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Political Ads

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  • AdminAdmin Administrator RarePosts: 5,623

    kb4blu said:
    Admin said:
    I have contacted our network and they already have us flagged to not get adult, gambling or political ads.  They need to have a screen shot of the ad(s) in question.  If anyone can make this appear can you give us a screen shot here or email it to me at admin [ at ] mmorpg.com?

    Here you go. So much for the being flagged.
    Thanks - I am going to send this to the ad network - but if you can give me a screen with the whole site in view *with* the ad in there it will really help to prove it was actually on our site.  Thanks!

    - MMORPG.COM Staff -

    The dead know only one thing: it is better to be alive.

  • KiyorisKiyoris Member RarePosts: 2,130
    Ikeda said:
    Honestly, I'd almost be willing to sub to this site.
    Keep the site F2P, just add a cash shop with outfits for our avatars. Only cosmetics, no power items please;.
  • DistopiaDistopia Member EpicPosts: 21,183
    Kiyoris said:
    Ikeda said:
    Honestly, I'd almost be willing to sub to this site.
    Keep the site F2P, just add a cash shop with outfits for our avatars. Only cosmetics, no power items please;.
    They could sell PP(post point) potions.

    For every minute you are angry , you lose 60 seconds of happiness."-Emerson


  • VolgoreVolgore Member EpicPosts: 3,872
    edited March 2016
    I always have AdBlock enabled and additionally a script and elementblocker that allows me to manually hide frames, buttons and basicly disable everything unwanted. Every now and then i even used it on certain objects in the main news that didn't interest me and remained in the rotation too long for my taste. Add to that that in the past some third party elements and scripts on this website have been of at least questionable security status.

    I like to have total control over what is going on in my browser and also decide on my own what content i see.
    Hence this website is as clean as it gets on my end.

    Obviously, i wouldn't like to give up on that -i would however not hesitate to subscribe to some sort of premium service if it comes with a reasonable package. I.e. throw in a free mailadress [at]mmorpg.com and give premium users a proper headstart in betakey-giveaways or send them a notification 1hour before the giveaway goes live.

    Open a merchandise shop. People have been calling for it forever. I would throw money at my monitor for a "your account has been banned" tshirt. Who doesn't want a mug with your cool logo in his office? Start with limited editions and see how good they go.

    So if there is an alternative to ads, i'm all in. But until that, i cannot support this website to an extent that could possible compromise my PC due to malware and the likes.

    image
  • AdminAdmin Administrator RarePosts: 5,623
    edited March 2016
    Volgore said:
    I always have AdBlock enabled and additionally a script and elementblocker that allows me to manually hide frames, buttons and basicly disable everything unwanted. Every now and then i even used it on certain objects in the main news that didn't interest me and remained in the rotation too long for my taste. Add to that that in the past some third party elements and scripts on this website have been of at least questionable security status.

    I like to have total control over what is going on in my browser and also decide on my own what content i see.
    Hence this website is as clean as it gets on my end.

    Obviously, i wouldn't like to give up on that -i would however not hesitate to subscribe to some sort of premium service if it comes with a reasonable package. I.e. throw in a free mailadress [at]mmorpg.com and give premium users a proper headstart in betakey-giveaways or send them a notification 1hour before the giveaway goes live.

    Open a merchandise shop. People have been calling for it forever. I would throw money at my monitor for a "your account has been banned" tshirt. Who doesn't want a mug with your cool logo in his office? Start with limited editions and see how good they go.

    So if there is an alternative to ads, i'm all in. But until that, i cannot support this website to an extent that could possible compromise my PC due to malware and the likes.

    Well, we are looking at options like a "paywall" system...this will basically mean users pay a small fee to have access for 7 days, 30 days, 365 days,etc...or they disable AdBlock...or they just go elsewhere.

    As I see it right now - and I know this shakes some of you the wrong way - but people running AdBlock are stealing from us and any other site you visit on the Internet while disabling ads, and you are the part in the death of the pure and honest web that we once knew.  It is pretty simple - we pay writers, editors and content publishing people to produce all of the content you see on this site - and the *only* means we have of compensating those people for their efforts is via advertising sales.  So if you visit this site with ad blockers running - you do not pay for your use of our site at all...you are freeloading or "stealing."

