Ads on the DinoToyBlog & Forum

[DinoToyForum]

Thanks, they're at the bottom now.
Less annoying. 

Oh, great, it worked! Then tomorrow I will tweak the code on the DinoToyBlog, too. But I'll still keep an eye on these ads and might decide to not keep them permanently.

[DinoToyForum]

Thanks, they're at the bottom now.
Less annoying. 

I've now removed the anchor ads completely, for now. The increased earnings ended up being much less than predicted, and not worth the annoyance. I might activate them occasionally for short periods just to mix things up. Changes to the page ad layout often lead to a greater interaction for a week or so, but that soon drops off as ad blindness kicks in.

[Halichoeres]

[deleted]

[suspsy]

I'm getting an ad that probably shouldn't appear on the site given the rules on politicking.

Spoiler

[close]

I'll remove the image once admin has had a chance to see and respond. Thanks!

WTH?

[Gwangi]

Not sure how I feel about video reviews myself, just seems like a higher possibility now. I wouldn't want written reviews replaced either but I can see where videos might be useful, like with construction models or whatever. Would be useful for showing off action features, articulation, and sounds on action figures.

Things like this quality product (video should start at correct timestamp):
https://youtu.be/ptgwAvheyHw?si=GkJDsGoR2ST_2VIl&t=460

Haha, exactly. That thing is fantastic, love the Godzilla sounds!

[Gwangi]

Still finding these ads embedded inside the reviews to be awfully obnoxious. 

[DinoToyForum]

For visitors who are not logged in, a single ad appears at the top of each review, as shown in your picture. This ad used to be above the title, but I moved it down just before the article proper begins, so that first thing visitors see is the article title and details rather than an ad. Wherever it goes it's intrusive. I can move it back above the title.

No other ads appear within the body of the article itself.

I also kept two ads between reviews, after posts 5 and 10. This is less than before but I can reduce it down to one per page. I'm still trying to find a balanced ratio of content to ads.

But @Gwangi, you shouldn't see any ads yourself so long as you're logged in.

[Gwangi]

For visitors who are not logged in, a single ad appears at the top of each review, as shown in your picture. This ad used to be above the title, but I moved it down just before the article proper begins, so that first thing visitors see is the article title and details rather than an ad. Wherever it goes it's intrusive. I can move it back above the title.

No other ads appear within the body of the article itself.

I also kept two ads between reviews, after posts 5 and 10. This is less than before but I can reduce it down to one per page. I'm still trying to find a balanced ratio of content to ads.

But @Gwangi, you shouldn't see any ads yourself so long as you're logged in.

I'm usually only logged in on my PC, I took this screen shot on my phone.

[DinoToyForum]

For visitors who are not logged in, a single ad appears at the top of each review, as shown in your picture. This ad used to be above the title, but I moved it down just before the article proper begins, so that first thing visitors see is the article title and details rather than an ad. Wherever it goes it's intrusive. I can move it back above the title.

No other ads appear within the body of the article itself.

I also kept two ads between reviews, after posts 5 and 10. This is less than before but I can reduce it down to one per page. I'm still trying to find a balanced ratio of content to ads.

But @Gwangi, you shouldn't see any ads yourself so long as you're logged in.

I'm usually only logged in on my PC, I took this screen shot on my phone.

Also, the ad shouldn't be so big as in your screenshot. I set the ad to be a max height of 120px and that's clearly bigger, so something's wrong. Ads are far less intrusive, and just as effective, when they are rectangle banners, instead of big squares. Let me see if I can work out why it is displaying so tall.

Oh, and log in on your phone to avoid all ads!

[DinoToyForum]

I hadn't set that particular ad to 120px high, I missed it. I have now though, so it should be less intrusive now?

[Gwangi]

For visitors who are not logged in, a single ad appears at the top of each review, as shown in your picture. This ad used to be above the title, but I moved it down just before the article proper begins, so that first thing visitors see is the article title and details rather than an ad. Wherever it goes it's intrusive. I can move it back above the title.

No other ads appear within the body of the article itself.

I also kept two ads between reviews, after posts 5 and 10. This is less than before but I can reduce it down to one per page. I'm still trying to find a balanced ratio of content to ads.

But @Gwangi, you shouldn't see any ads yourself so long as you're logged in.

I'm usually only logged in on my PC, I took this screen shot on my phone.

Also, the ad shouldn't be so big as in your screenshot. I set the ad to be a max height of 120px and that's clearly bigger, so something's wrong. Ads are far less intrusive, and just as effective, when they are rectangle banners, instead of big squares. Let me see if I can work out why it is displaying so tall.

Oh, and log in on your phone to avoid all ads!

Sometimes I'm logged in on my phone but it automatically logs me off after about a week. Same on the PC. I usually don't bother logging back on unless I have something to post or a comment to make.

Ads are still large at the moment.

[DinoToyForum]

Should be 120px high, here's how it looks for me:

[DinoToyForum]

Still large for me, maybe marginally smaller but that could just be the ad itself. Don't worry too much about it, I'll never like ads of any size in that spot but I can learn to live with it. No one else seems to have an issue with them.

