Forum Ads

[EEVblog]

IMHO: feel free to make the ads as obnoxious and intrusive as you want, but give people a straightforward way to pay for annual memberships to turn them off.

Sadly there is no ready option for that with the SMF ad plugin I use.

(That said, I never found the top banner ads to be the least bit objectionable, since they have always been on-topic for the forum.  I have in fact clicked through to TI several times and bought parts and demo boards as a result.)

The only "objectionable" thing I've added is the sticky ad down the bottom.
As I've said multiple times, any new ad banner up the top will be on-topic, but it takes time to train on the content and sell that ad slot to targeted customers.
So ignoring the sticky thing, which is a trial, any new ads up the top will essentially be no different to existing ads I have on the site, it's just the companies will go through a larger ad publisher instead instead of me directly.
I personally think the fixed ads are very boring, but of course I'm going to take the money to keep the whole show going.
I have had adsense ads up there before with zero complaints, and those changed all the time just like any new ones will, and they gave very off-topic (but supposedly relevant to you) ads.

In fact if I had secretly added the new top ad and there wasn't the glitches, I doubt anyone would have noticed at all.

[EEVblog]

I'm not against ads but is it possible to keep them EE/technical in nature? 

This sill be the last time explain this. It will take time (days/week) for the on-topic ads to show up consistently.
I have ZERO intent on having off-topic ads on the forum.

[Psi]

Let's say 1000 people did that, that's still only $20k a year, that's a not a lot.

Yeah, i have no idea how much ads pay.

[CatalinaWOW]

I can live with the ads and haven't encountered this issues others have mentioned..  It is the cost of access to the environment.

What I really wonder is how you maintain your joy of life having to deal with all of this non-electronic stuff.   

[EEVblog]

I can live with the ads and haven't encountered this issues others have mentioned..

The initial issues were fixed within hours of it going live. No one should see them again.

[pdenisowski]

Frankly, I don't mind seeing EE-related ads at all.  As I recall, QRZ.com (the largest amateur radio website) once polled users as to whether they would pay to have an ad-free experience.  A lot of people (myself included) said that they actually liked seeing the ads 

Incidentally, I once experimented with making my own "ads" but most of the people I showed this to didn't understand that I was trying to be funny 

[EEVblog]

I've got one of those antenna guns!

[tooki]

After the recent changes I am getting a consent-request from EEVblog, to collect my online activity and my browsing hardware specs, and to share this with hundreds of data brokers.
This is the first time when I get such a request.  I know I can refuse to share my data, but it still means EEVblog now has in place mechanisms to collect all that data.  I don't like that.

That's not me, where do you see that request?
If it's an option, then yes, refuse that request.

I got it too, multiple times, so it must be the ads.

Whatever ad platform it is that you’re trying out, appears to be a typical data-whoring tracking nightmare, and the fact that it doesn’t appear to respect your settings doesn’t bode well…

[Dr. Frank]

Same here in GER, a completely ungrateful advertising on the last two items.
I rejected the 1752 advertisers.

If this continues, I'm about to leave the forum for a while.
If it is still on this forum, I'm still out.

Frank

[Monkeh]

Same here in GER, a completely ungrateful advertising on the last two items.
I rejected the 1752 advertisers.

If this continues, I'm about to leave the forum for a while.
If it is still on this forum, I'm still out.

Frank

Use an adblocker if ads bother you that much.

[mariush]

I would rather have a vertical column on the right side of the screen showing an ad.

This is really not cool, it reduces the actual viewable area by A LOT. The three banners already use quite a lot of space.

[Per Hansson]

After the recent changes I am getting a consent-request from EEVblog, to collect my online activity and my browsing hardware specs, and to share this with hundreds of data brokers.
This is the first time when I get such a request.  I know I can refuse to share my data, but it still means EEVblog now has in place mechanisms to collect all that data.  I don't like that.

That's not me, where do you see that request?
If it's an option, then yes, refuse that request.

