Advertising

[Guest metalmonkey]

Do you feel that the type of adverts are wrong or that adverts in general are wrong?

 

You've probably hit the nail on the head there Tony. Personally, I loath adverts and marketing in general. Why I should pay a subscription for Sky yet still get adverts within 2 minutes of a programme starting, or a Mothercare logo plastered all over a sun blind I paid £9.99 for my car to shade my 2 year old. (I took it back by the way. I'm not paying to be an advert)

 

And in the same context, popups, flashing GIF animations or intellitext are just slowing me down. An example; PCPro, traditionally has a large advert in the middle of an article. One time they had an animation - something to do with a crane picking up a box. The animation really caused me trouble. I'm a dyslexic reader. The animation caused me to lose my place in the text every time it restarted the animation. Where's the productivity for me?

 

It's a shame because it does affect the income of a website especially that started from DB's generosity - and i'm sorry. But adverts on a website are just a big no no for me. If it wern't for Adblock i'd still be reading an article about the release of Vista beta!!

[HodgeHi]

So you get money just for clicking on ads? Do i click on every one i see then or doesn't it work that way? I don't do pay pal or have a credit card so without those i don't send money across the web. But i will happily click on as many of those colourful boxes as you want if it means i can help in other ways.

[localzuk]

You've probably hit the nail on the head there Tony. Personally, I loath adverts and marketing in general. Why I should pay a subscription for Sky yet still get adverts within 2 minutes of a programme starting, or a Mothercare logo plastered all over a sun blind I paid £9.99 for my car to shade my 2 year old. (I took it back by the way. I'm not paying to be an advert)

 

And in the same context, popups, flashing GIF animations or intellitext are just slowing me down. An example; PCPro, traditionally has a large advert in the middle of an article. One time they had an animation - something to do with a crane picking up a box. The animation really caused me trouble. I'm a dyslexic reader. The animation caused me to lose my place in the text every time it restarted the animation. Where's the productivity for me?

 

It's a shame because it does affect the income of a website especially that started from DB's generosity - and i'm sorry. But adverts on a website are just a big no no for me. If it wern't for Adblock i'd still be reading an article about the release of Vista beta!!

 

How do you suggest sites such as this one make money then? As has been pointed out, a subscription model would force people out - a bad thing for a community. The site already has a donate button - which won't cover anywhere near the amount needed to even run the site on its own.

 

So how else?

[GrumbleDook]

How do you suggest sites such as this one make money then? As has been pointed out, a subscription model would force people out - a bad thing for a community. The site already has a donate button - which won't cover anywhere near the amount needed to even run the site on its own.

 

So how else?

 

The usual answer would be sponsorship (another form of advertising really) or other sites sell access to their membership ... I can really see that being popular.

 

Still, Metalmonkey puts his contribution forward via advice and helping others ... and we can never have enough of that.

[MkII]

That we have the choice is surely the saving grace.

 

Does big have to mean bad? Can successful business in this modern world not be associated with exploitation in some form. It seems not.

 

I suppose what riles is; this community was formed on mutual, freely given help. Yet the bigger we get the more the opposite of our reason for being sneaks in and takes over. Someone gets to make a profit on all our work.

[Guest metalmonkey]

How do you suggest sites such as this one make money then?

 

Unfortunately thats not my problem. Thats the risk you run when you run a business. It's not easy.

 

My point is this; If I choose to block adverts, thats my right. Why put a sob story in their place trying to make me feel bad? If I don't care i'm blocking the Ads in the first place, a begging image won't work either.

[localzuk]

Unfortunately thats not my problem. Thats the risk you run when you run a business. It's not easy.

 

My point is this; If I choose to block adverts, thats my right. Why put a sob story in their place trying to make me feel bad? If I don't care i'm blocking the Ads in the first place, a begging image won't work either.

 

That's the thing - this, as far as i'm aware, is not a profit making business.

 

The money is needed for hosting and the other costs that edugeek incurs (BETT, conferences etc...).

 

Also, if you don't care about blocking the ads, then you shouldn't care about the image either. As you say, it is your right to be able to block ads (something which a lot of businesses actually contest, as the sites are the intellectual property of those businesses and as such, some businesses have claimed that filtering bits out amounts to an infringement on their rights). But it is also the right of the owners of this site to encourage people to not engage in that activity.

 

Also, it *is* your problem - and the problem of every person who uses the site. Without income, no site can be run - regardless of how helpful you are on the forums.

[dhicks]

As is so often the case, we can simply program our way out of this problem: someone just needs to write a better add-blocker, one that the site can't spot (and therefore still gets paid for add impressions) but that still efficiently blocks adds. If at first you don't succeed, cheat.

 

--

David Hicks

[Edu-IT]

As is so often the case, we can simply program our way out of this problem: someone just needs to write a better add-blocker, one that the site can't spot (and therefore still gets paid for add impressions) but that still efficiently blocks adds. If at first you don't succeed, cheat.

 

--

David Hicks

Adblock does the job, just block the entire frame.

[Guest metalmonkey]

Also, it *is* your problem

 

Really? Are you sure? Try Google.

[localzuk]

Really? Are you sure? Try Google.

 

I don't understand your response...

[GrumbleDook]

What I think MM is getting at is that Google have a money making system based on adverts that can handle that fact that some of their users will block adverts and they still continue to be financially viable. Google have tried lots of different tactics to get adverts into their systems and people are almost blind to them in someways now.

 

Part of the difference between us and Google is the scale, but we do share certain views ... about giving back to the community, about experimenting and not forgetting that although we are here with a common purpose, we have a raft of different views and are (generally) willing to accept these differences.

 

The adverts are here to stay unless a philanthropist decides to make significant sponsorship. What can and will be done is tailoring them so that they are appropriate, that they are viewable (MM: I really do understand what you mean about some adverts actually making it impossible to read a page ... one reason why I use and RSS aggregator to get my news and stuff from sites ... plain text and basic images formatted in a shell that *I* find viewable), and that they do not drive people away. The background nag is there to remind people that there are a reason why adverts are there, that by blocking them it decreases the sustainability of the site the community uses and we hope that people will allow the adverts to be viewed, thereby making a contribution to the running of the site without asking them for donations etc.

 

I think this is pretty much as far as the adverts vs blocking discussion can go really ... we have explained our side, others have explained theirs. There will continue to be a nag image for the time being and we ask people to be understanding about it, and we thank those that put an exception into their blocks, as well as thanking those that continue to post advice on here and rarely request help, thanking those lurkers who help out at events or on projects and thank those that make direct donations.

[RabbieBurns]

unnecesary comment really Edited September 5, 2008 by RabbieBurns
drunkenramble

[mac_shinobi]

I don't block any of them as I dont often notice them yet I have not gone to any of the events as of yet or had any pizza or anything lol. ah well.