Changes to Advertising on the site

In fairness the new Boards is bad but trying to read a thread on Reddit would give me a brain hemorrhage within thirty seconds.

I've tried a couple of times and nearly smashed my phone off the wall both times. Nothing seems to make sense. Maybe the paid for version has posts in order?

I'm not sure how targeted your ads are to be honest. I don't need sports bras from JD sports.

The problem isn’t the ads, it’s the fact people have abandoned the site due to the f-up made of updating it.

A lot of people didn’t come back. It’s still a really bad user experience.

Putting more ads on it will just mean that more people use an ad blocker. It’s the equivalent of an post increasing the price of stamps because less people are posting things.

You’re not looking at ways to diversify the assets of the site (users & interests), instead looking for the cheap quick fix (which isn’t a fix at all)

This is the issue with pretty much all the various suggestions. It's clear that Boards don't have the resources to fix critical issues across the site, much less kick off new projects. I believe there are plenty of monetizable opportunities with Boards - however, it requires substantial investment first. The impact of the loss of so many high-level regular posters and moderators in such a short period of time cannot be overstated. The current trajectory is all downhill, and if the resource issues don't change, neither will the outcome.

Set up a boards YouTube channel, offer memberships to it. Display threads of the day on it or some such (like old school teletext used to be at night-time). Completely free, virtually zero effort, more euros in the coffers. Patreon also free, more euros in the bank. Could even monetise Twitter these days.

Users of either give office their username, and ad free experience offered.

Could also hire some consultants who are experts in the hiring of advertising consultants and add more ads. Both might work.

This, all day long this.

The problem goes back to the usual lack of transparency and sporadic communication. We were told an upgrade was happening that would allow Boards to do more, but instead we got a much delayed, stripped out and broken shell of what the place used to be and those who have stuck around have waited 8 months now and the place isn't even stable as is, nevermind even on par with the previous site.

I have to agree that if Odhran and whoever makes up the rest of the senior team had come on here openly stating the situation - BEFORE it became apparently critical - then probably most of the users would not only have supported the need for fundraising (look at how much is raised at Christmas for charity) and change and if they had been clever about it, they could probably have pulled in (FOR FREE) the skills and expertise that is all over this site - from development to project management to finance and fundraising to stabilise not only the cash but the site itself.

Instead of that, they made promises that couldn't be kept, didn't communicate effectively and still don't understand why people still come here if this is now the best they can come up with.

There's a lesson in management and customer engagement to be learned here but I fear it's too late and probably won't be learned anyway.

Hopefully though, if and probably when things come to a head, they sell the domain on to someone/a group who will bring the place back to its roots rather than chasing trends and wasting time and resources in the process. There are still many successful fora out there so the demand is still there, especially for the USP that Boards offers the Irish community and which the current management have completely failed to capitalise on.

I would donate to boards in the morning (and did in the past, as well as volunteering for them).

However, I have absolutely no confidence in the management of the site now, and until that changes, or I am proven wrong, there is no way I’d throw good money down the drain.

You say Patreon isn't a stable source of income, but you reckon ads will be? Ads can be (and will be) completely disabled at the click of a button by users at any time they want....one stupid/misplaced ad too many and boom, the user has enough and nukes every ad site wide with a browser addon. I don't see this as stable or guaranteed, in any way shape or form.

Patreon is a FAR better solution here, Yes people will join/leave as patreons as time goes by, but those who actually go to the trouble of subbing, usually won't be flash in the pan subscribers. The biggest obstacle of a potential Boards Patreon, is why would a user bother? What's in it for them? Much the same as becoming a traditional subscriber...there's just very little incentive.

A Patreon tier system, with attractive rates, and actual real world benefits for users is the only viable solution here to the income problem. As for those benefits, that'd be up to you guys....im sure the people here would have plenty of suggestions. Ideally you'd roll the current subscriber system into various Patreon tiers, name changes, special user badges, increasing access to various parts of the site, hell even give higher tiers (with established track records) a direct line with relavent mods for user representation/feedback/forum growth etc (and this could even lead to identifying prospective mods etc). There's loads of possibilities.

Ignoring these options, and just sticking with "moar ads", just screams like the cheapest/easiest way to roll the dice. Such a path does NOT inspire confidence in subscribing either.

Boards is dying, that's pretty obvious. Management will dismiss sensible suggestions until they stop getting paid.

The upgrade was the final nail in the server.

The name will be sold and Boards will be ressurected.

I have no idea what Boards management is on, but I suspect it's really top quality stuff that completely inhibits logical thought.

I do feel sorry for Boards staff that will lose their jobs.

In 20+ years of daily internet use, I've never knowingly clicked on an ad ever.

I'm not going to start now.

I find some of the contradictions stark: Mobile users should outnumber desktop users but yet the development on mobile appears to be stood still or a low priority. Surely mobile users should be driving new sign-ups? By not having investment at the mobile interface you have nothing more than a wire-sprung pram of bananas at the all-Ireland on a Sunday.