It's this thing, I actually had AD's enabled for this site in Opera because I didn't find them intrusive.
But now I enabled the built in ad-blocker again, never had this popup before on the site to my memory:

[tszaboo]

I wonder how much income would be produced if there was a version of the forum that cost $20/year to get access to.
Verses the income from more ads.
I'm not saying we should actually do that, it's nice to keep things open, I'm just curious

Let's say 1000 people did that, that's still only $20k a year, that's a not a lot.

I had no idea. I will up my donation Dave.
Out of curiosity how much is the server running cost? Only if you want to share that info.

[Bud]

It's this thing

I got it too, on my iphone. I clicked Reject All , it went away and a sticky ad popped up at the page bottom, following me to all subsequent forum browsing.

[Psi]

I'm running Pi-Hole but I have an exemption set for EEVBlog and some of the 'supplyframe.com' stuff that EEVBLog uses for banners.
I just turned the Pi-Hole off and did a CTRL-F5 to see if I get anything new and I got an extra ad permanently attached to the bottom of the entire screen.

Needless to say I turned it back on to remove that.
I'm happy to support the banner ads but not that bottom frame permanently taking up screen area.

[EEVblog]

After the recent changes I am getting a consent-request from EEVblog, to collect my online activity and my browsing hardware specs, and to share this with hundreds of data brokers.
This is the first time when I get such a request.  I know I can refuse to share my data, but it still means EEVblog now has in place mechanisms to collect all that data.  I don't like that.

That's not me, where do you see that request?
If it's an option, then yes, refuse that request.

It's this thing, I actually had AD's enabled for this site in Opera because I didn't find them intrusive.
But now I enabled the built in ad-blocker again, never had this popup before on the site to my memory:

Thanks. I have not seen that on any browser, including Opera, and including when I disable the Opera Ad blocker and Tracker protection.
I've asked them to explain.
Obviously select Reject All.

[produco]

I used Ezoic on my site which was very similar to these ads and also had the popup asking for you to accept their ad partners. It turned out that it was due to Google ads being delivered through a different network. Not a bunch of new ad partners.

These ad partners probably wont be new to the site. They will just no longer covered by the sites T&C catch-all when going through a 3rd party.

[RoGeorge]

I have not seen that on any browser, including Opera, and including when I disable the Opera Ad blocker and Tracker protection.

I guess you don't see them because of your geolocation.

EU has a law mandating from any websites (no mater where the website is hosted) to ask for the user's consent before using cookies.  My guess is, the new customized-ads company is complying with the EU regulations, so it is serving the cookie agreement request to any EU user.

The consent request is asking to share the user's data/behaviour for the next 13 months with about 1700+ other companies.  It also tells you that they will share anyway some/partial data about the users (no mater if you refuse or not), just that the user has the right to complain. 

Tracking of the individual users is made under the pretext of serving them "personalized" adds, based on what they do on EEVblog.  If you ask me, that seems very intrusive.  I trust you/EEVblog, but I don't trust the surveillance from thousands of other third party companies.


This is a copy-paste of the request I receive when turning off the ad blocker:

We value your privacy

We and our partners
store and/or access information on a device, such as cookies and process personal data, such as unique identifiers and standard information sent by a device for personalised advertising and content, advertising and content measurement, audience research and services development. With your permission we and our partners may use precise geolocation data and identification through device scanning. You may click to consent to our and our 1731 partners’ processing as described above. Alternatively you may click to refuse to consent or access more detailed information and change your preferences before consenting. Please note that some processing of your personal data may not require your consent, but you have a right to object to such processing. Your preferences will apply to this website only and will be stored in IABGPP_HDR_GppString cookie for 13 months. You can change your preferences or withdraw your consent at any time by returning to this site and clicking the "Privacy" button at the bottom of the webpage.
Please note that this website/app uses one or more Google services and may gather and store information including but not limited to your visit or usage behaviour. You may click to grant or deny consent to Google and its third-party tags to use your data for below specified purposes in below Google consent section.

Then, there is another window where you can scroll through the list of those 1700+ companies, and you can turn each on/off if you want, or admit/reject all.

