I’ll say this again. It’s irrelevant what the staff thinks. If the customers think the ads are annoying, they will adblock them, and the company will not get paid for those ads. Expecially here on the Dope, where the majority of people are quite computer literate.
I will not risk violating policy by explaining how, but there are ways to adblock no matter what web browser you use or your level of administrative access to your computer.
And an aside those members who say they would willingly take the ads (even though they haven’t commented in this particular thread). Put your money where your mouth is–surf the dope as a guest, and only login to post. After you’ve done that for a while, get back to us on whether the ads have crossed the line.
I’m a paying user, but I still have a spare 2 cents to throw in: On other sites, video ads tend to lock up my “older” (2005) Mac laptop. I can only imagine how these affect the user experience of someone using an even older computer which is otherwise perfectly capable of browsing a text-based message board. The powers that be should consider the lowest common denominator when implementing, well, anything. My thought is, as long as we are a board free of inline images and avatars, ads should be text-based as well, or at the very least avoid Flash.
The posters with “guest” under their name are also customers. They’re just paying into a different revenue stream–page-views instead of yearly membership fees. In fact, that’s pretty much the whole point. If the guests weren’t customers, they wouldn’t see ads and nobody would be complaining. The ads aren’t some kind of punishment or a trick to drive away guests. They’re there to generate revenue. If they’re so annoying that they get blocked, they don’t serve their purpose.
The best ads don’t need you to click on them, as they are just there to remind you that their product exists, just like commercials on television. The idea is that, eventually, you might be out shopping, remember the ad, and think, “why don’t I try this?” A banner is not going to be useful for any in-depth purchases.