Forum ads

[m0rF1uS]

Came to this forum because of Merlin and the community support. Been reading all the different topics for 6-7 years now and the support and information is great. Decided to register about 5 years ago. I don’t post much but generally enjoy reading all the different discussions and topics, as well as updates on the firmware.

That comes to an end today.

This forum has become unusable recently because of all the ads. On mobile you can’t even get to the next page button. It’s absolutely disgusting.
I get that support and maintenance is not free. And I’m okay with some banners and ads, but how they started to populate the entire screen now makes it completely impossible to use.

All the best to the great people here. I’m signing out.

 

[dave14305]

Much less dramatic than reporting the obtrusive ad to Tim.

Even if I didn’t actively use an adblocker on this site, iOS Safari and Firefox privacy protections still hide most, if not all, of the ads on this site. Just to say I find it hard to ever see the ads on this site with the browsers I use.

 

[Kingp1n]

Came to this forum because of Merlin and the community support. Been reading all the different topics for 6-7 years now and the support and information is great. Decided to register about 5 years ago. I don’t post much but generally enjoy reading all the different discussions and topics, as well as updates on the firmware.

That comes to an end today.

This forum has become unusable recently because of all the ads. On mobile you can’t even get to the next page button. It’s absolutely disgusting.
I get that support and maintenance is not free. And I’m okay with some banners and ads, but how they started to populate the entire screen now makes it completely impossible to use.

All the best to the great people here. I’m signing out.

You don't post much but you decided to post that you're leaving?

 

[bbunge]

Adds? What Adds? Ever hear of add blockers?

 

[Makaveli]

You don't post much but you decided to post that you're leaving?

Lol for real this is not an airport announcement of your departure isn't needed. And next time just report the ad to tim.

 

[scaramonga]

Never had a single AD on this site.

 

[Tech9]

I understand why we have ads. I used to allow ads to support the site, but they got too many. Currently the forum is really ugly with no ad-blocker. When the ads impact functionality the users just start blocking them. Not sure if more ads blocked is actually better than fewer allowed. Not complaining, I have my solution. Don't like it, but become necessary in last year or so.

This is what parts of this very same thread look like on an iPhone with no ad-blocking:

There is no single message visible. Ads only back to back...

 

[thiggins]

I understand why we have ads. I used to allow ads to support the site, but they got too many. Currently the forum is really ugly with no ad-blocker. When the ads impact functionality the users just start blocking them. Not sure if more ads blocked is actually better than fewer allowed. Not complaining, I have my solution. Don't like it, but become necessary in last year or so.

This is what parts of this very same thread look like on an iPhone with no ad-blocking:

View attachment 67197

View attachment 67198

There is no single message visible. Ads only back to back...

I've never seen that and I use an iphone to moderate the forum from time to time.

 

[Tech9]

Here, just needed to refresh a few times and double ad comes up:

 

[Tech9]

Some bug in settings, perhaps?

From a year or so the amount of ads become from mildly annoying to unbearable and impacting the entire experience. I believe everyone is running ad-blocker now even people who used to allow ads to support SNB Forums. This is the catch-22 situation we are currently in.

 

[thiggins]

@Tech9 What page are you on? post the link.

I don't think the ads on here are "unbearable", but I'm not going to argue with you.
I don't allow pop-ups, interstitials, ads that follow you down a page or other stuff you get on much larger sites than this one.
Enough people don't run ad blockers that the site still supports itself. When it doesn't, I'll shut it down.

 

[thiggins]

Ok. I see it. it's at the very bottom of the page on mobile. Might be a bug.

 

[thiggins]

The reason is that on a narrow screen, the ad at the bottom of the right column gets shown right above the ad shown at the bottom of the main column. This is the only place that I see the double ad.

 

[Tech9]

I'm not going to argue with you

I have no intentions to argue about it. I run ad-blocker on SNB Forums for about a year. Your site, your decisions.

It was a random page test, just needed to refresh few times to get the double ad covering the entire screen. The annoyance on mobile comes from the fact ads load a bit later and shift the text up. I clicked on some of the ads by mistake just playing with it. Anyway... my point is when the ads situation is too much everyone starts blocking the ads and no one will ever click on any of them. Google is smart, I don't know if they pay for never displayed ads.

 

[ColinTaylor]

Not really seeing a problem here. One fixed ad near the top of the page and a smaller one that scrolls with the bottom of the page.

 

[Tech9]

Main page is fine. I see it only in threads, as @thiggins found the bottom and side ads on small screen come one on top of the other and take the entire screen like this: