Adblockers

[Steven P. Administrators]

I think you'll find that we have good targeted ads now for our genre of website.

[CelticWhisper]

It was an interesting situation for me once I started getting to know Neowin. I had used the site for a few months for tech support and didn't expect it to be much help, since most other sites were very hit-or-miss. However, after a number of inquiries of mine were answered I started realizing that this was a more useful site, on average, than, say, LinuxQuestions ("RTFM noob!" Gee, thanks...).

However, I have some fundamental problems with advertising and the very concept of it, so it was down to "adblock anyway and to hell with 'em" or subscribe. And so, Neowin stands as one of the two first sites to which I've ever subscribed (MSFN was the other).

Also, one point to consider - some people may not have a choice but to not view Neowin's ads. My last job saw me behind a highly restrictive whitelist-based filtering proxy. I had to explicitly request access to Neowin and get it approved as a tech-support website. The ads, however, were not permitted through either because they were hosted from other domains or because the netadmin explicitly blocked them.

So when people post screenshots that are ad-free, consider that they may be in a situation like my old one rather than actively blocking themselves.

[Dance.]

Well Neowin has been in my whitelist since I first registered.

[Knife Party]

can we have more free porn ads? :p

[+Gary7 Subscriber²]

can we have more free porn ads? :p

[Crazysah]

Well Neowin has been in my whitelist since I first registered.

Yep. Same here.

[FloatingFatMan]

can we have more free porn ads? :p

Hell no! If I ever see ANY if those kind of ads on here, I will HAVE to blacklist the site; especially from work!

[SakuraKira]

Even though I can see Neowin ads, I've just added it to my Firewall's whitelist just to make sure. :heart:

[Cormier6083]

I like the ad's, because I sometimes see something interesting.

:)

[Oshkalabah]

I'm still amazed at some of the people here who probably expect us to pay out of our own pockets for your community? We provide the service thats true but the current model is that the ads pay for that service, if everyone starts blocking them we will simply have to go offline because its too expensive to pay for 4 dedicated servers and the immense ammount of bandwidth per month (1 terrabyte average).

Since this was said quite some time ago, isn't this a bit hypocritical (or outright untruthful) now since you revealed that this site has been supported by a corporation for the last few years?

[Mekun]

http://www.websiteoutlook.com/www.neowin.net

Neowin makes close to 900.00 a day in ads

[Dance.]

http://www.websiteoutlook.com/www.neowin.net

Neowin makes close to 900.00 a day in ads

Your point being..?

[Oshkalabah]

Your point being..?

I'm going to guess his point was that equals out to $27,000 a month in income.

[Dance.]

I'm going to guess his point was that equals out to $27,000 a month in income.

Yes I figured that, but then whats the point of putting these figures up?

[Steven P. Administrators]

http://www.websiteoutlook.com/www.neowin.net

Neowin makes close to 900.00 a day in ads

LOL it's nowhere near that.. that site just calculates potential and as everyone knows we don't have the ads that make that much money (flash, full page, rollover ads etc).

Now Check Your Website Worth, daily pageview and monthly possible income

[Steven P. Administrators]

Since this was said quite some time ago, isn't this a bit hypocritical (or outright untruthful) now since you revealed that this site has been supported by a corporation for the last few years?

That corporation you are on about does support us yes, with an initial investment that we have to pay back, that investment was for servers and to set up a proper company (legal costs etc) which ad costs alone does not cover. The monthly ad revenue repays what we borrowed and keeps us afloat now that we have a much more expensive setup (server cost, accounting and in some cases paid developers etc).

Or do you think we simply pocket all of our income and rely on the "corporation" to pay for everything? That's not how any company works.

[Oshkalabah]

Or do you think we simply pocket all of our income and rely on the "corporation" to pay for everything? That's not how any company works.

Quite sure I didn't say that. Just saying the doom and gloom forecast you were talking about wasn't 100% truthful.

[Steven P. Administrators]

Quite sure I didn't say that. Just saying the doom and gloom forecast you were talking about wasn't 100% truthful.

Well I'd love to hear your thoughts on how our corporate backers can have anything to do with Neowin if my forcasted doom and gloom story actually happens.

It's simple economics and most people understand this, NO corporation will support a company that is losing money and despite (some peoples) belief, money isn't free either.

I guess it's pointless explaining this anyway because like I already truthfully stated, it's a question of economics, some people just believe that everything should be free, I'd love that too but sadly that simply does not work in this business.

