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Ad Banners - About & Problem Reports

Taluntain

Most Frabjous
Staff Member
Joined
Oct 7, 2003
Messages
5,435
Location
Your Mind
--- Want to disable all the ads on the Codex? It's doable with just a small donation: https://rpgcodex.net/myaccount.php ---

You're all probably aware that websites not run by rich kids who can afford to pay for all the running costs themselves need advertising to help pay the bills. Amazingly, the Codex is no exception here. It's a big site, with a lot of people always on and a lot of content, which consequently requires an appropriate server, software and staff to handle it all. We've got all that, thank you.

Where you come in is advertising. The Codex doesn't require you to pay anything. The Codex doesn't even ask you to click anything (but it doesn't hurt if you do). What we do ask you, respectfully, is to not be a bloody leech and block all the ads. By blocking any advertising here you take away even those few cents a month that the site would otherwise get from your visits. Those few cents require no action whatsoever on your part. You can even close your eyes and scroll past the banners (if you can manage that), it's cool. So merely letting those ads load is not much of a request. Some of them do pay merely for showing, so it's not a "I won't click on them so it makes no difference if I block them" situation.

The consequences of a few people blocking ads are unnoticeable. But when it gets to the point that ad blocker discussions (which are now a banned subject, btw -> Retardo Land express post) regularly take place in any community and there's indication that many in the community use them to block advertising on the site they enjoy, it's a big problem.

Why is it a big problem? Because the majority of advertising available to independent sites today pays very little. The kind that would pay at least moderately (pop-ups, interstitials, etc.) has only been used on the Codex sporadically and infrequently. Which consequently means that every cent made from advertising is earned in blood and needed. It won't not matter if you and half of the Codex visitors do your best to block all the advertising here.

I won't say that it will result in shutting down of the site if you do, because it won't. What it inevitably will result in is more ads for those people whose first reflex isn't to block all the ads on any site they frequent. I realize that you could be a cold-hearted bastard who doesn't give a damn about that. I'm not fooling myself that I'm going to convince you or anyone else set on getting a free pass not to block all the ads.

What I can do, however, is to inform the people who might care about the consequences of ad blocking that there's more to it than installing an ad-blocker on your end. It eventually creates a sizeable problem on the management's end.

So, the tl;dr summary:

1) Please don't block ads on the Codex. The ads pay for most of the expenses the Codex generates on a daily basis. Get legit ad-free if the ads bother you too much.

2) If you're intent on blocking the ads, keep your dirty little secret to yourself and don't discuss it here. Too many people are blocking the ads as it is so don't expect any sympathies for any kind of ad blocking software promotions. The administration reserves the right to retardo or remove any posts on the subject of ad blocking as we see fit.

Having said that, I do realize that now and then there comes an ad which makes everyone twitch. And no, we're not just going to remove every mildly annoying one. But if there's anything malicious or REALLY excessive about any ad, like carrying a trojan, virus, constant audio, seizure-inducing flashing, spawning more ads and such - this will NEVER be tolerated, and will be reported for removal as soon as I hear about it. Which brings me to

3) You can always report a supposedly bad ad to me and have me look into it.

WHAT CONSTITUTES A BAD AD?

* Malicious ads. This includes browser session hijackers, auto-installers, trojan/spyware-carriers and the rest of the crap that won't be tolerated here.
* Non-user-initiated audio ads. This means any ads that make any sound on their own, without any action on your part.
* Adult ads. This means any ads with nudity.
* Excessively flashing ads. Any ads that flash ridiculously fast and/or with colours hard on the eyes are bad.
* Pop-ups that make closing them difficult. Any pop ads that don't want to immediately close after clicking the [X] in their window's top right corner are considered bad.

Here's the holy trinity of valid reports about problematic ads:

1. Take a screenshot of it.

2. See where the ad points to (target url), and copy the url. If you can't get the target url by right-clicking on the ad and Copying Link Location, click on the ad and copy the url that you land on.

3. Describe what the ad is doing that is problematic.

Then PM me with all of the above (screenshot, target url of the ad, description of why it's a problem), and I'll look into it. Opening separate threads about it or posting pictures here is only wasting your time, because without the information requested above I can't do anything to remove such ads, nor do I regularly monitor all the threads here.

If there are any other ad-related problems that you are having, feel free to discuss them here. Feel free to also ask any other questions either here or via PM. Thank you.
 
