NADs as well.
I think pretty much all small-to-medium messageboards go through periods of this to be honest. The SDMB does in a way, it just tends to be able to muscle through due to sheer weight of numbers.
If you’re lucky you come through it (albeit minus a few friends). If not then the whole thing collapses.
Also, there’s The Loaded Dog’s board, G’dope.
You know, I’m not happy with the new ads, but I’m not properly pissed about tham. I don’t like extra sound coming out when I don’t expect it to. That’s bad for people at work and people that just don’t want stuff blaring at them. We can block them, and it seems that a whole lot of folks have now blocked them, rendering them more or less useless.
See, it’s actually pretty simple. If I’m paying, I just don’t want to see ads. If I’m paying and I see ads, there better be a couple things going on. One, the boards must be a pretty useful and happening place (as this place is) and it also better be lightning fast and be able to handle anything I throw at it.
Also, and I don’t know if this is accurte, but it seems like a “decision was made” without any kind of input from us. At its best, it looks like the people that run this place simply don’t care, at its worst, they’re trying to kill this place. Then again, they could be there until “the bug” is fixed, so who knows?
There needs to be banner ads for skin products that make the epidermis thicker. :rolleyes:
Geez, there is several ways to take this.
I find the whole thing annoying and we clearly have a right and maybe a responsibility to complain about.
Secondly many poster are not aware of the many easy methods of blocking these ads and I and several others are trying to help other posters.
The grow the fuck up, just tells whoever the powers that be are above our Admins, can do what ever they want to the board we like, cherish, enjoy, have built a community around, etc. without any backlash.
I prefer the idea of pay and ask for changes for the better. I don’t like the surprise, here are noisy animated banner ads.
Weren’t you bitching about avatars in a thread this week? Those would be easy to turn off in our SDMB options. The ads take more work to block and are more obnoxious. Anything with sound is nasty and horrible and should only exist (if at all) on websites with free content.
(Like the IMDB or cbssportsline, which is still annoying as all heck).
Many posters cannot make the changes to the computers they use, as it is not there computer. This is extra obnoxious to have to put up with for them.
Jim (Thank you for providing a post for me to express my view, I know you are reasonable enough to accept this as a different POV and not an attack on you.)
One problem with finding an alternative is that most of the forums I’ve come across that have a more intelligent vibe are either political/religious/philosophical debate sites that are just giant versions of GD (Internet Infidels is a good example), or else they specialize in a very specialized subject matter that won’t be of interest to all Dopers (literature, physics, astronomy, etc.).
It’s sad that the Internet can support tens of message boards devoted to Honda Accord tuning or Dave Matthews, but that intelligent general interest boards are few and far between.
What I’m not getting is people getting their panties in a twist about the fact that we weren’t consulted as to whether we’d want ads or not. Why the hell would you expect to be consulted about this? They didn’t bother to ask because a) they knew what the answer would be (no thanks, we’d prefer not to have banner ads) and b) we don’t get a vote about how they run their business. Our only choice is whether to patronize that business or not.
Does any store you shop at ask you your opinion about what style of logo they should put on their shopping bags? Does your favorite corner bar ask you if you want ads in the bathroom or not? Do you get to vote about whether this sports star or that supermodel should endorse your preferred brand of underwear?
I guess I just have highly developed powers of ignoring – what might be called the internal ad block. I’m just so used to scrolling past crap on basically every internet site I visit that I didn’t even notice the new banner ad at the top of the screen. Besides, once you get past the OP, you don’t even see the banner anyway.
On the other hand, this could be like an allergy, when constant exposure ends up hypersensitizing you.
Which means that in the near future, more intrusive ads could be used to once again grab your attention; text link ads, interstitials, email from “Creative Loafing partners”, and so on.
Well, anyway, rather than run the risk, I just blocked the banner. In Opera, it’s easy – right click, choose “block content,” then click on the banner. Voila – banner banished.
More good info here, at least for Opera.
Okay, that point is fair, they have no responsibility to let us know, but damn this could have been handled better when even the admins and mods were blindsided by this. Poor **TubaDiva ** somehow got the idea this was just a troubleshooting exercise before **Jerry ** clarified things and we know she is going to take a ration of shit over that.
This was handled pretty piss poor, the audio component of the ads is unacceptable to many posters. The mods and admins should have had a least a little heads up.
Hell, we have mods in the pit threads, working with other posters, on how to correct this problem. I would say it is pretty clear, this is a little bit more dramatic than the google-ads.
Jim
Well, actually, yes. Most major retailers survey customers in advance of big changes to see how people will react. After all, they don’t want to piss off their customer base too much in their quest to make more money.
That’s business in a nutshell, really. How to make as much money as possible without driving off your customers. Places like Nordstrom charge a big premium, but have sell prestige brands and offer stellar service. Places like Walmart cut every corner possible in order to get those customers looking for the best deal and who don’t care about their shopping experience.
And the SDMB, what are we? Well, it sure hell ain’t Nordstrom, but we ain’t paying a huge premium either. But it also ain’t Walmart, because there are plenty of far more cost-effective boards (i.e., free) out there that are far more customer friendly. I guess the SDMB is asking for Macy’s prices while acting like Walmart. Hey, retailers have tried that game before. Those retailers also tend to go out of business.
And don’t forget our brethren (and sistren) down under: G’Dope.
Ads with sound, permanently, for everyone?
They must be out of their minds. Adblock or no, I might not re-up, just as a show of solidarity.
If I left here, I’d be done with message boards entirely for the moment, as I’ve left the ones I’ve been a part of one by one (save this one) for various reasons of dissatisfaction. I might look in on some of the boards people have named, but I don’t know.
Well, I just signed up over at Fathom. I’m not abandoning this place just yet, but I’ve got my life preserver on and a seat reserved in what looks to be a very nice lifeboat. In the meantime, I’ll lurk over there and post here, until the energy moves wherever it’s going to move. I can’t say for sure what will happen, but I feel better now that I’ve got a back-up plan. I know it sounds ridiculous to a lot of you, but this experience is very important to my mental health, and I don’t want to go spiraling back into my (diagnosed and clinical) depression and isolation if this place changes and doesn’t serve me any more.
Go? I don’t think I’ll go anywhere. I’ll just cease to come here. Then I’ll have time to work on my databases, and play the piano and guitar and drums, and do whatever it was I did before I discovered this message board. I will miss the community. I will miss the laughs and the drama and all that other stuff that makes me want to come here.
This most recent turn of events, combined with the ongoing disdain for the members that the Chicago Reader demonstrably has, plus the fact that they accused me of launching a DOS attack against the place, has shown me that I really ought to give my attention to other areas of my life. I’m here until the end of next April. After that, unless something drastic happens to improve our lot, it will have been nice to know you folks.
Banner ads blow. It is the first step to giant graphic sigs, animated avatars, Leet speak, and other drivel that makes other boards nigh intolerable for me. The introduction was handled piss poor, and anything with SOUND is simply unacceptable. Oh I’ve got my adblock on and it doesn’t bother me a whit now; but I do PAY for this service so that is it moderated and free of that crap that you get on the free boards.
Huh. The pages I see are the same that I’ve been seeing since I first joined. I never would have noticed any change if it weren’t for the series of threads concerning the new ads. I can’t fathom how anyone could have an internet connection and not have already installed an ad-blocker.
While I’ll check out the other sites given (if only to see what else is out there), I can’t see this as reason to leave the SDMB. I sure hope that most others feel the same – it would be a damn shame to lose any member over this.