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Ad Complaints

you can provide nothing to television. The tv show is the draw. In a forum the people <Buy Chevy> that come are the draw. I'm not responding to this forum because I want to type but to exchange ideas.

If you take everyone and everyone's post out <Buy a Pepsi> of a forum its just a bunch of blank boxes.

Advertising in itself does nothing, you have to get people to buy something for it to work. If your advertisement offends or chases people away they probably wont buy from you. <At Liberty Mutual we care about you> This depends though somethings people can't live without. Then there are things like cars, you can live without them but not in a society where they have become essential.

<I'd like to teach the world to sing in perfect harmony. Then I'd buy them a coke or something I forget all the words>

So lets say i want to sell <call 1-800-buy-sugar for a free quote> you a car. So i drive you over with it so you can see it. Are you going to want to buy it?

<Isn't this fun? Its a new media and they need to learn to successfully use it to advertise. Invasive and in your face is not a good idea.>
 
Merged another thread onto this one. Those coming from there: see my reply a couple posts up.

Thanks
 
I love Chrome, but it will never block ads, because Google is the one that is delivering 99% of those ads! =)

Has there been a consensus on what other Droid forums are good? I landed here when I first got my Droid and haven't left... Is the grass greener on the other side?
 
- The Droid ad sucks too. However in this case we are under contract - and have to live with it. Verizon has worked closely with our ad network to produce that. No, We don't like it. No, we can't remove it. Switching ad networks (when not bound by a contract) is a pain as it is. It cost money, it cost couple days of testing, and it costs some gray hairs. However it would be considered if this were the sorta service we were getting when not under contract. When it expires they can expect us to move on if we continue to get obtrusive ads.


I have verizon telephone, tv, internet and cell phone. there is nothing left for me to buy from them. I am going to stop the ads then thanks.

:) Good job guys!!! phandroid guys i mean.
 
Not to get into a big moral discussion about adblock, but I first installed it when Engadget was running about 10 ads on their home page and my older computer just couldn't load the site! I even talked to Ryan about it via email and he agreed that, for many, the site was almost unusable and he didn't blame me at all. They eventually lightened it up.

And I have just never bothered to take it off. But, if I ever heard that a site I benefited from (like this one) was losing revenue because their advertisers were able to see how many folks ran adblock, then I would turn it off for that site, for sure.
 
Phases said:
Just to chime in on this.

- I've seen this thread (merged a couple to this) and the other in the Droid area. I have been - as much as he loves it I'm sure - linking them regularly to Rob over the past couple weeks. I've been trying my damn-dest to help him work something out about it. We do want our members to be happy, but it's really not as simple as all that.

- Yes, the amazon ad sucks, it pisses me off too (Other Mobile site changes have occurred though, if those happen to be what you mean instead). It is getting removed, today.

- The Droid ad sucks too. However in this case we are under contract - and have to live with it. Verizon has worked closely with our ad network to produce that. No, We don't like it. No, we can't remove it. Switching ad networks (when not bound by a contract) is a pain as it is. It cost money, it cost couple days of testing, and it costs some gray hairs. However it would be considered if this were the sorta service we were getting when not under contract. When it expires they can expect us to move on if we continue to get obtrusive ads.

- Oh and also.. Yes, it cost a lot a month to keep this forum up - and those ads are what do it.

I will link Rob to this a final time (and link here from the Droid thread) in case he wants to chime in. Before too long though, the ads will be swapped out by the network anyway.
Click to expand...

So, just to be clear in regard to the pop up ad at the bottom of EVERY page. It's not going away until either A) your contract is up and you move to another ad provider, or B) the ad network switches out to another ad that MAYBE won't be a pop up at the bottom of every page. Would that be a fair assessment?

I have ZERO issue with you guys getting ad revenue to run a site of this nature. But if that is the best you can offer in relation to this situation, it's really not all that promising.

Sure I could switch to Firefox instead of Chrome but every other site that I visit, including 3 or 4 other Android forums, doesn't have an annoying popup ad on the bottom of every page. Switching browsers for one site out of hundreds seems to be a poor solution.

There is no way to code the location of the ads so that they don't show up at the bottom of the page??
 
Wonder what the contract entails exactly though, can it be shown to all guests and not members? That is easy to do with vbulletin....just a thought.
 
