By using this site, you agree to our Privacy Policy and our Terms of Use. Close

Forums - Website Topics - Why Ad Blocking is devastating to the sites you love

jammy2211 on 06 March 2010

I'm with the 'I don't mind ads but VGChartz is going to far' camp. I've had my browser crash a stupid amount of times while browsing the site because of Evony or whatever else - at points I've stopped coming here cause of ads running.

I work for a website who too relies of ad revenue - but hasn't gone anywhere near as far as VGC has in terms of ramming the things down our throats. Maybe the owners are just less profit driven, but it's a shame to me that VGC has gone in the direction is has when imo many smaller sites who offer a similiar service cope fine.

I'm too lazy for ad blockers but I can understand, for anywho who browses VGC, why they'd install the things.



Around the Network
epicurean on 06 March 2010
ioi said:
Mendicate Bias said:
In the past this website has had some of the most intrusive and annoying ads I have ever had the displeasure of seeing. The browser would literally crash if I opened more than one tab the advertisements were so horrible.

Recently it has gotten a lot better but when you barrage people with ads that are not only annoying but actually crash browsers then you can expect them to ad block. Even if the intrusives ads haven't been around for a few months the repercussions are still there, once someone turns ad block on their not very likely to turn it back off.

If you want to keep people from ad blocking you need to have less intrusive and sketchy ads, simple as that. I can't tell you the number of times google has warned me of malicious software on the website due to the advertisements.

Integrate the ads into your website better and no one will care to ad block.

You see this is the issue I have.

The fundamental point here is that it's not your right to block ads. Whether you have the physical ability to or not is a different matter.

This website is provided under the condition that you view the ads.

As I say, a lot of sites (VGChartz included) will be looking into the possibility of blocking access for those using adblockers in the future if the issue continues to grow out of hand.

Ads are annoying in every medium - tv, radio, magazines, websites. They interrupt the media that you are consuming because people are willing to pay a media organisation to have that right. Ads are annoying by their very nature, but it's only on the internet that there is this attitude of "I don't want annoying ads so i'll just remove them". Nobody does but without them (and the more annoying they are normally means the better they pay) then websites will cease to exist or will have to take drastic action to counter the issue of adblockers.

This post really annoys me because you are entirely missing the point.  As I just said, I don't use ad-blockers.  But you say ads are in every medium and annoying - true - but if, lets say, i was watching tv on a certain station and it caused my tv to no longer work, what do you think the chances are I would go to that tv station again?  You really need to clean up some of the ads and people wouldn't complain.

I know you want to blame this all on the "big, evil ad blocking users", but you have to bear some of the burden yourself.  Sites with bad ads that cause harm to people's computer are going to be visited less and ad-blocked more.  Want it to stop?  Clean it up.



Owner of PS4 Pro, Xbox One, Switch, PS Vita, and 3DS

goddog on 06 March 2010
Twistedpixel said:
ioi said:
psrock said:

I read I agree business wise it hurts the site and any site, but these software were created for a reason,  I never used to block this site, but as the site became more popular, the ads became more annoying, in your face and just ruin my enjoyment of browsing. I'd rather pay to get an ad free environment then to deal with those ads.

We could have paid memberships which include the disabling of ads if enough people would go for it to make the implementation of the system worthwhile...

Paid membership would work for me so long as we can get a few more priveledges as well as a yellow name because vanity is the name of the game and if I support the site I want people to know that I have that level of investment into the wellbeing of the site.

every time the topic has come up i support paid membership this site has givien me enough to get my money that way. I think here and fark would be the only sites id pay for membership



come play minecraft @  mcg.hansrotech.com

minecraft name: hansrotec

XBL name: Goddog

Games4Fun on 06 March 2010
ioi said:
Games4Fun said:
People get up grab snacks, use restroom, or change channels with the other ads you mentioned. So in many ways the I dont want annoying ads so ill just remove them happens to those also.

No one like ads no one ever will. The day some people (myself also) can not block them is the day they will not bother to visit any of those sites.

No, that's the distinction here. There is a difference between not taking notice of an ad and preventing it from displaying. In the first scenario the media company still gets paid, in the second they don't.

You can ignore ads all day, no problem, but physically blocking them from displaying is a different matter entirely.

 

To address other points, I know a lot of people block ads because of genuine security concerns, spyware, viruses etc and this is the counter-argument given for why adblockers are good. I absolutely agree that it is the responsibility of the website to ensure that ads are free of this and while there have been 2 occasions (in nearly 5 years) that I recall that we've had a malicious ad, this hasn't happened for a while now. The last couple of issues have been with people placing malicious code in their forum sigs which is somethinn we have worked to fix now as well.

In terms of general comments about how annoying ads are - I'm share the view of some of the comments here in that I don't really know what all of these annoying ads are that people are complaining about. In the US we have ads like Dragon Age, Dawn of War II, Heavy Rain, Bad Company 2, The Show 2010, Just Cause 2 - premium ads from premuim ad providers. In the UK we have Final Fantasy XIII, Xbox Live, recently we've had White Knight Chronicles, From Paris with Love. A lot of work has been done to provide high-quality gaming ads (they pay better plus they fit better with the site) and remove the low quality ad networks so I'm not really sure where comments of weight-loss and evony ads are coming from either...

I can see the wieght lose ones right now after I unblocked them to find them. It shows a chubby lady laying down then slowing becoming smaller. I will say the ads on this site have improved a lot since I have joined though.

Anyways, I think most people here can see your point, but we also have points that are being seen. It is nice to talk this out like this, but in the end everyone has thier opioions and which side it falls is probably where it always will.



Lurker on 06 March 2010

Ads annoy me, so I'll continue blocking them.



Around the Network
Spedfrom on 06 March 2010

I'm fine with ads on a site like VGChartz.com, as long as they're not overbearing and don't drag down the performance of the site. I don't use an ad-blocker.

What I will not tolerate is pop-ups, but Google Chrome already blocks those.



Twistedpixel on 06 March 2010
goddog said:
Twistedpixel said:

Paid membership would work for me so long as we can get a few more priveledges as well as a yellow name because vanity is the name of the game and if I support the site I want people to know that I have that level of investment into the wellbeing of the site.

every time the topic has come up i support paid membership this site has givien me enough to get my money that way. I think here and fark would be the only sites id pay for membership

Im pretty much in the same boat. I hate the advertisements though but I don't use adblock. I just wish there was another alternative to make everyone happy!



Do you know what its like to live on the far side of Uranus?

TWRoO on 06 March 2010
FaRmLaNd said:
Question.

Are the ads different depending on what country you live in?

Because I live in Australia and I find the ads perfectly find and non-intrusive. All this talk of virus's and such has never happened to me. Its almost like these guys are viewing a different website.

Yes they are... the Americans seem to get the worst of it, twice here in the UK I have had viruses trying to get through, one of them seemed to coincide with the Americans and the 2-3 nights that the website was down entirely (Late 2007 I think)



phxprovost on 06 March 2010

Personally i would like to know when exactly it became my moral responsibility to look at all the ads that sites are willing to throw at me. Last time i checked its not my problem if your overwhelming revenue takes a small hit because i value my pc's health and maintaining my ISP bill. Honestly if sites want to start locking content from those who do not view adds then by all means go for it but dont be surprised by the outcome in that war of attrition when people leave your sites in droves



FragiIe on 06 March 2010

Sorry but the ads are harmful for me so my adblock plus isn't being disabled anywhere.