Disabling in-text ads on Neowin

[Simon Veteran]

its kinda hilarious how you "developers" seem to get so personally offended by the feedback of many of the members.

Personally offended? Of course I'm personally offended. You've taken the work of a pile of my personal friends and equated it to garbage.

And sarcastically calling me a "developer" isn't helping your case. Moving to petty insults won't move this debate anywhere.

This thread is *encouraging the disabling of ads.* How are you guys complaining about that?

[Vice]

How did you pick up that he was offended?...

Personally offended? Of course I'm personally offended.

Edit:// lol I see you deleted your post Blasius :p

[Brandon H Supervisor]

ok seriously guys, all the point of this topic was to show that the in-text ads can be disabled

so why is the petty argument being allowed to continue???

[ccuk]

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.

My mentioning of paying writers for articles wasn't the inference to reinventing the wheel.

The server operations seem grossly disproportionate to what is required... Like I said, paying people to be creative very rarely works out well... There are plenty of members on the forum who would gladly write high quality articles for perks other than money. I looked at the front page and I see a lot of old articles from days ago, being the weekend shouldn't be an excuse for a lack of news posting. That should be the time you guys have an ace to post...

I don't, in the 5 years I have been here, think I would personally class Neowin as a news site. It is well known as an IPB based community forum... Where the members make the content and the fun.

[DaveLegg Developer]

The server operations seem grossly disproportionate to what is required...

And you know what about our server operations?

[Steven P. Administrators]

its kinda hilarious how you "developers" seem to get so personally offended by the feedback of many of the members.

To be honest I find it even more hilarious that we have to put up with a minority that continually attempt to insult our intelligence.

If we respond in the manner we are spoken to, those same people go crying to an admin or supervisor. That's quite hilarious actually; and a bit sad.

[DaveLegg Developer]

I don't, in the 5 years I have been here, think I would personally class Neowin as a news site. It is well known as an IPB based community forum... Where the members make the content and the fun.

Just because you don't read the news, doesn't mean that others don't. If I look at the stats in terms of hits on each news story, it's clear to see that our news IS very popular, just looking now, and most of the stories on the front page have over 5k views in <3 days.

[shockz]

The server operations seem grossly disproportionate to what is required...

Define server operations....

[.Neo]

The pop-up is extremely annoying. Disabled the in-text ads.

[ccuk]

Define server operations....

Funny... The moment people question anything done, they are labelled as black sheep.

I personally think much more efficient blades could be used instead of the antiquated 2k5 xeon based machines you are likely using... Colocation costs would be reduced unless you get them for free through stardock.

@ Dave

I think many people know the origins of this site which from memory was known to host questionable downloads in the forum until it went legit. Slap a front page on and call it news all you like, the loyal members who donate, subscribe and don't adblock are what have kept the site forum going.

[Doli]

I dont use my mouse cursor to read so I have no problem with the in-text ads :p

[Brandon H Supervisor]

The pop-up is extremely annoying. Disabled the in-text ads.

do it yourself, the instructions are in the OP

[surrealvortex]

Personally, I always have the front page loaded in a tab because I like to navigate to the forums via the latest community activity box, which I refresh periodically. I have always found the forums to be a more valuable resource than the front page. IMHO, the forums are somewhat unique to Neowin, as far as quality is concerned. I have no problems with whatever ads are required to maintain the site. I just wish that you would spend more money on the development of the forums than on the front page.

I have 2 suggestions:

1) Like ccuk pointed out, give other perks to news posters. That may be free subscriptions, or even access to a sub-forum full of p*rn.

2) Have a poll. Find out whether members like the front page more or the forums. I am not sure what to make of the statistics the devs have posted in this thread as I don't have much idea about how the site is organized or run. But I am sure a poll will give a better idea as statistics can always lie.

[shockz]

I have 2 suggestions:

1) Like ccuk pointed out, give other perks to news posters. That may be free subscriptions, or even access to a sub-forum full of p*rn.

2) Have a poll. Find out whether members like the front page more or the forums. I am not sure what to make of the statistics the devs have posted in this thread as I don't have much idea about how the site is organized or run. But I am sure a poll will give a better idea as statistics can always lie.?

Yep, other incentives have been discussed for a bit now, and we are working on implementing them.

As for two, we have done polls in the past, the latest being from about a half year ago. We have also done surveys during contests and giveaways that allow members to offer feed back on news and what they'd like to see.

[surrealvortex]

Yep, other incentives have been discussed for a bit now, and we are working on implementing them.

As for two, we have done polls in the past, the latest being from about a half year ago. We have also done surveys during contests and giveaways that allow members to offer feed back on news and what they'd like to see.

Fair enough wrt the first point.?

I would like to see a simple front page vs forums poll. Nothing more and nothing less. I think I have participated in a survey, and remember it being a lot more complicated than this. Sorry if such a poll had already been conducted. I must have missed it somehow in that case.

[Unrealistic]

I have wanted to write editorials for neowin before, but I just never was inspired enough to actually go through with it. A subscriber status might be worth 2-3 editorials or such.

I really don't understand the hostility from both sides however. I will say that I personally open the frontpage, but rarely look at the articles, unless they are exclusive or something that other websites have no discussed. I definitely come here for the forums, whether it be to maintain my own threads or just check the ones I am most interested in.

