Disabling in-text ads on Neowin

By Steven P.
in Site & Forum Issues

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Fill in this poll to help us better your Neowin experience  

150 members have voted

  1. 1. Did you disable them?

    • Yep I did.
      97
    • No I didn't.
      53

  2. 2. Do you agree that Neowin needs ads to survive?

    • No absolutely not.
      25
    • Yes I do.
      125

  3. 3. Do you whitelist Neowin anyways?

    • No, I block all ads.
      48
    • Yes, but block in-text ads
      54
    • Yes, Neowin is whitelisted with in-text ads
      48

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Grand Master

+Frank B. Subscriber²

Posted
  • Subscriber²
Posted

I think he's looking for more transparency to be honest. Servers, bandwidth, staff cost, subscription revenue etc.

If neowin is really struggling then I would be more willing to donate...

With the introduction of Tier 2 subscription, extra ads and now this, it just seems that the management are getting greedy.

To be fair - the Tier 2 subscription was introduced upon member request. Not because the management are greedy.

Grand Master

Jeston Veteran

Posted
  • Veteran
Posted

This might be a bad time to bring this up since there is a pretty heated argument going on right now, but I just wanted to say I see the Intellitext ads, but on the front page only. I'm leaving them on for now since I don't spend too much time on the front page anyway, but there must be a bug somewhere.

Grand Master

Piggy

Posted
Posted

This might be a bad time to bring this up since there is a pretty heated argument going on right now, but I just wanted to say I see the Intellitext ads, but on the front page only. I'm leaving them on for now since I don't spend too much time on the front page anyway, but there must be a bug somewhere.

You're not the only one.

Grand Master

DaveLegg Developer

Posted
  • Developer
Posted

This might be a bad time to bring this up since there is a pretty heated argument going on right now, but I just wanted to say I see the Intellitext ads, but on the front page only. I'm leaving them on for now since I don't spend too much time on the front page anyway, but there must be a bug somewhere.

Thanks for reporting this, take a look now, should be sorted.

Grand Master

Steven P. Administrators

Posted
  • Author
  • Administrators
Posted

I agree on the donation link at the top. You guys should try that. :)

This goes to show why we updated the previous theme, because we actually had a donate tab in the navigation bar; it was used maybe 3 or 4 times since January.

Also my post about having to pay staff is true, but it was also meant tongue-in-cheek. Yes, we do have to pay a lot more people on the Neowin team than we did 2 or 3 years ago, and I do want to offset that, but not at the cost of the site skydiving and not moving with the times.

I should probably also mention that this year has been all about giving stuff away, specifically Tier2 subscriptions, which block our ads, so as well as taking, we do our best to give back too.

  • +hedleigh, Paul Paliath and +Frank B.
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Veteran

ccuk

Posted
Posted

This goes to show why we updated the previous theme, because we actually had a donate tab in the navigation bar; it was used maybe 3 or 4 times since January.

Also my post about having to pay staff is true, but it was also meant tongue-in-cheek. Yes, we do have to pay a lot more people on the Neowin team than we did 2 or 3 years ago, and I do want to offset that, but not at the cost of the site skydiving and not moving with the times.

I should probably also mention that this year has been all about giving stuff away, specifically Tier2 subscriptions, which block our ads, so as well as taking, we do our best to give back too.

I am a little perplexed by the whole money issue. Is Neowin a business designed to make a profit... Or a forum designed to self sustain?

The way I see it... It has become so over complicated it's going to eat itself. You are paying for writers who in my opinion aren't writing frequently enough (front page stagnant days at a time), also who aren't writing articles with enough meat and are ignoring the best resource you have on this forum, its members. I see so many members posting news and interesting posts way before the front page receives a sniff, and they do it for free. Why not use this instead of paying for dull, uninspired, outdated and contrived articles?

Updating the forum theme is a needless expense. Why pay for something which is quite literally not needed? You don't need to update an entire theme to add an intelligently placed and designed donation bar to the forum.

Also there seems to be a great deal of hypocrisy with many actions of the staff in terms of saying one thing in one month, and doing the opposite the next.

Grand Master

Andrew Lyle Global Moderator

Posted
  • Global Moderator
Posted

I am a little perplexed by the whole money issue. Is Neowin a business designed to make a profit... Or a forum designed to self sustain?

