Ludensian Gull
Well-known member
Same here, getting very obtrusive. Finding I'm actually spending less time on here now purely because of all the adverts.
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[NSC] The only thing that’s pissing me off is these ad’s all over NSC
- Thread starter Chicken Run
- Start date
A copy and paste from a recent thread where I addressed this...
I've reduced the size of the in-thread ads to thin banners and, reading the above, I'm reminded I need to do that on the forum view as they are still quite big squares. I'll do that now - should only take a few minutes.
Everyone's experience is different, I appreciate, so what I see may not match what others see, but words like "unusable" feel like they might be a bit of an exaggeration - but in most cases I tune out of the ads completely when I use NSC on my phone, which I do a lot.
We all have differing tolerances with ads, ranging from "Ads are evil and I will do my best to block them and f*** the sites who need them to survive" through to "I understand the need for ads on free-to-use sites and will tolerate them as long as they don't ruin my experience."
Fortunately, I think a fair chunk of NSCers tend towards the latter.
Every single day I'm approached by numerous ad suppliers promising untold wealth for placing their ads on the site, but they are generally intrusive - pop-over, pop-unders, interstitials and videos. I politely decline.
I won't pretend to get the ad/user experience balance right all the time, but I try to find that sweet spot for most reasonable people. I could easily run the site ad-free for myself, but I have the same view as everyone else who is logged in. It needs a few tweaks at the moment to dial things back a tad and I'll be onto that just as soon as the technical gremlins have f***ed off!
...to which I'll add another copy and paste from when @jcdenton08 asked about that full screen ITVX ad...I've had that (or similar full-screen scroller) twice in two weeks. I'm not a fan but the frequency is low enough that I've no immediate plans to change it.
You may or may not have noticed that last night I shrunk the between-post ads so they are slimmer and take up far less screen real estate. I'm about to take a look a the forum view ads similarly.
I'm hoping to look at all the changes required to become an NSC "supporter", including ad-free, this week It would have been done by now, but I had to spend a lot of time with the other technical issues the site had.
...I've had that ITVX ad that sort of scrolls into full-screen and then scrolls out of view a couple of times this morning again. I'd not seen it for a week or two, and I assume it will soon disappear again. To be clear, I've not asked or authorised a full-screen advert - it seems to come out of the sticky bottom banner occasionally. If it happened a lot, I'd be looking to see what I could do to stop it, but as I've only had it on a handful of occasions, and because I assume it probably pays relatively well, I've not done that yet.I've reduced the size of the in-thread ads to thin banners and, reading the above, I'm reminded I need to do that on the forum view as they are still quite big squares. I'll do that now - should only take a few minutes.
Everyone's experience is different, I appreciate, so what I see may not match what others see, but words like "unusable" feel like they might be a bit of an exaggeration - but in most cases I tune out of the ads completely when I use NSC on my phone, which I do a lot.
Question...
If you assume there needs to be a sticky banner ad on the bottom of the site, would you choose to have it on desktop or mobile? It's currently on mobile only, but I could switch it.
If you assume there needs to be a sticky banner ad on the bottom of the site, would you choose to have it on desktop or mobile? It's currently on mobile only, but I could switch it.
Sorry Bozza, I really don’t want to be the one to moan as I love NSC and appreciate all you put in.
By unusable I just meant when writing a post, whenever I try to write it, it jumps to one of the ads or just to the bottom of the screen so I give up writing it sometimes (probably not a bad thing!).
I fully appreciate ads are a necessary evil though!
That doesn't sound good, although it's not something I’ve ever experienced.
Presumably you mean on your phone? I’m replying now on my phone and the screen is remaining anchored in the reply box.
Again, though, I appreciate there can be variation on different devices/browsers so my experience may differ from yours.
What device / browser is this happening on for you?
SeagullinExile
Well-known member
Getting really annoying now. Full pages now, tricks me into opening sites I don’t want too. NSC is becoming clunkier than the Argus site, and that’s saying something.
Weststander
Well-known member
On an ipad and iphone they’re omnipresent.
I’d gladly pay a sub to never see another ad on nsc, ever!
I’d gladly pay a sub to never see another ad on nsc, ever!
Weststander
Well-known member
Ditto.
I've switched it over as an experiment.
Soton Seagull
Well-known member
Mobile massively more intrusive than PC. Definately scrollls along with you and makes it very hard to roll over large ad without being diverted to ITVX etc. 1st world problems and all that.
Desktop.
On my iPhone (which I use for 95% of my browsing), it’s nowhere close to unusable, but it’s at the level I find quite irritating. I too get the jumping around thing. I get the full page ad maybe 20 times a day (4 to my certain knowledge already this morning).
I remain firmly in the camp of “tell me what level of sub you’d like for an ad free experience and I’ll pay” (within reason!)
- Jul 8, 2003
- 1,586
I'd prefer desktop only as there's limited space on mobile.
I would agree with others who've complained about full page adverts making it a pain to use on mobile. The amount of times I open an ad be it accidentally or by trying to click the tiny cross is very annoying.
Opened 4 pages as a test on mobile and every one had national rail full page ad, I see you've tweaked it already and it's much better.
It's Chrome on an iPhone.
I don't have any issues using Chrome on my laptop which I'm writing this message on now, it's just on the mobile.
I've switched the sticky lower ad to desktop only.
It sounds like you've both been targeted with different ads than me - I've not had anything like that level of frequency for that full-screen scrolling ad. Let me know if you still see something full-screen on mobile.
- Thread starter
- #35
Me too!
I don't use NSC on mobile, so... mobile!
Despite only ever using NSC on desktop, it seems sensible to me that any permenant ad would be less intrusive on the bigger screen of a desk/laptop than on the smaller mobile screens.
Elsewhere, I've virtually stopped reading inews (The Independent) online, and using Facebook, because of the relentless pop-up ads, 'banners' and random videos.
I realise that advertising revenues are the lifeblood of websites, and what enables them to remain free to users, but there comes a point where the sheer number and intrusiveness of pop-up adverts makes some sites virtually unusable - which surely means their advertisers will actually be driving away potential customers?
I realise that advertising revenues are the lifeblood of websites, and what enables them to remain free to users, but there comes a point where the sheer number and intrusiveness of pop-up adverts makes some sites virtually unusable - which surely means their advertisers will actually be driving away potential customers?
GrizzlingGammon
Well-known member
- Dec 15, 2018
- 1,995