Why Ad Blocking is devastating to the sites you love. (from 2010)

Originally posted by pyrael
Does blocking 3rd party cookies cause problems with the ads on this site?

Yes.

But not so much for us, but for you... as you'll see "bottom of the barrel" banner ads, over-and-over-and-over again. If you've ever complained you're seeing far too many crappy ads, this is why.

I only ask because I have certain advertiser's cookies blocked because they are known to, or have in the past, collected "personally identifiable information" which I personally refuse to subscribe to.

No ad networks collect personally identifiable information about you. The cookies are random identifiers that index the history of "USER XXXXX" in an effort to optimize the kinds of ads you see, both on frequency and the kinds of sites visited. But none of it is associated with you as an identified person.
More here keepourwebfree.org/cookies.html

Originally posted by Springer
reply to post by Bahb3

 

How about, no?

Springer...

LoL, .... that just cracked me up.

.... instead of sidestepping it you just shut it down, .. hahaha

good one, .... and it's good see owners as involved as all of you here.

Thanks for the best forum/community on the net today.

reply to post by SkepticOverlord

Hmnn, then perhaps I have this confused with those pop-ups that whine when you close them and sometimes seem impossible to close; Such as the silly "Free online scanner" that shows my "Windows Partition" as being full of virii? (I run Ubuntu Linux By the way )

Thanks for the info, I unblocked all cookies etc.. I still have certain pop-ups, like the one mentioned, blocked simply because they are a serious nuisance. I DO however have ATS set as an exception, and have not seen these pop-ups while browsing here.

Originally posted by Flakey

I see many other sources of income other then the advertisements blocked by ad-blockers. Of course the Ad-blockers may infringe on your maximum profit potential however insisting on users to disable their ad-blockers for you will most likely not result in the outcome your looking for.

The terms and conditions already ask much of members in terms of compliance. What you ask us to do now takes to a higher level many are uncomfortable with. Their is a better approach.

I told you so. Glad to see you changed your mind. Their is a better way. However, I do not think I would want to offer free consulting. It's a hard economy and everyone wants to make a buck even if it is only off good advice. Sometimes good advice can be very lucrative.

reply to post by Springer


Well I try for Disclosure whenever possible.

I guess its just another conspiracy.

In all seriousness, the ads here are not bad at all. Thanks for the service you provide, gentlemen.

[edit on 10-3-2010 by Bahb3]

[edit on 10-3-2010 by Bahb3]

Originally posted by Bahb3
reply to post by Springer

 

Well I try for Disclosure whenever possible.

I guess its just another conspiracy.

In all seriousness, the ads here are not bad at all. Thanks for the service you provide, gentlemen.

TAN is not a publicly listed company with shareholders that they need to provide a PNL and annual report to. Nothing to do with disclosure





[edit on 11-3-2010 by zazzafrazz]

Forgive my strange sense of humor.

I'll ask again.

Can you please reply to my post on page 12?

reply to post by breakingdradles


You may wish to make whatever question you have, a little more coherent..

I went back and read your post, and frankly, I don't see a question that can be answered.

Just making a suggestion.

Semper

reply to post by semperfortis

Hi semperfortis.

My question probably wasn't too coherent either. Could you tell me if the "You have 3 messages waiting" banner ad and the "you have 1 message waiting" ad in the sidebar are legit? Also, I'd like to know if disabling the animation on these ads contravenes the T&C?


[edit on 12-3-2010 by jeanvaljean]

reply to post by jeanvaljean


When you get animation that annoys you, just hit the "ESC" button on your keyboard.. That will stop the animation.

That is perfectly Okay

Any "Banner Ads" are just that.. Ads....

So clicking on them will take you to whatever site they represent.

I hope this answers your question..

Semper

reply to post by semperfortis


Thank you so much.
It does answer my question. As for blocking the gif, I meant disabling them in my browser as I had to press esc constantly. Everything's fine now.

This has to be a first for me. Of all the forums I visit, this is the first time I've ever seen a plea from the site owner to un-block ads.

The only problem I have with it is that you guys (ATS owners) don't have any control over the content of the ads being displayed. I can't tell you how many times I've come here only to get a pop-up window that tells me my PC is infected and I should download some fraudulent anti-virus software to correct the problem. I'm forced to protect my PC and my data from those inscrupulous adverts.

While I understand that you guys are trying to make some money here, I have to protect my own interests as well....

This topic brings a question to mind:

Since this is a "for profit" forum, are the forum moderators paid or provided some other form of compensation for their efforts?

I block pop ups, very annoying while trying to research. I do however, try to remember to click on ads in sites I like to help them. Remember, click on the ads and even click a tab at the advertisers site to make sure there is proper credit. At least thats how I was told it workded a year or so ago. Click the ads support your forums.

Originally posted by Anamnesis
The only problem I have with it is that you guys (ATS owners) don't have any control over the content of the ads being displayed. I can't tell you how many times I've come here only to get a pop-up window that tells me my PC is infected and I should download some fraudulent anti-virus software to correct the problem. I'm forced to protect my PC and my data from those inscrupulous adverts.

SO has said several times that if you are signed into ATS you shouldn't be getting any popups from here at all -- if you do, please (speaking as a fellow member who's not blocking ads) alert them so they can be taken care of? From what I understand, the vast majority of alerts have turned out to be not ATS-related but I know a couple have snuck through during the time I've been coming here and the issue was speedily resolved once the admins knew about it and had the needed info to identify the problem.

