Post by VS Admin on May 26, 2017 9:38:40 GMT -8
Hi everyone, I wanted to talk to you today about ad blockers.
We understand that ads on the Internet can be annoying. Much of this annoyance is caused by websites that try to cram as many ads as possible onto every page you visit. On many other websites you see ads that bounce, flash, play audio... it can definitely be unpleasant. Our team takes pride in the fact that we display as few ads as possible on each page you visit on ProBoards.
Ad Quality
Our team has gone through great lengths to ensure ads on ProBoards are high quality. We don’t allow annoying ads, period. We spent months building and improving upon our Ad Report tool, which allows users to let us know if they ever see an ad that is problematic. Many times we can block an advertiser within minutes of getting a report from a user.
Ad Blocker Usage
Ad blockers have become more prevalent on the Internet in recent years. As a service that relies on ads for revenue this has definitely had some impact on us. When someone using an ad blocker visits ProBoards they get the full benefit of using our forum platform, but we receive no compensation for the service we are providing.
We use the revenue generated from ads to help pay our staff (including our wonderful Support Team that you all interact with here on this forum), to pay for computer servers that power every forum on ProBoards, and to pay our development team to update the our software (including the upcoming ProBoards v6 upgrade).
When trying to decide what to do about ad blocker usage, we ran some statistics. We found that ad blocking usage falls into these categories:
Main Admins: 49%
Forum Staff: 37%
Members: 20%
Guests: 13%
In some ways, this is understandable. The more technical a person is, the more likely they are to use an ad blocker online. We also found that admin + staff pageviews account for 18% of all pageviews, while regular members and guests make up 82% of pageviews. With this in mind we worked hard to come up with a solution that does not significantly impact forum admins or staff while still helping us push forward to address the overall problem.
Changes in ProBoards Policy Regarding Ad Blockers
Within the next week or so, we plan to take steps that will gently encourage users to whitelist forums they visit on ProBoards so that ads can be displayed. We will not prevent anyone who uses an ad blocker from visiting any ProBoards forums.
On certain pages of the forum (for example, viewing a thread), we plan to display a message to these users requesting that they whitelist the current forum they are visiting. The message can be easily dismissed and they can continue using the forum. The message will only display once per hour, or once per browser session (whichever is less). The message that displays will be slightly different for guests and logged in members.
Guests
Guests will get a full screen overlay, politely asking them to support us by disabling their ad blocker. At the bottom there is a link that they can click to continue to the forum. It is a single click to dismiss the overlay. We provide simple, easy instructions for users to disable their ad blocker for the specific forum they are visiting.
Members
Logged in members will not be presented with the full screen overlay when loading a page. Instead they will get a bar that floats at the bottom of the screen asking for their support. When the bar is clicked, the overlay that guests see will be displayed, which again can be easily dismissed with one click.
For members, we also remind them about ProBoards+ in the overlay. Members that upgrade to ProBoards+ see no ads across all ProBoards forums they join and never get the ad blocker message. This provides one more option for members to support ProBoards while still using their ad blocker.
Moving Forward
We will always strive to provide the best user experience for all ProBoards members. Our team feels that these steps provide a balance between our needs as a company and the needs of our community.
If you are in the category of users that utilize an ad blocker, we do appreciate if you can whitelist the forums that you most frequently visit. We work hard to provide a very minimal ad experience compared to the internet at large. However, at the end of the day, we will not force you to do so in order to access our platform.
As always, I would like to encourage you to submit your feedback in this thread. We have always enjoyed open and honest discussion with our users, and we are eager to hear your thoughts. Thank you.
FAQ
Will ad-free forums be affected?
No.
How often will users with ad block see the message?
Once per hour, or per browser session (if a user restarts their browser), whichever is less.
Does this affect Forums.net customers?
No.
Can I see what the overlay / floating bar looks like?
Once it goes live you will be able to. Right now, no.
We understand that ads on the Internet can be annoying. Much of this annoyance is caused by websites that try to cram as many ads as possible onto every page you visit. On many other websites you see ads that bounce, flash, play audio... it can definitely be unpleasant. Our team takes pride in the fact that we display as few ads as possible on each page you visit on ProBoards.
Ad Quality
Our team has gone through great lengths to ensure ads on ProBoards are high quality. We don’t allow annoying ads, period. We spent months building and improving upon our Ad Report tool, which allows users to let us know if they ever see an ad that is problematic. Many times we can block an advertiser within minutes of getting a report from a user.
Ad Blocker Usage
Ad blockers have become more prevalent on the Internet in recent years. As a service that relies on ads for revenue this has definitely had some impact on us. When someone using an ad blocker visits ProBoards they get the full benefit of using our forum platform, but we receive no compensation for the service we are providing.
We use the revenue generated from ads to help pay our staff (including our wonderful Support Team that you all interact with here on this forum), to pay for computer servers that power every forum on ProBoards, and to pay our development team to update the our software (including the upcoming ProBoards v6 upgrade).
When trying to decide what to do about ad blocker usage, we ran some statistics. We found that ad blocking usage falls into these categories:
Main Admins: 49%
Forum Staff: 37%
Members: 20%
Guests: 13%
In some ways, this is understandable. The more technical a person is, the more likely they are to use an ad blocker online. We also found that admin + staff pageviews account for 18% of all pageviews, while regular members and guests make up 82% of pageviews. With this in mind we worked hard to come up with a solution that does not significantly impact forum admins or staff while still helping us push forward to address the overall problem.
Changes in ProBoards Policy Regarding Ad Blockers
Within the next week or so, we plan to take steps that will gently encourage users to whitelist forums they visit on ProBoards so that ads can be displayed. We will not prevent anyone who uses an ad blocker from visiting any ProBoards forums.
On certain pages of the forum (for example, viewing a thread), we plan to display a message to these users requesting that they whitelist the current forum they are visiting. The message can be easily dismissed and they can continue using the forum. The message will only display once per hour, or once per browser session (whichever is less). The message that displays will be slightly different for guests and logged in members.
Guests
Guests will get a full screen overlay, politely asking them to support us by disabling their ad blocker. At the bottom there is a link that they can click to continue to the forum. It is a single click to dismiss the overlay. We provide simple, easy instructions for users to disable their ad blocker for the specific forum they are visiting.
Members
Logged in members will not be presented with the full screen overlay when loading a page. Instead they will get a bar that floats at the bottom of the screen asking for their support. When the bar is clicked, the overlay that guests see will be displayed, which again can be easily dismissed with one click.
For members, we also remind them about ProBoards+ in the overlay. Members that upgrade to ProBoards+ see no ads across all ProBoards forums they join and never get the ad blocker message. This provides one more option for members to support ProBoards while still using their ad blocker.
Moving Forward
We will always strive to provide the best user experience for all ProBoards members. Our team feels that these steps provide a balance between our needs as a company and the needs of our community.
If you are in the category of users that utilize an ad blocker, we do appreciate if you can whitelist the forums that you most frequently visit. We work hard to provide a very minimal ad experience compared to the internet at large. However, at the end of the day, we will not force you to do so in order to access our platform.
As always, I would like to encourage you to submit your feedback in this thread. We have always enjoyed open and honest discussion with our users, and we are eager to hear your thoughts. Thank you.
FAQ
Will ad-free forums be affected?
No.
How often will users with ad block see the message?
Once per hour, or per browser session (if a user restarts their browser), whichever is less.
Does this affect Forums.net customers?
No.
Can I see what the overlay / floating bar looks like?
Once it goes live you will be able to. Right now, no.