Suggestion for an ad free alternative

I understand that this board needs to support itself, and I'm not suggesting that go away. However, ad complaints are getting worse, and some of the ad content has also been getting worse. Not only is ATS unable to control what ad's display, but ad blockers totally circumvent this strategy.

ATS has stayed away from subscription models, and I think that is a good plan.

So, I wanted to suggest another model that the site owners/users may not be aware of.

About two years ago, I came up with an idea to try and deal with what I see as an eventual failure of an ad supported model. The idea I eventually hit on was utilizing additional CPU cores on a users computer to cryptomine while the website is being used. This results in a free experience for the user, an ad free experience, better revenue generation worldwide, and a more secure platform for the site owners.

I started working on this system for a little while, and then early this year saw that another website had beaten me to the punch. Salon has pioneered this, and built a browser plugin that will mine the crypto currency Monero while you browse their site. They do this through a program called Coinhive. Perhaps something along these lines would be worth looking into?

a reply to: Aazadan

I wouldn’t have a huge problem with but other sites that do that they also have full access to hardware... Not that I care much but still a huge invasion of privacy.
I imagine that is why that idea would not be implemented.

originally posted by: Allaroundyou
a reply to: Aazadan

I wouldn’t have a huge problem with but other sites that do that they also have full access to hardware... Not that I care much but still a huge invasion of privacy.
I imagine that is why that idea would not be implemented.

Crypto mining the hardware of paranoid conspiracy theorists.

No offense, but to me not the greatest of business models.

I'd love to see a subscription model though... ad free with a members area.

An opinion, as always...

a reply to: Aazadan

This will likely be taken as whining as the latest trend appears to indicate.

However, i think its worth looking into with possible hardware limitations but Might want to address or isolate the ats intermittent performance issues users have been reporting before tapping into client hardware.

I know its common to click and wait in links from the recent page. The issue occurs for me on multiple devices, accross different browsers, and different ISP while other sites dont appear to experience the lag.

However i havent really dug into it too much and its something i expect and overlook.

Just hung up on me while trying to edit the post. Clicked edit and took 40 seconds to come back

Performance issues also appears to be the cause of the multiple post issue aswell.

A user post and ats appears to be not responding so the user hits submit multple times while waiting. This creates the multiple post issue from what i have seen.

originally posted by: Lumenari

originally posted by: Allaroundyou
a reply to: Aazadan

I wouldn’t have a huge problem with but other sites that do that they also have full access to hardware... Not that I care much but still a huge invasion of privacy.
I imagine that is why that idea would not be implemented.

Crypto mining the hardware of paranoid conspiracy theorists.

No offense, but to me not the greatest of business models.

I'd love to see a subscription model though... ad free with a members area.

An opinion, as always...

Totally agreed

And yes also to paying a small fee for ad free ATS.

I think a small fee for ATS would be great

there's been an influx of blank accounts these past year that do nothing but troll

a fee would definately stop that kind of thing happening

perhaps a discount for the length of time people have been a member

I think the current model works fine. Some bad or overly intrusive ads may get through sometimes, but even when that happens it's rectified pretty quickly, at least in my experience.

Locking some content behind a members-only paywall, requiring blanket fees for everyone, and using members hardware to mine cryptocurrency are all terrible ideas that would lead to people not using the site anymore.

a reply to: Aazadan

But mobile users are no good target for coin mining, you would see dead batteries all over the place, then some batteries can't handle it and would go fat and die in some bad way, or take the phone with them as they die

Could work for desktop computers but tons of people use phones or tablets now

originally posted by: BoneSay
a reply to: Aazadan

But mobile users are no good target for coin mining, you would see dead batteries all over the place, then some batteries can't handle it and would go fat and die in some bad way, or take the phone with them as they die

Could work for desktop computers but tons of people use phones or tablets now

It's not really a big deal for tablets. My tablet has an 8 core processor, giving up 1 core for mining while using a website is trivial. Phones are a little more problematic but even those aren't that bad, because you could always limit how much you're draining the battery based on device or even current battery level.

the real problem with ad's is the AUP that prevents the boards from allowing certain content that advertisers don't like

a reply to: toysforadults

I think the biggest problem with ad's is adblockers. I know they're against the terms of service, but lets be real here... most people use them.

Subscription based services don't scale well enough, and can significantly discourage new members from joining. Ad based services have a lot of issues.

I want to see ATS be as well funded as it can be, and to have a good user experience. Taking advantage of newer technology such as what I mentioned is one possible way to do so.

In fact, you can even take an all of the above approach and let users choose how they want to support the site.

a reply to: Aazadan

bad policy limiting the kinds of conversation we can have is a huge problem and major attack on the brand of critical thinking and denying ignorance

can't deny ignorance when you can't discuss to the topic to deny it in the first place

both problems

originally posted by: Aazadan

originally posted by: BoneSay
a reply to: Aazadan

But mobile users are no good target for coin mining, you would see dead batteries all over the place, then some batteries can't handle it and would go fat and die in some bad way, or take the phone with them as they die

Could work for desktop computers but tons of people use phones or tablets now

It's not really a big deal for tablets. My tablet has an 8 core processor, giving up 1 core for mining while using a website is trivial. Phones are a little more problematic but even those aren't that bad, because you could always limit how much you're draining the battery based on device or even current battery level.

Most people won't have a clue about what you are saying, you know that right? Cores and limiting cpu, explain how to do that so that all people get it, and there are like a gazillion people into ATS using phones, or how do you think it would work? by the guys running the mining doing the right thing? Have you forgotten about how being in power of that turns out, every single time..

I would love to see ATS accounts!
what do you do with all the money?
who gets how much?

get people to pay would be best.
let new people have one week free.

Bit mining!
it uses a lot of electricity.
running your CPU and GPU (graphics card)
gets them hot and they will only last so many years.
who pays for the new computer and power?

I've seen another site doing this, they have a warning at the bottom of the pages to use an ad-blocker to opt out

They should just do what the mobile games do where if you don’t want the ads you pay a one time fee or pay the fee per month, that way ats can get revenue through the users that don’t want ads, and still get ad revenue from those who don’t mind the ads.

originally posted by: ML8715
They should just do what the mobile games do where if you don’t want the ads you pay a one time fee or pay the fee per month, that way ats can get revenue through the users that don’t want ads, and still get ad revenue from those who don’t mind the ads.

Mobile games can get around ad blockers by serving the advertisements in the games themselves. Forums cannot. This solution does not significantly change their revenue.