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Re-introduction of Banner Ads

Dav

Hello all,

As of tomorrow (20/09), we're going to be enabling 2 more ad slots on our thread view page for logged in members. This is how the page currently works for logged out members with ad slots after posts number 1 and 9 on a thread (and is similar to how touch.boards.ie works).

This is, unfortunately, one of those difficult but "absolutely essential to our business" sorts of decisions we've had to take. Since we replaced the top banner with the Search box on our older skins and carried that forward to the new theme, we have shown 36 million less ads than before which is a huge chunk of revenue we're missing out on.

We're working on huge changes to the site at the moment, starting with the Talk To forums which we hope will be our main source of revenue for the site in the future. After that we'll be rebuilding the site from the ground up, completely severing our ties with VBulletin's software which has simply been too much of a hindrance for us for too long. All these changes cost a lot of money and so we need to re-introduce these banners to help pay for them.

Finally, I would add that if all people are going to do is say "go get Ad-Block and it won't matter" or something similar, I would point out that those ads are quite literally paying the wages of 12 people and that we're not Google with tons of money in the bank

I would also point out that Subscribers don't see banner ads at all, so if you'd like to support the site and not be bothered by the ads, you can see more information on that at the end of this thread.

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Bloodwing

quarryman wrote: »

Actually I have, hence my custom avatar. So yes my money has into the site at some point (albeit not that much).

It just feels like greed. Ads for the guest. Ads for the registered users. Don't want ads? Then pay us to become a subscriber.

I don't see it as greed, Boards.ie is a business at the end of the day and they have to pay peoples wages and pay the expenses in running a site of this size. I'm more than happy to pay a subscription fee and enable ads if it keeps this site up and running.

_blank_

People complaining about ads on a free site are lol.

Especially when that free site is the best at what it does in the country.

The sense of entitlement isn't really shocking though, which is unfortunate.

quarryman

Des wrote: »

People complaining about ads on a free site are lol.

I'm not complaining about the presence of ads Des, read my post. I disagree with how they're implemented.

Tombi!

quarryman wrote: »

I'm not complaining about the presence of ads Des, read my post. I'm disagree with how they're implemented.

Well how would you change them?
I'd probably drop adblock if I could stop the ones with videos or moving images. They just bother me/hurt my eyes by grabbing my attention when I'm trying to read/post in a topic.

Ken.

I love browsing the prison forum but might have to stop as i nearly cracked a rib laughing when the following ad showed up at the bottom of a thread.

The Snipe

For subs with Ad's disabled, there is still the blue bar saying "Advertisement" which isn't anything much, but I can see it getting a bit irritating, is this going to be permanent, or just something that will be ironed out?

Eliot Rosewater

I think the change in policy is entirely justified. Given how small the site is, relative to the likes of Google, it's easy to see the direct and positive effect of the revenue you generate. Projects like re-doing all the forum software will benefit us all, so I find arguments about greed pretty hard to understand, in this instance.

I'd also like to support the "Subscribe to remove these ads" model that's now developed itself. This is the primary revenue model of Wolfram|Alpha and a number of other sites. To be honest, I hadn't thought of subscribing before (mainly because I'm a student and so a bit tight) but, psychologically, I'm much more encouraged now. By tying subscribing to removing ads it for some reason makes the link between new site features and giving Boards.ie money much stronger - an in-your-face-reminder of how you need cash to keep it going. Might you consider following Wolfram|Alpha's setup, and placing a little notice under ads "subscribe to hide these"?

(Just be sure you don't show that message to unregistered users, as they might confuse signing up with subscribing and so think that these are paid forums.)

You could even create a SubscriberLite™ option (!), for €20 a year or something smaller, which only hid the ads and didn't contain the other goodies. Just a thought.

Tombi!

Don't mods get all the subscription features?

[Deleted User]

+1 one on Eliot's SubscriberLite idea.

Brutal Deluxe wrote: »

Don't mods get all the subscription features?

No, not all of the features, though we do get some: custom avatars and access to the Sex and Sexuality forum, to name two. Other additional features — such as the ability to remove ads, access the subscribers' lounge, and a having a custom tag-line — are reserved for subscribers only.

Sad Professor

I really miss the breadcrumbs from the bottom of the page. I don't use the sticky header.

BOHtox

Des wrote: »

Couple of questions.

1. I'm a subscriber, have been for years. It costs €50 per year to subscribe - if I stopped subscribing and continued to use Boards at my current level, with ads turned back on, would Boards break even on me, be down money on me, or be up money?

2. Does Boards get paid for every ad shown, or does a user have to click on the ads? (if that's a stupid question, then sorry).

Interesting question.
I'd love to know the answer. Would Boards be better off trying to get more subscribers. A better product for less than a euro a week seems fair.

Where To

BOHtox wrote: »

Interesting question.
I'd love to know the answer. Would Boards be better off trying to get more subscribers. A better product for less than a euro a week seems fair.