Always follow the money.

If the ADD helps the site, then so be it, what ever helps, supports, and maintains the running capabilities that supports the forums, i'm for it.

My initial thought that it was a web designer thing/idea.
 
unknowndroid said:
So, just to be clear in regard to the pop up ad at the bottom of EVERY page. It's not going away until......There is no way to code the location of the ads so that they don't show up at the bottom of the page??
Click to expand...

You are correct. And no, we're not allowed to alter the code.

Caddyman said:
...can it be shown to all guests and not members?.....
Click to expand...

Guest already get more ads. We have talked about a premium option though. However that wouldn't come for a couple months if we chose to offer it.

DroidPower said:
...If the ADD helps the site, then so be it, what ever helps, supports, and maintains the running capabilities that supports the forums, i'm for it...
Click to expand...

They're the only thing funding this site.
 
Alright folks, as requested I want to chime in and offer a little more detail/explanation that should be considered a supplement to what Phases as already said.

AndroidForums.com has been a ridiculous load to maintain both from a time and server investment standpoint. That goes without saying - advertising is what allows this site to operate in the first place so I'll assume you folks don't have a problem with the ads themselves, but with their obtrusive nature.

We work with an ad network that I chose SPECIFICALLY because of their targeted ads. At least you're seeing Verizon Ads and not "Eat this diet pill, lose 500 pounds and increase the size of your manhood!" In general, I think this ad network has done very well for us.

These particular Verizon Wireless DROID ads seem to be the main concern. I agree - they can be an irritation. The ad views have already been sold and there isn't much we can do about this particular campaign (for now) as I'm not one to break promises. What I can promise you is that I'll speak with the ad network about the types of ads being shown and try to keep the members' best interest in mind. This particular ad will likely continue to show during the holidays - just a heads up out of honesty/respect.

The Amazon ad on the other hand is a different issue. That is a coding/display problem and I'm not sure exactly what was causing it. I've removed it. Over the next few days I'll probably be testing different things there to see what works and won't put anything back there until it offers a reasonable browsing experience. I agree the mobile experience caused by that ad was unacceptable, and in Phases' defense, he has told me MANY times about it. I didn't realize how bad it was.

Over the last several weeks we've gained about 20k new members and I personally think that the AndroidForums/Phandroid family is the best destination for Android information on the web. Much of that is because of the awesome members and great staff/contributors who spend their time helping others and sharing their own experiences and even asking questions (search first! lol).

That being said, our goal isn't to continue being the best Android destination. Our goal is to be even better. Some of that will come from listening to your feedback and doing what we can to improve. I hope you'll appreciate that we have LOTS to do and try our best to improve whatever we can. Often times there is a positive/negative tradeoff.

We'll work on making the forums more user (or at least member) friendly in regards to ads but I want you to know that YOU will probably want the ads as well. These ads pay the bills and allow us to operate. And hopefully, moving forward, these ads will allow us to invest in better features for the forums and perhaps even some Android Applications requested by members.

Your input is appreciated and valued - please continue to give us your thoughts and feedback. But please, please, PLEASE when you do, remember that we all want this place to be the best it can be also. Some of you are looking to seek refuge elsewhere... but instead I hope you'll stay and continue to lay your ideas and frustrations before us. Constructive criticism will move us all forward and its the folks who express their concerns who help put the wheels in motion.

Cheers and Happy Holidays,
Rob J
 
I've frequently seen that Droid Banner ad using Firefox. But I can close it.

Nevertheless, you've asked a good question: which other forums have been helpful?
 
I don't have a problem with the Droid ad at the bottom of the screen. I have a problem that the forum doesn't accommodate it; the ad blocks vital content on a given page.

If you guys know a banner ad is going to take ~100 pixels of length away from the bottom of the user's screen, maybe some JavaScript/jQuery technique can be used to make a pseudo-margin of 100 pixels on every page affected by the ad. You can't do it with normal CSS of course as the Droid ad moves with the screen.

The effect is that it will look like the bottom of the web browser's screen is 100px higher than it actually is, and under that the ad will exist unaltered.

*EDIT*I meant something like this: http://flowplayer.org/tools/demos/scrollable/vertical.html
 
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