OK, this is going too far (Ad Placement)

[Krugger]

I will only say one thing: if you think ANYONE will click on anything in that annoying ad when it is on the side there, you guys are sorely mistaken. the rest of the users have said enough.

 

[Soybomb]

Originally posted by: AnandTech Deals

This does not mean we are bending to the will of a certain advertiser.

Huh?
"Google no longer pays for banners that are "below the fold". This just means they do not give us any credit for banners that can be seen only by scrolling down. Unfortunately, this is a HUGE problem. "

Sounds like you know it sucks but have to do it for the google bucks.

If googles ads are such a cash cow and have to be in such a prime position could the ads from the top be moved to the bottom and google moved to the very top? And yes there are already ads at the top, but why not another row of them and have them all there? I'd rather scroll down than have the entire page borked.

This just doesn't seem like a good solution. I can certainly say I'd rather have the ads all at the top and there would be a greater chance I'd click them there versus now where they're incredibly irritating. Perhaps the powers that be will reconsider if click-through rates fall in the next week....

 

[AnandTechDeals]

This just doesn't seem like a good solution. I can certainly say I'd rather have the ads all at the top and there would be a greater chance I'd click them there versus now where they're incredibly irritating. Perhaps the powers that be will reconsider if click-through rates fall in the next week....

I concur.

Kristopher

 

[Lord Evermore]

You know there's a whole LOT of blank space located to the right of the Anandtech logo. I'd consider that prime real estate for plaintext google ads.

 

[NuclearFusi0n]

Originally posted by: BingBongWongFooey

Originally posted by: NuclearFusi0n
BingBongWongFooey, your stylesheet thinger stopped working!

I've got one that's a million times better, however I cannot reveal my precious intellectual property to the world for fear of it being reverse engineered, and I don't want to have to invoke the DMCA. You'll thank me later

*begs*
need any sexual favors?

 

[Sunner]

I've been a member for a long friggin time, and I've never complained about ads(well once, when they had a Flash ad with some REALLY annoying sounds that damn near blew my speakers).

But this... :|

I don't see what Google is thinking either, there is NO WAY IN HE** I'd ever click an ad that is that annoying, based on principle alone.

Oh well on the plus side it turns out it isn't a bug in Konqueror like I thought at first.

 

[deftron]

There's ways that websites can make ads so they are unobtrusive and actually convienient.

Fat Wallet has a great program set up where if you include the words "Staples", "Best Buy", "Office Depot" "Comp USA" , etc
in your posts, they are automatically converted into referal links to those companies websites.

I'd say AT's Hot Deals forum is at least as big as FW's ... they could making a good chunk of change off that.

And other websites .. DVDtalk for example, have two rows of banner ads at the top, yet its not obtrusive.
They even have about a dozen links at the very top of their forums pages to various stores that their members use.

AT needs to market its ad space better and use it more efficiently. Banners could at least be placed next
to the Anandtech logo (horizontally) at the top.

Having ONE ad take up a column thats about 10% of your screen, and causing blank space to run down the whole page is not the way to do it

 

[The Dancing Peacock]

I don't understand why everyone wants them moved to the right? Is it that big of a problem to have 2 rows of ads up top, giving everyone the whole page width? It sure wouldn't bother me.

Why wasn't that done. This placement really makes the site look awful. Moving it to the right will make it look just as bad. If google is okay with it, a move to the top, under the other ad would be most preferable in my book.

 

[Wolfsraider]

i agree with the "it's annoying" crowd.

but then i am a subscriber.

i tried logging off to see it but lo and behold it is not there?

hmmm... shrugs...i am the greatest......j/k

mike

 

[MrDingleDangle]

I wouldnt mind it if it was only on the subject page of the topics...but not when reading the threads

or at least make it more professional...i mean fark has stuff on both sides, but i hardly notice cause the sight looks ok, no extra space...this sight looks like a 10 year old made it as his first website right now

 

[giocopiano]

The adverts on the left make me feel squashed to the right hand wall like some pathetic creature in an apartheid regime. It's clear who is the important one of the forums now.

I would suggest the only way Anandtech would learn is if users did not click on any adverts at all. But very few members read this forum and if they did, this post would get deleted rather than interfere with trade.

I thought I saw text-only advertisements at the bottom of the page yesterday linked to the forum type and a thread keyword. It would be much more effective to target advertisements in that way where they could be appreciated but not spoil the experience.

Ultimately it doesn't really matter, because there are forums superior to Anandtech for all the specific areas, if not of the high traffic which lets you pick more brains at once.

