Ads on AFF Home pages and articles

[ayebee]

Hi,

I paid my subscription to AFF, with one of the reasons being to kill the ads.
However, when I go to "Home" page it is plastered with ads. Also if I go to the articles listed there.
One particularly annoying aspect of the embedded ads is they have differing dimensions, so when they change (regularly) the text I am trying to read jumps up and down.

I notice there is no indication (top right) that I am there as an account holder.

Suggestion #1
Keep the current pages for non-members, and provide an ad-free copy "inside" for paid up members

Suggestion #2
I understand AFF does not control which ads are shown as that depends on goggle deciding what I should see, but the AFF website should rigidly define the real estate available for ads within articles. Make the ads conform to that size constraint (or fill the available space) so the rest of the article is not affected when ads change.

 

[drivatruk]

I agree with the above comments. I've paid my subscription but i cant read the articles because I am not sure how to turn off the blocker i have. I get to read a paragraph then i get a huge 'turn of my ad blocker' notification. Very annoyed and doubt ill renew next year.

 

[ayebee]

Just a PS ...

prominent ad on AFF Home page tonight was a (supposedly) news.com.au article about how Mel Gibson is making zillions out of a bitcoin trading scheme.
maybe I should post that on the "scams" thread in the community forums.

 

[support]

I paid my subscription to AFF, with one of the reasons being to kill the ads.
However, when I go to "Home" page it is plastered with ads. Also if I go to the articles listed there.

I notice there is no indication (top right) that I am there as an account holder.

The first thing to note is that our forum software is Xenforo. However, our articles are published with Wordpress. This is because Xenforo makes good forum software, but doesn't make good article publishing software, and Wordpress in reverse of those two things. We use the best software for the intended use. Unfortunately, they do not 'talk' to each other, so when you are logged into Xenforo and navigate to a Wordpress page, that software isn't able to determine that you have paid for a subscription.

We make no attempt to hide this fact though, as the benefit of paying for a membership clearly states "enjoy an uninterrupted viewing experience with no advertisements on any forum page".



A goal would be to one day have a system that recognises your membership level on Wordpress and Xenforo, but this has not materialised as yet for us. We have a number of things we want to do, but they take time, cost money and need to be bug-tested.

One particularly annoying aspect of the embedded ads is they have differing dimensions, so when they change (regularly) the text I am trying to read jumps up and down.

prominent ad on AFF Home page tonight was a (supposedly) news.com.au article about how Mel Gibson is making zillions out of a bitcoin trading scheme.

You will by now have realised the quality of the ads has dropped considerably. This is because of the COVID-19 situation. Premium advertising has dropped off a cliff and what we're left with is whatever we can get, like many other sites. When we see ads that do not fit our target we do remove them, but as I am sure you know, I wont see the same ads as you, so it can be hard to stop the troublemakers.

An example of this is that we had some vaping ads on the website last night. We have previously had offers for these ads and turned them down, but they worked out a way to get through, and when they were spotted they were immediately blocked in our control panel. No doubt this will continue to be cat-and-mouse.

I take the point about different ad sizes causing the text to "jump" and will look at getting this fixed in the next week or so.

I've paid my subscription but i cant read the articles because I am not sure how to turn off the blocker i have. I get to read a paragraph then i get a huge 'turn of my ad blocker' notification.

Most ad-blockers will look like this in the browser. When active, they show a red stop sign and a number will be displayed indicating the amount of ads on that page that are 'caught'.



By clicking on that icon, you are able to stop the ad-blocker in a variety of ways, such as once only, just for that particular page/URL or for all pages/URL's on that domain. When this is done, the icon changes to green.




It is important to note to both of you, @ayebee & @drivatruk that your subscription to AFF does not and never did include an ad-free experience in articles. We haven't taken away a benefit, and in fact have never provided an ad-free experience for the Wordpress articles. We would like to include it as part of the Xenforo benefits, but have not done, and have noted as much in our wording of the benefits.

When you view a news website and you are restricted from viewing the content because you have an ad-blocker installed, this is done because you are essentially not paying for the content, and for the content to be produced, someone needs a wage paid. The same is true of AFF. Especially in these times.

 

[ayebee]

Thanks for the comprehensive reply.
My motivation to subscribe was primarily to support the site, not just to avoid ads.
I don't use an ad blocker.

I guess I didn't absorb the distinction between forums and "wordpress" articles. I don't care what software or tools you use, so the significance of having 2 separate environments was lost on me.

It was the intrusiveness of the text jumping about that triggered my original post.
If you can fix that as you suggest, then my main gripe is addressed.

best wishes
IB

 

[support]

My motivation to subscribe was primarily to support the site, not just to avoid ads.

And we thank you for that, keeping everything running smoothly costs more than most people realise.

It was the intrusiveness of the text jumping about that triggered my original post.
If you can fix that as you suggest, then my main gripe is addressed.

We certainly have an idea of what could be causing this, and have experienced it ourselves (even in the forum). Both @Admin and myself browse with the ads running so we can make sure things are working properly. Also helps to troubleshoot issues users are having.

 

[ayebee]

being an earlier poster on this thread I got notified of the new posts.

I see paypal from both buyer and seller sides.
As a seller I would love to find a more competitive online payments provider, which exist but unfortunately the reality is the channels I work through don't integrate with anyone else, and it is still more convenient than the bank merchant services.
Every now and then I suffer the vagaries of paypal's hit and miss admin where my account gets frozen while they re-verify ID's to comply with anti money laundering laws. I don't mind that needs to happen, but their admin processes are appalling.

On the buyer angle I don't have a problem with them. In fact I use them in some cases to avoid credit card fees and get QFF points at the same time. For example, if I pay my Telstra bill with AMEX it attracts an extra fee (1.75%?? haven't checked for a while), but if I use paypal there is no fee, and I still use my Amex there for the actual payment. Telstra must pay a low commission to make that worthwhile, but it works for me as well.

Anyway, enough of the gratuitous comment - I hope you get satisfaction avoiding paypal on your AFF subscription.

 

[danintas]

It is important to note to both of you, @ayebee & @drivatruk that your subscription to AFF does not and never did include an ad-free experience in articles.

Why then does the main website page state "Login Now to remove this and all advertisements (GOLD and SILVER members) ?

 

[support]

Why then does the main website page state "Login Now to remove this and all advertisements (GOLD and SILVER members) ?

When this thread started, ad-free was only in the community forums. We have since managed to extend this to most – but not all – article pages.