Let's talk about AdBlock... Page 10

  • Syrette 25 Sep 2014 02:40:58 51,181 posts
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    Still can't recall an ad on here that was genuinely intruding on my browsing. Certainly nothing for me to go off in a huff and download AdBlock because I can't control my mouse properly.

    Man up, you lot.
  • dominalien 25 Sep 2014 08:01:21 10,703 posts
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    Syrette wrote:
    Still can't recall an ad on here that was genuinely intruding on my browsing. Certainly nothing for me to go off in a huff and download AdBlock because I can't control my mouse properly.

    Man up, you lot.
    Adblock doesn't cure that, pills do.
  • BartonFink 25 Sep 2014 08:28:37 35,268 posts
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    Syrette wrote:
    Still can't recall an ad on here that was genuinely intruding on my browsing. Certainly nothing for me to go off in a huff and download AdBlock because I can't control my mouse properly.

    Man up, you lot.
    ^^^ This x1000

    AdBlock is evil - devil spawn.
  • Tonka 25 Sep 2014 09:01:53 31,980 posts
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    Spot the Linux users.
  • dominalien 25 Sep 2014 09:28:01 10,703 posts
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    I see no one.
  • Cappy 25 Sep 2014 09:58:08 14,394 posts
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    As an experiment I put adblock on yesterday, morning 24 hours later I have to say it's been a completely positive experience.

    The on and off performance problems I was getting when watching videos via my web browser haven't turned up at all since then. Considering that EG is the only gaming site I visit, I don't typically visit elsewhere and EG is the most advertising heavy site I do visit, EG is likely the culprit.

    What made me switch it on is rauper's disinclination to accept culpability in people using adblock in the first place. No, it's not those 'other' sites, it's you. Admission of what you've been allowing is necessary, in terms of the traditional paradigm, advertisers were paying to reach the customers, they paid for space on pages, they were paying for the paper, they were paying for the ink.

    What we have here is you allowing advertisers to swipe my paper and ink for the purposes of their advertising when my computer's resources are getting hogged and I'm getting problems which are interfering with my usage of the computer. I'll continue to monitor things today, I'm already seeing a massive reduction in the amount of RAM being tied up by Safari.
  • Tonka 25 Sep 2014 10:23:10 31,980 posts
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    Cappy wrote:
    What made me switch it on is rauper's disinclination to accept culpability in people using adblock in the first place.
    I think starting this thread and asking people to switch on acceptable ads is a huge admission. This discussion is held on many levels at many publishing houses all over the world. They have realized that jamming a page full of blinking flash banners is bad for visitors AND advertisers.

    I have some experience of banner making and I have seen click through rates and how placement, audience and competition for attention influence it.

    It's not just Flash vs Not Flash. I once made a flashbanner that was so popular that one of the sites running it asked if they could keep it up after the advertiser stopped paying for it.

    So back to the beginning. I think it's a great step in the right direction to switch to the non-intrusive banners. I also hope EG can branch out and place banners based on the topics of non gaming related forum threads.

    That might already be a thing come to think of it, I haven't had adblock off for long enough to know.

    But why not some autogenerated Amazon links to Roombas in the Roomba thread?

    Is that a thing already?
  • Ginger 25 Sep 2014 10:52:17 7,256 posts
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    Given the openess Rauper has shown with this, I'd be interested to see if he's willing to share any results - increased impressions and so on.
  • Salaman 25 Sep 2014 11:35:15 24,162 posts
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    One thing I find weird in all this is thatEG as a site puts it's screen real estate available for advertisers.
    They then define what the advertisers can do within that space.

    Because advertisers are clamouring for attention, their ads become more and more intrusive and people get fed up and block them out completely.

    They're now going to pay the people blocking the ads, to let through certain ads that are "acceptable".

    Wouldn't it be easier to redefine your own rules about what advertisers are allowed to do to be in line with what ABP define as acceptable ads. That's free and has the same result. You may have some extra work to make it know to people using adblockers that they can safely turn them off on your site. Still, it's free and you're not just tied to ABP.
  • BartonFink 25 Sep 2014 11:41:37 35,268 posts
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    Salaman wrote:

    Because advertisers are clamouring for attention, their ads become more and more intrusive and people get fed up and block them out completely.

    They're now going to pay the people blocking the ads, to let through certain ads that are "acceptable".

    Maybe I am misinterpreting this but I think you got that one assbackways - this initiative came from AdBlock not the Advertisers. A nice little earner for ABP.
  • Salaman 25 Sep 2014 11:55:34 24,162 posts
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    Yeah, the initiative came from ABP and they earn some money. Rather than pay ABP, couldn't EG change their policy about what type of ads they allow on the site? If they only allow "acdeptable" ads to be placed on EG, you have the same result but for free.

