New Ad Format Coming to Mac-Forums

The advert had confused me actually when I first saw them, I got a little frustrated wondering where all the replys were till I realised that the replys were after the advert.

It's quite good actually having the first post seprated from the replys, it kinda makes the first post stand out

But I find the ads annoying too.

If it was pay to remove adverts it would need to be worldwide and cheap lol since NZ$$ is more than US$ but again I wouldn't pay as I don't have the extra cash, since I live of a disability benefit.

I come to these Mac Fourms for help and advice and I have to say I get the answers and advice I need I like how I can access ALL forums too.

They make me not want to continue with the thread because I think there is no more below. Peopl know that ads are annoying, why would you put them right in peoples face when we spend so much time trying to fight them off & avoid them?

Maybe it's just me, I would never put up a website or forum that forced ads on people, that is just me with years of experience on the internet, knowing how people feel about stuff like this. If I was looking for something to buy, I know where to go & I know how to find it, it is the internet.

Mac O Licious said:

They make me not want to continue with the thread because I think there is no more below. Peopl know that ads are annoying, why would you put them right in peoples face when we spend so much time trying to fight them off & avoid them?

Maybe it's just me, I would never put up a website or forum that forced ads on people, that is just me with years of experience on the internet, knowing how people feel about stuff like this. If I was looking for something to buy, I know where to go & I know how to find it, it is the internet.

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Thank you for your feedback.

Mac O Licious said:

Peopl know that ads are annoying, why would you put them right in peoples face when we spend so much time trying to fight them off & avoid them?

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Bills don't pay themselves y'know...
We have 30.000 members. 100.000 posts, most threads are a few hundred KB to a few MB and judging by the first page of the switcher's forum, each thread is viewed about 60 times on average.

I think the traffic is enough to warrant a few ads. Plus bear in mind the technical support, running costs, forum software upgrades etc etc aren't free either.

Mac O Licious said:

If I was looking for something to buy, I know where to go & I know how to find it, it is the internet.

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Advertising is there to tell you about new products, not things you already know about...
But your feedback will help sort out how to improve the ad system down the road, so thanks for that.

Aptmunich said:

Bills don't pay themselves y'know...
We have 30.000 members. 100.000 posts, most threads are a few hundred KB to a few MB and judging by the first page of the switcher's forum, each thread is viewed about 60 times on average.

I think the traffic is enough to warrant a few ads. Plus bear in mind the technical support, running costs, forum software upgrades etc etc aren't free either.



Advertising is there to tell you about new products, not things you already know about...
But your feedback will help sort out how to improve the ad system down the road, so thanks for that.

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I can tell you now, the product being advertised, i don't want.

I have always known things like this cost when putting up a website, I paif for everything & never asked anyone with any help with anything but my gaming servers since we were a clan, it made it a team effort. I figure my idea should not have something that would make people not want to be around.

Anyway, they are there & it is not my site, I have a choice to stay or leave so in the meantime I choose to suffer. A little less than usual, but I am still here.

Mac O Licious said:

I can tell you now, the product being advertised, i don't want.

I have always known things like this cost when putting up a website, I paif for everything & never asked anyone with any help with anything but my gaming servers since we were a clan, it made it a team effort. I figure my idea should not have something that would make people not want to be around.

Anyway, they are there & it is not my site, I have a choice to stay or leave so in the meantime I choose to suffer. A little less than usual, but I am still here.

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For the record, there's a huge difference between hosting a personal site or even a small clan site, and hosting an active, CPU-intesive, forum with over 30,000 active members that needs to be hosted on a server farm.

Trust me, the cost difference in terms of servers is huge.

As I stated, we've heard your feedback.

30,000 until the ranks get cut

People. Just let it go. It's the cost of doing business. If it bothers you that much get Adblock plus or leave.

mudpuppy said:

People. Just let it go. It's the cost of doing business. If it bothers you that much get Adblock plus or leave.

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agreed. i am not saying i am in love with the new ad format but it is a necessary evil.

sanity1082 said:

agreed. i am not saying i am in love with the new ad format but it is a necessary evil.

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I have to disagree. No it isn't (a necessary evil, that is). Ads are a necessary evil. This form of ads are not. If they were, MF wouldn't be here now, as it has not previously sported this form of ads.

IMHO these ads are a bald faced attempt by the owners of this forum to monetize the value of the large subscriber base. Pure and simple.

mac57 said:

I have to disagree. No it isn't (a necessary evil, that is). Ads are a necessary evil. This form of ads are not. If they were, MF wouldn't be here now, as it has not previously sported this form of ads.

IMHO these ads are a bald faced attempt by the owners of this forum to monetize the value of the large subscriber base. Pure and simple.

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I think thats a tad extreme... I don't like the ads, but I don't think the owners are trying to EXPLOIT us. We can just hope that our voices will be heard and the ads will be pulled.

mac57 said:

I have to disagree. No it isn't (a necessary evil, that is). Ads are a necessary evil. This form of ads are not. If they were, MF wouldn't be here now, as it has not previously sported this form of ads.