Since outside of EU there is no law mandating the user consent, I guess everybody visiting from outside EU is not informed about their data being shared with 1700 other companies, and non-EU users are just tacitly enrolled to share their data (indirectly enrolled by the customized ads-placing company, not by EEVblog), but I didn't check how it really is, just a guess.


You should receive these consent requests, too, if you browse from EU (try browsing the forum through a VPN, with the exit point anywhere in EU, also delete your cookies first, because you might have already been enrolled while you were visiting the EEVblog forum from Australia).

[PA0PBZ]

Also

and clicking the "Privacy" button at the bottom of the webpage

Where is that?

[madires]

Before choosing anything in the cookie popup supplyframe.com already set a bunch of cookies. Should only happen after accepting cookies.

[m k]

I wonder how much income would be produced if there was a version of the forum that cost $20/year to get access to.
Verses the income from more ads.
I'm not saying we should actually do that, it's nice to keep things open, I'm just curious

Let's say 1000 people did that, that's still only $20k a year, that's a not a lot.

Is $20k for only 1000 active people still not a lot?
No pictures any different?

Sticky footer is intrusive.
Here rejecting all tracking with NoScript active leaves the footer empty, but still present, like FU, this is our area.

[TUMEMBER]

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You should receive these consent requests, too, if you browse from EU (try browsing the forum through a VPN, with the exit point anywhere in EU, also delete your cookies first, because you might have already been enrolled while you were visiting the EEVblog forum from Australia).

I confirm, the first time I "shared" the ads, it also triggered for me and I got a little pissed off.

[EEVblog]

I have not seen that on any browser, including Opera, and including when I disable the Opera Ad blocker and Tracker protection.

I guess you don't see them because of your geolocation.

EU has a law mandating from any websites (no mater where the website is hosted) to ask for the user's consent before using cookies.  My guess is, the new customized-ads company is complying with the EU regulations, so it is serving the cookie agreement request to any EU user.

The consent request is asking to share the user's data/behaviour for the next 13 months with about 1700+ other companies.  It also tells you that they will share anyway some/partial data about the users (no mater if you refuse or not), just that the user has the right to complain. 

Tracking of the individual users is made under the pretext of serving them "personalized" adds, based on what they do on EEVblog.  If you ask me, that seems very intrusive.  I trust you/EEVblog, but I don't trust the surveillance from thousands of other third party companies.

Correct, response from them on this is exactly that:

CMP: The pop-up you are seeing is a Consent Management Platform (CMP), which asks visitors for permission to use cookies for personalized ads to keep your site legally compliant with global privacy laws. Because the CMP is location-aware, it doesn't show to everyone; it is configured to display only to users in regions with strict privacy regulations, specifically Europe (EEA), the United States, Brazil, and Canada. The system automatically checks a visitor's IP address and only triggers the pop-up if they are located in one of those regulated areas. Do you happen to know the geographic location of the users who reported seeing it?  Knowing this will help us double-check that the CMP's location targeting is firing exactly as expected.

I recommend you hit Reject All.

[EEVblog]

I used Ezoic on my site which was very similar to these ads and also had the popup asking for you to accept their ad partners. It turned out that it was due to Google ads being delivered through a different network. Not a bunch of new ad partners.

I tried Ezoic many months ago and it never worked 

[thm_w]

4. If the day ever comes when you can offer a paid membership to disable ads, I'd strongly consider signing up for it. Like I said, I don't mind ads on principle, but all things being equal, I'd rather just pay you directly than see the ads.

Explained above. Install ublock origin, and then send him $20+ or sub to patreon.

Is $20k for only 1000 active people still not a lot?
No pictures any different?

I can say with 100% certainty that 1000 new people will not pay $20/year. Patreon is currently 677 members. Maybe if you can come up with an enticing perk you could get a few hundred people.

Some examples that work well on other forums: pay to edit someones posts, pay to edit their photo, pay to get custom emojis, pay to temp ban people, etc. But that kind of stuff makes no sense here.

Sticky footer is intrusive.
Here rejecting all tracking with NoScript active leaves the footer empty, but still present, like FU, this is our area.

ublock origin will remove it completely.