I do think the community is the most important aspect of this website, but I am not a developer, nor do I know the actual statistics of forum activity vs front page activity. There have been things I haven't agreed with, but this is easily the best general technology forum out there. There are quite a few great forums out there, some that do things neowin can't feasibly do properly (highly specialized technological forums), but the things that are done here are definitely thought out.

Not every one will always agree, but that's what makes this place great. I do think that politics and personal grudges have a lot to play here at times, but regardless, it's an amazing place to be on the internet.

Kudos to the developers...some people will say it's ****, but it isn't. Don't get offended and don't let it bother you; Be proud and continue the good job.

[Xilo]

Text Ads are worse than banners.

[.Neo]

do it yourself, the instructions are in the OP

I did... Read post: The ads are annoying, so I disabled them.

[DaveLegg Developer]

... you are likely using... Colocation costs would be reduced unless you get them for free through stardock.

Exactly my point, you're calling us out based on assumptions you're making with no information at all to back them up.

I would like to see a simple front page vs forums poll. Nothing more and nothing less. I think I have participated in a survey, and remember it being a lot more complicated than this. Sorry if such a poll had already been conducted. I must have missed it somehow in that case.

It is well known that the vast majority of members of any sizeable community are what is known as "the silent majority", and tend not to participate in such polls and put their views forward, whereas the "Vocal minority" which includes a number of the posters in this thread, put their point forwards very loudly, and fail to respect that the vast majority of members are happy with the status quo, and thus feel no need to speak up.

I'm not sure quite how people think we're lying with the statistics I posted earlier. The fact of the matter is that the number I posted IS the number of guests/members online in those areas of the site at that particular time. We have access to the stats (one comes from the forum activity, which you can see at the bottom of the forum index, the other comes from similar code built into the front page), and also apache log file analysis which together tell us which areas of the site are the most popular. I'm not sure what you think the point of us lying to you about that would be to be honest.

[Brandon H Supervisor]

I did... Read post: The ads are annoying, so I disabled them.

oops, sorry my bad, i misread your post

[Steven P. Administrators]

The fact is, we did encourage and let the community publish news to the main site for the first 6 years or so, often copying directly from the Back Page News. But we got so many complaints about how shoddy the news was (erm from this community, mainly by people who didn't contribute themselves either), that we decided to pay people to do it.

All of our news posters are actually members of this forum, with an exception of one or two and I believe that we have constantly asked for writers to apply, in this forum. In fact the developers are all members too before they were a developer, most staff positions are actually contributing members who believed they could make Neowin better. Kudos to them and shame on the people who sit back and whine about anything and everything without doing much to advance this community.

So I think Neowin is doing all it can to reward the community already for the input, however theres always a group that will find something wrong in any situation and moan about it.

I think one of the problems here is that some people believe that we should be paying you for the privilege to come here, and in some cases as I've stated above we do. But where you love us giving stuff away and staying up to date, providing the resources; the site needs comeback from its members too.

And, if I had a dollar for everytime I've had to make this point, I'd be a very rich man.

[deletedxyz]

This proves that Neowin.com is not a profitable website, right?

Wallstreet Journal, The Financial Times... All these resources are locked away for premium members soon enough. It would be a pity to see Neowin join the club by locking away features of the forum.

[Steven P. Administrators]

No it isn't, like I said we sustain the website through the ads, and thats about it.

Often enough we have funds to send people to tech events, and upgrade our servers, but I haven't gotten rich from it yet or been able to buy a new flashy car, let alone a house from running this show.

I was actually refused a mortgage this year, so yeah. But, thats my problem.

[deletedxyz]

No it isn't, like I said we sustain the website through the ads, and thats about it.

Often enough we have funds to send people to tech events, and upgrade our servers, but I haven't gotten rich from it yet or been able to buy a car, let alone a house from running this show.

I was actually refused a mortgage this year, so yeah. But, thats my problem.

Breaking even is good enough (at least for a members who have been visiting this forum for 5 years like me). :)

[surrealvortex]

?

It is well known that the vast majority of members of any sizeable community are what is known as "the silent majority", and tend not to participate in such polls and put their views forward, whereas the "Vocal minority" which includes a number of the posters in this thread, put their point forwards very loudly, and fail to respect that the vast majority of members are happy with the status quo, and thus feel no need to speak up.

I'm not sure quite how people think we're lying with the statistics I posted earlier. The fact of the matter is that the number I posted IS the number of guests/members online in those areas of the site at that particular time. We have access to the stats (one comes from the forum activity, which you can see at the bottom of the forum index, the other comes from similar code built into the front page), and also apache log file analysis which together tell us which areas of the site are the most popular. I'm not sure what you think the point of us lying to you about that would be to be honest.

Trust me, I am not accusing you of lying. I am just saying that there may be something you overlook while getting the statistics. I gave an example earlier. Let me reiterate: I almost always keep the front page open for the recent community activity box. But that doesn't mean I value the front page more than the forums, even though the front page is open most of the time. Is it not possible that since anyone who types in neowin.net ends up on the home page and the articles on the home page get more exposure, leading to more clicks on the front page articles? That was the only reason for asking for a poll like that. I was not questioning your integrity. You have been on this site for longer than me, have contributed a ton more than me, and definitely have a larger right to make decisions. I am just trying to provide suggestions that would help the community grow.

Also, the "vocal minority" would almost certainly vote the same way as the entire community. From what I can see, it is an unbiased sample. There is no correlation between front page lovers and people who are vocal.