IMHO these ads are a bald faced attempt by the owners of this forum to monetize the value of the large subscriber base. Pure and simple.

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I like you!


lol

mac57 said:

to disagree. No it isn't (a necessary evil, that is). Ads are a necessary evil. This form of ads are not. If they were, MF wouldn't be here now, as it has not previously sported this form of ads.

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We've grown by a huge amount in the last 2 years, but the number of ads hasn't.

You can draw your own conclusions, but whilst iNet isn't a charity, they have treated us fairly in the past so why don't we see what the redesign and your feedback brings us?

mac57 said:

I have to disagree. No it isn't (a necessary evil, that is). Ads are a necessary evil. This form of ads are not. If they were, MF wouldn't be here now, as it has not previously sported this form of ads.

IMHO these ads are a bald faced attempt by the owners of this forum to monetize the value of the large subscriber base. Pure and simple.

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No forum can last the long haul, especially one as large as Mac-Forums, without generating enough revenue. Looking at what alot of sites look like out there, Mac-Forums is rather tame when it comes to advertisement, even with the addition of this new format. Money is needed to keep the system running and pay for enhancements in the future.

The site is also much bigger than it was 2 years ago and costs much more money to maintain and host.

Unfortunately, this new ad format is something we're trying, so yes, it's a necessary evil at the moment if you choose to participate here. If it's successful, it stays, if not, then it won't. Simple as that.

I will point out that while there are a few of you that continue to go on and on in this thread as if it's the end of the world (which BTW isn't that different then the reaction we got when we added the original banner ads and we've grown almost 300% since then), we have almost 30,000 active users who have gotten over it and are continuing to enjoy their Mac-Forums experience.

For those of you who continue to post and post on this topic, we've heard your feedback and we understand your concern. But there are also other points of view, and many other members who think what they think. We will never make everyone happy, but our goal is to provide a place where the most people can feel comfortable.

We understand that at times we may make decisions or changes that a few people can't deal with, and that's just the way life works. But every thing we do here is in some way, shape, or form for the betterment of the community we are building...yes, even this ad test.

But mac57, I have to say on a personal note I'm extremely dissapointed in your attitude in this post. As someone who was MoTM at one point, I would hope you'd know better than to think any of us have an exploitative view of this community. We work hard every day to improve and maintain the type of environment that people have grown to love and feel comfortable joining.

Well put SCHWEB
I come here to gather some nuggets of knowledge and to help if I can. The ads are nothing more than fringe distractions and can be tuned out if you can focus on what you are looking for. If the ads bother you that much maybe you should stop complaining and learn to focus more.

Well put, mudpuppy on your "Well put SCHWEB" message.

I second your expression of "support" for the ads. Even if they are somewhat distracting, a little more focus on the topic at hand makes them almost disappear. Besides, maybe once in a while they'll bear fruit!

i was one of the first to speak up on this, and after seeing the implementation, i do find it mildly annoying, but not unbearable.

as someone earlier stated, the main issue, is that they just seem to be horriby random at best, ill-chosen at worst - not that schweb and friends have any say over the actual ads that appear, it's just a comment.


and agreed with Noels and mudpuppy, schweb - i actually already repped you for it, but i figured i'd say something constructive about the implementation so far.

eric said:

as someone earlier stated, the main issue, is that they just seem to be horriby random at best, ill-chosen at worst - not that schweb and friends have any say over the actual ads that appear, it's just a comment.

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Actually we do have some pull. The main issue is that it's a new ad format and space and will take time to sell it to relevant advertisers. There are some already, but we need more.

It's not much different than the early times with the banner ads. It took awhile before we had relevant ads there also. It will just take some time.

i see.

well, that's good news.

schweb said:

But mac57, I have to say on a personal note I'm extremely dissapointed in your attitude in this post. As someone who was MoTM at one point, I would hope you'd know better than to think any of us have an exploitative view of this community. We work hard every day to improve and maintain the type of environment that people have grown to love and feel comfortable joining.

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Let me clarify schweb. I am not accusing you or ANY member of the moderator staff of being exploitive... in fact I am not even accusing the owners of this forum of being exploitive. They are being business people. I live and work daily in the world of profit and loss. I know what the commercial pressures are to make money. MF has a large and unique visitor base and I can fully understand the pressure to monetize that value. That is what I think these ads are an attempt to do. I see this as being commercially driven, but if I have left the impression that I think iNet is trying to exploit us, then I have not been clear enough. MF is not a charity, I agree, but a non profit (but non loss) business model would be really nice!

As I mentioned early on, I am nearly rabid in my distaste for ads and so I find this new form of ads especially offensive personally. I do however take the point of many of the above posters. I am a single member of a 30,000 member forum and I have expressed my opinion - perhaps too clearly. I will cease and desist at this point.

I do want to close my participation in this thread however by re-emphasizing that I am not casting aspersions on ANY member of the moderator staff here. I don't want this to sound like brown nosing because I am just not that type, but I think that you are all doing an excellent job despite its frequently thankless nature.