Ask the Moderators

[Annoyed]

Personally, I don't use adblockers, they seem a little like stealing from content providers (and free site providers).
BUT
I will have to say the "side ads" that keep popping up now on EVERY page change are entirely excessive. Not even TV does that much gratuitous advertising and it's that approach that makes people block them and deny revenue. Someone needs to pay the bills, I understand that and will accept some "inconvenience" to get the access to things I enjoy, but this is ridiculous.

This is where site operators are slitting their own throats. If sites in general just used static banners, the effect of which is "Hey, we have this thing for sale, are you interested?" and the viewer can click on it or not depending upon interest, then very few people would bother with ad blockers.

But that isn't the way it works. The advertising industry destroys everything it touches. It's the same attitude shown decades ago in used car and other advertising on TV; the volume was raised during the ads in comparison to the rest of the program. Federal laws (at least in the US) put the kibosh on that, and the ad industry promptly "cheated" to get around it.

The internet equivalent is pop-up ads, pop-under ads, scripts and other crap intended to either trick people into clicking on things by accident, perhaps trying to close the ad, as well as poor policing of the ads themselves, many of which contain malware or scamware intended to trick viewers; computer repair scams and such, as well as ransomware & such. None of which actually accomplish the purpose of ads, increased product sales. All it does is piss people off.

So, the natural and to be expected response on the viewer's part is ad blockers. So the site operators lose money as no one actually sees their ads.

This is an easily solved problem; the ad industry has to learn to behave itself, but it will take a very long time AFTER the industry does change for people to become less cautious. But, when has anyone seen marketing types drop the "piss 'em off enough and they'll buy what I'm selling" mentality? Never.

[Falcon Horus]

I only have it happening when I browse at work -- so I'm assuming they have firewalls in place that I don't have on my home computer.

Though, that's not to say I don't have several layers of protection.

[Gatefan1976]

This is where site operators are slitting their own throats. If sites in general just used static banners, the effect of which is "Hey, we have this thing for sale, are you interested?" and the viewer can click on it or not depending upon interest, then very few people would bother with ad blockers.

Speaking just for me, GW has been like that for over a decade. It's only been in the last few days this has happened (the side ads).
Is it a back end or security issue, I don't know.
I don't mind ads, as I said they pay the bills, and someone has to pay the bills.

But that isn't the way it works. The advertising industry destroys everything it touches. It's the same attitude shown decades ago in used car and other advertising on TV; the volume was raised during the ads in comparison to the rest of the program. Federal laws (at least in the US) put the kibosh on that, and the ad industry promptly "cheated" to get around it.

You could say the same about ANY revenue raising scheme. Tax destroys people, but it lets others survive. I believe you will agree with me is when it becomes ridiculous it actually becomes an issue. We have had ads before either you or me were born, but that was ok because it was not so "in your face"

The internet equivalent is pop-up ads, pop-under ads, scripts and other crap intended to either trick people into clicking on things by accident, perhaps trying to close the ad, as well as poor policing of the ads themselves, many of which contain malware or scamware intended to trick viewers; computer repair scams and such, as well as ransomware & such. None of which actually accomplish the purpose of ads, increased product sales. All it does is piss people off.

Sure, but they are not "ads", they are using the platform of ads to be douchebags. This is where people need to refine their distinction. I don't mind ads, I DO mind them being excessive. I can watch TV and accept that every 10-15 minutes, they need an ad break to pay for what I want to watch. I cannot accept them being every 10-15 SECONDS.

So, the natural and to be expected response on the viewer's part is ad blockers. So the site operators lose money as no one actually sees their ads.

Yet, that does nothing to the advertisers, only to the hosts.

This is an easily solved problem; the ad industry has to learn to behave itself, but it will take a very long time AFTER the industry does change for people to become less cautious. But, when has anyone seen marketing types drop the "piss 'em off enough and they'll buy what I'm selling" mentality? Never.

