AdBlock disables Neowin

[Steven P. Administrators]

Had a few contact requests slating me for actively blocking adblock users here on Neowin.

 

Here's the lowdown:

• I moved some ads around yesterday on advice from a fellow site admin to try and improve our click rates and placement;
• We don't actively target adblock users through site code at all, we just don't like people gloating about using it in our forums;
• We don't cater to adblock users, if we change our code (which we have every right to do) and it breaks the site because of the add on, tough.
• I prefer to cater to members and guests who don't disable portions of my site to view content that I have paid for, and pay a staff for monthly;
• ads enable us to upgrade our servers and keep everything running smoothly.

So, even though I find it baffling that I even have to make an announcement for something that drains revenue from our site, I'm also not going to do anything about it.

I forgot to mention that for members, there are no changes, except for the forum sidebar top ad which was moved higher up. All of the changes apply to guests, so register for the "old" experience.

[Nashy]

I just told it to block ads on Neowin and Neowin still loads fine.  It looks weird without the ads to be honest!

[Steven P. Administrators]

That's because you're logged in, as I said there are no changes for members ;)

[Steven P. Administrators]

Again, what part of "don't gloat about blocking ads" do you people not understand? Thread cleaned.

[Jeston Veteran]

Don't forget to Subscribe² to get rid of ads the right way :)

[MikeChipshop Member]

Same thing happened for me on our site (which runs IPB). We moved a few odds and sods around and it turns out Nexus uses the class 'Ad' in one of it's divs which made half the site vanish to those using an add block. To those people i said i'm not reworking our whole site around your shody blocking software, you have two choices 1) Stop blocking ads, we only show relevent and only a few so deal and 2) Buy a membership that removes ads, it's literately pittance (?20 a year) most people spend more in the pub in on night!.

[Steven P. Administrators]

I admit there was a problem with the main page ad, which I've now fixed. It was a long day yesterday :s

[Marshall Veteran]

I admit there was a problem with the main page ad, which I've now fixed. It was a long day yesterday :s

 

 

I bet! I've found that a few beers will help end a "long day"  :P

[Steven P. Administrators]

Same thing happened for me on our site (which runs IPB). We moved a few odds and sods around and it turns out Nexus uses the class 'Ad' in one of it's divs which made half the site vanish to those using an add block. To those people i said i'm not reworking our whole site around your shody blocking software, you have two choices 1) Stop blocking ads, we only show relevent and only a few so deal and 2) Buy a membership that removes ads, it's literately pittance (?20 a year) most people spend more in the pub in on night!.

Yeah ours is $28 a year to remove all ads (with a few perks).

[Marshall Veteran]

"A few perks" that's an understatement and frankly I'm appalled. :rofl:

[Shaun N.]

"A few perks" that's an understatement and frankly I'm appalled. :rofl:

 

Really? :/

[MikeChipshop Member]

Yeah ours is $28 a year to remove all ads (with a few perks).

So about 5 pence a day? Strange to imagine that some people find that two much for something that they can spend most of their week on.

I've never understood ad blocking software, it hurts the sites you love and if, like me, you don't use any, you soon become immune to ads anyway, i honestly can't tell you what ads are doing the rounds at the moment purely because i no longer notice them.

[Steven P. Administrators]

There's an area of this forum for subscribers that's, lets say, a little more relaxed than Members Metropolis.

So about 5 pence a day? Strange to imagine that some people find that two much for something that they can spend most of their week on.

I've never understood ad blocking software, it hurts the sites you love and if, like me, you don't use any, you soon become immune to ads anyway, i honestly can't tell you what ads are doing the rounds at the moment purely because i no longer notice the

I try to get on complaints about ads straight away and usually they are resolved very quickly too. The whole point is to have an experience here where the ads aren't intrusive (pop ups, pop unders etc) we offload a lot to guests, and I keep saying that registering makes for a better experience anyway.

[Marshall Veteran]

There's an area of this forum for subscribers that's, lets say, is much more glorious than Members Metropolis.

 

Fixed that for ya, bud. :)

[Crimson Rain]

We don't actively target adblock users through site code at all, we just don't like people gloating about using it in our forums;

Why don't you do it? You should do it cause those are thieves.

 

Declaimer: I once blocked ads on neowin because of some annoying ad making high volume annoying sounds. They removed it and I removed the block too.

