Poll: Do adverts Make you angry?

[Kross]

I think I figured out why Nexus gets away with their far less annoying ads though. They have a critical mass of users that Escapist doesn't have. Also thousands more non-forum pages means they don't have to pollute their forums with ads.

What I haven't figured it out is why Escapist needs so many captchas when not even Nexus needs but one...

We can only run the ads that people buy on our site. If we only have one person buying a video ad, then we only have one to run. It runs until the inventory they bought that month runs out, interspersed with our house ads to fill space.

The captchas happen approximately after your second and 20th post on a given day. Most people only post a couple times a day. A problem we have been experiencing is spammers (manually) registering multiple accounts, and then spamming as much as possible on various proxies. We do a lot behind the scenes and in the mod queue to shut them down, but the captchas help catch these users after their accounts have been registered and they start spamming. We have also had issues with older accounts with weak passwords or merely registered much in advance that are used to spam, which is why captchas are enabled on every account that takes 10 seconds to register for free.

Also, as far as non forum pages, forum page views are approximately 12% of our total page views.

 

[Crazy Zaul]

Does any get the idea the Captchas are sentient and trying to tell us something? I just had one that said 'Get out more'

 

[Iskenator67]

Only the video ads get my ire up; not because they're long (they're not), but because when this site does video ads it plays the same goddamn ad on every single video view, making me lose respect for the site and ensuring that I will never support the sponsor.

Put mandatory caps on repeating ads and you'll have my respect again.

Agreed. Try watching all of Daily Drop with those ads on. I'm watching more ads then video.
I know the publishers club has no ads, but I get the feeling that most people are not going to start paying for something that used to be free. The day they charge just to even be here I'm gone.

 

[trollnystan]

Does any get the idea the Captchas are sentient and trying to tell us something? I just had one that said 'Get out more'

My god, you're right! *puts on tinfoil hat*




And to avoid a low content post: Ads are a necessary evil, but it doesn't have to be a bloody annoying evil too. When I think about online adverts today I think about this Eddie Izzard bit:


Internet adverts are becoming like he mentions the old adverts were like, with the whole in-your-face-buy-it-now thing, pretending to be subtle. And failing at it.

 

[Brandon237]

Banner ads fine, video ads fine, I can tolerate even pop-up ones once in a while, but if it has audio and it is not a video ad... I will burn something. But the most annoying ones are the ones for ad-blockers by people on this site trying to say it subtly... those I cannot handle.

But mostly I am indifferent, I like the ads on this site, because the design is good and for me they have never been intrusive, and I like my free stuff. My one friend actually commented on it when he saw the Escapist, so they are good by me with these ads. But please stop the Ad-Captcha, that is evil.

 

[evilneko]

I don't really mind the current iteration of the ad-captcha (hear that tech team? The current one's fine, I hope it works out for you). Malicious junk that's noisy and/or jumps out of their box and cover important parts of the screen, yeah those I hate.

 

[sky14kemea]

They don't bother me. I won't disclose why due to the fact every time someone does they get suspended witch I don't understand. Are programs like adblock illegal or something? what violation have these people committed by using or saying they use these programs that's cause for a ban? I would like an answer & I hope I don't get suspended for asking.

People are not allowed to suggest the use of Adblock or any program like it on the forum, because The Escapist, along with pretty much all the internet sites with high traffic, all make a large portion of money from the ads. Even if you don't click them. By hiding the adverts, you're denying the site money it could earn in order to create the articles and videos it provides. :/

There is the option of PubClub, which does hide all the adverts, plus other benefits, but I don't want to sound like a huge advertisement, so I'll just leave it at that. xD

Edit: It's also written in the Forum Rules too, It just took me a moment to go find them.

Use Our Forums Appropriately
Our forums are a place to talk with like-minded people, not a place to advertise your blog, webpage, YouTube channel or commercial enterprise. Your profile has a place for such things, and that is where it should stay. If you fail to do this, you will automatically get a 1 month suspension.

Similarly, posts including, advocating, or linking to illegal or adult material are a very quick way to end your time as part of The Escapist community. An example of these are:
Piracy
Ad Blockers

etc.

 

[lizards]

i dont mind them when they ARENT SO LOUD YOUR EARS ARE RINGING IF YOU HAVE HEADPHONES IN after it

 

[Pat8u]

Im only angry when I get government ads before videos ones that seem hilariously outdated like the mining tax one the funny thing is Im not even old enough to vote so its pointless advertising