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

I almost have to use adblocking. We are on a 2 way satellite connection due to the fact that (land based) broadband is non existent in our rural area. The connection is shared between four adults and two children. Bandwidth allowance is 17 gigs per month with a warning sent when we exceed 80% of that or around 13.6 gigs so that is our effective usage between 6 people.

I did some simple math and calculated that if I spent one hour a day, every day for a month (On ATS only) I would use approx. 100 megs of bandwidth. That is without viewing one single video, or visiting one single external source. This is also figuring that I am logged in whereas ATS reloads around 4 times every 5 minutes to refresh ads. (I assume)

If I am not logged in, ATS refreshes around 12 to 14 times every 5 minutes at a cost of around 830 k. or 300+ megs per month for one hour of use every day...

So obviously 100 megs of bandwidth a month is not much. But if you consider this is only visiting ONE site and multiplying that by the simple fact that our connection is shared between 6 individuals, 100 megs is a substantial amount.

This is obviously no concern to the majority of users who have basically unlimited bandwidth. But the above explains why I use adblocking. I hope I don't get banned for the occasional use of it because I do enjoy ATS...

I am required to allow ads to run on my computer so you can make money. Ok thats kind like TV. But I dont watch TV mostly because of the adds. It doesnt harm the TV so I guesse its no big deal. And they dont need us to watch them for the broadcaster to make money. But ATS is making money off of me, not for viewing the site but for the adds. So where is my cut. I am not your slave. WIll ATS fix my computer when there cash cow steps on it. Waking up is a glorious feeling. Good By ATS.

reply to post by darthlung1


What are you talking about? It costs money to run a site like this. You feel the owners should pay for all the users out of kindness of their heart?

If you visit this site, you should take part in supporting the site. I hate ads as well, but I do have adblock disabled on the sites I want to support. And so should you, or one day ATS wont be here anymore.

Perhaps you dont care about weather or not ATS exists, and if so, dont support it. But if you do care, disable the blocking to help them with the bills. Its a small price to pay, dont you think?



[edit on 3-7-2010 by Copernicus]

I actually had a small ordeal from last night from coming here where AVsuite installed on my computer from one of these ads- the programs I use to prevent infection require a decent amount of knowledge of how your system works in order to use the preventive measures properly and the little alarms didn't start going off until I came to this site, in which I am debating on if the knowledge and alternative thoughts are worth my systems. After dealing with that I thought of this thread and lo and behold it appears again, good timing!

I know some people here are like:

-oh no! I never got any sort of malware from the ads here on ATS! You must be lying or have gotten them from elsewhere-

but let me break this news to you. I have gotten a total of 3 rootkits (mbr twice and gmer) and have had plenty of trojan downloader attempts and last night's lame attempt of locking my computer with the fake virus scanner is the second or third time - I forget - that a fake virus scanner has tried to install itself / require me to reboot my computer to remedy. From this website and not a pre-existing issue. My computer is squeaky clean otherwise.

I have been hanging around here for about a year and a half so go figure.

Yes this is only when I am logged out. However the issues with the malware from this site alone have made me cease my visits from time to time. I even once considered using an Ad blocker program to prevent the infection of my machines and then I have seen this beauty of a thread appear.
I had hoped that after some time you would regulate which ads would appear and not appear on your website due to it being a conspiracy site and you thinking that some people would discourage your users from visiting with virus ads... but I see from last night that this isn't true.

Any ad spewing source that believes it has a right to open another window on my computer without my permission gets blocked forever and ever! Same with any ad spewing source that believes it has a right to take over control of my computer speakers and starts blaring a sales pitch gets blocked forever and ever!

And BTW, you don't need ad blocking software to put an end to such RUDE intrusions .. all you need to do is put an entry such as this in your HOSTS file:

127.0.0.1 nasty-intrusive-ad-site.com

I don't mind the little in-line ads, but no way am I okay with ads that get up in my face or in my ears. And besides, 99% of the ads on the internet are for things I have no interest in. And just how much does a site make on those ads anyhow? Why not provide an ad free experience for those willing to kick in a few bucks a month.

[edit on 3-7-2010 by Divinorumus]

Hello,
This is my very first post and I registered with the intention to write about rights versus privileges. However, I saw this thread first, I clicked on it ...

The .ars article linked to in this thread is blatantly false in its logic and assumptions. The line of reasoning behind that article is preposterous and I cannot believe owners of this site (supposedly grown adults) would exhibit such childish 'no, you!' behavior.

Bill, Simon, Springer,
all of the content on ATS.com is generated by users. This isn't exaggeration. 100% of the content on ATS.com is user-generated. Without users, there is no content, and there is most certainly no ad-revenue. And you are at least somewhat aware of this - why else does it say under your avatars 'User generated content ecosystem'?

ATS.com is your property and you have the right to set the rules of behavior users must obey as you see fit and to do as you please with the users of your site: ban them, delete their posts, modify their threads and so on. However, the PC I'm using to view ATS.com is my property and I get to set the rules of behavior ATS.com must obey on it. Isn't that fair?
Now, let's compare ATS.com rules and my rules, shall we?

ATS.com Terms and conditions of use + Avatar guidelines + general hints and tips
2,927 + 677 + 332 = 3,936 words
15,525 + 3,360 + 1,662 = 20,547 characters (no spaces)

My rules for ATS.com
No ads.
2 words
6 characters (no spaces)
[Word's Tools>Word Count was used to calculate the above]

And you expect me to back off from my 2-word, 6-character rule while you are not willing to bend a single rule from your rule encyclopedia, not even slightly, for anyone? And you dare to post how we, the users, are unfair for blocking ads. No, wait, we're 'stealing'.
Wow.
Do you even know the definition of stealing?

The brutal truth is that, if your business does fail, the only ones to blame will be you, the business owners, because only you can make bad business decisions, such as - oh, I don't know - banning potential revenue generating users for admitting they block ads. And if you keep making such awful moves, your site will go under, and whether or not I blocked ads will be utterly irrelevant.

ATS.com provides the common ground for your users to share ideas and opinions and I registered with that intent. ATS.com is the middle man and as such, it's an entirely unnecessary component of our (users') content generation. If at any point ATS.com becomes a burden to us, users, it will be cut out of the user communication. There is no doubt in my mind about this.

I have already benefited from coming to ATS.com, and I don't mean financially. One user that posts here, IgnoranceIsntBliss, makes what I can only describe as sublime posts and since I have learned of his blog, I do not lose anything if I choose to leave ATS.com for good - I will merely go to his blog for all the info that interests me.

As I said, I've registered to ATS.com with the honest intention of posting my ideas and my opinions which I feel are constructive and share them, free of charge, with other users. Yet, ATS.com seems to be, if not the worst, then the second worst place for doing so.

Therefore, I deeply regret registering with ATS.com and I request my account be terminated, if for nothing else, then because I use AdBlock to block all advertisements. Even if you don't fulfill my request, it matters little to me, since I do not plan on ever going back to ATS.com, following links that lead to ATS.com and I will, in addition, make it my personal agenda to explain to everyone willing to listen the manner in which you treat the ATS.com registered users and how you ban users for blocking ads.

Banning two users for their use of ad-blocking software can go a long way.
:-)

reply to post by SkepticOverlord

I have a better idea, why not get rid of all the obnoxious spam advertising you have and go to a monthly membership fee based model?

1. you would generate bucketloads of revenue which you could put into hiring real talent and get serious about a radio show or tv pilot.

2. you would get rid of most of the summer time 13 year olds that annoy everyone.

3. you would save tons of bandwith on account of you got rid of the stupid ads.

4. you would earn more respect doing that than by starting a thread begging people to stop adblocking.


ps: chrome has an amazing adblock feature!

Maybe if the people contributing content, which attract visitors, was getting their share of profit, people would be more inclined to disabled those filters.

Unlike TV and Arstechnica, ATS is a USER generated content, profiting from that content by selling propaganda. Get real.

Example of a successful business model : www.therealnews.com...

That is a full fledge News service, offered for free without the need for annoying publicity. You can donate and buy merchandise to support the site and they are online since quite a while.

Maybe trying to find a sponsor for your hosting would alleviate your fiscal responsibilities without tainting the integrity of ATS.

reply to post by gagol


Apples and oranges my friend. That news service at it's busiest get's not even 80k visitors a month. ATS is over 2 million.

That said, if you prefer that site, go there and quit whining.

reply to post by intrepid


I am sorry trying to help that website.

About apples and oranges, they have a real news desk, journalists, and serving videos... all of that ad free. The only people complaining so far are ATS admins. You are right, there is plenty of forums out there, maybe we should all find a better place.

reply to post by gagol


If someone can point what was wrong with my post It would be appreciated. I do not wish to to repeat my error.

reply to post by gagol


Terms and Conditions

4b) Ad Blockers: As AboveTopSecret.com is provided as a free service, in part through the income of our advertising, you agree not to use "ad-blocking" software or similar built-in web browser options designed to obfuscate or block online advertising while using the website(s).

You agreed to this.

Having Ad Block on can get your posting privileges removed.

Thank you

Semper

reply to post by semperfortis


Since my computer Is not fast ebough, i will ask to get my account removed.

Bye bye everybody, It was à good ride. Too bad they chose to remove the post i explaines my situation, Just ti make à point.

Well I am sorry but I had to block anything coming from doubleclick.net because it was causing my computer to lock up and I was getting kicked of ATS. I even made a thread about here on ATS

www.abovetopsecret.com...

The banner at the top of my screen is now blank. I had no choice but to do it because of the problems it was causing. I asked for help and I did what I had to do. See the thread I posted about it.

And if ATS wants me off there site then so be it. I am not going where I am not wanted. But remember this, that 2 million hits you are talking about could start to fall if you keep this up. Maybe that is the whole point to shut down ATS by running everyone off. Has ATS sold out to TPTB?

I guess I will know the answer to that if I try to login one day only to find out I can't. Time will tell.


[edit on 7/24/2010 by fixer1967]

reply to post by gagol


Sorry to see you go.
At this rate I may be next in line.

reply to post by gagol


I really don't want to Ban anyone... Especially someone that cares for the site as apparently you do...

I will ask you this...

If you are doing something you feel you must to remain on this great site, why broadcast that?

Sometimes staying quiet about something is the best way to go...

Know what I'm saying?

Semper

reply to post by semperfortis


I strongly believe in openness, and find regrettable to get my post exposing the problems I have had with publicity blocked in à thread dedicated to solve the issues...

It seems clear to me that real issues had plagued the ad system. Two years ago I hot infected via ad network from this site, that is what made me install ABP. The flash ads can be real ressources eaters, especially for people without expensive computers. It would like to see are staff acknoledging the issues. Dodging them will drive users away. And I defineyely do not want to violate régulations, or not tell, especially on a thtead dedicated to solve the issues.

Unless Ats can accept my poor person and slow computer, I prefer to quit than having to lie.

Truly yours,
Sylvain Saucier.