# I pit the assholes who are depriving the SDMB of revenue **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [December 22, 2016, 9:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-the-assholes-who-are-depriving-the-sdmb-of-revenue/775350 "2016-12-22T09:40:48Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![aldiboronti](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9fc348/32.png) [@aldiboronti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aldiboronti)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2016, 4:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-the-assholes-who-are-depriving-the-sdmb-of-revenue/775350/21 "2016-12-22T16:37:10Z")
> [@bobot](#): > > When you mention that most reasonable and obvious answer, I think you become an elitist or something. I understand that not everyone can afford the roughly buck and a quarter each month. If this place would make gift memberships a possible thing, I wouldn’t mind sharing. Shit, I offered to pay for someone’s membership once, and it was not possible to accomplish. So, I pit that part. > (ETA response to hajario’s post.) Paying for someone’s membership is perfectly possible and has been a regular practice among Dopers for years. ---
**Author:** ![bobot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bobot/32/21622_2.png) [@bobot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bobot)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2016, 4:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-the-assholes-who-are-depriving-the-sdmb-of-revenue/775350/22 "2016-12-22T16:40:30Z")
I dare you to try it. ---
**Author:** ![aldiboronti](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9fc348/32.png) [@aldiboronti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aldiboronti)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2016, 4:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-the-assholes-who-are-depriving-the-sdmb-of-revenue/775350/23 "2016-12-22T16:42:46Z")
> [@aldiboronti](#): > > Paying for someone’s membership is perfectly possible and has been a regular practice among Dopers for years. Addendum: as I recall you simply substitute their member number for yours when you purchase a subscription although one of the mods would need to confirm that, it’s been a while since some kind Doper did it for me in a period of hard times. ---
**Author:** ![bobot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bobot/32/21622_2.png) [@bobot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bobot)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2016, 4:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-the-assholes-who-are-depriving-the-sdmb-of-revenue/775350/24 "2016-12-22T16:50:29Z")
I had an actual mod here unable to help me get it done, after I promised someone a year membership. ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2016, 5:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-the-assholes-who-are-depriving-the-sdmb-of-revenue/775350/25 "2016-12-22T17:00:37Z")
Serious question: what is the point of me allowing ads if I am never, ever going to click on any of them? Never have and never will, and I won’t go to websites that require me to turn off my ad blocker. The host makes zero dollars out of me seeing them, only if I click on them, right? ---
**Author:** ![Typo\_Negative](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/typo_negative/32/484_2.png) [@Typo\_Negative](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Typo_Negative)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2016, 5:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-the-assholes-who-are-depriving-the-sdmb-of-revenue/775350/26 "2016-12-22T17:12:51Z")
> [@hajario](#): > > They ave one other form which is a $15 yearly subscription. If I pony up the 15 bucks, I won’t see the banner ad at the bottom at the page, or the banner ad that appears on the right side of screen, blocking my view of the page, which, on my laptop, I have adjust the zoom on the browser to infinitesimal to be able to get to the ‘x’ to close it? Because that would be worth 15 bucks. ---
**Author:** ![Evan\_Drake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/b487fb/32.png) [@Evan\_Drake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Evan_Drake)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2016, 5:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-the-assholes-who-are-depriving-the-sdmb-of-revenue/775350/27 "2016-12-22T17:22:47Z")
Advertisements can still be divided into Impressions ( Eyeballs ) and Click Throughs ( Clicking on with a mouse ); the first is like a billboard always familiarising one with the name, the second like taking a pamphlet. Advertisers have holy wars to determine which is sillier. ---
**Author:** ![cochrane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cochrane/32/10441_2.png) [@cochrane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cochrane)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2016, 5:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-the-assholes-who-are-depriving-the-sdmb-of-revenue/775350/28 "2016-12-22T17:45:53Z")
> [@aldiboronti](#): > > Paying for someone’s membership is perfectly possible and has been a regular practice among Dopers for years. The ability to give gift subscriptions was suspended in 2014 after an upgrade broke the board. As of a year ago, they haven’t been reinstated. > [@gift memberships are not working](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gift-memberships-are-not-working/682670/3): > > The gift subscription plugin was broken by the recent upgrade to the vBulletin version. If you have submitted a gift subscription that did not work correctly please send an email to [webmaster@straightdope.com](mailto:webmaster@straightdope.com) with the details. Include your username and the username of the person you were giving a gift subscription too. I’ll make manual changes to apply the gift. > > For the time being I’ve disabled the ability to give gift subscriptions until I have time to analyze the old plugin and determine what is needed to get it to work on the new version. > > Jerry Posted 4/25/2014 And yes, I know **Jerry** is no longer the IT guy, but AFAIK, his successor hasn’t fixed it, either. ---
