I’m thinking of leaving. Not because of the ads per se – they’re not that horrible and they are blockable – but because of the way the whole issue of P2P vs advertisement has been handled, ever since shortly after I joined. I’ve been angry about some of the decisions before, severely WTF!?!? about others, but this sets a new low for management disregarding us, the paying users and content providers.
And also because of the way a polite and completely factual query I posted in ATMB was brushed off, with a snarky and uncalled from response. Ironically, I wasn’t offended at all until I was summarily ordered not to be :rolleyes:
Haven’t seen them yet but if I do and they’re as obnoxious as they appear from various screenshots and descriptions in the Pit thread, then I can’t really see myself staying. And I shall miss this place greatly.
The issue doesn’t bother me that much, but then I’ve only been a member for two years so pay-to-post and reasonable performance are what I’ve always lived with.
Besides, 99% of the time, you can’t see them whether they come up or not - they’re only at the top of the page after all. Ads between each post might change my mind.
I didn’t mind the google ads, they were unobstrusive and sometimes amusing. When I saw the banner ads I was relieved to note that I didn’t have any flashing or talking ones but I added Adblock Plus to my Firefox and now I have no ads. I’ll stay but they really should make no banner ads a member perk.
Is anybody actually leaving because of the adverts? Or are the majority of people thinking about leaving because a) we were told that moving to subscriptions would abate the need for adverts (in effect, we were lied to), b) no money from subscriptions or adverts seems to be returned to the SDMB for upgrades/improvements, c) people are sick and tired of being fucked over, whether or not they have the adverts blocked?
Ads and banners do not change the nature of the SDMB in my opinion. Plus, I don’t spend too much time hanging out on top of a thread or at the very bottom, so even if I don’t have them blocked they are nonobtrusive.
I’ll give it some serious thought when my membership is up for renewal. Whether or not I can block them is not the issue for me; it’s the combination of pay-to-post/Google ads/banner ads/poor performance/lack of features that’s getting to me.
Couldn’t care less about the ads. I don’t block 'em, don’t look at 'em, never click 'em. If I leave every board that now has ads, I’ll have to go back to watching the tube. My favorite woodworking board just added a new column of ads. Don’t care. Boards can do whatever they want, ad-wise. I’ll only leave if performance is terrible. So far, the SDMB performance is OK, though I realize I’d get a very lengthy and heated argument on that point.
What I like most here is the volume of posting and the intelligent nature thereof.
If enough people leave, those positive attributes will be gone, and so will I. (this is not a threat - having only been a member for less than a year I’m sure no one will cry in their cornflakes over my loss - it’s just an observation)
I’ve hung out on local BBSs, then newsgroups, then another board, now here. Electronic venues come and go. I think it’s folly to think that this one is immune to the same problems/changes that have brought down others.
It would be honest of me to consider that perhaps I wasn’t meant to message-board all my life. Overall it’s been a good experience for me, but then high school wrestling team membership is a good experience for a lot of guys, yet you don’t see many them making it a life-long pursuit of that, either.
Maybe, as we hear a lot lately, this place isn’t as clever and collegiate as it was years ago. I don’t know why, but it wouldn’t be the first time a war killed off civilized and intelligent exchange.
Now the Google ads and now the banner ads are contributing to the noise to signal ratio here (figuratively speaking, analogous to watching a movie on TV, and during a heartbreaking, poignant scene, down in the corner of the screen some sparkly confetti appears and then tiny cast members form “Everybody Loves Raymond” wave at us and get into a shoving match.)
I can remember some stuff I’ve posted that was for me heartbreaking and poignant; admittedly nothing to do with “fighting ignorance,” so flashing ads would kill that off completely. Probably stuff I shouldn’t have posted here anyway, but now with flashing ads I’d really feel alienated for even wanting to
I guess there are three cultures at work here: the memberships, the admins and the owners, all separate life-forms, and if they can’t respect each other, this thing is going to fade.
But then again it could be just me, and this is one of many things I only started doing as a lark as an already mature person when the internet became common. An alternative to books and TV and movies. Eventually it’ll be time to find the alternative to this too. Such is life.
I really don’t think its fair to charge people to view adds. Should make it cheaper if they are going to have adds or have paid members not have to view adds. That seems fair to me.
I’ve always said I’ll never leave and I still feel that way, but the only thing that could possible sway that statement is if the majority of the posters that I come to interact with and read decide to take off. Who wants to hang out in a ghost town?
about others, but this sets a new low for management disregarding us, the paying users and content providers.