Your problem is not with the ad industry, it's with people who either subvert or misuse it.
Distinction.

[Bagpuss]

Do the side ads you're seeing look anything like these?

Video ad cap.Feb 25th 2020.JPG
That one loads what appear to be Netflix video promos for The Witcher and a load of other shows.There's an "X" to click but that only works per page load.

Video ad cap 2..JPG
This one is a promo vid for playgame-dot-io.I can't click without being diverted to their site,because there isn't an "X" to click to temporarily kill the ad.

Both are aggravatingly persistent!

Most ads are linked to our geographical area ,so you guys might be seeing different videos?

I haven't found any way to block those specific ads yet,but will pass any caps on to Darren so he can try to have them zatted by the Ad suppliers.

[VampyreWraith]

Yeah, the side ads are starting to annoy me mainly because even though they're supposed to be on mute (there's a little x by the mic symbol and everything) the volume randomly comes on, I don't really care much when I'm at home, but sometimes I'll come on here while I'm out or while I'm on break at work to pass the time and the ads just start blasting.

[Bagpuss]

Ok.I can understand how annoying that can be.

Rather strangely the muting works for me on the Netflix one in FF and Chrome.(Via Laptop)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


Tested the ads on my phone and that Netflix one obscures half the screen.

Anyone else having that problem too?

[VampyreWraith]

The ads are actually smaller (or maybe they're just positioned lower on the forum page) for me today, but previously they were taking up about a quarter of the reply box when I went to type a reply. I'm usually on here on my phone (even when I'm at home) using the full site not the mobile one because I can't stand the way it looks lol. I haven't had any issues with the sound going on today, so maybe that issue was resolved.

[Falcon Horus]

I can only see the "Netflix" add on the main page... but it's always muted in my case and I rarely click it close because I generally click away faster than having to bother to close it, so I basically leave it playing. It doesn't bother me that much.

No adds on the forum page -- yes, I have several addblocks in place, which are set to different protection levels.

[Skydiver]

Those side ones are everywhere, not just on the forum but on the main site as well. I was looking for some photos last night and gave up because of the persistent ads. It’d reset every single page load.

I agree that advertisers are their own worst enemy. Put out a static ad and get very few respondents...why? Cause people don’t want what you’re selling to be honest. But they think the more obnoxious it is the more likely people will click on it. No. Cause we still don’t want what is being sold. But yes, being obnoxious along with poorly policing things and allowing malware and spyware to be dished up and people feel justified in blocking it, which mean less see it, which mean they feel justified to get even more obnoxious and pushy.

Thing is, as a society, we have so much advertising crammed at us that most dont’ even see them anymore. It’s ad overload.

[Annoyed]

Those side ones are everywhere, not just on the forum but on the main site as well. I was looking for some photos last night and gave up because of the persistent ads. It’d reset every single page load.

I agree that advertisers are their own worst enemy. Put out a static ad and get very few respondents...why? Cause people don’t want what you’re selling to be honest. But they think the more obnoxious it is the more likely people will click on it. No. Cause we still don’t want what is being sold. But yes, being obnoxious along with poorly policing things and allowing malware and spyware to be dished up and people feel justified in blocking it, which mean less see it, which mean they feel justified to get even more obnoxious and pushy.

Thing is, as a society, we have so much advertising crammed at us that most dont’ even see them anymore. It’s ad overload.

Ding! Ding! Ding! We have a winner.

[Gatefan1976]

Do the side ads you're seeing look anything like these?

[ATTACH=CONFIG]43043[/ATTACH]
That one loads what appear to be Netflix video promos for The Witcher and a load of other shows.There's an "X" to click but that only works per page load.

[ATTACH=CONFIG]43044[/ATTACH]
This one is a promo vid for playgame-dot-io.I can't click without being diverted to their site,because there isn't an "X" to click to temporarily kill the ad.

