Annoying Advertisments

[Major Tyler]

i just wanted to ask an open question as to what was the reasoning or logic behind choosing to display these ads on the site?

My understanding is that the reasoning and logic behind these ads is to raise money for a website that we all love. GateWorld not only gets money from people clicking on the ads, but also from having the ads simply load.

[spg_1983]

My understanding is that the reasoning and logic behind these ads is to raise money for a website that we all love. GateWorld not only gets money from people clicking on the ads, but also from having the ads simply load.

i understand that, i meant the reasoning and logic behind these specific ads not ads in general.

[ShadowMaat]

Since someone asked without reading through the thread first () I'll repost Darren's (and Greg's) comments about GW's advertising:

A little bit about GateWorld's advertising policy, which I hope will demonstrate how very conservative we are compared to most sites out there (especially most sites in the TV / movie / entertainment / young male primary demographic):

- GateWorld does not allow pop-up, pop-under, or "In Vue" (layered on the screen over the page content) advertisements. If you see pop-ups while browsing GateWorld, you probably have adware that's snuck it's way onto your computer.

- GateWorld does not allow advertisements that link to sites that peddle in adware or scumware, when we are aware of it. (If you come across a suspect ad, please let us know!)

- GateWorld does not allow advertisements for alcohol, tobacco, or gambling.

- GateWorld does not allow adult-ish ads (like the lusty close-up on female body parts that one dating service is currently using in its online advertising).

- GateWorld does not allow deceptive advertisements. If we see anything like "You are today's winner! Click here to claim your prize!" we'll pull it faster than you can say "takunitagaminituron."

- GateWorld does not allow visually annoying advertisements. This is obviously a judgment call, and for the time being we've decided to allow some of the point-and-click ad "games" like the flittering PSPs. We don't allow anything that is extremely flashy and seizure-inducing like you will see elsewhere.

All in all, we hope that the ads strike a good balance between financially supporting the site and not crapping it up and making everyone leave. Your suggestions to [email protected] are always coveted.

Darren

If you calculate server hardware, bandwidth they are relatively inexpensive in comparison with human hours spent on maintainence and continual updates to the site/forums, and moderation the cost of running the site runs into the thousands of dollars a month.

I won't discourage the use of ad blockers, as God knows I'd use 'em when browsing the Web. But just so that everyone is aware of the implications if you are a GateWorld fan:

GateWorld gets paid based on both impressions (number of times an ad loads) and click-thrus. So ads support the site and keep it online not just because some people click on ads, but because they appear on every page that each person browses. Blocking ads will reduce our impressions and, if enough people do it, our ad revenue, even if you would never have clicked on the ads anyway.

Darren

[spg_1983]

Since someone asked without reading through the thread first () I'll repost Darren's (and Greg's) comments about GW's advertising:

hey now i was getting through them! there are a couple pages worth of posts to read!

[ShadowMaat]

hey now i was getting through them! there are a couple pages worth of posts to read!

Yeah, well, generally one skins over a thread first to see if a question has been "asked and answered" already. And since you're not the only one who has "issues" with the flashy game ads, well... whatever.

It's good to bring up the answers like that now and again, anyway, just to keep 'em fresh in peoples' minds.

[spg_1983]

Yeah, well, generally one skins over a thread first to see if a question has been "asked and answered" already. And since you're not the only one who has "issues" with the flashy game ads, well... whatever.

It's good to bring up the answers like that now and again, anyway, just to keep 'em fresh in peoples' minds.

wel, not to split hairs i DID say that all my points had probably already addressed before i quoted my post from the thread i started, so there, covered on a technicality!

[dipsofjazz]

I don't know if anyone else has had this, but ever since the ad has been included at the top, I often get pages that load with just the ad, and the blue background and nothing else. It's getting very annoying now, not to mention how much of GWs bandwidth it's wasting...

I have this very same problem when I use Internet Explorer. When I use Firefox all is well.

[TechnoBoY]

Ad isnt really bothering me. At least its not popup.

[ShadowMaat]

I can't say I've ever had ONLY the ad load, but there are times when it takes twice as long to load a page because of the ads. It actually seems worse for me in Firefox. I think the browser hates me, though. It crashes whenever I try to load mail.com, too. *sigh*

[knocknashee]

I've not had that personally happen - when it happens, does the browser display 'Done' (or similar depending on the borwser) and stop loading and conclude it's done, or does it try to continue loading but not get anywhere?

It just says done, and doesn't do anything...

I have this very same problem when I use Internet Explorer. When I use Firefox all is well.

Glad it's not only me...

I can't say I've ever had ONLY the ad load, but there are times when it takes twice as long to load a page because of the ads. It actually seems worse for me in Firefox. I think the browser hates me, though. It crashes whenever I try to load mail.com, too. *sigh*

I've actually noticed that as well, which is another thing that is annoying me.

What makes it all the more annoying is, I can't even use most of the sites provided in the advertising, which is designed to support this site...

[Abydosian]

Do you think when this happens (the page stops loading before being complete) you could go to View --> Source, and copy and paste the last few lines, so it's possible to pinpoint exactly where the browser stops, and then hopefully narrow down why.

[knocknashee]

I know exactly why it happens...dodgy Java in .js files attached to the advertising...

It also happens to a lot of sites with the 'MakePovertyHistory' banner in the corner - I had it on my Joe Flanigan site, and people kept complaining that it failed to load - in the end I made my own banner with a link to keep the support showing on my site.

Also, when the host of the .js script goes down, it causes huge problems...and Google was having a few of those last night...Gmail was out for a good while yesterday...

[ShadowMaat]

Anything that starts off: a.as-us.falkag.net gives me lots of trouble. It was actually crashing Firefox for a while and it still tends to slow things down. That seems to be true with IE, too. As long as the pages load, I can deal with a bit of slowdown. All in the name of keeping Gateworld online, right?

[knocknashee]

Anything that starts off: a.as-us.falkag.net gives me lots of trouble. It was actually crashing Firefox for a while and it still tends to slow things down. That seems to be true with IE, too. As long as the pages load, I can deal with a bit of slowdown. All in the name of keeping Gateworld online, right?

I don't have a problem with slow loading...I can tolerate a loss in transmission speed, but when things just don't load at all, that is annoying...

And it doesn't help me to keep GW online...Amazon want $24 to deliver the Rising DVD to me in the UK in any decent amount of time, and still $8 to deliver it in six weeks. Almost all of the ads are US based as well...

I'd rather give money through PayPal to be honest...at least ALL users who want to could do that, and it would restore the performance of the site for all...at the end of the day, advertising that is detrimental to the usability of the site for a group of members are pointless.

JMHO...I know Darren doesn't want to go down that route...

[prion]

Forgive me if I'm incorrect, but I believe morjana meant the popup window that comes as a result of clicking on the advertising banners (it pops up in a new window, rather than taking over the current one)

Earlier on in the thread it was said:


I at least have not seen any pop-up's so I believe this is what was meant. Please correct me if I am wrong

I block all popups from all sites. They're a nuisance. I don't click on any ad on any site unless it's something I'm truly interested in, which 99 times out of 100, I'm not. Life's too short to spend time clicking on ads I don't care about