    Almost all sites that I know of mostly rely on advertising for income (just like TV, newspapers or radio) and if we cannot make revenue we will all cease to exist, or take other means to keep the lights on.  That being said we are all willing to adapt to survive - but what you must accept is your ads will not appear in clean little boxes labeled in your pages but rather embedded in content like what you see on sleazy reality TV shows (cars they drive, jewelry they wear, beverages they drink, etc)...in other words "sponsored content". 

    We at MMORPG.com, much to my resistance, have agreed to start allowing clearly labeled "sponsored content" on this site as a means to compensate for a loss from Ad Block users - and as part of this we have a policy to keep this content clearly labeled as such...but as a thought across the entire web - I fear that ABP has resulted in a much less honest, sleazier web than we want or need.

    ABP users always claim "malware" as the reason for running this thieving tool - but malicious sites can inject malware to you even if you are blocking ads - just through simple JS that does not appear as an "ad" to blocking software.  While ads are a serious and real source of malware injection - most mainstream sites like us serve all ads through Google DFP or other major networks, which actively monitors against this and stops us from serving any ads from a source known for this.  Honestly, if you want malware protection, install a security suite to stop malware and viruses- not ad blocking software.

    If you have paid attention to the headlines over the past couple years you will see that quite a few gaming and technology sites have gone under or made painful sacrifices to stay alive as a result of ad blocking.  We have a really great team (this is what we call the MMORPG family) here at MMORPG.com and I think they do a great job and deserve to earn their living and their wage.  I just ask you to please support them and this site that has been serving MMORPG fans since 2003 with the heart and soul of our genre.

    Basically, if you like what we are doing here at MMORPG.com and enjoy visiting our site, getting our free promos and gifts and engaging with our community - could you just please whitelist us on AdBlock (assuming you are running this) - likewise could you do this for any other website you visit that you feel the same about.

    Post edited by Admin on

    - MMORPG.COM Staff -

    The dead know only one thing: it is better to be alive.

  • NanfoodleNanfoodle Member LegendaryPosts: 10,617
    Admin said:
    Volgore said:
    I always have AdBlock enabled and additionally a script and elementblocker that allows me to manually hide frames, buttons and basicly disable everything unwanted. Every now and then i even used it on certain objects in the main news that didn't interest me and remained in the rotation too long for my taste. Add to that that in the past some third party elements and scripts on this website have been of at least questionable security status.

    I like to have total control over what is going on in my browser and also decide on my own what content i see.
    Hence this website is as clean as it gets on my end.

    Obviously, i wouldn't like to give up on that -i would however not hesitate to subscribe to some sort of premium service if it comes with a reasonable package. I.e. throw in a free mailadress [at]mmorpg.com and give premium users a proper headstart in betakey-giveaways or send them a notification 1hour before the giveaway goes live.

    Open a merchandise shop. People have been calling for it forever. I would throw money at my monitor for a "your account has been banned" tshirt. Who doesn't want a mug with your cool logo in his office? Start with limited editions and see how good they go.

    So if there is an alternative to ads, i'm all in. But until that, i cannot support this website to an extent that could possible compromise my PC due to malware and the likes.

    Well, we are looking at options like a "paywall" system...this will basically mean users pay a small fee to have access for 7 days, 30 days, 365 days,etc...or they disable AdBlock...or they just go elsewhere.

    As I see it right now - and I know this shakes some of you the wrong way - but people running AdBlock are stealing from us and any other site you visit on the Internet while disabling ads, and you are the part in the death of the pure and honest web that we once knew.  It is pretty simple - we pay writers, editors and content publishing people to produce all of the content you see on this site - and the *only* means we have of compensating those people for their efforts is via advertising sales.  So if you visit this site with ad blockers running - you do not pay for your use of our site at all...you are freeloading or "stealing."

    Almost all sites that I know of mostly rely on advertising for income (just like TV, newspapers or radio) and if we cannot make revenue we will all cease to exist, or take other means to keep the lights on.  That being said we are all willing to adapt to survive - but what you must accept is your ads will not appear in clean little boxes labeled in your pages but rather embedded in content like what you see on sleazy reality TV shows (cars they drive, jewelry they wear, beverages they drink, etc)...in other words "sponsored content". 

    We at MMORPG.com, much to my resistance, have agreed to start allowing clearly labeled "sponsored content" on this site as a means to compensate for a loss from Ad Block users - and as part of this we have a policy to keep this content clearly labeled as such...but as a thought across the entire web - I fear that ABP has resulted in a much less honest, sleazier web than we want or need.