Both are aggravatingly persistent!

Most ads are linked to our geographical area ,so you guys might be seeing different videos?

I haven't found any way to block those specific ads yet,but will pass any caps on to Darren so he can try to have them zatted by the Ad suppliers.

No, I get ads for the Witcher as well, so that's the UK and Aus getting the same damn ad.
3 shots with the zat-gun please

[Darren]

I've been doing this most of my life, and it is an existential challenge for sites like ours. Wonder how GW made it to its 20th birthday, when most sites like ours (fan sites, not owned by corporations or other entities) die out all the time? One of those reasons: advertising.

It's a constant balance between higher-performing ad units and not aggravating your users so far that they employ ad blockers or stop visiting. Ads are annoying by nature. A little annoyance (non-flashing banner ads), most people on the Internet have come to get used to. Terribly annoying (flashing, auto-playing audio, deceptive practices like a "close" button that opens a new window with another ad) are intolerable. So where is the best middle ground?

You see the middle ground I've settled on after 20 years. We need ads if the site is to continue. Banner ads alone no longer pay the bills. (They earn pennies on the dollar -- or less -- compared to 20 years ago.) My rules are no auto-play audio (if that's happening, something is broken); no flashing banner ads; no ads for gross or illegal things (gambling, tobacco, porn, etc.), no pop-ups or pop-unders, and no deceptive practices. The concession on my part is that even this will be too much for a certain percentage of GW visitors, and they'll use an ad blocker. However, the vast majority of the site's traffic actually doesn't come from regulars ... so removing an ad unit will more likely just kill our revenue, rather than gradually improving traffic over time.

tl;dr - I won't be offended if you use an ad blocker. It's the nature of the Internet in 2020. But you can passively support the site by allowing ads to load.

Where a particular ad unit is actually interfering with your ability to use the site (i.e., it's overlaying something you can't click on), that's something I want to know about so that I can make the user experience more efficient.

[Annoyed]

Do the side ads you're seeing look anything like these?

[ATTACH=CONFIG]43043[/ATTACH]
That one loads what appear to be Netflix video promos for The Witcher and a load of other shows.There's an "X" to click but that only works per page load.

[ATTACH=CONFIG]43044[/ATTACH]
This one is a promo vid for playgame-dot-io.I can't click without being diverted to their site,because there isn't an "X" to click to temporarily kill the ad.

Both are aggravatingly persistent!

Most ads are linked to our geographical area ,so you guys might be seeing different videos?

I haven't found any way to block those specific ads yet,but will pass any caps on to Darren so he can try to have them zatted by the Ad suppliers.

Unless you had ad blockers/script blockers active, this site was quite unusable (literally) for about a month last December-January. I use Firefox for browsing, even on my iPhone. Some time ago, Apple blocked Firefox extensions on IOS, so I couldn't run them. THis site was serving an ad claiming to be a Google survey / contest of some sort. You know the type; "You are the lucky winner....". The URL had nothing to to with Google, of course. You couldn't dismiss this. Only way out was to close the browser.

[SoulReaver]

just tested without the blocker I see the 'witcher' ad that one's invasive & definitely a site-killer
the other ads are ok


admittedly I never gave much thought to the implications of using a blocker

I'd be actually willing to disable the blocker for this site (under certain small conditions which shouldn't pose a problem)

[Annoyed]

just tested without the blocker I see the 'witcher' ad that one's invasive & definitely a site-killer
the other ads are ok


admittedly I never gave much thought to the implications of using a blocker

I'd be actually willing to disable the blocker for this site (under certain small conditions which shouldn't pose a problem)

I don't disable blockers. I will whitelist the domain I'm visiting ( in this case, forum.gateworld.net ). I know they have to pay their bills.
Beyond that, it's site-by-site, but rarely will I unblock anything else. If the site in question doesn't work right or I can't see things, oh, well, I didn't need to see that site anyway.