 

[SinfulWeeper]

Originally posted by: BingBongWongFooey
If you have mozilla or phoenix you can put the following into <MOZILLA>/default/XXXXXXXX.XXX/chrome/userContent.css:

table.ftstatuscell {
display: none !important;
visibility: hidden !important;
width: 0px !important;
height: 0px !important;
}

But keep in mind it may make other parts of fusetalk look funky. Haven't exactly tested it much yet.

I tried that in 4 different places... No matter what it will not work :|

 

[Thegonagle]

Hey, you guys have to pay the bills. But please, oh please, just stick the darn google banner at the top of the screen. I think its dynamic content would work best right below the existing banner space. I'll take one more banner at the top of the page, and you can even put some more at the bottom. Sell, sell, sell, but please don't wreck the overall layout. Thanks. This is a great site.

 

[RobCur]

These ads don't seem to bother me all that much, considering, i am just a freeloader.

 

[brinstar117]

Admittedly, I know little about html publishing and forum software, but is there at least a way for the forum to at least regain the left hand column blank space BELOW the left hand banner ad?

It's not a total solution, but it would help immensely as I have limited resolution to work with.

I occassionaly vist the www.battle.net forums and they have similar advertisment placement. However their ads are on the right hand side and after the bottom of the ad, the forum is able to take the space below it.

www.battle.net Forum Example

I didn't come here to complain, I am just trying to mediate or offer possible compromises.

Bump!

 

[Confused]

For any non-subscribers, this is how it looks on a 1280x1024 screen

There was going to be a long post here, but i think I only need a few words to describe how i feel about it:


In putting that goddam ad bar on the left where it is, you are pissing off way more people than who have posted here. There are probably people who didn't even bother to come to FI to tell you how they felt, they probably just upped and left. There are a few long-time members, and friends, who are seriously comtemplating leaving here if it's not sorted. I do not want to see my friends leave here, as some of them don't use AIM/ICQ/MSN/Yahoo etc, and this is the only way to really contact them. Not only will the forum be harmed by this, also the Distributed Computing teams that we have, in Anandtech's name, because we like this site, are going to start losing not only old members, but quite possibly new members. That alone makes me angry, because I have worked hard over in the DC forum to make friendships, promote the TeAm, and build up a good community there, and these ads are going to start to break up all that hard work.

You move them to the right, and try making your browser smaller in order for it to scroll. If you look, it'll have to be somewhere just below 800x600 where it starts to have to scroll. Do you think people are going to be running anything less than 800x600 if they are here? The majority of the userbase here are here for a reason...it's a HARDWARE site, where people come to gain, and increase their knowledge. Hell, most people would know their arse from 640x480, and would have increased it to at least 800x600! Moving the ads to the right won't solve the problem, but it will be better. Ads are not supposed to be on the left, navigation should. This layout seems unprofessional to me, but then what do I know, i'm not running a hugely successful site, but at least I have some sense of style, and know that ads like those on the left, just don't work.


Well, that was a bit longer than i'd hoped, but it's bothering me.


Confused

 

[deftron]

They were removed from the bottom because you had to scroll to see them?

Well, I'm running 1024x768 on a 14" screen and I still have to scroll to see the whole ad
when its on the left. I only see about 25% of it without scrolling...

If scrolling is the real problem, wouldn't it make much more sense to have the ad placed horizontally across
the top? Either above or below the other banner ads there...

 

[Atlantean]

Those ads on the side are stupid. Is there any way to get rid of it? They are incredibly annoying. Leave them on the bottom or the top, not on the left side, it takes up too much space. Why did they put it there? (I didn't feel like reading the other 250 posts of people who are annoyed with the ads)

 

[Wolfsraider]

Originally posted by: Confused
For any non-subscribers, this is how it looks on a 1280x1024 screen Confused

This is what all the griping is about?
it looks professional,clean and functional.there are some really good deals there also.
i was trying to decide on this style for a webpage layout or using drop down boxes lol this looks much better

gotta love tables.

sorry to interupt,back to your scheduled issues.

imho it looks nice though

mike

edit>this is on a 17 " monitor at 1024x768

 

[Lord Evermore]

Confused: which side of the argument was your picture meant to support? At 1280x1024, there certainly seems to be a LOT of space available for the threads and content. I use 1152x768 for my resolution, it takes up about 120 pixels, about right to make the content use the same width as on a 1024x768 resolution. Not exactly killing me to look at it. Are you really unable to read the forums just because of some blank space? Can you not stand having the posts narrower by about 2 to 3 words of width?