    ABP users always claim "malware" as the reason for running this thieving tool - but malicious sites can inject malware to you even if you are blocking ads - just through simple JS that does not appear as an "ad" to blocking software.  While ads are a serious and real source of malware injection - most mainstream sites like us serve all ads through Google DFP or other major networks, which actively monitors against this and stops us from serving any ads from a source known for this.  Honestly, if you want malware protection, install a security suite to stop malware and viruses- not ad blocking software.

    If you have paid attention to the headlines over the past couple years you will see that quite a few gaming and technology sites have gone under or made painful sacrifices to stay alive as a result of ad blocking.  We have a really great team (this is what we call the MMORPG family) here at MMORPG.com and I think they do a great job and deserve to earn their living and their wage.  I just ask you to please support them and this site that has been serving MMORPG fans since 2003 with the heart and soul of our genre.

    Basically, if you like what we are doing here at MMORPG.com and enjoy visiting our site, getting our free promos and gifts and engaging with our community - could you just please whitelist us on AdBlock (assuming you are running this) - likewise could you do this for any other website you visit that you feel the same about.

    If you are a fan of this site, please whitelist it from your ad blocker. 
  • GruntyGrunty Member EpicPosts: 8,657
    edited March 2016
    Volgore said:
    I always have AdBlock enabled and additionally a script and elementblocker that allows me to manually hide frames, buttons and basicly disable everything unwanted. Every now and then i even used it on certain objects in the main news that didn't interest me and remained in the rotation too long for my taste. Add to that that in the past some third party elements and scripts on this website have been of at least questionable security status.

    I like to have total control over what is going on in my browser and also decide on my own what content i see.
    Hence this website is as clean as it gets on my end.

    Obviously, i wouldn't like to give up on that -i would however not hesitate to subscribe to some sort of premium service if it comes with a reasonable package. I.e. throw in a free mailadress [at]mmorpg.com and give premium users a proper headstart in betakey-giveaways or send them a notification 1hour before the giveaway goes live.

    Open a merchandise shop. People have been calling for it forever. I would throw money at my monitor for a "your account has been banned" tshirt. Who doesn't want a mug with your cool logo in his office? Start with limited editions and see how good they go.

    So if there is an alternative to ads, i'm all in. But until that, i cannot support this website to an extent that could possible compromise my PC due to malware and the likes.

    You have an email address {forum name}@ this website. Mine has about 300 spam mails and 'out of storage space for spam mails' notices in it.

    They tried a T-shirt and coffee mug merchandise store.  It didn't last very long.
    "I used to think the worst thing in life was to be all alone.  It's not.  The worst thing in life is to end up with people who make you feel all alone."  Robin Williams
  • AdminAdmin Administrator RarePosts: 5,623
    Honestly I don't like the non-gaming ads either...and they only appear when we don't have campaigns that we have directly sold to game companies.  Typically ad sales are slow in Q1 (Jan-Mar) and tend to pick up after that - so I think you will see less and less non-gaming ads later this year.

    The fact is that the non-gaming ads we run through networks like AdSense perform about 3x better than the gaming-only ad network that we used to use.

    I do agree that active community members are content creators and you contribute a lot to our existence.  This is one of the reasons we don't just flat out block ABP users (like Wired or Forbes, etc).

    We will do our best to evolve - likely we will try to run a lot more sponsored content around the site.  We will always label it as such but honestly I would rather we could just support the site with traditional advertising.

    Thanks for the post Torval!

    - MMORPG.COM Staff -

    The dead know only one thing: it is better to be alive.

  • DahkohtDahkoht Member UncommonPosts: 479
    It's your death sentence you are bringing on yourself by pushing the obnoxious ads.

    Once a site starts using the shit that essentially takes over your ipad with a full scale ad that can;t be closed , and start bashing people using ad-block , it's a no win in the end for you.

    Do an Amazon sponsor program where people buy their Amazon through a link that supports you for an example and you'd get x1000 more revenue than trying to sneak ads in. 

    Politely asking for donations and not putting up ridiculous ads and "advertorial" content is the way to go.

    Seems like you all have decided to sign your own death warrant though.

