You're doing this site a disservice and losing revenue

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May 30th, 2012 2:05 pm

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May 19th, 2012 1:25 pm

Shaner [OP]: Moderator; Jul 5, 2004; 23438 posts; 2985 upvotes

May 19th, 2012 1:25 pm

You're doing this site a disservice and losing revenue

It's no secret that over the years there's been more and more ad's on this site. It wasn't really a problem until the most recent major site update. That's when huge ad's were placed at the top of various forums (such as Home and Garden) which pushed every thread topic down the page. It was so bad that when I went into Home and Garden, I couldn't see a single thread without scrolling down, as ad's took up the entire page. I complained numerous times about it but was ignored every time.

Finally I had enough of the excessively large ad's and have installed ad block. I used to click on some ad's if they interested me, now all ad's have been completely blocked and I couldn't click on one even if I wanted to. If you guys had just compromised and not used excessively large ad's, perhaps me and others like me wouldn't have bothered with ad block in the first place. This is the only site I visit with intrusive and excessively large ad's, so this site is the only reason I installed ad block.

Any revenue you earned from me clicking on ad's is now gone, and I highly doubt I'm the only RFD member to install ad block specifically because of this site.

16 replies

May 19th, 2012 1:42 pm

Cas77: Banned; May 12, 2004; 9759 posts; 4084 upvotes; Ottawa

May 19th, 2012 1:42 pm

Same for me, it was before the previous update but installed for this site only to make it 'usable'.

I was so shocked when I started browsing on my ipad at how intrusive these ads had become. 95% of my day to day web surfing is on my ipad. If I'm coming here for more than a few minutes I'll boot up my laptop with ABP. it's too bad because some ads i would find useful but this in your face ad overload has turned me off.

Censorship is telling a man he can't have a steak just because a baby can't chew it.
- Mark Twain

+1

May 19th, 2012 2:00 pm

yao416: Deal Expert; Mar 22, 2007; 24604 posts; 2627 upvotes; Hamilton

May 19th, 2012 2:00 pm

Same... But i upgraded myself a 42" screen. Problems solved

$35/5GB Koodo
$120/3Months PM

May 19th, 2012 2:17 pm

deep: Deal Guru; Nov 19, 2002; 11959 posts; 256 upvotes

May 19th, 2012 2:17 pm

yao416 wrote: ↑
May 19th, 2012 2:00 pm
Same... But i upgraded myself a 42" screen. Problems solved

Unsurprisingly, that makes no sense at all. Your 42" screen doesn't have any more resolution than any hi-def monitor or even many notebooks.

Sites I like? No adblock. Sites I like that annoy me with ads? No more ads.

Heatware 50 Positive, 0 Negative

May 19th, 2012 4:47 pm

aviador: Deal Addict; Sep 9, 2010; 3703 posts; 2310 upvotes; Burnaby

May 19th, 2012 4:47 pm

Great idea. I'll install adblock on IE -have it already in FF- I also disabled avatars.

I wish there were a way to see only the actual posts without the side panels ( the standard way on f.xxx ) Avatars and posters miniprofiles are annoying and take too much vertical space, in addition to useless increasing traffic (each avatar is what, 56kB?)

May 19th, 2012 4:57 pm

FunSave22: Deal Addict; Aug 28, 2010; 3521 posts; 1217 upvotes; Halifax

May 19th, 2012 4:57 pm

Cas77 wrote: ↑
May 19th, 2012 1:42 pm
I was so shocked when I started browsing on my ipad at how intrusive these ads had become. 95% of my day to day web surfing is on my ipad. If I'm coming here for more than a few minutes I'll boot up my laptop with ABP.

There are ipad browsers with ad blockers. I use Atomic Web Browser. It's just $1 and has a free light version if you want to check it out.

May 20th, 2012 8:35 am

Shaner [OP]: Moderator; Jul 5, 2004; 23438 posts; 2985 upvotes

May 20th, 2012 8:35 am

Cas77 wrote: ↑
May 19th, 2012 1:42 pm
Same for me, it was before the previous update but installed for this site only to make it 'usable'.

I was so shocked when I started browsing on my ipad at how intrusive these ads had become. 95% of my day to day web surfing is on my ipad. If I'm coming here for more than a few minutes I'll boot up my laptop with ABP. it's too bad because some ads i would find useful but this in your face ad overload has turned me off.

That's the part that makes no sense and clearly the decision makers haven't thought this through. There were ad's I clicked on from time to time and would still continue to click on some ad's, but they've been jammed down my throat to the point where I can't stand them at all anymore, so now they're all blocked.

Unless they've already taken people like us into consideration. Perhaps they figure the increased revenue they get from jamming it down people's throats is greater than the revenue they will lose from those who are annoyed and block all ad's. I guess that would kind of make sense if that's the case.

It doesn't really seem like a good business idea to anger/annoy/alienate potential customers though, but what would I know, I'm not running a company that's in piss poor shape (YPG, not RFD).

May 20th, 2012 1:31 pm

Cas77: Banned; May 12, 2004; 9759 posts; 4084 upvotes; Ottawa

May 20th, 2012 1:31 pm

Shaner wrote: ↑
May 20th, 2012 8:35 am
It doesn't really seem like a good business idea to anger/annoy/alienate potential customers though, but what would I know, I'm not running a company that's in piss poor shape (YPG, not RFD).

