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Decline Guess my Patron status finally ran out

Spectacle

Arcane
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A patron status may end, but butthurt is forever.
 

Niektory

one of some
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the great potato in the sky
People don't only block ads because they're ugly, but also because they don't want all the borderline malware today's ads come with running on their systems. That's why I think "run, but hide" blocking isn't popular.
 

Taluntain

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I am just used to forums beings free. I guess we've just grown too big... time to weed out anyone who didn't register before 2010!

They are free, but that doesn't include being devoid of all the ads. That licence comes with a small donation.

There's no reason that that couldn't be done short of it being even more unethical than simply stripping out all ads is. If the ad code is stripped out completely, that traffic just doesn't exist for the advertising providers so the loss only occurs on the side of the website. But if the ads were only hidden, any campaigns that pay per impression would still pay for those page loads, but the advertising providers would effectively be paying for fraudulent traffic, which would also be throwing off the actual click-through rate. Not that I believe that the authors of AdBlock would have any moral qualms about that, it's likely simply because they viewed it as a potential (legal) threat or problem that was easy to avoid. Advertising providers as a rule do everything they can to make sure that they're only paying for legitimate traffic, so something like that wouldn't go down well with them and Google by extension -- and Google's reach is pretty much all-encompassing.

Ah yes, ethics. Indeed, the first list items that spring to mind when I think of ethics are businessmen, corporations, and advert firms, with politicians and car salesmen hot on their heels.

Here, let me have a look at these ads being served up here on the Codex by reputable, upstanding pillars of the community who, I'm sure, are themselves exemplars of ethical conduct. Featuring such classics as:

A shady, likely unaccredited, for-profit online university billing itself as the cat's meow....

INSURANCE COMPANIES HOPE YOU DON'T KNOW THIS EASY TRICK! leading to a hastily designed, fly-by-nite site, most likely a scam....

The ads aren't changing now when I refresh, so that's all I've got. I've never in my life clicked on an Internet advertisement except to investigate it for reasons along these same lines, let alone purchased any product or service as a result. In fact, the more ads I see, the more that company annoys me, and the less likely I am to buy their product. If it's something I want or need, I'll find out about it by seeking it out, or by word of mouth. If not, I definitely don't need it, and I almost certainly don't want it.

The quality of the ads is a wholly different can of worms and yep, a lot of them definitely aren't stellar. But the lowest paying tier of ads is like that with any advertising network, even the most reputable ones. However, we're not asking anyone to click on any ads if they don't want to, merely to let them load and merrily ignore them. That's really not asking much.

People don't only block ads because they're ugly, but also because they don't want all the borderline malware today's ads come with running on their systems. That's why I think "run, but hide" blocking isn't popular.

You're not getting any malware from any of the standard banners these days. You're more likely to get infected by visiting a site that's been hacked or otherwise exploited than through an ad, really. This at least has cleared up significantly in the last few years from what I've seen.
 

Blaine

Cis-Het Oppressor
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Grab the Codex by the pussy
However, we're not asking anyone to click on any ads if they don't want to, merely to let them load and merrily ignore them. That's really not asking much.

Asking me to watch flashy, annoying bullshit is asking a lot. That's why I appreciate the Codex's Patron status. I don't mind supporting the site, and I try to be understanding that DU can't afford the hosting and bandwidth costs for a single niche Internet forum while he saves up to finally move out of his mom's house. I will pay not to see ads and commercials, even though I personally feel that people should be able to block or opt out of ads and commercials pretty much at will.

Whenever I need to deposit more judengilde into the Codex coffers, something always comes up to make me hesitate. Last time, DU was in the midst of a highly entertaining abuse-of-power spree (which I approve of in principle, for what it's worth) in which he redirected GD to RPG Watch and banned a bunch of people who said things he didn't like. I became convinced that the banished accounts were ultimately ousted for shitposting rather than for being DU's ideological enemies, so that was all right. I'm intensely anti-censorship.

This time, I'm simply annoyed by the obnoxiousness of huge ads smack in the middle of forum indices. I'll probably deposit judengild anyway. I just wanted to complain.

You're not getting any malware from any of the standard banners these days. You're more likely to get infected by visiting a site that's been hacked or otherwise exploited than through an ad, really. This at least has cleared up significantly in the last few years from what I've seen.

In fairness, not too long after our family first got dial-up in 1993 (mid- to late-1990s? early 2000s?), ads and pop-ups were a HUGE problem. There'd be banners and windows popping up all over the place, and not just from visiting porn sites or Russian mail-order bride listings, either. Those memories are hazy, though.
 
