Adblock vs Advertising

[Jordan]

This thread is a split off from another to keep things on topic.
All of my views are my opinions alone. I do not speak on behalf of any other staff member, or of FP. I am a user just like anyone else, a user with his own opinions and views.

I have my view of adblockers. As probably seen in another thread. I dislike the fact users take advantage of them on sites they would regularly visit.

when you land on a site and the first thing you see is a popup asking you to donate, this is no better than that and I fully agree with your sentiment.

There is no popup from my understanding. Just a display at the top of the page.

ou think about it all of us that are getting this notice are not going to be opening up our ad blocker because of it

You would be surprised.

Regardless, There is a quick an easy fix. If you guys are unable to see only a non intrusive, non virus display ad that is shown at the top of the page, you don't have to visit the site 😛

With that said, we are working on ways to better implement this so users arnt so annoyed by it! However, we are also working on ways to display an advertisement regardless if you have ablock or not. You guys can always continue to keep blocking the element ID, but I have a system that can change that element ID once every 12 hours. So you will have to be constantly having to block it.

What about removing it for staff too? It's pretty annoying for us as well. 😛 I use ad blocker and I don't plan on changing that any time soon.

I disagree. Right now staff make up the majority of the activity on the site. Disabling ads for staff would take a hit in revenue to keep the site running. You guys are all for helping and supporting the site, but when it comes down to the very thing that actually pays the bills, you guys block it

It is not like the owner is asking you to click on them, or to buy stuff from the advertisers or anything. Most of the ads you probably wont even notice. Some of them may even catch your attention for something you may like.

Reason why I believe premium users only should get ads removed is because they are actually off setting the costs of having the ads removed for them by paying for it.

 

[DaveM]

Regardless, There is a quick an easy fix. If you guys are unable to see only a non intrusive, non virus display ad that is shown at the top of the page, you don't have to visit the site 😛

With that said, we are working on ways to better implement this so users arnt so annoyed by it! However, we are also working on ways to display an advertisement regardless if you have ablock or not. You guys can always continue to keep blocking the element ID, but I have a system that can change that element ID once every 12 hours. So you will have to be constantly having to block it.

Wow, seems it might just be time for me to move on then to another site if that is the attitude, I normally try and make my forums as user friendly as I can but then I suppose I don't see my members as just numbers but part of the actual working forum and team so to speak. 🙄

 

[Jordan]

I normally try and make my forums as user friendly

part of the actual working forum and team so to speak.

I couldn't agree more. It is the members that make up the community. However, being on a site is a privilege not a right.

& I'm not in the habit of allowing someone to steal revenue away from someone who has been working hard to provide all this for those members for free.

How does it make you feel knowing you take away revenue to keep up a site that someone has spent his own money and resources to provide to you for free? I mean it is not like he is shoving ads down peoples throats, or having annoying pop ups, or big flashy ads.

Like I said, we are working on it to implement these better. As well as hopefully allowing sponsored users to no longer see ads. Those who aren't premium users will still see them. Nothing wrong with that.

This entire war vs ads is ridiculous. I've already messaged Author some suggestions on what we can do to help better the user experience.

 

[DaveM]

@Jordan Wow your attitude sure does suck, now you calling your members thieves To think that I have already offered a cash donation to this forum asking for nothing in return. I was also destined to become and active donating member in the future, however seeing how you guys are going to operate I think not. As I am already a thief in your eyes I will rather just come here like a thief and contribute nothing at all.

 

[Allenafaith]

Let's keep this thread civil please.

We value our members and we appreciate everything each and every one of you does here. We're going to come to a conclusion with the administrators about this. 😉

 

[Golddisk]

In my opinion, ads aren't a bad thing if they are not obtrusive. Running a site myself, I do completely understand the need for ads to help pay for operational costs. I personally do not offer a premium option on my site as it just doesn't make sense to, and therefore ads are the sole source of income.

That said, many sites unfortunately ruin it for others by having annoying videos and pop-ups. I run an adblocker to avoid those and therefore all the other sites that a responsible with their ads and I visit get punished, too.

 

[Shannon Apple]

Admittedly, I removed the ad blocker for this site because it was more than a little annoying, but in general, I don't remove my ad blocker. The only reason is that I like this site. If I signed up last week, you wouldn't see me again. 😛 Please come up with a better alternative.

@Jordan Having read that, I am really, REALLY annoyed by your post. That is such a shitty attitude to have. Posting on a forum is not a privilege or a right, it's a choice. I could simply choose to stop posting. As could anyone else. Remember that! I know you're new to your position, but that's not an excuse.

EDIT
Given the attitude of this person, I am now prepared to just deal with the notice and re-enabled my adblock. I am actually that pissed off. It would actually have been more decent to move this all to the trash bin and pretend it never happened than act like the above shitty opinion is valid and deserving of a new thread, because it's not.