[Death Blade]

Well I'd love to hear your thoughts on how our corporate backers can have anything to do with Neowin if my forcasted doom and gloom story actually happens.

It's simple economics and most people understand this, NO corporation will support a company that is losing money and despite (some peoples) belief, money isn't free either.

I guess it's pointless explaining this anyway because like I already truthfully stated, it's a question of economics, some people just believe that everything should be free, I'd love that too but sadly that simply does not work in this business.

oww... dun get so emo. u guys are doing a great job here. and those who try to criticise dun know what they are talking about, cos if they understand and agree with what they say, they won't be here posting.

[Mike]

LOL it's nowhere near that.. that site just calculates potential and as everyone knows we don't have the ads that make that much money (flash, full page, rollover ads etc).

care to say a ballpark figure then? will let people understand how much you need people to not block ads (if you do at all)

[Steven P. Administrators]

care to say a ballpark figure then? will let people understand how much you need people to not block ads (if you do at all)

We want to upgrade our 32bit servers to 64bit (for our SQL) and we can't afford to go and buy a new server and get it placed in the DC (costs extra) atm. Thats all am willing to share, it has nothing to do with how much percentage shouldn't be blocking ads. Any long term frequent visitor who does block the ads (for whatever reason) on Neowin is simply faltering our chances to improve the service.

Without trying to sound annoyed, are people really thick? a 29 page thread on this subject and some peoiple still don't understand the basic economics of our situation?

Come on people!

[Panacik]

We want to upgrade our 32bit servers to 64bit (for our SQL) and we can't afford to go and buy a new server and get it placed in the DC (costs extra) atm. Thats all am willing to share, it has nothing to do with how much percentage shouldn't be blocking ads. Any long term frequent visitor who does block the ads (for whatever reason) on Neowin is simply faltering our chances to improve the service.

Without trying to sound annoyed, are people really thick? a 29 page thread on this subject and some peoiple still don't understand the basic economics of our situation?

Come on people!

I would say they seem to be thick... However, thick should not be confused with ignorance and/or arrogance :rofl:

[Mike]

We want to upgrade our 32bit servers to 64bit (for our SQL) and we can't afford to go and buy a new server and get it placed in the DC (costs extra) atm. Thats all am willing to share, it has nothing to do with how much percentage shouldn't be blocking ads. Any long term frequent visitor who does block the ads (for whatever reason) on Neowin is simply faltering our chances to improve the service.

Without trying to sound annoyed, are people really thick? a 29 page thread on this subject and some peoiple still don't understand the basic economics of our situation?

Come on people!

well if for example your costs were $1000/month and you made $50/month from ads, then your attitude towards people would be more understandable, if you made $1500/month from ads then you'd be seen as greedy as you're making a profit from ads alone yet want to ban anyone who mentions blocking ads etc. Without you giving any details of the economics of your situation it's hard for people to know :p

I still don't understand why you're paying stardock back if they bought into the company, or did they give a loan out too?

If i were you, my stance would be simple:

Site's ad revenue lower than spending: Tell people the site is losing money and needs people not to block ads (ie don't demand it)

Site's ad revenue higher than spending: Don't have any rules on ad blocking

[Steven P. Administrators]

OK, some months of the fiscal year are more expensive than what we make in ad revenue, but not all. Plus the fact that we are a company so our purpose is also to make it profitable (like MySpace, YouTube, CNet etc also does) and not a total disaster and then add in the fact that our servers will need to be replaced at some point.

It's simple really.

Stardock did not buy us out-right, they have a share. If they had bought us out, then I'd understand your meaning but it's simply not the case. They "part" own us, the details of the transaction was never made public (just as many other websites that are bought out or sponsored) and those details aren't required either, all you have to worry about is if we made the correct decision and us being able to keep the site online (3 years further down the line, we seem to be doing that).

I won't pretend that every member must care about our financial situation, because the reality of that is the complete opposite in many cases. It's just a request that if you want Neowin to get better and better it costs money, and members can do their part by allowing the ads to show.

I'll say it again, as I've said in the past, show me a community of this size that has less ads, we are bare bones and we try very hard to place them in a non obtrusive manner (more so for members who see less ads than guests).

[Coldgunner]

I think we should appreciate the fact the money and business is something that is quite private in many cases. Neobond, Redmak and co. have set up a thriving community, we all use it and obviously enjoy it, otherwise why are you here? Whether Neowin is profitable or not I don't really care. If the powers to be can run with a profit game, more power to them as they did the donkey work and deserve to reap the rewards.

I find it quite rude to ask about a persons finances anyway.