Video Ads

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The video box is literally blocking the top so you can't click on the recent topics or anything. So how is one supposed to use the site now if you can't click through the box?

That is annoying, but there is another “Recent Topics” link at the bottom.

While I’m here, thank you to Jeff for hiding the political posts from “recent”.

[Anonymous]

It's definitely more work to post here now. I don't know where I'll end up.

Best case, the worst trolls and mal-adjusted posters decide it's not worth their time. Worst case, the helpful posters leave, the trolls stay, and we also have ads.

[Anonymous]

DCUM folks whine and complain about everything. Not surprising that they complain about ads. And while they are now threatening to leave the site, the overwhelming majority won’t.

And Jeff’s right - nobody is going to donate either. I sure as heck won’t.

[Anonymous]

Dang it. Some of the food recipe things are making me hungry. A couple looked interesting that I clicked to see if maybe I could see better what they were doing and maybe try the techniques with other things. But alas clicking does nothing for me. I think you need the Facebook or instagram apps. 🤷‍♀️

[Anonymous]

I want Jeff to be able to make a living and I am grateful for this site. Both of those things make me inclined to deal with a little annoyance.

Buuut, these ads are more than a little annoying. They are hard to dismiss and VERY distracting. So far they are also not well targeted. I keep getting an ad for “best bacon recipes”. I’m Jewish and I’m on Weight Watchers, lol!

I would gladly put up with more text ads or even Instagram style photo ads, for reasons above. I could probably learn to live with videos if they didn’t move and hover.

I actually like some well-targeted ads. Sometimes I learn a store I like is having a sale that I wouldn’t know about otherwise. But I won’t click pop-ups out of spite; I will actually open a new tab and type the store address instead of clicking the pop up. I wouldn’t do that here specifically, but I do it elsewhere.


Just being honest. Appreciate you asking for feedback, Jeff. Thank you for the site.

[Anonymous]

jsteele wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I use an ad blocker. I understand the concept of needing to generate revenue. I guess I feel I contribute by posting useful responses and by doing so, contribute to this community and help sustain it.
If users who block ads will be blocked from using this forum, I wouldn’t change my behavior. I’ll find something else to spend time on.

I understand that if you are an entitled person who only cares about yourself why you would choose to use an ad blocker. But, I don't understand why you would bother trying to justify the behavior. You are taking money out of my pocket benefitting from my work. I assume that nobody expects you to work for free, but you have that expectation of me.

Yes, I will do everything possible to block users with ad blockers. I would rather have you leave than to steal from me.

DP. But, I think this attitude is unfair, especially with posters such as myself who have sensory issues/migraines. Very few people (or no one) is saying that want to be a free rider. I have offered— repeatedly— to pay for an ad free subscription, or to do a Wikipedia type donation or to become a member of an ad free site or to participate in an NPR style fund drive. You put a “buy me a cup of coffee link” at the bottom and tell me how much ad revenue my use of this site generates in a year, and I’ll triple it— tonight. And again in a year. Or find a setup for monthly payments, and I’ll do it on monthly auto draft.

I have also said, repeatedly that your moderation is a valuable service to me, and I think you should monetize it. I’m right here with a credit card ready to pay any reasonable amount for DCUM to continue, right now. You need revenue. I have cash. It should not be this hard. And I’m your base.49 year old UMC woman in NOVA with an advanced degree and 2 kids in competitive colleges.

You think ad blocking is unfair to you? Maybe, but like PP I’m also looking for a way to ad block becaus visually, I cannot manage the video ads— especially at night when I’m in a darker environment (which is also when I have time to surf and relax before bed) snd especially on a mobile device. So, nausea and annoyance— fai and I’m terrible amd a thief if I avoid them. And yet, you also insist a fund drive and donation is unfair to me?

I’m a customer here and not a pushover and the monitize me! I’m fine with fine with it. If I’m taking money would of your pocket, it’s money I am very willing to triple and return to you. This minute. Gotta Venmo account?

I’m on website feedback because I was trying to unwind and relax and I cannot do the video ads. Not don’t like it and should get over it. Can’t manage them. And you can tell me, “screw you, you’re not worth it. And are a terrible person with terrible mortals” — for trying to stop ads that are annoying, make it harder to relax and fall asleep, give you a headache and make you feel queasy.

Meredith Gay tone: Seriously? I mean, Seriously? I’m not the bad guy, I’ve used this site for over a decade without blocking ads. I want to pay my fair share and I’m rooting for you to find a way to make money off me. Just please not video ads. Especially ones that hop all over my iPad screen and block text and make my head ache. And, especially not at night when my daily migraine meds are wearing off and I’m trying to unwind.

And there are a lot of mes on this site (granted, their physical reactions to ads might not be to vomit, but they find them hard to deal with). Why are you yelling at and insulting us? It’s very strange. You feel bad taking money from us for producing a product everyone seems to agree has value. But you have no issue causing a great deal annoyance (and the occasional migraine). Well, the absence of annoyance (in the form of ads or in the form of trolls) has value. Lack of migraines definitely has a monetary value (that I could calculate based on what I spend on Botox and a preventative, plus things like a Imitrex. Glad to pay.

It late and it’s been a not great day, but your response upset me.

And yes, I know— “then go! Just go! I don’t want amoral thieves like you on my site anyway”. And it is your site. So, you can kick me off.
,
*sigh*. This sucks coming on the heels of the great TwitterX implosion (now, that is a site I refuse to pay for in the era of Elon Musk. Would have paid a subscription fee pre- Musk though). Ugh.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:DCUM folks whine and complain about everything. Not surprising that they complain about ads. And while they are now threatening to leave the site, the overwhelming majority won’t.

And Jeff’s right - nobody is going to donate either. I sure as heck won’t.