The way I see it... It has become so over complicated it's going to eat itself. You are paying for writers who in my opinion aren't writing frequently enough (front page stagnant days at a time), also who aren't writing articles with enough meat and are ignoring the best resource you have on this forum, its members. I see so many members posting news and interesting posts way before the front page receives a sniff, and they do it for free. Why not use this instead of paying for dull, uninspired, outdated and contrived articles?

Updating the forum theme is a needless expense. Why pay for something which is quite literally not needed? You don't need to update an entire theme to add an intelligently placed and designed donation bar to the forum.

Also there seems to be a great deal of hypocrisy with many actions of the staff in terms of saying one thing in one month, and doing the opposite the next.

Let me clear up your misunderstanding of the front page and news writing. Yes, we pay news writers for their contributions, which may not be a whole lot, and isn't something you should quit your day job for. It isn't like we are paying for full-time writers. All of our writers are part-time, and work on their own free time.

Second, the front page never stays 'stagnant' for more than a few hours, which usually happens over night (excluding weekends). Me and the rest of the editors make sure this does not happen. I can't recall a day where we didn't have a completely fresh page for members to read. Weekends are a lot different, as almost 95% of the companies out there are not producing news, products or anything else, and the bulk of everything occurs during the weekday.

As for going back to "copy and pasting," we have noticed a huge change in comments, views and overall better feedback from members when we switched to original content. Using content submitted by members from other websites would basically be going back to the old methods, and as Steve said, "skydive the website."

As for the other issues, I will leave that up for Supervisors, Developers and Admins to comment.

Grand Master

_neutrino Veteran

Posted
  • Veteran
Posted

Honestly the best way to get rid of ads here on Neowin is the Sub 2, Rather than disabling them or using some sort of blocking software, its not that big of a cost, an you have the knowledge you are directly helping out :D

Grand Master

+Frank B. Subscriber²

Posted
  • Subscriber²
Posted

I found that blocking ads is best done with the help of some form of contentblocker. I have it now so that if i log in or not no ads show, nor do the shiny stars, nor the eyesore badges.

And were is midnight ^%$#$ I demand midnight back. :crazy:

Midnight has been back for days..

Screen+shot+2010-06-06+at+19.41.42.png

Veteran

ccuk

Posted
Posted

Let me clear up your misunderstanding of the front page and news writing. Yes, we pay news writers for their contributions, which may not be a whole lot, and isn't something you should quit your day job for. It isn't like we are paying for full-time writers. All of our writers are part-time, and work on their own free time.

Second, the front page never stays 'stagnant' for more than a few hours, which usually happens over night (excluding weekends). Me and the rest of the editors make sure this does not happen. I can't recall a day where we didn't have a completely fresh page for members to read. Weekends are a lot different, as almost 95% of the companies out there are not producing news, products or anything else, and the bulk of everything occurs during the weekday.

As for going back to "copy and pasting," we have noticed a huge change in comments, views and overall better feedback from members when we switched to original content. Using content submitted by members from other websites would basically be going back to the old methods, and as Steve said, "skydive the website."

As for the other issues, I will leave that up for Supervisors, Developers and Admins to comment.

I have no misunderstanding of the front page news. We are frequently told that people work part time and aren't paid a lot... But at the end of the day, it all adds up. And when times are hard something has to give, start working smarter and not harder. It feels like you guys are trying to reinvent the wheel or something with the front page, I am sure you have a much better understanding of the analytics pertaining to page views between front page and forum, but it feels like an awful lot of focus is thrown at the front page when it offers little compared with the forum.

For the front page to work, it needs a lot more news posting with more accessible categories, with a lot more information and in a more timely fashion. Whilst you can argue that the news is better, that is relative, and as such I beg to differ. You only need at most two people to spearhead intelligent articles from the forum and maintain coherency.

The moment money becomes the incentive to be creative, everything goes to the wall. I believe you could get many fantastic articles for the front page, by merely offering the right incentive, one that does not involve money.

Grand Master

+Frank B. Subscriber²

Posted
  • Subscriber²
Posted

My bad. darknight ofcourse ??:blush:

Ahh, you mean Darkside... it's coming eventually. Give the developers some time and it'll magically re-appear in the skin chooser.

Until then the Black theme might be a good compromise for you.

Grand Master

DaveLegg Developer

Posted
  • Developer
Posted

I am sure you have a much better understanding of the analytics pertaining to page views between front page and forum, but it feels like an awful lot of focus is thrown at the front page when it offers little compared with the forum.