Seriously though, try greenlighting only ATS (or only ATS and a few other trusted sites) in your ad blocker. I haven't had any problems for quite a while -- no loud ads, the popovers that were happening a couple months ago seem to be gone. I think their new "proactive" screening service may be earning its keep

\While I understand that you guys are trying to make some money here, I have to protect my own interests as well....

This topic brings a question to mind:

Since this is a "for profit" forum, are the forum moderators paid or provided some other form of compensation for their efforts?

Nope, the mods are all-volunteer. In a recent post I saw (maybe this thread, but I'm too lazy to dig it out right now) Springer (I think) confirmed that mods and super-mods are all volunteer, and the only admin for whom ATS is actually his sole job is SkepticOverlord.

Originally posted by Barkster
I block pop ups, very annoying while trying to research. I do however, try to remember to click on ads in sites I like to help them. Remember, click on the ads and even click a tab at the advertisers site to make sure there is proper credit. At least thats how I was told it workded a year or so ago. Click the ads support your forums.

Actually, SO has said there is no need to "click-thru" here. Almost all of their ads pay by impression rather by click

reply to post by americandingbat


Thanks for the response, Americandingbat. I definitely understand why the site owners would want those types of problems reported but I'm sure that they would understand that I don't want to deal with the aftermath of such problems. This really isn't a question of loyalty to ATS or whether I trust the content here but rather, a question of the content in the ads. It's unfortunate that ad content isn't trustworthy but that's the reality of the situation. All it takes is for one of those unfortunate occasional slips to trash an OS or completely corrupt data.

On the other hand, I don't fully trust this site either. There has been occasion where I've accidently clicked on the background image here and was directed to a completely different site in the same window. That type of thing really chaps my hyde. I don't like to be tricked into opening an online store that I have no interest in. Once burned, forever cautious.

As a forum admin (un-related content) I'm always concerned about ad banners. Not just scripted content but visual content as well. Have you seen those "WallyWorld" ads that flash siezure inducing graphics? Ads are intrusive in many, many ways....

Edit to correct spelling....

[edit on 12-3-2010 by Anamnesis]

I'm with the SCRIPTED AND FLASH ADS ARE BAD crowd. All the sites that rely so heavily on them can cry a river until the sea levels rise, and it will still not change this opinion. So your ads thing gets a as it is now.

Believe it or not, despite what the marketing drones and your ad running clients tell you, ad blocking and script blocking exensions were invented FOR A REASON. And the reason is that those producing the ads or running ad services have become terribly abusive in their end of the relationship.

Yet coming from a graphic arts background (which could tie in closely to marketing) I understand ads are a necessary thing for most typical commerce. So I'm not against ads completely. They need to be made sensible, not obnoxious and perhaps creating unnecessary risk.

If you want ad views, I in turn present that you make a new bargain with the site users. And this bargain requires that ads must be .png, .jpg, or .gif (non-animated) and only have a link. No scripts. This means no JavaScript, Java, or Flash. The ad is either a plain link or form button.

What this means:
1. I as the user will not be annoyed by having blinky or moving things on your pages. This raises my opinion of your site significantly.
2. I as the user will not be under constant threat of malware or viruses as presented by 3rd party scripts and content which are more than happily relayed by your advertizing parners as long as they get their money. (And even ads at more "mainstream" sites are as guilty. It's not just an ATS thing.)
3. Users also reduce having data at risk too, even if viruses and malware don't quite hit them. There have been hacks revealed that allow some malicious ads to parse through cookie and similar cache data by use of Flash or Javascript that they should NOT be allowed access to. You'd be surprised at the passwords, and even things like banking or credit information that could be in there. Seriously.
4. Your pages will load faster (by an order of magnitude even), and thus you'll have the potential to get more pageviews in the long run with your site.

So how would you ensure that ads are getting views?
You could talk to your client about using HTML form buttons to direct data and pass ID info that would let the recipient know traffic was coming from your site. Also you could implement ad-info as part of a message posting-capcha. That might be an annoyance to some, but provided you'd keep your end of the bargain on such a deal to make all ads STATIC IMAGE ONLY, I'd be more than happy to put up with it.

Poll your users. Ask if they'd be more willing to put up with ads if they didn't present such risks as the current script-heavy implementation. Odds are I'm not alone here.

If you kick everyone that doesn't care for nor trust the scripted stuff, don't be too surprised if certain (possibly even large) portions of your site particpants decide to pack up and move elsewhere. I know I make it a personal point to NOT do business with anyone that does REALLY ANNOYING STUFF to get my attention. (Hello hosts file, I've got a new friend for you...) Such advertisers are like the telemarketers of the internet, and for the most part have continued to earn their maligned reputation. As much as you seem enticed harp against browser-based blocking services, they're like the "do not call list" - except they're much more likely to work.

Alternately, you could create a user funding pool instead of an all ad based site. I've been on a forum where if users donate X-amount of dollars, the entire site goes ad-free for a given amount of traffic. And it's not a greedy "only you don't see ads" thing, it's a generous chip-in and nobody gets bothered. About a year and a half ad-free. But then again, it's a niche software forum with: 1564 avg visits per day, 3741 avg views per day, and 3298 active posters. Maybe a bigger site just can't manage that kind of feat?

Click here for more information.

Don't mind viewing banner ads on site.

However, I encountered a problem with this site last night from a pop up site that automatically installed XP Defender Pro. This malware disabled my anti-virus program, turned off the firewall, disabled all browsers, and began downloading 4-5 backdoor programs.

It took about 4-5 hours to clean it all up. Still going through the registry cleaning up leftovers. Suppose I can run a linux distribution through a virtual machine to view this site since it is ad-required.