I believe you won’t. Why write off everyone else before you give them a chance. It’s like dealing with my kid. Every suggestion is an automatic “nope”. Crazy making. The other kid says “hmmm maybe” and tries some ideas. Occasionally one does pan out. She just finished a cool summer experience in her major as a result. “Automatic nope” kid did hot boring unskilled labor for $12/hour.

[Anonymous]

I like that the video goes to the top of the screen instead of the bottom.

I don't like that it covers the dcum logo & menus, I have to refresh the page and quickly click the menu before the video reloads, or x out but i find that more annoying than just refreshing.

It seems ads for websites can't be clicked through either (ie the happyyoga.com ad, or whatever it was called).

Overall, at least so far, the videos don't bother me much at all, I prefer them to the multiple ads interfering with the text.

I also would be happy to pay though. DCUM is useful entertainment for me, and I appreciate your efforts to keep the place to a certain level.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

jsteele wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I use an ad blocker. I understand the concept of needing to generate revenue. I guess I feel I contribute by posting useful responses and by doing so, contribute to this community and help sustain it.
If users who block ads will be blocked from using this forum, I wouldn’t change my behavior. I’ll find something else to spend time on.

I understand that if you are an entitled person who only cares about yourself why you would choose to use an ad blocker. But, I don't understand why you would bother trying to justify the behavior. You are taking money out of my pocket benefitting from my work. I assume that nobody expects you to work for free, but you have that expectation of me.

Yes, I will do everything possible to block users with ad blockers. I would rather have you leave than to steal from me.

DP. But, I think this attitude is unfair, especially with posters such as myself who have sensory issues/migraines. Very few people (or no one) is saying that want to be a free rider. I have offered— repeatedly— to pay for an ad free subscription, or to do a Wikipedia type donation or to become a member of an ad free site or to participate in an NPR style fund drive. You put a “buy me a cup of coffee link” at the bottom and tell me how much ad revenue my use of this site generates in a year, and I’ll triple it— tonight. And again in a year. Or find a setup for monthly payments, and I’ll do it on monthly auto draft.

I have also said, repeatedly that your moderation is a valuable service to me, and I think you should monetize it. I’m right here with a credit card ready to pay any reasonable amount for DCUM to continue, right now. You need revenue. I have cash. It should not be this hard. And I’m your base.49 year old UMC woman in NOVA with an advanced degree and 2 kids in competitive colleges.

You think ad blocking is unfair to you? Maybe, but like PP I’m also looking for a way to ad block becaus visually, I cannot manage the video ads— especially at night when I’m in a darker environment (which is also when I have time to surf and relax before bed) snd especially on a mobile device. So, nausea and annoyance— fai and I’m terrible amd a thief if I avoid them. And yet, you also insist a fund drive and donation is unfair to me?

I’m a customer here and not a pushover and the monitize me! I’m fine with fine with it. If I’m taking money would of your pocket, it’s money I am very willing to triple and return to you. This minute. Gotta Venmo account?

I’m on website feedback because I was trying to unwind and relax and I cannot do the video ads. Not don’t like it and should get over it. Can’t manage them. And you can tell me, “screw you, you’re not worth it. And are a terrible person with terrible mortals” — for trying to stop ads that are annoying, make it harder to relax and fall asleep, give you a headache and make you feel queasy.

Meredith Gay tone: Seriously? I mean, Seriously? I’m not the bad guy, I’ve used this site for over a decade without blocking ads. I want to pay my fair share and I’m rooting for you to find a way to make money off me. Just please not video ads. Especially ones that hop all over my iPad screen and block text and make my head ache. And, especially not at night when my daily migraine meds are wearing off and I’m trying to unwind.

And there are a lot of mes on this site (granted, their physical reactions to ads might not be to vomit, but they find them hard to deal with). Why are you yelling at and insulting us? It’s very strange. You feel bad taking money from us for producing a product everyone seems to agree has value. But you have no issue causing a great deal annoyance (and the occasional migraine). Well, the absence of annoyance (in the form of ads or in the form of trolls) has value. Lack of migraines definitely has a monetary value (that I could calculate based on what I spend on Botox and a preventative, plus things like a Imitrex. Glad to pay.

It late and it’s been a not great day, but your response upset me.

And yes, I know— “then go! Just go! I don’t want amoral thieves like you on my site anyway”. And it is your site. So, you can kick me off.
,
*sigh*. This sucks coming on the heels of the great TwitterX implosion (now, that is a site I refuse to pay for in the era of Elon Musk. Would have paid a subscription fee pre- Musk though). Ugh.

This is a great post, PP. I’m sorry you’re dealing with migraines. I do not, but I know several who do. It can be debilitating.

[Anonymous]

I initially thought subscriptions might be a good idea.

But thinking about it, I and so many others are trying to cut down on our tons of subscriptions to streaming services, The NY Times/Guardian/Post, Evernote, and all the others. One more subscription just seems unappealing.

Plus, subscriptions would probably be inequitable. I'm sure some people fine this site to be good free entertainment, but they aren't in a position to shell out $6.99/month.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I initially thought subscriptions might be a good idea.

But thinking about it, I and so many others are trying to cut down on our tons of subscriptions to streaming services, The NY Times/Guardian/Post, Evernote, and all the others. One more subscription just seems unappealing.

Plus, subscriptions would probably be inequitable. I'm sure some people fine this site to be good free entertainment, but they aren't in a position to shell out $6.99/month.

Right - and those people can see the ads! A sub model lets people pay a small amount not to have to see ads - and lets those who don't want to or can't pay that amount use the site with ads.

[Anonymous]

Imo, the exact placement or the new ad (s) ... where it has landed, is acceptable. Barely, but is.

[jsteele]

I'm going to start a new thread on this topic so locking this one.