I leave for 10 minutes - left side advertising

[deerslayer]

This sounds rediculous, I can't see it right now, but I will have to check it out.

 

[poopaskoopa]

It bothered me yesterday, but I'm over it now.

 

[CurtCold]

I agree with EvadMan, if the ads aren't gone, then I'll go chat somewhere else, that I don't have to put up with the ads on the side. Bottom is fine, but there are tons of other forums I can chat in and not have to put up with this BS.

I'll still crunch with DF, becuase everyone there has really helped me out, and been generally cool. I'm on a 15" monitor here at work, and it's horrible. Even on my 17" at 1024*768 it makes the screen look tiny.

 

[CraigRT]

hate it.

 

[MoFunk]

Originally posted by: ICXRa
Well they really don't bother me all that much.

Not to defend the Anandtech staff but I can't imagine the amount of bandwidth this site must require.

111281 users are registered to the AnandTech forum.

I would think it is safe to say that most people do not subscribe which leaves a great deal of revenue to generate to purchase bandwidth so we can all post on these boards. I manage a colocation facility where we are have dual redundant sonet ring upstream to the internet and the cost is substantial. Then take into consideration the amount Anand pays monthly just for the footprint and power requirements of each of the racks within the data center. At last count it seemed they had at least six enclosed frames.

I would think this site would require at least a burstable DS3 connection if not a full DS3 or more, I'm sure the MRTG graphs would be interesting.

I see this as nothing more than a business decision they have made. It may make them lose some readers but I'm sure their view is that would be better than going offline.

IMO

I agree to a point. I assume that the ads up top like the mushkin and googlegear stuff will generate some sort of income for the boards right. Even if it is like half a penny per click. I try to click the mushkin one a few times a day and the others as well. If anything it is creating a little traffic to the link. But to blast something on the side is soft of a bad call. IMHO.

 

[OhioDude]

Nope.
Don't like it.
Not at all.
I'll certainly never click on any links over there, but I really don't think it's anything to leave AT over.

 

[theNorse]

. . . takes 2 - 3 X more than usual - i have a 56K Mach 2 Modem
- usually works pretty good - except now w/ page loads :disgust:












norse

 

[amcdonald]

To the people leaving AT, I completely understand.
The ads on the left suck, and it makes this look like a 2nd-rate, unprofessional website.
I'm sure the admins have read these threads and are dealing with it... but to be honest if they didn't anticipate this they don't plan very far ahead... Assuming they did plan, I'm sure they expected a backlash of users, and are willing to deal with people leaving and griping, otherwise they wouldn't have followed through with such an 'offensive' move.
I'm not a subscriber, so I don't feel any right to demand anything of this board.
Unfortunately I'm not sure the revenue trade-off in losing regular visitors vs. adding the banner is worth it. Has anyone clicked on the banner? I personally tune out banners, and I can't remember the last time I clicked on ANY banner... on purpose.
Aren't forums like this word-of-mouth based? Is the amount of people upset with AT worth the banner?
I understand the need for money to keep up with bills, but effectively annoying your return audience isn't the best way to do go about it.

 

[Soggysocks]

Yeh, you all have good points and Ideas, but, I don't pay any attention to the adds other than the fact that they are annoying. This stuff is all in the name of the almighty BUCK ($). If they want to generate revenue, then, make the forums a paid subscription ...ADD FREE! I'll pay $2 to $5 for an ADD FREE forum. This add thing is getting out of hand anyway!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Now we're having to deal with pop-ups. There is enough on the main site to have to deal with.:disgust:

 

[zodder]

I don't understand this. I see a lot of people complaining in this thread who spend a lot of time on this board. Why aren't you subscribers? It really isn't a whole lot of money, and I know most of you get at least that amount of information or fun from Anandtech. Suck it up, people. If you've decided that this is the place that you like spend time, I don't think it's asking too much to invest a paltry sum to make all the things you complain about go away. That's just MHO.

 

[ICXRa]

good point zodder!
I had intended to subscribe but just never have

 

[DAPUNISHER]

I pity you poor basterds that can't afford $30 annually Just the extra PM's for FS/T forum and the ability to unload unneeded hardware&software there are worth it IMHO. Not to mention ad free and faster servers, plus you're helping Anand pay for that prosche

 

[NicColt]

>I pity you poor basterds that can't afford $30 annually

yea and about .08 cents / day. FFS.... c'mon

 

[MoFunk]

Originally posted by: DAPUNISHER
I pity you poor basterds that can't afford $30 annually Just the extra PM's for FS/T forum and the ability to unload unneeded hardware&software there are worth it IMHO. Not to mention ad free and faster servers, plus you're helping Anand pay for that prosche

I would love to help Anand pay for that porsche, and I guess you are right that what the heck is $30 a year anyway...... Well after paying the mortgage, school loans, groceries, day care, car insurance and gas, kids college account, kids savgins account, not to mention rising costs of utilities. This leaves exactly JACK SH!T left over for me!