**Author:** ![Clothahump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/51bf81/32.png) [@Clothahump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Clothahump)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2016, 5:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-the-assholes-who-are-depriving-the-sdmb-of-revenue/775350/29 "2016-12-22T17:53:36Z")
> [@hajario](#): > > They ave one other form which is a $15 yearly subscription. Only if they see $15 worth of value from the board. ---
**Author:** ![aldiboronti](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9fc348/32.png) [@aldiboronti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aldiboronti)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2016, 6:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-the-assholes-who-are-depriving-the-sdmb-of-revenue/775350/30 "2016-12-22T18:22:23Z")
> [@cochrane](#): > > The ability to give gift subscriptions was suspended in 2014 after an upgrade broke the board. As of a year ago, they haven’t been reinstated. > > Posted 4/25/2014 > > And yes, I know **Jerry** is no longer the IT guy, but AFAIK, his successor hasn’t fixed it, either. Ah, I missed that. Thank you, **cochrane**. ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2016, 2:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-the-assholes-who-are-depriving-the-sdmb-of-revenue/775350/31 "2016-12-23T02:13:02Z")
I find it silly to pit the people who create malware advertisements. Yeah, they suck, but they’ve been a part of the Internet for a long time, and they are trivial to avoid on both ends. I only really get upset when they actually trick vulnerable people. If I were sure it was allowed, I would pit those who decided to use less reputable ad brokers. While I see other sites that occasionally get a bad ad, this place has had problems way too often. I don’t know if the issue is that the owners require more money from it than these smaller sites do, or what. I do know that, as sites increase in users, they should be able to make money with higher quality lower quantity ads. And, **hajario** , that’s why I actually see it as not the right thing to do, but the exact opposite. It’s wrong to reward bad behaviors. The tech guys get paid no matter what I do, and the mods and users who provide the content don’t get paid no matter what I do. So they don’t factor into my decision. If I thought the board were in danger of being shut down, that might matter, and weigh against the moral wrong of rewarding bad behaviors. But that’s not an issue, so I hold it’s wrong to pay. ---
**Author:** ![hajario](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hajario/32/171_2.png) [@hajario](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hajario)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2016, 5:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-the-assholes-who-are-depriving-the-sdmb-of-revenue/775350/32 "2016-12-23T05:05:02Z")
I do see your point, BigT, but I don’t look at it that deeply. I always support sites that I use frequently because I like them. It’s as simple as that. For example, I support Wikipedia and reddit and don’t get perks of any kind. ---
**Author:** ![pullin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/c57346/32.png) [@pullin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pullin)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2016, 10:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-the-assholes-who-are-depriving-the-sdmb-of-revenue/775350/33 "2016-12-23T10:58:11Z")
> [@Chefguy](#): > > Serious question: what is the point of me allowing ads if I am never, ever going to click on any of them? Never have and never will, and I won’t go to websites that require me to turn off my ad blocker. The host makes zero dollars out of me seeing them, only if I click on them, right? My guess is they haven’t perfected a way to correlate ads with purchases, only with clicks. Also it appears advertising has become like entertainment – there is no such thing as negative publicity. I will profess that I’m getting increasingly annoyed with the SDMB because I believed the membership fee was to avoid the ads, not get hammered with them until I finish logging in. I hope they don’t end up like Cracked. The cracked website’s ever increasing popups, banners, and general shrieking at me to provide an email made it impossible to read at work (it was banned), then too annoying to read on my phone, and finally too much hassle to get to at all. The SDMB has already passed step one (my company has blocked the site entirely, and I believe it’s corporate wide for all 130,000 employees). ---
**Author:** ![Joey\_P](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/919ad9/32.png) [@Joey\_P](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joey_P)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2016, 1:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-the-assholes-who-are-depriving-the-sdmb-of-revenue/775350/34 "2016-12-23T13:23:13Z")
> [@asterion](#): > > If you’re seeing that sort of problem, the admin seriously wants to know about it. Mention in in ATMB or send one of the mods a PM. It’s not in the SDMB’s interest to run malicious ads. > > Says the guy with the Charter Membership and personalized text. Are you sure it’s not in there interest to run malicious ads? They’ve been running them since they’ve started running ads. We’ve been complaining about them since the beginning. They tell us to report them and, at best, we get a ‘we’ll look into it’ response (at worst, we’d get a mod denying that that the problems have anything to do with this site and demanding proof). It’s never, not once, slowed down. From that I would infer that it IS in their interest or at least other ad servers, like the ones virtually every other website uses, must pay considerably less. ---
**Author:** ![Randolph](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e5b9ba/32.png) [@Randolph](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Randolph)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2016, 2:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-the-assholes-who-are-depriving-the-sdmb-of-revenue/775350/35 "2016-12-23T14:44:03Z")
A forced pop-up is a guaranteed click-through. Those don’t grow on trees, you know. ---
