[Closed] Ads - new complaint

Don't badly laid out, intrusive or slowly rendering ads reduce traffic and potential income for the site?

Sadexpunk - that is the entire reason we get so annoyed, its the sheer amount of ads and that's before we even get into the intrusiveness.

Interestingly the game forum I'm a member of got wiped last week, terminal server crash with loss of all backups. Within a few days it was back up with new software on a new server with all the necessary plugins all thanks to the efforts of a handful of members. Not one ad, entirely member funded (voluntarily) and sporting a modern forum that does anything you ask of it (as much or as little fwiw). Makes you think.

Yes, but they don't care as they still get money for the number served...the fact we are all moaning about it isn't making any difference...given the lack of interest in sorting it, you either stop using the site (reducing site traffic) or you sort a solution out that makes it work...which apparently is meant to be banned but it increases site traffic...

The whole internet is increasingly unusable for those of us with slow connection speeds. When STW logs me out (frequently) it can take up to 3 minutes for all the crap to load then finally the last thing which appears is the "Login" button. I've bought the mag and been a subscriber on and off (mostly on) since pretty much day one, but if this persists I'll have to seriously reconsider.

It's not just STW though, about the only 2 sites I can reliably use with out intrusive ads stopping everything loading is BBC and Facebook.

Oh and whilst I'm at it, the gradual change from written articles and reviews to videos means more and more content is not accessible to me as videos rarely run without buffering every few seconds. To give you an idea, downloading a 45 minute SD programme on iplayer took 49 hours...

I appreciate I'm in a minority with this, but it does seem the writers of websites assume everyone has 4g/50Mbs access to the internet. My connection speed is often as slow as 0.5Mbs with no reasonable chance of improvement.

One day we'll look back at the Ad funded internet model and wonder how we tolerated it. It can't last much longer with ad blockers becoming more and more popular...

I was looking for a blocker for iOS and saw this in one of the reviews.....

[img] [/img]

Well, this is a fun meet-up.

I have to say, no ads when logged in here, just the usual logging me out shenanigans.

Content / hosting has to be paid for somehow, t

See those 'P's next to people's names....

he solution is smarter ads that are not so intrusive. Print mag ads are cool, nice photograpghy show casing products we might actually buy

The rise of Ad blockers is unstoppable though.....

See those 'P's next to people's names....

They pay for the staff's Maseratis.

When STW logs me out (frequently) it can take up to 3 minutes for all the crap to load then finally the last thing which appears is the "Login" button.

Bookmark http://singletrackworld.com/wp-login.php?redirect_to=forum/ - it'll take you to the forum if you're logged in and an ad-free login page if you aren't.

I have to say, no ads when logged in here, just the usual logging me out shenanigans.

The last time we discussed this it seemed to be mostly some quirk of Safari. It was suggested that Opera stops it.

The rise of Ad blockers is unstoppable though.....

It really isn't. Detecting ad blockers is easy enough to do, and then you can serve different content accordingly. Plenty of sites do it these days, forums especially.

Really? I must not go on the right forums then as I've never had anything different barring a polite disable request. I've also never frequented anywhere that its even fractionally as much of an issue as on here.

The Maserati ad is a joke covers the screen ever time I look at the site. And the bandwidth the ads are using is nuts. The site is now borderline unusable.

Bookmark> http://singletrackworld.com/wp-login.php?redirect_to=forum/ <- it'll take you to the forum if you're logged in and an ad-free login page if you aren't.

The last time we discussed this it seemed to be mostly some quirk of Safari. It was suggested that Opera stops it.

It does make for an interesting business model though.

dragon - Member
The Maserati ad is a joke covers the screen ever time I look at the site. And the bandwidth the ads are using is nuts. The site is now borderline unusable.

Another admission that the adverts are causing problems, but this time you are asking the customer to make a change.

Oh FFS, really?

1) No-one in the history of the forum has ever disagreed that the adverts cause issues [i]for some users.[/i] If you look back at any one of the bazzilionty-one other threads where we've discussed this issue at length you'll see that no-one in a position to fix it has ever been able to reproduce the error. The workaround is something that came out of a recent discussion where we attempted to narrow it down.

2) I was suggesting a workaround for the 'frequently getting logged out' issue which is nothing to do with adverts so your argument is moot anyway.

3) You're not a customer. Customers buy things.

3) You're not a customer. Customers buy things.

I appreciate that you're not an owner, but you are closer to the inner circle than most and are probably aware of the thinking behind the policy.

I have exactly the same access to the "inner circle" that you do. I don't have a scooby about their advertising policy, I don't work here. Why on earth would you think I did?

I expect that the site owners have done studies / trial-and-error tests to work out the best way to do it, it'd be pretty poor business practice otherwise. But your guess is as good as mine.

lol 😆

I do use other forums. None of them have the level of advertising intrusiveness this place does. Some of them have things similar to the P thing. But they seem to exist without the horrendous non premier experience, the repeated log outs if you have paid up and the condescension shown to users who are having a bad experience.

Please fix it.

Maybe other forums are just run by "enthusiasts"? This one is part of a proper business that pays people's livelihoods. Hence the fact it NEEDS to make money.

*gets logged out after 30mins of inactivity*

*tries to log back in*

Well this is an entirely reasonable welcome back 🙂

[IMG] [/IMG]

..and that's a gripe. Adblocking schnizzle would just work whether I was logged in or out, paying customer or not 🙂

It would be nice if it wasn't left to mods to answer to this logging out business and maybe there would be at least something from the higher beings, in the way of a response.

Of course, I could get a life, but it does grind my gears it's never responded to (not that I've seen anyhow)

The only adverts I see is the big bazookas - doesn't everyone see them?

I get logged out as soon as I navigate say from the page. The ads that then come up when I come back to dye drive me crackers. To the point where I'm starting to think I'm gonna cancel my sub and just go somewhere else. Not a flounce as such. I'm just a bit irritated by it.

Maybe other forums are just run by "enthusiasts"? This one is part of a proper business that pays people's livelihoods. Hence the fact it NEEDS to make money

From my experience in making F2P games, it's a delicate balance. You need to make money to pay for the product, either through spenders (which will make up a tiny proportion of your user base) or through adverts.

However, you have to ensure that the experience doesn't alienate 'free' users, especially if your product is heavily community based - you risk shedding members and shrinking the community and losing positive word of mouth (reducing potential new users). If you lose too many users, or make them feel like that they have to use adblockers, you make your product less appealing to ad providers.

I personally found the ads massively cumbersome and intrusive (both pop ups and auto playing videos), and didn't want to fork out for a second subscription for the household (t'husband's has one), so I kind of abandoned the forum until iOS9 came out! I'm sure the chaps in STW towers will have a pretty good idea if the ads are having a negative impact that outweighs the positive though - presumably not as the pop up ads are still apparently in force.

*puts tea on*
(which is impressive, in a tent in a field at an Easter party)

I really don't understand why anyone is not running a browser with an ad blocker enabled by default?

I have to login every couple of days...even with remember me selected. I only access this site on my phone these days...and each visit has the car ad showing...not each time I log back in, each time I check the forum (was about 7 times a day but now once a day unless I've found a thread worth tolerating the slow speed for - like this one where we get to complain to no-one and nothing gets done - makes paying a subscription seem like a stupid idea as the basics don't work. Actually this sounds like a similar discussion to the parking fee at FC land and what it gets used for - clearly not what those who pay think it is used for)...

That ad drives me nuts, when I click to close it I end up opening the ad behind the X.....

the condescension shown to users who are having a bad experience.

It's more frustration at continually having to field these threads. I understand that it's frustrating for those affected of course, but opening Yet Another Bloody Thread achieves absolutely nothing. Rogue ads get stamped on when found - email tech with as much info as possible. We don't know what causes the logout issue as we cannot replicate the problem.

Please fix it.

I'm sure STW will be more than happy to, as soon as anyone works out how.

That ad drives me nuts, when I click to close it I end up opening the ad behind the X.....

If you disable ads in your profile and bookmark the link I posted on the previous page, you shouldn't be seeing any ads here ever.

[quote=toppers3933 ]I get logged out as soon as I navigate say from the page. The ads that then come up when I come back to dye drive me crackers. To the point where I'm starting to think I'm gonna cancel my sub and just go somewhere else. Not a flounce as such. I'm just a bit irritated by it.

