for about a decade and stopped once Google ads started appearing, I would like to think that I did some support and this isn't just from a cheapskate, but what do I know.
While the owner doesn't have much control over what Google ads are served, the owner chose to have those ads served. I would have zero problems (and be more wiling to support a site, and I had, see above) when there are more curated and relevant ads. It's not even relevant ads based on browser history (I clear mine out at a neurotic frequency).
And no, it's not just a few ads (and why are you seeing a few ads as a premium subscriber, I would hope that there wouldn't be any ads or are you logging out and checking them?), I took a look on a separate WAN on a tablet and on a phone and boy, there is no reading this site at that point. I imagine it's better on a monitor, but that's a lot and while a phone screen may be pushing it, a tablet shouldn't be.
The devil is in the details, in the implementation. One can have this kickass idea to make money, but if the follow thru sucks, no bueno for that person.
Google ads being used a vectors for quite awhile (RedLine Stealer I believe is from 2023 with regard to using Google Ads, so not really long ago, so not like I'm thinking of something from 2008 and applying it to now, I think it was originally out there in 2020, just ported to even I think ChatGPT can be used as a vector for it). So it's not being pulled out of the air.
Smoke_Jaguar
Man who touches printers inappropriately.
Ad APIs have just gotten to be poison in a lot of ways. They used to be a set frame with boundaries, now they can essentially take the page over. Not much site operators can do about it, and it really depends on the ads being served at the time/for the session.
Gino
Premium Subscriber
Since you have limited access to PM with you, please PM me, instead.
WildWestDesigns
Active Member
Don't do PMs. I shut it off.
WildWestDesigns
Active Member
Not much that they can do about the nitty gritty, that's for sure, however, they chose to deploy those ads. There is something to be said for curating ones own ads and running it from people that pay to have that service.
While the specifics of how third party ad services deploy things and the havoc that they cause on the UX is not directly something that site owners can control, they still chose to deploy those ads knowing without those controls, including without safe guards of malvertising as well. There are reasons for plugins for No JS and Ad blocking etc. Not just due to people being cheapskates.
Gino
Premium Subscriber
Good for you, but that seems quite odd for someone who has so much to say and input.
You once said, you love to debate and discuss things, but how can one do that, if they shut themselves off purposely ??
Smoke_Jaguar
Man who touches printers inappropriately.
Tech companies have a strange habit of opting people into the new features rather than asking people if they want to use them first.