Do people seriously not understand why the Escapist protects their ads? (Warning: Ranty text wall!)

[lacktheknack]

Two: The Escapist doesn't run on pony dust and kitten farts, it runs on money.
Please tell me you understand that contributors, server costs and office workers require large wads of money thrown at them instead of drawings of ponies.

What about seven-legged spiders [http://www.27bslash6.com/overdue.html]? Surely such a masterpiece in visual information is more than enough to run a website!

It WOULD have been, except that the spider in question was finally rendered worthless. So close, and yet so far...

 

[Olrod]

I don't block ads, I block javascript.

If some of these adverts happen to *use* javascript... well that's just too bad for the ads.

Just to clarify, I have no problem whatsoever with banner adverts, moving.gif images and so on. They can appear at the side/top/bottom of the screen, where I can notice them and then instantly disregard them because they don't interfere with my browsing of the website.

What I *do* have a problem with is windows popping up on my screen, making me have to actively click something to make them go away.

 

[MelasZepheos_v1legacy]

Why should I care if the Escapist goes under?

This is the main question that I have to ask, having read this. Yes, I enjoy watching Zero Punctuation, yes I occasionally enjoy reading the forums, yes, every so often I go on a binge of LRR or FeedDump, but what is it the Escapist can offer me that no other site can? (Marketing trainee shining through the gamer here, I hate being an adult)

Enn has already moved to Penny-Arcade, as has Extra Credits. I hate Jimquisition, Rebecca Mayes and Lisa Foiles have apparently been cancelled, and the new shows aren't even close to interesting. Frankly, if it wasn't for ZP I probably wouldn't come here at all, so my question to the Escapist as a business is, how do they appeal to me as their consumer? What is the Escapists marketing policy?

Because right now, it looks like this:

We have Zero Punctuation
We have a measure of renown on the internet (which is partially tarnished by our users already)

vs

We have a lot of ads everywhere on our site
Our content besides ZP is massively fluctuating in quality
Our forums are a rather odd place
Our news and updates range from hard core gaming to general interest, but still seem in general very unfocused

How to improve this product marketing:

The Escapist needs to decide what sort of site it is, are they a small site that appeals only to hard core gamers, or are they aiming for market appeal? Are they willing to take the hit of the (admittedly large) amount of PC Gaming elitists they have among their members if they were to go for more general appeal? If they decide to stay small time, then it reduces costs of the sorts of shows they put on almost immediately, cuts down on half their news articles, strips out some of the superfluous extras (the webcomics), but does also decrease content. If they want to be a general appeal site, then they have to really commit to it.

Quality control of content. Minimum barrier for entry. Content cannot just be two people sitting at a table making a real life vs thread (especially when vs threads are forbidden by their own rules.) People wishing to contribute must meet a criteria for their show to be accepted.

Forum moderation has to be applied entirely equally, including to the staff and site itself. If there is to be no trolling on the threads, then why do they employ trolls to make videos for them? Surely that's just encouraging flaming, something else that is forbidden by their rules.

Decrease consumer irritation at the product. Would you shop at Wal-Mart if every thirty paces someone thrust a flyer in your face, and you weren't allowed to look at the crisps until you had read it? Would YouTube be so massively popular if every single video was preceeded by a thirty second advert that is sometimes longer than the video you intend to watch? Would FaceBook have become the behemoth it is if every time you logged in you had to complete a survey on your internet habits? The answer to all of the above is no. The Escapist is using what seems to me to be the same sort of marketing system as a spam e-mailer or random mailing. It's an archaic method which, as mentioned above, is not the same in the real world as on the internet. In the real world when someone mails you an advert, most people throw it away unopened. Removing the option to do that is going to do nothing but cause annoyance.

I don't have suggestions for the business side of things, that's not my area of expertise, but the brand of the Escapist is not very well marketed as far as I can see. If they want to start generating greater site traffic, something has to be done about that.

I go to other sites on the internet, and when the Escapist comes up in conversation it's always the same phrases 'That place with Zero Punctuation?' 'That site with all the adverts (also That Guy with the Glasses gets this one)' 'That site with the really pretentious userbase?' 'That site with all the poorly researched articles?'

If I was running any brand, and those were the comments I heard about it, I would consider there to be need of improvement.

 

[Muphin_Mann]

Somepony give this man a cookie. Seriously.

Also, for the record...The people complaining are a minority. If the adds were that bothersome, the site would have shut down by now from lack of interest/bleeding people.

Space out for 30 seconds if you can't handle the adds, or steal my idea. Mute the add and distract yourself with something in another tab. It's not the end of the world.

Can we make it a **** cookie? About all the OP deserves in my opinion. Yea the Escapist needs money. Then again, it apparently felt it NEEDED a zillion contributors to pay, so it isnt like this is about bad luck, its about bad buisness planning. I let the ads play and actually listen the first time, so the escapist gets their money from me, but that doesnt mean im a fan of their buisness model. Like online passes and release DLCs i put up with it, but that doesnt mean i will pretend to be happy or that the site is a victim of anything but its own icarian reach.

 

[Kross]

but other websites survive without annoying ads so they're obviously doing something differently

Make a list of the sites that serve over a million page views a day and don't have ads. I think you will find they are universally selling a product that the site is there to support/promote.


One other slight (but important) clarification that I see continually pop up, while we have never been rolling in the cash, and have almost always been running several months behind on budget (due to waiting on incoming owed payments from clients), we have never stiffed anyone on payment. We have also never hid any of our payment issues from any of our contributors, despite what you may have read elsewhere. This is true science fact to the best of my knowledge.

We have certainly been late on payments, but this was always with the knowledge of the people getting paid, and we have always done our best to prioritize outgoing payments to those who needed it as much as we were able.

 

[lacktheknack]

Somepony give this man a cookie. Seriously.

Also, for the record...The people complaining are a minority. If the adds were that bothersome, the site would have shut down by now from lack of interest/bleeding people.

Space out for 30 seconds if you can't handle the adds, or steal my idea. Mute the add and distract yourself with something in another tab. It's not the end of the world.

Can we make it a **** cookie? About all the OP deserves in my opinion. Yea the Escapist needs money. Then again, it apparently felt it NEEDED a zillion contributors to pay, so it isnt like this is about bad luck, its about bad buisness planning. I let the ads play and actually listen the first time, so the escapist gets their money from me, but that doesnt mean im a fan of their buisness model. Like online passes and release DLCs i put up with it, but that doesnt mean i will pretend to be happy or that the site is a victim of anything but its own icarian reach.

Before you get vindictive, consider reading the whole OP.

(Relevant info is in the edits, which were there before you read it.)