I was about to suggest that those having problems like this really need to be emailing tech towers with details of their OS/browser/cookie settings etc so that some investigation into the root cause could be carried out. After all, it's not that everyone is experiencing these problems. But then I thought - why aren't the tech guys providing some sort of automated response form that the affected users could click on and that would collect and forward this info? I think we'd all like to see a bit more pro-active problem resolution. Those of us that pay and have no problems still have to "put up" with seeing all these complaint threads.

Sorry Cougar, you posted this bit

I'm sure STW will be more than happy to, as soon as anyone works out how.

Cougar, nice one thank you, I'm clearly an eejit!! 😉

[IMG] [/IMG]

What flames?

But isn't the main issue the fact there's issues. Maserati affecting a lot of users/customers. Logging out when remember me is hit etc etc.

I understand the mods frustration at yet another bloody thread but why is the new thread happening?

I haven't checked but how easy is reporting the issue to the relevant tech given all the info they'd want?

I can only really access the site on Android and even then I think it successful 50% of the time the rest it's either blocked with an ad or blackness envelopes the screen.

It's more frustration at continually having to field these threads. I understand that it's frustrating for those affected of course, but opening Yet Another Bloody Thread achieves absolutely nothing.

Well, if the search function was any good, maybe users would be able to find old threads rather than start new ones. 😈

[quote=bongohoohaa ]

It's more frustration at continually having to field these threads. I understand that it's frustrating for those affected of course, but opening Yet Another Bloody Thread achieves absolutely nothing.

Oh, never mind 🙂

bikebouy said it best "Nobody is listening to you". except cougar who by his own admission is nobody,you are the product,why pay to be what is for sale... 😆

I pay, but post much less frequently as I am constantly logged out. Of course, this means I have the insane adverts.

It's a shame, but like many others...it's the reason I don't really have much to say here any more.

I never look at the rest of the site, too much hard work.

I think we'd all like to see a bit more pro-active problem resolution.

Sure, and I don't want to sound like an apologist. I'd like to see that too, it'd make my life easier! I can only assume it's down to finding the time, there's always priorities.

if the search function was any good

I use this:

https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/search-the-current-site/jliolpcnkmolaaecncdfeofombdekjcp?hl=en

I'm half inclined to see if we can make a sticky Advert thread, then everything is in one place for tracking purposes and I don't have to keep saying the same thing over and over.

I'm half inclined to see if we can make a sticky Advert thread

Please do, it'll make your life easier and probably everyone elses as it means less replication. In theory at least.

Why is it just you that keeps saying the same thing though? Why can't the owners come on and tell us what they are doing to fix the issues? Can't replicate an issue doesn't mean there isn't one...given the volume of complaint threads suggests there is.
Until it is fixed, users will keep posting issues. Putting them in 1 thread allows the owners to ignore a single point rather than seeing a frequency.

footflaps - Member
I really don't understand why anyone is not running a browser with an ad blocker enabled by default?

POSTED 10 HOURS AGO # REPORT-POST

Sorry Modz & Da Ownerz..

But this ^^

And get a P obvz

bikebouy - Member
footflaps - Member
I really don't understand why anyone is not running a browser with an ad blocker enabled by default?
POSTED 10 HOURS AGO # REPORT-POST

Sorry Modz & Da Ownerz..

But this ^^

And get a P obvz

Ditto.

Also fail to see why Cougar feels he has to take responsibility for answering the whiners and requests that he stops this admirable yet fruitless approach and starts to shovel the shit upwards.

My observation being that it is more often than not, the unpaid volunteer mods fielding the issues that really need to be addressed more regularly by those with more vested interests.

That said, quite why people who use this fine resource and expect to freeload is bewildering... 😕

But it's not just 'freeloaders' is it? Like others I too am regularly booted out and have the advert joys trying log in so not really a valid point is it?
And as above why should I be expected alter my setup across multiple devices to counter a glitch here, and only experienced with this site?

Jeebus! I will occasionally get logged out, maybe once a fortnight, I use the link ( favourite bookmarked ) that Cougar reposted (again) on the previous page and I log back in. Not difficult, or particularly time consuming and my rural broadband speed is circa 1 - 2Mbps.

I also access this on 3 different iOS devices and found the finger pressing button selecting set up not quite as arduous as sailing across the Atlantic...

Now now now and free free free. Youth eh?