  • DeathengerDeathenger Member UncommonPosts: 880
    I think there are some missed revenue opportunities here too. I saw a post about the Darkest Dungeon somewhere here. The game looked interesting to me so shit, I bought it. Unfortunately I couldn't find and kind of referral link to the game here so I wound up going right to steam to purchase it. That could have been an opportunity to make a little change on a transaction!
     
  • DahkohtDahkoht Member UncommonPosts: 479
    The traditional advertising with ads is dead. Period. You can't survive on that alone,  with sites starting the "ad-wars" many of my business clients now ask me about ad-blockers when they had never even heard or thought of them before.

    Small , sites that don't have a parent company with other revenue are not going to survive , period on , on normal ads any more. 

    Forbes website traffic is getting killed due to the ad-block decision. 

    I am shocked that you all don't realize the revenue you are missing out on from Amazon to other shopping sites and with actual legit game and so on , combined with politely asking for donations like massively and toucharcade and other sites do.

    Ask a couple of the major twitch streamers what they make on their amazon referral links alone. 

    Just again , seems like you have chosen to go down the wrong route.
  • AdminAdmin Administrator RarePosts: 5,623
    Is the ipad ad still appearing like that?  I know we made the decision to drop that whole ad network - as we were not aware of this until users brought it to our attention.

    I would disagree on the Amazon affiliate program.  I have tried to use that on this website in the past as well as other sites - the revenue is terrible compared to selling traditional advertising.

    - MMORPG.COM Staff -

    The dead know only one thing: it is better to be alive.

  • DahkohtDahkoht Member UncommonPosts: 479
    edited March 2016
    That traditional advertising that isn't working and getting blocked more and more ? 

    I spend approx 200-300k k a year at Amazon between our own things and ordering equipment for clients to get in quickly.

    The twitch streamer (that I know personally )whose link I use for that does very well when he has around 8k people using his link to order all their Amazon products for. 

    Combined with politely asking for donations , an intel referral program and other computer related equipment , hes a millionaire from Twitch alone. It all adds up. 

    Of course he's polite , uses the products he advertises, and won't advertise or write articles or give a  supporting stream just because he's offered money , he has to actually like the product.

    You take anything and everything here , no one can trust anything here because if for example  Razer made a "razer green pile of shit" and offered you money , you'd run an ad on that neon spray painted pile of shit.

    Imagine this site , with only a very  few ads for games and products you believe in   and have directly chosen yourself, a prominent "please use our Amazon link to buy your products" , combined with a polite requests for donations , instead of the trashy version it has become over the years.

    Again , you think you know better , so be it , when you make it worse with advertorial articles , and more annoying third party ads , and it gets nothing but worse , it's all on you.


    Finally , and this is where I've watched businesses that fail over the years and other succeed because they chose to make the tough decisions , it's likely there are too many people getting paid to work at your site. One of two folks running a site full time making their living off it should be more than enough , and yes , I work in the IT world and have seen the back-end of what it takes and have seen companies that have WAY too much fat that needs to be trimmed.

    Another friend I have runs a very popular gaming forum/site , himself , period. Zero other people get paid , he runs it on donations through paypal and one or two very targetted type ads from things people buy. No trips , no crew of writers and so on. He's doing very well , and yes he busts ass. He tried the "staff" thing and growing it bigger but quickly realized the mistake and had to let the people got , and it was worth it to save his site.

    It may not sound like fun , but not trying to have the site support multiple people and only a very small amount of people (1 to 2) earning a dime is likely the way to have the site succeed and live.

    Again , ads from third party ad networks are dead in the long run , people are sick of it , and I push ad-blockers out on well over 20k machines with a group policy on the various networks I help manage. They liked it and want it at home now also , because the ads went from simple banner ads of one or two , to the shit see nowadays.

    Sites like this and others were never meant to support an entire crew of people through ad-clicks , and the bubble is starting to hit.

    Going for less is more , a cleaner site , politely asking for donations and running only ads you have selected yourself , with less paid people , would be in my opinion the option that could save the site.

    Making it worse with more ad content , is going to drive more people away , and no on will have a job from it.

     
  • AvarixAvarix Member RarePosts: 665
    Dahkoht said:
    <snip>
     

    Sadly, I have to agree. I think when the ads were all game related, I was able to ignore them for the most part. Since the new ads came in I am painfully aware of the ad space now.

    This is my typical screen when I use this site. I have crossed out the ad space to bring it to your attention.