Current activity: Ignition: 4793 Guests & 502 Members Forum: 1659 Guests & 360 Members

This pattern is consistent throughout the day, at any one time there will always be more members and guests on the front page than the forums.

Veteran

ccuk

Posted
Posted

Current activity: Ignition: 4793 Guests & 502 Members Forum: 1659 Guests & 360 Members

This pattern is consistent throughout the day, at any one time there will always be more members and guests on the front page than the forums.

And on average what percentage stay longer than a few seconds, and what percentage jump into the forum from the front page?

Grand Master

Vice

Posted
Posted

Current activity: Ignition: 4793 Guests & 502 Members Forum: 1659 Guests & 360 Members

This pattern is consistent throughout the day, at any one time there will always be more members and guests on the front page than the forums.

Not really a surprise that the domain root is where everyone comes to :laugh:

Try switching the Forum from /forum/ to root directory and see what happens :woot:

Grand Master

petrossa

Posted
Posted

Ahh, you mean Darkside... it's coming eventually. Give the developers some time and it'll magically re-appear in the skin chooser.

Until then the Black theme might be a good compromise for you.

(Y)Better. Couldn't see the ?selection box, so i randomly clicked on the righthand corner till suddenly the box appeared. But darknight it isn't

Grand Master

Simon Veteran

Posted
  • Veteran
Posted

Not really a surprise that the domain root is where everyone comes to :laugh:

Try switching the Forum from /forum/ to root directory and see what happens :woot:

It doesn't work like that. More people are on the front page at any one time than are on the forums. If people were going to the front page only to click through to the forums, the forums would have higher numbers, wouldn't they?

But no, the front page has significantly more people online. Contrast that to when we had copy and paste news: there were always more people on the forums.

Grand Master

shockz

Posted
Posted

I have no misunderstanding of the front page news. We are frequently told that people work part time and aren't paid a lot... But at the end of the day, it all adds up. And when times are hard something has to give, start working smarter and not harder. It feels like you guys are trying to reinvent the wheel or something with the front page, I am sure you have a much better understanding of the analytics pertaining to page views between front page and forum, but it feels like an awful lot of focus is thrown at the front page when it offers little compared with the forum.

For the front page to work, it needs a lot more news posting with more accessible categories, with a lot more information and in a more timely fashion. Whilst you can argue that the news is better, that is relative, and as such I beg to differ. You only need at most two people to spearhead intelligent articles from the forum and maintain coherency.

The moment money becomes the incentive to be creative, everything goes to the wall. I believe you could get many fantastic articles for the front page, by merely offering the right incentive, one that does not involve money.

Reinvent the wheel? How... We aren't the only site that pays news reporters for content. We started this system about 2 years ago. The front page hits improved significantly, and in fact continue to go up every quarter.

We do have "accessible categories". Simply click the category link (or even make your own by using tabs) and you're set to go.

As others have stated, the amount of total payout per month for news reporters is dwarfed by server operations and development. The benefit of having paid reporters to create articles that increase hits and returns far outweighs the amount we are paying them.

As for spearheading member articles to the front page, almost 99.99% of BPN articles on the forums are copy and pasted. We might as well turn the frontpage into an RSS reader if we're going to do that... Before the switch over to non-copy and pasted news, this is exactly what we did. The frontpage was stagnant and nobody really used it.

Grand Master

Simon Veteran

Posted
  • Veteran
Posted

maybe they're just bots, because i personally dont know of anyone who goes to the main page, or why they even would.

Oh. Then you're right, my bad.

In real life? I don't know anyone who visits Neowin. Guess that means we don't have any visitors, right?

The entire point of this site is for the community powered forum, and it seems like you all are tryin to get away from that and become and actual online tech news magazine, which probably isnt going to ever actually happen.

Incorrect, actually. Neowin is and always has been a news site, first and foremost. It was a news site when there wasn't even a forum attached.

The forums have blossomed into a huge knowledge base, but the news is the centerpiece that ties everything together.

Final point: the bots do a lot more indexing on the forums than on the main page.