Last edited:

Taluntain

Most Frabjous
Staff Member
Joined
Oct 7, 2003
Messages
5,435
Location
Your Mind
And yes, we have been testing interstitials (the interim page ads) since yesterday.
 

Atrokkus

Erudite
Joined
Feb 6, 2005
Messages
3,089
Location
Borat's Fantasy Land
As long as there will be no interstitials at every action (at least not on view new posts and post reply etc), I'm pretty okay with advertisement. I'll even disable my flashblock on this server.

Personally, I don't think ads here are that horrid. Some of them are even good - meaning, pretty to look at.
See, the only problem is that they take some time to load up. While I have no problem at home (I don't mind a bit of a lag for the sake of my beloved site, and got no traffic limits), on my workplace I don't load up pictures at all, because we got like 300 MB per month ADSL, which is, well, laughable. So, despite my will to help this site, I can't view banners at work. SORRY
 

Section8

Cipher
Joined
Oct 23, 2002
Messages
4,321
Location
Wardenclyffe
Those fucking idiotic "you will be redirected to the Codex in 9 seconds" ads need to fucking die. They're more offensive than Lindsey Lohan naked, and they're more intrusive than an unwanted prostate exam. Even if it means another donation drive, get the fuck rid of that shit.
 

HardCode

Erudite
Joined
Aug 23, 2005
Messages
1,138
Section8 said:
Those fucking idiotic "you will be redirected to the Codex in 9 seconds" ads need to fucking die. They're more offensive than Lindsey Lohan naked, and they're more intrusive than an unwanted prostate exam. Even if it means another donation drive, get the fuck rid of that shit.

AGREED Pretty much every time I click a link or visit a site with that interim-full-screen-ad-with-redirect shit, I just say fuck it and close the window. I don't want to have to do that with the Codex.

If Google can rise to $400/share on the stock market with pure text advertising, I am sure it is a viable marketing model, and should be utilized more often.
 

Nicolai

DUMBFUCK
Joined
Mar 8, 2003
Messages
3,219
Location
Yonder
I added RPG Codex to my 'exception' list a while back since I'm such a patriot.



Anyway, I've not seen any interstitials yet. How frequently do they occur?
 

Shinan

Educated
Joined
Jan 21, 2004
Messages
54
Location
Raseborg, Finland
For some reason when I press the middle mouse button on Firefox (to tab) the page I clicked in also changes. Slightly annoying to press back to get back to the page I wanted, but livable I suppose...
 

Greatatlantic

Erudite
Joined
Feb 21, 2005
Messages
1,683
Location
The Heart of It All
I've gotten to Interstitals (is that really what they are called) ads so far, and they seem to occur at a rate of 1 per day. I think thats a fair occurence rate and I don't mind waiting an extra 10 seconds to see the page, which is probably a discussion about Oblivion anyways.
 

Micmu

Magister
Joined
Aug 20, 2005
Messages
6,163
Location
ALIEN BASE-3
Gif banners are cold, Flash banners are flu, pop-ups AIDS and interstitials are fucking WWW ebola.
 

VasikkA

Liturgist
Joined
Oct 21, 2002
Messages
292
Location
DAC
Section8 said:
Those fucking idiotic "you will be redirected to the Codex in 9 seconds" ads need to fucking die.
I don't get them whenever I enter the forums through Tacticular Cancer. But on the other hand I don't do that very often, because the forum icons are all messed up.

Are these things coming to DAC/other Sorcerers.net hosted sites as well?
 

Saint_Proverbius

Administrator
Staff Member
Joined
Jun 16, 2002
Messages
11,455
Location
Behind you.
I think they're geared to only show up once every few hours, so that's not too bad. You see one and then you're free to browse around un-interwhatevered for a while.
 

Lumpy

Arcane
Joined
Sep 11, 2005
Messages
8,525
Shinan said:
For some reason when I press the middle mouse button on Firefox (to tab) the page I clicked in also changes. Slightly annoying to press back to get back to the page I wanted, but livable I suppose...
Yeah, it's a weird problem I've been having too today. What's going on? It's getting annoying.
 

POOPERSCOOPER

Prophet
Joined
Mar 6, 2003
Messages
2,721
Location
California
I dont mind the intersectional ads too much. I never block any ads unless they make some loud noises and shit. I'm not as cold hearted as you think, taluntain. I just want that ram upgrade you promised :wink:

I have a question. Is it okay to press "skip" on those ads or do we have to wait so you get benefits or some shit?
 