    This isn't even bringing attention to the sponsored ads that have been making their way into the 'Our Latest Features' space. It's excessive. It comes across as unprofessional. No way for me to sugar coat it. I understand you have bills to pay, and I have no solutions. There are people out there, far smarter than I am, trying to figure it out and failing. I am just letting you know what a regular user of the site experiences. I love this site, and I have frequented it far longer than I have had this account. I really hope you guys find a nice balance, and something that works for everyone.
  • SeelinnikoiSeelinnikoi Member RarePosts: 1,360
    I dared to turn off adblocks on this site, and then I was in shock at what this site had become... it looked like a partner site for BangBus! :lol: 
    If you are a Star Wars fan, why not try the Star Wars The Old Republic?
    New players can get a welcome package and old/returning players can also get a welcome back package and 7 days free subscription time! Just click here to use my referral invitation
  • TenkouseiTenkousei Member UncommonPosts: 114
    Equating the use of ABP to "stealing" is a bridge too far afaic. You've got this site open to the public and the public owes you nothing. If you want to keep people from "stealing" you should just paygate this site like some vulgar porn site or something. Not that it'll solve your income problem though.

    For the record, i use ABP and noscript on the PC, but not on my tablet and phone. So that's about a 50/50 ratio there.

    Btw, that huge pop up add for the google app store is f-ing annoying on a phone.

    Just sayin'.
  • AdminAdmin Administrator RarePosts: 5,623
    Can you post a screen shot of the pop up ad you are referring to?  To my knowledge we removed all of those from the mobile end.  

    - MMORPG.COM Staff -

    The dead know only one thing: it is better to be alive.

  • AnnaTSAnnaTS Member UncommonPosts: 600
    edited March 2016
    I don't mind Ad's if they keep the website open but i wanted to ask something.

    Recently i keep getting an AD i am not sure if it's the same one but it comes and covers my whole screen and i have to click it off and it happens now and then is that supposed to happen. ?

    btw i am using desktop.
  • AdminAdmin Administrator RarePosts: 5,623
    Can you send a screen shot of this Anna?

    - MMORPG.COM Staff -

    The dead know only one thing: it is better to be alive.

  • AnnaTSAnnaTS Member UncommonPosts: 600
    Admin said:
    Can you send a screen shot of this Anna?
    If it happens again i will try i think it happened last yesterday and hasn't happened yet today.
  • AdminAdmin Administrator RarePosts: 5,623
    Is this on a mobile device?  We removed the network doing this but I think some peoples devices have the script cached. So also try clearing your browser cache.

    - MMORPG.COM Staff -

    The dead know only one thing: it is better to be alive.

  • AnnaTSAnnaTS Member UncommonPosts: 600
    Admin said:
    Is this on a mobile device?  We removed the network doing this but I think some peoples devices have the script cached. So also try clearing your browser cache.
    No i am on Desktop i just did a quick clean up i hadn't done one in a while deleted some games too.
  • AdminAdmin Administrator RarePosts: 5,623
    Ok, yes please send me screens of anything you see like that.  We don't allow ads like that on desktop.  We tried them on mobile but have removed them as well.

    Thanks,

    - MMORPG.COM Staff -

    The dead know only one thing: it is better to be alive.

  • larryp11233larryp11233 Member UncommonPosts: 97
    kb4blu said:
    The new ad network targets based on user. So it's likely something you've searched, or something like that. We've informed Craig, and hopefully he has some option on what to filter out. But as an aside, the non-gaming stuff is a nice change of pace in my book - less really terrible free browser games, more stuff that's actually relevant.
    I don't know what I did to deserve seeing a political ad ?  I never search or goto any site that has anything to do with politics.  

    I realize your site needs revenue to keep going and I respect that but how are ads for politics relevent to gaming ??
    Where do you live? The ads often target location based on IP address as well. It's likely you have a primary coming up, which would explain why. The ad network feeds ads to the user based on a number of categories, not something we select specifically.  But I have asked Craig (the owner) to see if we can select/deselect certain types. We've done so in the past with other ad networks, and gold selling ads.

    And the precise purpose of this new ad network is to offer both gaming and non-gaming ads. We know some folks might not like that, but by and large seeing ads for hospitals, cell networks, trucks, or movies is far more tolerable (to me) than seeing bogus ads for a new crappy browser game with bad translations.
    this is absolutely insightful! :D
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