We're not just customers, we're free labor first, customers second! They are worth absolutely nothing without us 'volunteers' giving them free content, therefore the last people you should piss off/amger/annoy/alienate are the ones who make the food to put on your table.

Then again I look at the current new annual low of 4 cents share and Marc Tellier's arrogance and the picture becomes pretty clear.

Censorship is telling a man he can't have a steak just because a baby can't chew it.
- Mark Twain

May 20th, 2012 1:46 pm

Manatus: Deal Addict; Mar 21, 2010; 4220 posts; 1076 upvotes; Toronto

May 20th, 2012 1:46 pm

Cas77 wrote: ↑
May 20th, 2012 1:31 pm
We're not just customers, we're free labor first, customers second! They are worth absolutely nothing without us 'volunteers' giving them free content, therefore the last people you should piss off/amger/annoy/alienate are the ones who make the food to put on your table.

Exactly, this isn't like ESPN or something where people go to the site to get information from employees of the website. RFD is just a public forum, that's it that's all. If everyone decided to move to a new forum, RFD would have no value whatsoever. Really people who contribute to the site should be rewarded, e.g. not being subjected to ads if you post deals/advice, rather than being taken advantage of "hey, you come here every day, you'd better click on more ads".

May 22nd, 2012 9:47 am

oranr: Deal Addict; Nov 23, 2010; 2505 posts; 571 upvotes

May 22nd, 2012 9:47 am

Thank you for the feedback in this situation. I will raise your concern at our next site development meeting.

For all community related matters, please PM TomRFD

+1

May 22nd, 2012 1:36 pm

Shaner [OP]: Moderator; Jul 5, 2004; 23438 posts; 2985 upvotes

May 22nd, 2012 1:36 pm

oranr wrote: ↑
May 22nd, 2012 9:47 am
Thank you for the feedback in this situation. I will raise your concern at our next site development meeting.

Honestly, it's not really a concern of mine, at least not anymore. I just thought it should be a concern of the decision makers (whoever that is these days). I don't know the way it works, but it seems to me that the more people you have clicking on ad's, the more revenue there will be. The in your face style of advertising really puts people off and single handedly caused me to install ad block. But I guess numbers don't lie, if the powers that be haven't noticed a drop in ad revenue since the new ad's were placed where they are, then I guess nothing will change.

May 23rd, 2012 1:09 pm

qaz393: Deal Guru; Dec 2, 2008; 11533 posts; 1447 upvotes

May 23rd, 2012 1:09 pm

Shaner wrote: ↑
May 22nd, 2012 1:36 pm
Honestly, it's not really a concern of mine, at least not anymore. I just thought it should be a concern of the decision makers (whoever that is these days). I don't know the way it works, but it seems to me that the more people you have clicking on ad's, the more revenue there will be. The in your face style of advertising really puts people off and single handedly caused me to install ad block. But I guess numbers don't lie, if the powers that be haven't noticed a drop in ad revenue since the new ad's were placed where they are, then I guess nothing will change.

does ad block reduce revenue?

May 23rd, 2012 8:59 pm

Shaner [OP]: Moderator; Jul 5, 2004; 23438 posts; 2985 upvotes

May 23rd, 2012 8:59 pm

qaz393 wrote: ↑
May 23rd, 2012 1:09 pm
does ad block reduce revenue?

I have no idea. I assume the way it works is RFD would receive money every time someone clicks on an ad. It's that's true, then yes, ad block would cost them money as there's less people to potentially click on ad's.

If it works in some other way such as Rona paying RFD a monthly fee to have that ad up regardless of hits/views, then I guess it wouldn't reduce revenue, at least not in the short term. In the long term, if enough people have ad block installed, Rona will see a reduction in hits/views on the ad's and will in turn reduce what they're willing to pay RFD to have that ad there.

Either way, it seems to me that causing your members to install ad block will reduce revenue.

May 25th, 2012 2:35 pm

Syne: Deal Guru; Dec 7, 2009; 13773 posts; 1300 upvotes

May 25th, 2012 2:35 pm

I had ad block prior to coming to RFD, so I really had no idea what all the fuss was about until I browsed here one day from a school computer and promptly had a seizure from the circus effect created by all the advertising. I was rushed to the campus hospital where they sedated me because I flew into a manic rage just thinking about the inhumanity of all those ads.

After two weeks of in-patient treatment and a cocktail of meds, the psychosis abated and I was released back into the general public.

In a perfect system, corporations would fear the government and the government would fear the people. - David Wong

Check out caRpetbomBer's picks in this thread.

May 30th, 2012 8:01 am

salonist: Banned; Jan 16, 2012; 55 posts; 18 upvotes; OAKVILLE

May 30th, 2012 8:01 am

Cas77 wrote: ↑
May 20th, 2012 1:31 pm
We're not just customers, we're free labor first, customers second! They are worth absolutely nothing without us 'volunteers' giving them free content, therefore the last people you should piss off/amger/annoy/alienate are the ones who make the food to put on your table.

Then again I look at the current new annual low of 4 cents share and Marc Tellier's arrogance and the picture becomes pretty clear.

the new initiatives you've embarked upon.you have brought upon yourself your own demise.
the hot deals are just flyer spins now.no one is putting in the effort to post a deal, without the posts, you are finished.
the competition will see your blunder and i would not be suprised to see an alternate site and all the posters moving there.

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