Volourn

Pretty Princess
Pretty Princess Glory to Ukraine
Joined
Mar 10, 2003
Messages
24,924
"What it could result in is progressively more and more ads for those honest, well-meaning people whose first reflex isn't to disable all ads on any site they frequent"

LMAO Hilarity ensues! 'Honest well menaing people'? LMAO So, evil bastards block pop up ads; but nagels don't? Give me a break.

You know; I tend not to block 'em if I can avoid; but with your pathetic attitude; I might have to start.

LMAO

I'm EVIL because I block unwanted ads.

Whatever.

:roll: LOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLLIPOP
 

DarkUnderlord

Professional Throne Sitter
Staff Member
Joined
Jun 18, 2002
Messages
28,335
Shinan said:
For some reason when I press the middle mouse button on Firefox (to tab) the page I clicked in also changes. Slightly annoying to press back to get back to the page I wanted, but livable I suppose...
Yes, I get that too and given that's my default browsing habit it pisses me right the hell off.

... but we do need the money. The other option was allowing things like custom avatars and titles to users who pay a once off fee of something like $10 or even removing all ads for those people that donate to the site.
 

Taluntain

Most Frabjous
Staff Member
Joined
Oct 7, 2003
Messages
5,435
Location
Your Mind
Interstitials are set up to show only once every 6 hours. Unfortunately, there's a problem with how Firefox handles opening links, so if you ctrl+link click, you apparently get one every time. Considering interstitials are set up on every link, there's really no way around it. They work fine any other way.

But as this is obviously proving to be a big pain in the ass for people with FF and this browsing habit, I'll discuss it with Saint and see if pop-unders wouldn't be a preferrable solution. Of course, considering most people are blocking pops these days it means considerably less exposure, but at least it wouldn't be causing this problem.

As for Google advertising, please. Google pays per click, and Codex never got more a few clicks a day, which usually amounted to under 30 cents income a day.

Poopy, that RAM upgrade's been done over a month ago.

Volourn, for all I care, you can start blocking Codex altogether. One less trolling ground for you and that less crap for everyone else to read.
 

mathboy

Liturgist
Joined
Feb 21, 2004
Messages
666
Why don't you add the option to pay to get rid of ads? That sounds great (not that I would pay at the moment but wouldn't it generate more money than just having ads?).
 

Nicolai

DUMBFUCK
Joined
Mar 8, 2003
Messages
3,219
Location
Yonder
Taluntain said:
Unfortunately, there's a problem with how Firefox handles opening links, so if you ctrl+link click, you apparently get one every time.


I always open new links like that, and I've still not seen any interstitials.




help
 

DarkUnderlord

Professional Throne Sitter
Staff Member
Joined
Jun 18, 2002
Messages
28,335
Taluntain said:
Unfortunately, there's a problem with how Firefox handles opening links, so if you ctrl+link click, you apparently get one every time.
You don't interstitials (damn I hate typing that word) every time. It's just that instead of opening the link in a new tab, it opens in a new tab AND starts loading that page for the page you're looking at.

So if I'm looking at the forum index and I ctrl-click the new forum, it'll open the news forum in a new tab but it'll ALSO start loading the news forums in my current open windo, instead of staying on the forum index and letting me open other forums.

mathboy said:
Why don't you add the option to pay to get rid of ads? That sounds great (not that I would pay at the moment but wouldn't it generate more money than just having ads?).
It means we'd have two Codexes. If you're not logged in or are just a regular visitor, you'll see Spammy Codex with many ads per page and maybe pop-ups, as well as interstitials. If you donate say about $10 to the site, then whenever you log-in you'll see no ads. The code will simply acknowledge you're a "Special Friend of the Codex" and won't include any ad-code.

I'm interested in a poll on this. So rather than hi-jacking this thread, I'll make another one.
 

Taluntain

Most Frabjous
Staff Member
Joined
Oct 7, 2003
Messages
5,435
Location
Your Mind
I'm guessing interstitials don't show in certain countries, so not everyone will see them.

DU, well, whatever... annoying nonetheless.
 

Tintin

Arbiter
Joined
Jun 28, 2005
Messages
1,480
I'm using Opera, and I think I've gotten about 4 of the interstitials in the few times I came to this site today....
 

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