If people are going to bail on the site because of this, then that's not the only issue they've had and they've been chewing on disgust with other things for a while. This is just the last straw for those people, or they're bluffing or will just come back later.

For people limited to 1024 width, it's still not enough to completely destroy readability, though obviously it's not a GOOD layout. Anybody at 800x600 or lower just needs to learn to deal with the fact that the Web is progressing to cater to what the majority can use to provide better content; if they haven't learned that already, then I imagine they do a lot of complaining about sites.

There've also been a couple of comments about not wanting to read the previous posts: that's just stupid. Why should what's been discussed already be summarized and repeated for you? The why's have already been explained.

One other thing I will suggest, if the ads do have to be on the left or even the right, either the logo and PM notification area sit all the way to the left rather than staying over the "content" area, leaving a big gap (for the right side, do the same with the Nav dropdown area), or fill in the blank spot with another small ad, or move the Google ads entirely to the top of the page (which eliminates the need to scroll at all to see the bottom of the ad). Of course the blank space at the bottom continues to be an issue, and that may be hard to eliminate since it's dependent on how many posts people display per screen, and how long the posts are.

 

[Imported]

Originally posted by: Wolfsraider

Originally posted by: Confused
For any non-subscribers, this is how it looks on a 1280x1024 screen Confused

This is what all the griping is about?
it looks professional,clean and functional.there are some really good deals there also.
i was trying to decide on this style for a webpage layout or using drop down boxes lol this looks much better

gotta love tables.

sorry to interupt,back to your scheduled issues.

imho it looks nice though

mike

Damn.. I'm going to have to agree here..

 

[udonoogen]

Originally posted by: Wolfsraider

Originally posted by: Confused
For any non-subscribers, this is how it looks on a 1280x1024 screen Confused

This is what all the griping is about?
it looks professional,clean and functional.there are some really good deals there also.
i was trying to decide on this style for a webpage layout or using drop down boxes lol this looks much better

gotta love tables.

sorry to interupt,back to your scheduled issues.

imho it looks nice though

mike

edit>this is on a 17 " monitor at 1024x768

this is what the issue is about

this is on a 19" monitor @ 1152x768

the advertisement is fine. i have no problems with that. i just think that the huge blank white space along the entire thread UNDERNEATH it is a little annoying. i could get used to it but it's a little different for now. i wouldn't mind double banners on top.

 

[Confused]

LE, maybe it would have supported my arguement more if I'd put up this pic, but I was in a hurry earlier. If you're cutting down 120 pixels when you only have 600 to play with, then that's a lot. And look at that almost 1/4 of the screen taken up by whitespace. Add the bar on the left for username etc, and you have just over half the page, about 350 pixels, for the thread body.

I am with the "I don't like it on the left" crew, but no, I probably will not leave just due to it, but I know that some others, some of the friends I've made here, are considering leaving because of it being there. I probably wasn't making it too clear as I was in a rush earlier, and didn't re-read my post the normal couple of times I do to make sure it makes sense (well, when posting here in FI anyway)

I'd be happy with a suggestion like that of brinstar117, of having it wrap round the ad. Move the ad up to in line with the Anandtech logo, and alongside the PM notification and the defunct Forum Polls links, and make the rest wrap round, and I'll live with it. But please don't leave all that blank whitespace down the side.

 

[Wolfsraider]

I apologize but i still don't get it

1024x768 still very nice
1280x1024 still very nice

maybe if i was on a 640x480 screen resolution yes fine maybe,but then i'd have to ask myself....am i griping because i have a legitimate gripe or because i am trying to get by on older hardware?if it was the latter then "i" would not be griping about someones site just because of my limitations.

since monitors are expensive as well as upgrades the cheapest solution is subscribing.you don't like either option right but you just want to complain about changes.

most of the tutorial sites on the web that i use ,use this exact same type of layout sideline is used for navigation but it does take up space from the reading.

another that uses this same thing.

sure its not a forum but many folks use these sites for reading with little or no loss in space/professionalism.

you guys are making too much of this imho


sorry if i offended anyone ..thats not my intention but after looking at those sights you still feel like i'm wrong then so be it


mike
this site uses it also...please feel free to scroll down

 

[BDawg]

Originally posted by: GrumpyMan
I subscribed for a year the first time the servers mysteriously slowed down.

This is the exact reason I have never subscribed. Had they come clean and said the bandwidth cost too much money and they would have to cap it for those who didn't subscribe, I would have.

Instead, they slowed the forums down, pretended nothing happened, and then said, hey, if you subscribe, you'll get more bandwidth!