I’ve been watching this thread for a while now and I can’t believe everyone let this slide:
Is this really that big of a problem? It’s pressing a single button on the keyboard. I’m sure I’ll be acused of threadshitting too but that seems like a very small price to pay for free entertainment and feedback that this board provides.
Yes, it is a big problem. Some issues off the top of my head:
Not every keyboard has a mute button.
Not everyone remembers to preemptively mute the sound, which can lead to a bit of an obnoxious shock if it’s late at night and/or your sound’s turned up.
Some people use their computers to listen to music and other audio (podcasts, etc.). That doesn’t work if the computer’s muted.
Installing an adblocker is, in the long run, a lot easier than remembering to hit the mute button. That’s not in the SDMB’s best interests. If the revenue gained from the sound-laden ads is less than the revenue lost from people who start blocking ads because of those obnoxious ads, it’s a losing proposition.
There exist other message boards that don’t have audio ads. None are exactly like the SDMB, but one might be willing to overlook shortcomings of another board if they were heavily annoyed by the SDMB’s audio ads. Just as with the last point, if the revenue from the ads is less than the revenue lost by people bailing, it’s a losing proposition. This is particularly relevant given that people have been lamenting that board activity has been lower than in the past – I think Secret Santa participation was the metric raised.
All in all, I think Ed made a great decision to kill the ads. Thanks, Ed.
In case anyone is wondering, I disabled Adblocker for the time being. As I said, I have no problem with being served ads.