**Author:** ![CoastalMaineiac](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e8c25b/32.png) [@CoastalMaineiac](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CoastalMaineiac)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2016, 3:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-the-assholes-who-are-depriving-the-sdmb-of-revenue/775350/36 "2016-12-23T15:27:47Z")
The original AdBlock did not use blacklists, if I remember correctly. You had to right-click on an ad and choose to block it. That could be a reasonable compromise for the OP, in that he could choose to block only the most egregious ads, and let the rest be. I’ve been using ad-blockers for years, myself, first with AdBlock, then AdBlock Plus, and now uBlock Origin. I cannot even tolerate browsing the Internet without one. I absolutely love uBlock Origin, as it even blocks YouTube ads, and skips me right past Forbes’ AdBlock blocker, on the rare occasion I’ve actually wanted to read something from their site. I would even go as far as saying that ad-blocking software is every bit as important to online security as anti-virus software, possibly even more-so. It’s especially important if you value your privacy, as so many ads track you wherever you go online. ---
**Author:** ![Joey\_P](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/919ad9/32.png) [@Joey\_P](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joey_P)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2016, 3:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-the-assholes-who-are-depriving-the-sdmb-of-revenue/775350/37 "2016-12-23T15:35:06Z")
> [@Chefguy](#): > > Serious question: what is the point of me allowing ads if I am never, ever going to click on any of them? Never have and never will, and I won’t go to websites that require me to turn off my ad blocker. The host makes zero dollars out of me seeing them, only if I click on them, right? As mentioned, the person paying, pays a fee (and all the money moves) just based on the ad being displayed (in some cases). However, I was surprised to find out a few years ago that the adserver/website knows that you have an adblocker. I just assumed that it would send that ad and that was that. Turns out if it’s blocked, it doesn’t count. Or at least that’s my understanding. > [@pullin](#): > > My guess is they haven’t perfected a way to correlate ads with purchases, only with clicks. Also it appears advertising has become like entertainment – there is no such thing as negative publicity. I won’t go so far as to say ‘perfected’ but going from any given point, be it a pop up ad or a product page or a blog or any place on the internet that you chose to successfully making it through the check out is called a _conversion_. I’d be willing to bet tracking conversions, specifically from ads is probably the most highly tracked thing there is. Hell, a few weeks ago my store put out a cheap facebook ad. Facebook gave me about 30 different way to watch it PLUS they gave me a little widget to toss on my website so I could keep an eye on the hand off. Facebook told me how many people went from the ad to my site, my site, even without the widget tells me how many people come from facebook. It would have been trivial either with Google Analytics to set something up to watch how many people clicked on the facebook ad (or some other ad I spread across the internet) and then bought something on my page. Here’s a little snippet from Google Analytics [conversion tracking page](https://support.google.com/adwords/answer/1722022). It’s a free tool from google, while it may be a bit overwhelming to read/understand the data, it’s so easy to install most website install it. You can usually see it loading at some point when you pull up a website. Facebook offers a similar service called Facebook Pixel and I’m sure there’s a million other free and paid services as well. TLDR; tracking what your ad does is pretty easy. Also, an afterthought. Even if someone doesn’t click on the ad, you could probably have your site check to see if the ad has been displayed on the user’s computer. I mean, I’m not going to click on the banner ad that says “Dewalt Tools 70% off at Lowes December 24th only”, but I’ll probably go to Lowes . com and check it out. The lowes website scanning my computer to see if that ad was displayed would be a good way for them to see if it was effective and I just chose not to click on it. ---
**Author:** ![Slash1972](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slash1972/32/6461_2.png) [@Slash1972](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slash1972)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2016, 3:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-the-assholes-who-are-depriving-the-sdmb-of-revenue/775350/38 "2016-12-23T15:58:46Z")
> [@Typo\_Negative](#): > > If I pony up the 15 bucks, I won’t see the banner ad at the bottom at the page, or the banner ad that appears on the right side of screen, blocking my view of the page, which, on my laptop, I have adjust the zoom on the browser to infinitesimal to be able to get to the ‘x’ to close it? Because that would be worth 15 bucks. Yes, I finally got tired of closing those and paid the $15 today. Much better, they no longer appear. ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2016, 4:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-the-assholes-who-are-depriving-the-sdmb-of-revenue/775350/39 "2016-12-23T16:42:11Z")
> [@bobot](#): > > I had an actual mod here unable to help me get it done Maybe Cialis (tadalafil) could work for you. ---
**Author:** ![Mean\_Mr.Mustard](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mean_mr.mustard/32/3865_2.png) [@Mean\_Mr.Mustard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mean_Mr.Mustard)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2016, 4:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-the-assholes-who-are-depriving-the-sdmb-of-revenue/775350/40 "2016-12-23T16:51:27Z")
> [@bobot](#): > > I had an actual mod here unable to help me get it done, after I promised someone a year membership. I’ve seen you complain about this multiple times in different threads. Here’s a thought: Paypal that person the $15. Mission accomplished. Except that then you wouldn’t be able to bemoan your powerlessness in helping them. mmm [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-the-assholes-who-are-depriving-the-sdmb-of-revenue/775350.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-the-assholes-who-are-depriving-the-sdmb-of-revenue/775350.md?page=3)