[MikeChipshop Member]

I try to get on complaints about ads straight away and usually they are resolved very quickly too. The whole point is to have an experience here where the ads aren't intrusive (pop ups, pop unders etc) we offload a lot to guests, and I keep saying that registering makes for a better experience anyway.

The thing is, those that are adamant about using ad block will never be swayed by subscriber perks. It's like some sort of crazy religion :p

[Shaun N.]

Why don't you do it? You should do it cause those are thieves.

 

 

And the drama bait has been set.

[cyoung1616]

Easier to just subscribe...

 

Cody

[articuno1au]

Why don't you do it? You should do it cause those are thieves.

 

Declaimer: I once blocked ads on neowin because of some annoying ad making high volume annoying sounds. They removed it and I removed the block too.

 

Yes, except that ad blocking for most people isn't about "pirating" content.

 

Most people block ads because ad companies inject all kinds of stupid bull**** into the ads. Take a certain malware issue on a set of Neowin ads recently. The Neowin staff had them pulled down promptly, but this issue isn't exactly rare.

 

On top of that is the annoying intrusive ads, pop out ads, ads that track you across the net (the obvious privacy concern there is an aside) and ads that pretend to be functions on the site like "DOWNLOAD HERE" in CNet's download pages.

 

There's a ton of legitimate reasons to block ads. Most people don't consider that they are denying money to their favourite sites because that's not their goal.

 

tl;dr - Shallow interpretations like "It's stealing" **** me off. As observed, Neobond can **** with users that ad-block. Until people start bypassing those blocks, it's not stealing.

 

EDIT::

I tend to stick around to defend my point of view, but this is a loaded topic already and I have other places to be. If you disagree with me, more power to you.

[Marshall Veteran]

The thing is, those that are adamant about using ad block will never be swayed by subscriber perks. It's like some sort of crazy religion :p

 

You are correct sir, they won't fork over a measly 28 USD a year for an ad free environment, it's basically a pride issue. Please take into account that I will personally keep the subscriber "perks" coming. :D

[Blackhearted]

So about 5 pence a day? Strange to imagine that some people find that two much for something that they can spend most of their week on.

I've never understood ad blocking software, it hurts the sites you love and if, like me, you don't use any, you soon become immune to ads anyway, i honestly can't tell you what ads are doing the rounds at the moment purely because i no longer notice them.

 

You must not browse very many different sites. Or ever see sites with animated ads or ads that slide their way out into the center of your screen. There's no 'becoming immune' to seeing most of the ads you see on most sites on the internet.

 

 

Why don't you do it? You should do it cause those are thieves.

 

Declaimer: I once blocked ads on neowin because of some annoying ad making high volume annoying sounds. They removed it and I removed the block too.

 

Lol, you can't be serious about calling people who block ads 'thieves'. If you are, then you are, quite simply, an idiot.

 

I also suppose that you think, with your dumb line of thinking, that people who record tv shows on their dvrs and then fast forward through the commercials are also thieves. Since they're effectively doing the same thing as blocking an ad on a webpage.

[mps69]

You can't please all the people all the time.

Moaners will always moan, it's easy to criticize, not so easy to give praise. 

[TheLegendOfMart]

You are correct sir, they won't fork over a measly 28 USD a year for an ad free environment, it's basically a pride issue. Please take into account that I will personally keep the subscriber "perks" coming. :D

I don't see the point in paying for a site I barely use, I used to come on the forums a lot but there are extreme biases towards certain companies on this site that ruins the discussion/atmosphere.

[MikeChipshop Member]

You must not browse very many different sites. Or ever see sites with animated ads or ads that slide their way out into the center of your screen. There's no 'becoming immune' to seeing most of the ads you see on most sites on the internet.

Yeah that must be it, i obviously don;t use the internet much  :rolleyes: 

BTW i'm a web developer ;)

There was a study commissioned in to ad blindness. It found that those who do not block adverts soon become immune to most adverts and to those that may appear they automatically shut them without really noticing them.

Some sites use obtrusive advertising that can't be ignored but these are few and far between and in all honesty, these sites should be avoided and maybe then they'll learn that these types of ads are not welcome.

[Steven P. Administrators]

I wouldn't go as far as saying they are thieves, but I totally hate that people gloat about it here, because I'm the one paying the Neowin staff ;)

 

Also I know about "bad ads" and I really do try to do everything I can to remove them, even ones that aren't malicious like the big download button that was complained about (was in a standard 728x90 ad, no bigger than that). In fact the advertiser pulled it from the entire network as well, agreeing that it was misleading.