 

[RaySun2Be]

>I pity you poor basterds that can't afford $30 annually

There's quite a few of us "poor bastards" that are unemployed at the moment. I'd rather spend the $30 towards keeping my home rather than supporting a forum.

MoFunk, I believe Anand owns a BMW roadster, unless he sold it and got a porsche.

 

[titanmiller]

When you click on an ad, does it need to load the page for it to count? Because with my <19k dial-up it takes upwards of 1 minuet to load a page. I'm not really willing to donate that much time.

 

[compudog]

I subscribed just to check it out (no ads, faster server etc) and I like it. I think I am getting a good value. I cannot afford it (for similiar reasons as MoFunk's)

I would love to help Anand pay for that porsche, and I guess you are right that what the heck is $30 a year anyway...... Well after paying the mortgage, school loans, groceries, day care, car insurance and gas, kids college account, kids savgins account, not to mention rising costs of utilities. This leaves exactly JACK SH!T left over for me!

When my year is up, I may go back to "free." But I won't leave.

 

[XBoxLPU]

I was hoping it would be gone by now or at least in a different location

 

[Idoxash]

I can only guess the reason it was put on the left is because for ppl with 800by600 and lower would never see them if it was on the right side and the only reason there not on the bottum is most ppl never go down that far but then if you like me you never look at them dang ads, keep java, js, flash, all them other dang special effects turn off and the so called ads is nothing lmao but the fact that they cloged up my dang slow dang connection i should be able to sue the ad ppl for causing my internet life and what i payed the isp for to be honest crap! however I understand they need ads for money and i'm glad they don't do popups, popunders, or half page ads cause then i would leave this forum in my past.

--Idoxash

 

[Idoxash]

" I'm a coinflip away from leaving the entire anandtech community. I've been an ever present lurker thats helped with some of teh distributed projects but this is taking it a bit too far. I refuse to support a site that makes me want to leave. "

if it was not for my respect for the SETI members here and the other dudes that hands out in Distributed Computing I would have pulled my nick and killed my entire anandtech account.

 

[Idoxash]

Originally posted by: zodder
I don't understand this. I see a lot of people complaining in this thread who spend a lot of time on this board. Why aren't you subscribers? It really isn't a whole lot of money, and I know most of you get at least that amount of information or fun from Anandtech. Suck it up, people. If you've decided that this is the place that you like spend time, I don't think it's asking too much to invest a paltry sum to make all the things you complain about go away. That's just MHO.

It's bad enought that you have to pay a high cost for the internet for a sucky connetion, deal with spam, ads, and other crap you all know of and then you want some of us to pay for a site? While I see a few bucks is ok for a site some ppl just can't spare that kind of money. I my self can't nor can i even use a credit card cause i have none and never plan on getting one. and in short from what i hear from ppl that does pay for the forums they don't get much faster loads and do you ppl still have to put up with ads? Everywhere you go, stores, walmart, even at your own dang home you have to put up with ads and spam and all this other crazy crap and i'm for one tired of putting up with it for a forum. I understand it is needed to help make some money and i don't have a prob with that but when ads gets up close and personel in your face that is when a website can goto hell!

--Idoxash

 

[Idoxash]

Originally posted by: RaySun2Be

>I pity you poor basterds that can't afford $30 annually

There's quite a few of us "poor bastards" that are unemployed at the moment. I'd rather spend the $30 towards keeping my home rather than supporting a forum.

MoFunk, I believe Anand owns a BMW roadster, unless he sold it and got a porsche.

I already lost my house and wish i had 30 bucks right now so i can eat something better then ham sandwitch.

--Idoxash

 

[Robor]

Originally posted by: zodder
I don't understand this. I see a lot of people complaining in this thread who spend a lot of time on this board. Why aren't you subscribers? It really isn't a whole lot of money, and I know most of you get at least that amount of information or fun from Anandtech. Suck it up, people. If you've decided that this is the place that you like spend time, I don't think it's asking too much to invest a paltry sum to make all the things you complain about go away. That's just MHO.

I agree here - if you're a hard-core forums user it make sense to subscribe. Well worth the $2.50/month IMO

EDIT: That said, I also understand the POV of those who are unemployeed or can not afford the $30 layout right now.

 

[zeruty]

I want to remind anyone who wants to leave anandtech about our other team forums...

I run one at www.deception.net/phpbb
and I know there is at least one more (can't remember the url)

I'd hate to lose any teammates over this

 

[damonpip]

Well I tihnk we're all just going to have to put up with the fact that the internet is starting to change, and we're going to have to start paying for more sites. Three years ago, a site like AT could make a good deal of money on ads, nowadays that amount is next to nothing. I'm sure three years ago, Anand was making a pretty penny off the ads, even after factoring in the cost of hosting. Today, I'd bet he's only making enough to pay for the hosting, and a dscent salary for himself and the other AT staff.