I click refresh on Great Debates. Look at a few potential threads to read. Then I hear a sound. What the hell is that? It sounds like a commercial. Hmm… this is the only page I have open.
Then I go to the bottom of the page. I see some commercial playing and I am unable to stop it.
I have no problem with ads. They are an acceptable penance for surfing a website for free. But I have always thought sound was off-limits for ads. After all, people might be surfing surreptitiously and surprising them with sound could lead to problems. Video, especially one you cannot stop, seems especially egregious.
Are videos with sounds acceptable as advertisements? Or am I just selfish? This is not a complaint about the Dope. I can just mute my computer while on it. Obviously webmasters can place whatever they want on their site and I should leave if I do not like it. I am just wondering what the line is for advertisements.
After consultation within the company, the consensus is there’s gotta be some way to filter ads with sound. Jim says he’ll look into it. Jerry thinks they’ll still blow us off. Further news when I hear it.
The worst word used in the post you criticized was “fuckers.” A search reveals that, in the last three months alone, there have been 184 posts containing the word “fuck” or its derivatives. I also can’t ever recall seeing a prohibition on expletives in this forum. If i’ve missed the rule, or an announcement, would you point me in the right direction?
You can be a bit more forceful in places like the Pit but we do expect the language in ATMB to be more temperate.
We’ve preferred it to be that way since always.
I’m sure you can pull up any number of ATMB posts with titles that are wildly inappropriate – we’ve not always been so good about policing that up – but by and large we do want you to do less cussin’ in ATMB.
Sorry. I didn’t notice and totally skipped the post to which you were referring.
From what I can see, the poster in question is on a really short leash because he’s been suspended for jerkish behavior. So things that normally wouldn’t get enforced are.
I think this is fair. When an everyday user does something like this, you can think that they might have just gotten mad, and won’t do it again. The poster in question has shown a propensity to post in a jerkish manner, so there’s no benefit of a doubt.
As for there being no rule about profanity: I’ve been told before that something I said was not appropriate in this forum. I was told that ATMB is supposed to be for civil discussions. I can understand considering the profanity used in that post to be uncivil.
I guess it is pretty much down to the discretion of the webmaster.
In very generalised terms, the more intrusive an ad, the greater the potential revenue - partly because subtle, textual ads at the bottom right of the page are likely to enjoy fewer clicks (so the revenue per x number of page views is naturally smaller), and partly because advertisers are able to charge more for big, bold, noisy ads that get in the faces of the public (so the revenue per ad can be higher) - although of course these two factors are quite closely related in terms of what the ad achieves.
Webmasters need to strike an appropriate balance between:
Adequately monetising their site and showing ads that their visitors might find useful/appropriate
vs
Alienating their visitors and obscuring their page content.
I know where I stand on this balance for my own site, but I know that other people have arrived at different decisions.
I don’t like on this board that no matter how many times the individual posters are told this is how it is and your not getting what you want that they whine about it into infinity. They even have to bring in the unrelated stuff they don’t like, because having more than one thing people are disgruntled about seems to prove their point on how sucky the place is. Please do us all a courtesy and keep it to yourself.
Ads are here so buy the subscription or don’t complain unless it’s a virus contaminating ad. It really is that simple. It’s also the only reply the mods should give to this stuff.
I don’t see why people shouldn’t voice their concerns over the way ads are implemented on the site, even if those ads don’t contain malware.
If the ads are intrusive to the point that they might be driving traffic away, that’s worth mentioning.
It may be officially none of our business, and it may be that TPTB don’t care, or have considered it and have concluded it’s OK, but it’s not necessarily quite as simple as you’ve stated above.
I don’t like on this board that no matter how many times the individual posters whine about something into infinity some have to come and whine about it. They even have to bring in the unrelated stuff they don’t like, because having more than one thing people are disgruntled about seems to prove their point on how whiny the place is. Please do us all a courtesy and keep it to yourself.
Whiners are here so stop reading them or don’t complain unless it’s a virus contaminating whine. It really is that simple. It’s also the only reply the mods should give to this stuff.
Do you even read threads before you rush in to complain about “whining”? It’s a little tiresome. First off, only one person brought up unrelated stuff. Secondly, Ed himself came in and indicated that he’d see if he could get rid of ads with sound, so why should the mods give us a like it or lump it attitude?
I guess it’s a rule rarely brought up in ATMB, but what you just did is classic threadshitting. Bringing nothing to the discussion and just ragging on people for participating in the thread. Actually, I’m not sure this rule is even in effect in this forum, so no offense but I’m going to report your post and see if I can get a ruling on it.
Brown Eyed Girl this wasn’t a personal attack against you. Sorry for any problems.
The unrelated thing is the child molestation comments. That’s what set off the comment. Call it the trigger for all the shit I’ve been dealing with unrelated to the board that has me super frustrated. I’d like to beat on a wall with a bat about now. I won’t be posting in this thread again, so don’t expect responses if you do.
Don’t sweat it. I’m not bothered by your comments and honestly didn’t think they were directed at me. Hope things get better for you, though. Stress sucks.
Well, it took a week of investigation, but Jim our ad tech genius (as distinguished from Jerry our computer tech genius) figured out a way to block the Airwick ad with sound. There’s no way to fine-tune this - either you take the ad or you don’t, meaning we kiss off any revenue Airwick was going to send our way. The fiscal realities being what they are, this is something we’ll want to limit to brink-of-madness type ads, as opposed to ones that are merely annoying. We’re not supposed to get ads with sound at all, but apparently certain parties interpret “user-initiated actions” to mean “let the mouse drift accidentally over the ad.”
