Neowin No Ad Version

By +LogicalApex
in Site & Forum Issues

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Grand Master

Fred Derf Veteran

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So Neowin makes more then $10 per person a year in Ad revenue? - What if you never click any of the Ads (It's very rare that an Ad is actually advertising something I want). Do you still get Money just by having viewers see them?

Keep in mind that I'm not involved in the money side of things so that was just a supposition in my part. I'm not sure how things work (in terms of viewing or clicking or how Neowin collects their ad money) but I have whitelisted Neowin on my copy of Firefox out of respect for the Admins. I don't find them intrusive at all.

Now Neowin may very well release an ad-free version at a select subscriber level but it would be ironic if we settle on a price that is less than what we would receive with advertisements. Thus a flood of new subscribers could end up costing us money.

Again, however, you'd need to hear it from an Admin to claim any amount of truth in that statement.

Grand Master

+LogicalApex MVC

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In what way are they annoying? I'm curious because I can't think of a difference between a Google ad on this site and a news post. The IntelliTXT are a whole different ballgame, but Google? I challenge you to find a less obtrusive advertiser.

Google's ads are the least obtrusive for sure. If they were all there was I could live with them a lot easier than I can with the other ads (like IntelliTXT as those things are just over the top annoying), but I'd prefer not to see any of them at all.

The best way of explaining is it sometimes I just want a bit of peace. The ability to absorb information without being constantly barraged with someone peddling their wares on me.

At the root of it for me, I guess, if the ad being there is annoying enough for me, but like I said Google is less annoying than the others.

I'm still a bit surprised that this really hasn't always existed on NeoWin. Being realistic it probably takes almost (meaning very little) no code to add a new subscriber level which is basically an ad-free template. The only issue NeoWin realistically has to figure out is how much in ad-revenue is generated per quarter for each visitor and charge that amount. If it becomes a popular benefit then NeoWin gains the benefit of not being beholden to advertisers and if it isn't the minority (it seems) who want no ads can have that too....

I think it is a far better measure for a community to be measuring itself in how many people believe the community is valuable enough to actually spend money to keep around. The ads are annoying to me, but they also prevent the community from knowing its true value.

For me, I've found my solution to the ad problem... NeoWin loaded on my HTC Touch Pro doesn't have ads so, for now, I'll just slow or stop my visits to Neowin on the desktop and browse it on my cell phone.

Grand Master

the evn show

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Jot me down as another person that would pay for a subscription tier higher than what's currently offered to be rid of advertising. I don't like ads on the web and I don't have any problem paying to get rid of them. As far as I know MVC members are given all of the subscriber benefits for free, but I pay the $10/year just as a way to say thanks.

An advertising-free version of the forums already exists in the mobile skin. I prefer this layout to the current theme but using it with desktop browsers doesn't work very well. It also has some minor display issues (quotes, images, and lists).

For what it's worth: I've found browsing with flash and javascript disabled makes the web a much better place. It cuts out the most annoying advertising and leaves you with at worst animated gifs (which I've prevented from animating) and in most cases you'll get plain images or text instead.

Google seems like the only company using flash and javascript for good (gmail, youtube, maps) so it's definitely worth the trade off to have those technologies disabled by default and then turn them on when you actually need them.

Grand Master

+LogicalApex MVC

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Very good news! Thanks!

I'm glad to see the admins here still care about us users, even if we're a minority. Now I can subscribe and go back to lurking and enjoying NeoWin's content :D

Grand Master

Calum Veteran

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Very good news! Thanks!

I'm glad to see the admins here still care about us users, even if we're a minority. Now I can subscribe and go back to lurking and enjoying NeoWin's content :D

No problem :) I linked the thread as I thought this would please you ;)

I still think you should not be shy to post in the forums more though :) Our community is very friendly most of the time and we have just added more moderators to deal with 'problem posts' quicker :)

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