I think boards is a great resource as it is, that's why I subscribe. I've gotten far more from this site than I could ever give back, if there were no extra features for subscribing I would still do it. That doesn't mean that I think people should be 'forced' into subscribing, it should be their own personal choice.

RUCKING FETARD

I'd sub flying only for I can't be arsed setting up paypal.

TheChrisD

Such a shame AdBlock always does a half-assed job with removing the between-posts ads sine it doesn't remove the containers... And I'll need to get Stylish to reposition the QR back to the centre...

As much as I'd want to turn AdBlock off for boards, it's guilty until proven innocent and from what I've seen in the bad ad reporting thread, that won't change anytime soon

Tombi!

TheChrisD wrote: »

Such a shame AdBlock always does a half-assed job with removing the between-posts ads sine it doesn't remove the containers... And I'll need to get Stylish to reposition the QR back to the centre...

As much as I'd want to turn AdBlock off for boards, it's guilty until proven innocent and from what I've seen in the bad ad reporting thread, that won't change anytime soon

You can technically turn it off. I have adblock plus and adblock (both on chrome) and I was able to block them. I think it's adblock plus you need and you block a frame.

And yes, I feel horrible too but the bloody moving adds hurt my eyes so it's either having my eyes hurt when reading/typing or else blocking the adds.

Micky Dolenz

Brutal Deluxe wrote: »

You can technically turn it off. I have adblock plus and adblock (both on chrome) and I was able to block them. I think it's adblock plus you need and you block a frame.

And yes, I feel horrible too but the bloody moving adds hurt my eyes so it's either having my eyes hurt when reading/typing or else blocking the adds.

Or you could always support boards by subscribing and change that horrible feeling to a feeling of deep inner peace

Tombi!

Micky Dolenz wrote: »

Or you could always support boards by subscribing and change that horrible feeling to a feeling of deep inner peace

I had a bad experience with paypal once (I lost something like 9 euro) and they refused to refund it.
I know, I'm a bitter fecker but well, there you go. I'd gladly grab a debit card from the bank or something if Boards were to support other methods.

But I feel that when I get banned, I'll be able to use "if I subscribe can I be unbanned please?"

Zaph

Brutal Deluxe wrote:

But I feel that when I get banned, I'll be able to use "if I subscribe can I be unbanned please?"

I seem to remember someone trying that not so long ago. If you ever get banned you can have a chat with them in Prison about how that worked out for them.

pickarooney

Is it possible to give boards some random amount of guilt money rather than subscribing? I'm never going to turn off ad-block but if you need some cash I'll give you 20 quid a year via paypal. Or does that mess with accounts?

Faith

If you get paid for ad impressions rather than clicks, do the ads on the mObile site need to be so big? See that capital o there? That's due to my finger slipping and me hitting the giant ad that's taking up most of my screen real estate as i try to type this response on my phone

. Theyre extremely intrusive.

28064212

pickarooney wrote: »

Is it possible to give boards some random amount of guilt money rather than subscribing? I'm never going to turn off ad-block but if you need some cash I'll give you 20 quid a year via paypal. Or does that mess with accounts?

Why not just subscribe? Or if you think €50 a year is too much, subscribe for 2*3 month periods for 6 months on, 6 months off?

-Corkie-

No ads for me thank fcuk...

Bwaaahhhhhhhh

pickarooney

28064212 wrote: »

Why not just subscribe? Or if you think €50 a year is too much, subscribe for 2*3 month periods for 6 months on, 6 months off?

I suppose that could work. Where's the subscriber link again?

Edit: re-read the OP and realised 'at the end of this thread' was a link to another thread

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/payments.php

28064212

pickarooney wrote: »

I suppose that could work. Where's the subscriber link again?

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/payments.php

-Corkie-

Faith wrote: »

If you get paid for ad impressions rather than clicks, do the ads on the mObile site need to be so big? See that capital o there? That's due to my finger slipping and me hitting the giant ad that's taking up most of my screen real estate as i try to type this response on my phone . Theyre extremely intrusive.

Mods dont get ads afaik. Have you turned off ads on your user cp???

Penn

-Corkie- wrote: »

Mods dont get ads afaik. Have you turned off ads on your user cp???

I think we still get them on the touch site.

Boards.ie: Danny

-Corkie- wrote: »

Mods dont get ads afaik. Have you turned off ads on your user cp???

Mods get ads. On the desktop site they do not get inline-thread ads. On touch, no such provisions are made.

Subscribers have the option to turn off ads, then they don't see any on touch or desktop.

Danny

-Corkie-

Penn wrote: »

I think we still get them on the touch site.

That touch site is impossible to use anyway especially for mod tools. I use the full site always even on moblie.

Orion

Des wrote: »

not right now, sorry, work computers are locked down.

http://portableapps.com/apps/internet/firefox_portable

_blank_

Orion wrote: »

http://portableapps.com/apps/internet/firefox_portable

lockdown = locked the fúck down

how do you suggest I get FFP onto the laptop? USB? locked down. download it? site locked out. email it to myself? no attachments allowed.