  • Jeston, Denis W. and therealmorris
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      By +Warwagon · Posted

      Passkeys: Think of them like a broken heart necklace. Imagine one of those heart necklaces that breaks into two matching pieces. One person keeps one half, and the other person keeps the other half. With passkeys, the website has one half, and you have the other half. If the website gets hacked and someone steals its half, that stolen piece is useless by itself. It cannot unlock your account without your matching half. This particular heart necklace is one of a kind, there is only one in existence. Your half of the necklace has to be stored somewhere. It might be stored on your phone, tablet, computer, security key, or a password manager that can sync it between all your devices. A security key is a small physical device that you keep with you, kind of like a house key, car key, or flash drive. I would not usually recommend a security key as the first option for the average person. For most people, it is easier to use their phone, computer, or a password manager that can sync passkeys between their devices. A security key is more like a spare key you keep in a safe place, just in case you lose access to your other devices or your password manager. Some security keys plug into your computer. Some plug into your phone or tablet. Some get tapped against your device. The idea is simple: a security key can hold another passkey for the same website. Think of it like creating a second one-of-a-kind heart necklace for the same account. One necklace could be paired with your password manager, while another necklace could be paired with your security key. That means the website has more than one matching half on file. One half matches the passkey in your password manager. Another half matches the passkey stored on your security key. So, if you lose access to your phone, computer, or password manager, you would still be able to log in using the passkey stored on your security key. Think of it like keeping an extra special necklace piece on a tiny keychain, stored somewhere safe. The website still has the matching half for that security key, but your half is safely stored inside the little key. A passkey does not automatically exist on every device you own. It lives wherever you save it. If your half is stored on one device, then that device is the one that has the matching piece. For example, if you create the passkey on your Windows computer and it is only saved to that computer, your iPhone does not automatically have that same half. If you create it on your iPhone and it only stays on that iPhone, your Android phone does not automatically have it either. That is where password managers come in. A password manager can act like a protected jewelry box for your passkeys. Instead of your half of the necklace being locked to only one device, the password manager can securely sync that half to your other approved devices. For example, Apple Passwords and iCloud Keychain can sync passkeys between your Apple devices. Google Password Manager can sync passkeys with your Google account. But password managers such as 1Password and Bitwarden can sync passkeys between everything, your phones, tablets and computers. Now, you might ask: “What happens if I lose access to the device that has my passkey?” That depends on where your passkey was saved and what recovery options the website gives you. If your passkey was synced through a password manager, you may be able to sign in from another device that has access to that same password manager. For example, if your passkey is saved in iCloud Keychain, Google Password Manager, 1Password, or Bitwarden, another approved device may still have access to it. If your passkey was saved only on one phone, computer, or security key, and you lose that device, then you may not have your half of the necklace anymore. In that case, you would usually need to use the website’s backup login or account recovery options. A lot of websites that support passkeys still let you fall back to your regular password. So if you lose access to your passkey, the site may still let you log in with your password, a code sent to your email, a text message, a recovery code, or some other account recovery process. That is convenient, but it is also important to understand: if the website still allows password login, then your password still matters. Passkeys are safer than passwords, but if your account still has a password as a backup, you should still use a strong, unique password and turn on two-factor authentication if the website offers it. This is why it is a good idea to have more than one safe way back into important accounts. For example, you might keep your passkey in a syncing password manager, add a second trusted device, save recovery codes somewhere safe, or set up a backup security key. A passkey is very secure, but just like a real key, you need a backup plan in case you lose access to it. Now, you might ask: “What stops a hacker from copying my half of the necklace?” That’s the important part: your half is protected. It is not something you type in, and it is not something the website gets to keep. Think of your half as being locked inside a tiny safe on your phone, computer, security key, or password manager. That safe only opens when you approve it with your fingerprint, face, PIN, or device password. When you log in, the website does not need to see your half. It only needs proof that your half matches its half. Your actual half is not handed over to the website. This is different from a password. With a password, you type the secret into the website. If you type it into a fake website, the hacker now has it. With a passkey, you are not typing your secret into the website. Your device is proving you have the matching half without giving the half away. That also helps protect you from fake websites. If someone makes a fake login page that looks like the real site, your device can tell it is not the real match. It will not use your passkey there. Now, could someone use your passkey if they stole your device, got into your password manager, or somehow unlocked the safe that holds your half? Yes, that is why your device password, PIN, fingerprint, face unlock, and password manager security still matter. But a hacker cannot just steal your passkey from the website or trick you into typing it into a fake page like they can with a password. That is why passkeys are safer than passwords. The two matching pieces have to come together, like two lovebirds who were once separated and are finally reunited.

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