    The difference is that through ABP, people will see the acceptable ads even though ABP is turned on (which may cause them to switch ad blockers if they object even to the acceptable ads) off of their own initiative, they'll have to somehow notify people that they should give EG ago without adblock on, as the ads have become less intrusive.
  • Tonka 25 Sep 2014 12:13:32 31,980 posts
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    Are EG paying ABP for this? That is weird.
  • Deleted user 25 September 2014 12:21:23
    I must be the only person who actually likes ads. They're nice and colourful, as long as they don't auto-play video or flash. The Witcher 3 one and the Call of Duty one that is on the site and the moment, I actually quite like. The Nintendo one that flashes is annoying though.

    I wonder what the page would look like with AdBlock installed, do you just get massive white spaces and margins at the side of the screen? I think I actually prefer having colour there, on a desktop.

    My work PC is hardly a gaming shirehorse PC either, you lot moaning must have pussy-ass PCs.
  • misslara 25 Sep 2014 12:34:44 9 posts
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    I use Adblock on some sites and turn it off on others, if there aren't pop ups slowing down my computer I don't care about banner ads or rollovers
  • Psychotext 25 Sep 2014 12:36:44 70,652 posts
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    Syrette wrote:
    Still can't recall an ad on here that was genuinely intruding on my browsing. Certainly nothing for me to go off in a huff and download AdBlock because I can't control my mouse properly.

    Man up, you lot.
    I've had broken ads literally stop sites from loading and crash browsers before now... so yeah, some can be quite intrusive indeed.
  • BigOrkWaaagh 25 Sep 2014 21:11:04 10,554 posts
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    Before this thread I had never even considered installing ABP, but I was at work today and the site kept crashing my fucking browser with animated banners at the top and videos running on the side. I just installed ABP and it's like another world.
  • Deleted user 25 September 2014 21:22:02
    Lovely auto-playing and looping video on the current Call of Duty ad, I'll stick with the nice Witcher 3 ad.
  • RyanDS 29 Sep 2014 08:33:14 14,074 posts
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    Rauper. Genuine question.

    Have EG thought about running some sensible ads instead of having two extremes of ads, with one side being white and barely visible and the other being hideous monstrosities?

    I have just logged into my work PC having been off a few days, and the front page is some Driveclub horror, with flashing, cars racing across the screen and generally the best advert for adblock I have ever seen.

    Why don't EG try an experiment and have ads that are a bit more restrained that don't go so over the top? I did try a few days without adblock, but it just makes the site a nightmare. Are static ad really that poor performing in terms of revenue collection that they won't make up for the huge increase in general enjoyment of the site for your readers?
  • Tonka 29 Sep 2014 10:00:04 31,980 posts
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    Bad news everyone.

    RichMediaContent enhances click rates by nearly 100%
  • BigOrkWaaagh 29 Sep 2014 10:08:39 10,554 posts
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    I would put good money on that increase being exclusively down to the fucking page jumping around while the ad loads and people not clicking the thing they actually wanted to.
  • Salaman 29 Sep 2014 10:15:30 24,162 posts
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    Tonka wrote:
    RichMediaContent enhances click rates by nearly 100%
    Probably with a bounce rate of 100% on the landing page of the ad.
  • Tonka 29 Sep 2014 10:34:47 31,980 posts
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    BigOrkWaaagh wrote:
    I would put good money on that increase being exclusively down to the fucking page jumping around while the ad loads and people not clicking the thing they actually wanted to.
    Could also be people trying to drag shit around on the banner and "accidentally" clicking it.
  • Deleted user 29 September 2014 10:36:20
    BigOrkWaaagh wrote:
    I would put good money on that increase being exclusively down to the fucking page jumping around while the ad loads and people not clicking the thing they actually wanted to.
    It's the only time I ever click on an ad - by mistake.
  • Cappy 29 Sep 2014 10:49:19 14,394 posts
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    I'm constantly clicking ads by mistake.

    Why do they make the ad 'hotzone' extend right up to the edge of the page where I want to click and drag the scroll bar? There's nothing even there, it looks like empty space.
  • Cappy 29 Sep 2014 10:49:19 14,394 posts
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    Post deleted
  • Psiloc 29 Sep 2014 11:20:46 6,368 posts
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    RyanDS wrote:
    Rauper. Genuine question.

    Have EG thought about running some sensible ads instead of having two extremes of ads, with one side being white and barely visible and the other being hideous monstrosities?

    ...

    Why don't EG try an experiment and have ads that are a bit more restrained that don't go so over the top?
    Because people with adblock on still wouldn't see it. There's no point in them dictating various rules to advertisers when the users who care about such things are blocking them anyway. This is why the acceptable ads thing exists in the first place IMO.

    Anyway I've just switched to ABP from AB and can see the ads so it's working nicely, though I now feel a bit uncomfortable that I'm supporting a racket. Must be worth EG's while though or they wouldn't be doing it, but I would be interested to know the details.
  • MrTomFTW Moderator 29 Sep 2014 12:04:22 47,501 posts
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    Destinyfest 2014 will pretty much end at the end of the week when we enter silly season and there's other games to talk about.
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