Self-Ejected

Ulminati

Kamelåså!
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sDuwwWI.png


So help me Taluntain, this had better be sorted before 2019. :argh:

Banners trigger my PTSD.
 

Taluntain

Most Frabjous
Staff Member
Joined
Oct 7, 2003
Messages
5,439
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However, we're not asking anyone to click on any ads if they don't want to, merely to let them load and merrily ignore them. That's really not asking much.

Asking me to watch flashy, annoying bullshit is asking a lot. That's why I appreciate the Codex's Patron status. I don't mind supporting the site, and I try to be understanding that DU can't afford the hosting and bandwidth costs for a single niche Internet forum while he saves up to finally move out of his mom's house. I will pay not to see ads and commercials, even though I personally feel that people should be able to block or opt out of ads and commercials pretty much at will.

Whenever I need to deposit more judengilde into the Codex coffers, something always comes up to make me hesitate. Last time, DU was in the midst of a highly entertaining abuse-of-power spree (which I approve of in principle, for what it's worth) in which he redirected GD to RPG Watch and banned a bunch of people who said things he didn't like. I became convinced that the banished accounts were ultimately ousted for shitposting rather than for being DU's ideological enemies, so that was all right. I'm intensely anti-censorship.

This time, I'm simply annoyed by the obnoxiousness of huge ads smack in the middle of forum indices. I'll probably deposit judengild anyway. I just wanted to complain.

They've been there for more than a year now, I think... not exactly a big deal, though I'm going to be doing something with that ad spot to make it look better. It's likely going to include using up more of the ad space to reduce the blank space, however, and then people will bitch about that. Yay!

You're not getting any malware from any of the standard banners these days. You're more likely to get infected by visiting a site that's been hacked or otherwise exploited than through an ad, really. This at least has cleared up significantly in the last few years from what I've seen.

In fairness, not too long after our family first got dial-up in 1993 (mid- to late-1990s? early 2000s?), ads and pop-ups were a HUGE problem. There'd be banners and windows popping up all over the place, and not just from visiting porn sites or Russian mail-order bride listings, either. Those memories are hazy, though.

Yea, that used to happen, but like I said, it's improved significantly in the last few years.
 

Jasede

Arcane
Patron
Joined
Jan 4, 2005
Messages
24,793
Insert Title Here RPG Wokedex Codex Year of the Donut I'm very into cock and ball torture
It's the estimated date for the 19th Indiegogo campaign, when there's only 0.0143 bugs to fix.
 

Sceptic

Arcane
Patron
Joined
Mar 2, 2010
Messages
10,871
Divinity: Original Sin
Hey Blaine, I have the perfect solution to all your Codex ad problems: stop coming here.
 

Taluntain

Most Frabjous
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Messages
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Your Mind
Before I stopped using Avast it was reporting false positives left and right, though that tends to happen with most AV software. Better safe than sorry and all that...
 

Dreaad

Arcane
Joined
Apr 18, 2013
Messages
5,604
Location
Deep in your subconscious mind spreading lies.
I'm not sure that ads themselves have gotten that much safer or loaded with less malware, I just think security has improved. Most browsers come with minimal security of their own and block out half the high school level prank 'infinite banners' and other shit you used to get bombarded with.
 

Grimlorn

Arcane
Joined
Jun 1, 2011
Messages
10,248
People don't only block ads because they're ugly, but also because they don't want all the borderline malware today's ads come with running on their systems. That's why I think "run, but hide" blocking isn't popular.
I just hate how the whole thing works. I click on some stupid product somebody sends me a link to as a joke or something, and then I'm getting spammed with ads for it. Or I'm shopping for a product and decide not to get it and am getting spammed with ads for it all the time. Shit is annoying as hell. It's intrusive imo. Like a stalker watching you constantly and keeping track of everything you do. It's the same with youtube. Someone posts a link to a video making fun of something crazy, then I'm getting recommended videos on that stupid topic. It just doesn't make any sense, and they aren't providing a better service imo.
 

DarkUnderlord

Professional Throne Sitter
Staff Member
Joined
Jun 18, 2002
Messages
28,343
I don't mind supporting the site, and I try to be understanding that DU can't afford the hosting and bandwidth costs for a single niche Internet forum while he saves up to finally move out of his mom's house.
Why would I move out? I love my mum.

Why don't you love your mum Blaine? Tell me that.
 

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