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21

To add another voice to the chorus:

I’m a paid member, and I stay logged in on my primary browser, and I see no ads there. However, I use an oddball browser and am immune to some ad types.

I also access the site from my mobile devices a lot, and I rarely log in on those since I don’t like posting from mobile and a log-in session does not persist in my mobile browsers very long anyway. The ads have certainly become annoying for me on mobile, sometimes hiding part of the content and always finicky to close (when possible). I long ago got used to the ads that sit right after the first post, but I do cringe when I notice them, as their content tends to go against the grain of the Straight Dope branding.

While writing this post, I decided to try viewing a GQ thread via Chrome on PC without logging in.

Holy.

Moly.

I had the sense that things were slipping down a slippery slope, but this was… off the rails. I got multiple panel ads at the bottom obscuring a good chunk of the page; one was showing video; a couple of seconds later, audio started playing; another second later and a pop-up took over the whole page with video and audio; and when I finally closed it all away in a fit of fight-or-flight, there was a pop-under ad lurking, giving me a final middle-finger.

In my opinion this is well beyond acceptable behavior for a modern site. Were I guest stumbling across these pages, I would have turned tail and never looked back.

I wonder how much of the budget if covered by subscriptions. If it’s negligible, why have subscriptions, and if it’s substantial, why not increase the fee to reduce/remove the need for ads? (Yes, some users may choose not to pay a higher fee, but I don’t get the sense that this has been optimized in any way.)

Given my experience above, I will certainly never link anyone to a SDMB thread under the current configuration.

22

On Firefox/Win7, the X was under the bookmark tool bar; as soon as I turned its display off, I could see and close the X.

Installing AdBlock was easier than reconfiguring my browser to the way SDMB’s ad sales wants it configured. I haven’t felt the need to install an ad-blocker in years, but I’ve got one now, solely because of SDMB.

23

I’ve been a 16 year guest and I’ve never experienced anything like this. Some of the "x"s are grayed out so you don’t even have the option of closing them. It’s so frustrating. If I thought becoming a paying member would eliminate the problem then that’s exactly what I would do. However, it sounds likes it’s an issue with paying customers as well. So no incentive there. If it worsens I just won’t bother coming back. The Ads on the right side of the screen make it literally impossible to read. I’m so disappointed. My two cents.

24

It’s not. Paying members don’t get ads.

25

On this page alone my adblocker says it’s blocking ten things.

26

This only started about a month ago, and yes, it’s moved from being an annoyance to being a deterrent. Is there any explanation as to what changed last month to create the new situation?

27

Yeah.

This really is a pain. :frowning:

28

As I recall, the X is at the top, which may not be visible. Try zooming out (Ctrl-shift-minus or ctrl + scroll wheel), you should be able to see the entire ad including the X.

29

As a guest, I get logged out every few hours. (It’s probably something to do with my browser rather than SDMB, but it still happens.)

If I joined as a paying member, probably I’d still be logged out every few hours (since it’s still my browser), and I would not be able to log back in to prove to SDMB that I’m not supposed to see ads, because the stupid ads render it impossible to log in without deploying an ad-blocker. Your statement is incorrect as a blanket assertion.

30

The SDMB is now pretty much unusable on my iPad because of multiple ads. It almost looks like a joke in the Onion about ads obscuring all but a tiny patch of actual content.

This is sad.

31

There’s also an exciting new behavior on the iPad: after the first post is a clickbait ad. Normally, there’s 4 clickbaits in a row, usually disgusting and a scam* or an inappropriately sexualized scan**. Now it’s three in a row plus an ad plays sound/video automatically. Which also fucks up any music I might have playing on it to the point where I have to close and reopen the app.

This really just sucks.
*“You won’t BELIEVE that this picture of a fungusy diseased toenail was cured only three days later…BY MAGNETS”

**“Look at this aged celebrity’s boobs! You can’t guess her secret. It’s HOMEOPATHY!”

32

Your use of “probably…” negates your own blanket assertion. I see no ads. Ever. Never get logged out.

33

What blanket assertion did I make?

Other paying members, including at least one in this very thread, report they DO get logged out, so **Fear Itself’**s assertion that “Paying members don’t get ads” had already been been proven false before he ever made it.

34

I’m a 99er but I’m fed up. I’ll probably check back in 6 months or so to see if the powers that be have come to their senses.

I know… don’t let the door hit me on the ass and such, but this is ridiculous.

35

I get logged out if I take too long reading cited articles. I have to stay on the message board pages to stay logged in. This is with Safari on an iPad.

36

In my opinion,

They don’t care. They don’t care that we all hate it. That it drives away new users. That it drives away old timers. That it interferes with normal usage of the board. They don’t care that so much of the software, current last century, doesn’t even minimally function any more. They don’t care that they feed us truly offensive, malware filled ads. Not one tiny bit.

Life will be easier if you lower your expectations. Like really, REALLY low. Because if there is a way for them to serve even scummier ads, to their loyal users, they’ll do so if it gains them a penny, without a doubt.

Change here seems to only occur in one direction, less usability, less functionality and even less regard for the user experience. No it’s not going to get better. Ever.

Life is easier if you just accept that’s how it’s going to be.

37

I question whether it does actually make them a penny. Going the most greedy, customer-unfriendly route isn’t an automatic way to maximize revenue. It’s pretty clear this board is doing a bad job of recruiting new posters and I think making this place look like a sketchy malware garbage site is a big part of that.

Let’s say you google something and one of the results is an interesting SDMB thread. But you come here and it looks as bad as any sketchy site on the internet. Do you create an account here and stay, or do your “flee!” instincts kick in regardless of the quality of the content?

I basically spend no time on websites that look like what the SDMB looks like to a non-adblock non-member, and I can’t imagine I’d stay around if I found it today. At least from a mobile device where I don’t have adblock.

I think growing the place with modest ads and user subs is likely a more financially effective route than making this place seem like internet Chernobyl and scaring everyone away. It’s a shame because they’re strangling the boards and probably not even maximizing their value by doing so, so lose-lose.

38

So they are doing it deliberately just to piss people off?

39

No, I’m not saying that. I think businesses are often wrong about the best way to generate revenue. We’ve developed a toxic culture where a lot of people seem to believe that you have to try to race to the bottom and throw everything at your customers to some level near their tolerance or you’re not doing your job.

Or, related, businesses are often short sighted and pursue what short term profit at the cost of long term profit. So maybe in the short term having the board look like a NASCAR driver does make them more money than more subtle ads. But it’s bad for the long term health of the boards, and hence long term revenue since there’s no revenue without content.

40

Bumping this thread because I just tried the boards again on my tablet, and there seems to have been a change.

Now I’m only getting one docking ad at the bottom, and it seems intermittent. Doesn’t appear on every new page.

Anyone else seeing improvement?