 

[Jordan]

Wow your attitude sure does suck, now you calling your members thieves

Not my members. I am a user just like you. However, don't feel special. Because yes, indeed I'm calling everyone that uses adblock on a site they would regularly visit a thief.

Everyone has to understand something. I'm not against adblock. Yes, use it on sites that would otherwise serve stuffed ads or things that may harm your computer. Protect your self. However, using it on a site that you visit often and serves non intrusive, acceptable ads is stealing.

Lets put it this way. The owner pays for everything, pays for the bandwidth you use when visiting the site. Bandwidth you would otherwise pay for. Whether that would be paying for premium, or paying by having an ad shown on the site. However, you are taking up the resources and content with out paying for it when using adblock.

Is that not the definition of stealing? To take something with out paying? #Fact.

One might argue, "Well I am using my internet bandwidth and computer to see the site". Well that's a load of BS. Like you mentioned, you willingly visited the site.

Wanna know the difference, the owner isn't willingly allowing you to see the site ad free.

In my opinion, ads aren't a bad thing if they are not obtrusive.

Exactly.

I don't understand why MasterA isn't offering disabled ads as a benefit to forum sponsorship.

I'm in the works in trying to get him to change his mind. So far, things are going well. Still talking it over.

To me, donating your time to a site is an even greater contribution than donating a small amount of money. It seems odd to me that staff members are marketed to as if they were customers, not staff.

Should we call you guys volunteers instead of staff then? I mean we wouldn't want anyone getting the wrong impression.

The thing is, you guys willingly volunteered. You should not join the staff team to try and get something out of it in return. You join to help the community you want to be apart of. If that is something one can not understand or see, then perhaps one shouldn't be on the staff team to begin with.

There can be other ways to show appreciation to staff users than to dig into the core revenue stream. Example, on phpbb There was the staff affiliates where you got do-follow back links in the footer of the page.

I once had a blog that majority of users used adblock on. Want to know what happened? I disabled free access all together. Guess what, My revenue for that site increased by 729%. I may no longer be getting as much impressions or page views, but the revenue sky rocketed.

"Oh, so you only care about the money. Greedy Bastard"

Actually no, Most of my sites I put more into them then they make. The revenue I made from that blog went towards contests, prizes, and give-a-aways on my other sites.

For example, one forum I owned had ads on it. It also allowed premium users to not see ads. It also had the system I was talking about, where users who had adblock still saw ads anyways. I lost users who wouldn't have been long loyal users, but they are not my audience to begin with. Still, for ever $1 I earned off that site, I put $12 back into it. This is why ad revenue is important. To help cover those costs!

You guys have the right to use adblock. Go for it. Really, you can use what ever you want on your computer. I'm not here saying you can't. Simply put, if you don't like seeing ads, then don't go on a bloody site that requires them to stay up. Simple as that.

You want to still visit that site and not see the ads? Most sites these days offers a small fee to remove them. Support your sites if you want the internet to stay free.

I am really, REALLY annoyed by your post.

& I am really annoyed at the fact that people like to take revenue away from hard working people who like to provide a lot of resources for free to their users. I wonder who is the bigger jerk.

Please come up with a better alternative.

We are looking into a temporary fix for better placements of the notice until the new system goes live, which will effectively render it useless.

Posting on a forum is not a privilege or a right, it's a choice.

Yes, posting on a forum is a choice indeed. However, being on that forum for free is still a privileged. Any privately owned website is a privileged to be on. & until users such as your self understand that, the entire war on ads will never go away. Adblock will continue developing new ways to block ads, sell your info (Yes adblock HAS sold users info!) and now they are selling ads to users who use adblock themselves! lmao what a joke. And website owners will continue to come up with ways to overlook adblock. Will be a never ending cycle.

The internet does not have to be free. But it is. Because of advertisements. A fact most people fail to realize.

above shitty opinion is valid and deserving of a new thread, because it's not.

A opinion of your own. See, I think a debate on adblock is something deserving of a new thread. Again, opinionated. And from my point of view, removing revenue from users who love to provide free resources, access to content, places to help you is wrong on so many levels. Ain't nothing is going to change my mind on that.

 

[Cosmic]

I don't understand why you split this into a debate thread. I'm not interested in debating this topic, I'm just expressing my opinion on how FP should be improved. Moving these posts out of CM just marginalizes the opinions of everyone whose post was moved.

 

[Shannon Apple]

I'm not interested in debating with you either. There's nothing to debate.

You should have a) deleted the posts and apologised for the rudeness and bad harmful attitude, or b) left these posts where they were. >.>

 

[Adieu]

The average person is exposed to advertisements several hundred times a day. You can't leave your house, turn on the TV, look at your phone or go online without some form of marketing being shoved down your throat. It's obscene and I don't feel any moral obligation to look at them. I will avoid them when possible and I won't feel bad about it. Name calling and guilt trips won't change that.

 

[John]

This thread is over. Just because you had a disagreement with members doesn't mean that you just split it to the debate section, @Jordan. There isn't anything to debate here.