It might be cache related, please let me know if the tall ads persist more than a few days. I'm not a big fan of having ads either but there are few enough to minimise the nuisance they cause, and they do pay for the upkeep of the site. I still prefer them over a subscription model (I want the blog to be open-access to all), and I don't think I could rely on a donation model. It's a shame I don't have any control over what ads appear because if they were at least all dinosaur-related and of interest to readers that would make them more palatable. But that's not how Adsense works, they often seem so random.

What's also notable is that the kind of ads and ad positions that would annoy us the most - huge format ads, ads inside content, video ads, full-screen ads you have to click to remove - they are all proven to do better than subtle ads positioned in the header, footer, or side bars. All at the expense of the visitor experience, of course, so I'm not tempted to adopt them, but I am aware that I'm making an active decision to make less revenue by omitting them. I can see how people with less scruples than me get tempted into ensh*tifying their social media platforms or websites.

[Gwangi]

Still large for me, maybe marginally smaller but that could just be the ad itself. Don't worry too much about it, I'll never like ads of any size in that spot but I can learn to live with it. No one else seems to have an issue with them.

It might be cache related, please let me know if the tall ads persist more than a few days. I'm not a big fan of having ads either but there are few enough to minimise the nuisance they cause, and they do pay for the upkeep of the site. I still prefer them over a subscription model (I want the blog to be open-access to all), and I don't think I could rely on a donation model. It's a shame I don't have any control over what ads appear because if they were at least all dinosaur-related and of interest to readers that would make them more palatable. But that's not how Adsense works, they often seem so random.

What's also notable is that the kind of ads and ad positions that would annoy us the most - huge format ads, ads inside content, video ads, full-screen ads you have to click to remove - they are all proven to do better than subtle ads positioned in the header, footer, or side bars. All at the expense of the visitor experience, of course, so I'm not tempted to adopt them, but I am aware that I'm making an active decision to make less revenue by omitting them. I can see how people with less scruples than me get tempted into ensh*tifying their social media platforms or websites.

I don't envy the position you're in. I'm sure you prefer as few ads as possible but you have to balance it out if you want them to pay for the site's upkeep. It is a shame that ads aren't more relevant. They are on the forum, as I type I see an ad for Breyer horses and ads for Breyer and Happy Hen Toys seem to follow me around the web. In this case I don't mind them, because they're relevant to me and I'll often click on them if I see something that piques my interest.

[BlueKrono]

The ads on this site are really getting out of control. When I go on today there's an ad (or two!) on every single post. This is what's driven me away from other sites and social media; it's the surest turnoff for me online. Soon I'll just be left with Wikipedia. For what it's worth, I'd be willing to chip in some $$ because I find this site valuable. Have you ever considered a voluntary donation to reduce or eliminate ads here?

[DinoToyForum]

The ads on this site are really getting out of control. When I go on today there's an ad (or two!) on every single post. This is what's driven me away from other sites and social media; it's the surest turnoff for me online. Soon I'll just be left with Wikipedia. For what it's worth, I'd be willing to chip in some $$ because I find this site valuable. Have you ever considered a voluntary donation to reduce or eliminate ads here?

Sorry, I was twiddling with the Adsense settings yesterday (trying to solve a problem where white spaces appear instead of ads). While twiddling I had accidentally turned on "auto-ads", which inserts obtrusive ads randomly all over the place. This probably also explains the 'new' white space @Faelrin mentioned in another thread. I've just turned it off now, so the ad placement should be back to normal (whether or not they actually appear or leave a blank space).

[DinoToyForum]

I have considered a voluntary donation or subscription model.

I've ruled out (for now) completely removing ads in favour of donations because I'm not convinced enough users would donate for the Wikipedia model to work. Plus, I worry it would put inevitable pressure on me, psychologically speaking, to provide value for money. For example, downtime and technical problems would stress me out (more) if users are paying for the service. I'm also just uncomfortable requesting/accepting 'payments' from users, even if users are comfortable doing so. And I'm uncomfortable letting a subset of generous users essentially pay the way for others – while Wikipedia is more or less faceless, things are more intimate here, so it's all a bit awkward. A lot of this played out for real in the last donation-based diorama contest.

I've ruled out a broad subscription model because I want the content to be free for all and not hidden behind a paywall. So, what I've been considering is a subscription model where individuals can pay to go ad-free, so only those paying would see the benefit (when logged in). That might be less awkward, and less risky because the status quo would be maintained for everyone who doesn't subscribe.

This is doable. On the forum I could set up a new user-group for 'supporters' (or donors, subscribers, however we decide to phrase it), and I could turn the ads off for that user-group. Similarly, 'supporters' could receive a blog account (subscriber-level), so they can log into the blog and experience it without any ads, as blog authors already do. There are ways it could be automated, but it might be simpler for me to do it manually if the demand is low.

So this might be something I can explore.

[ceratopsian]

I certainly want you to feel uncomfortable or stressed, @DinoToyForum. 

[DinoToyForum]

I certainly want you to feel uncomfortable or stressed, @DinoToyForum. 

You're so cruel! (typo I think )

[ceratopsian]

Oops - a very bad typo!!  My apologies @DinoToyForum.  Perhaps I have a new career ahead of me of putting people through the wringer!

I certainly want you to feel uncomfortable or stressed, @DinoToyForum. 

You're so cruel! (typo I think )