Geekzone and Adblock

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Talkiet

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#65289 1-Aug-2010 22:36

I just got this email from Geekzone

Hello!

We noticed you have just visited Geekzone with an Ad Block. Geekzone is completely supported by our advertisers and subscribers. It would help us a lot if you could put Geekzone in your Ad Block whitelist.

Thanks

Mauricio Freitas
http://www.geekzone.co.nz

Mauricio - I appreciate the sentiments in the email, but would just like to know if having adblock enabled will result in any further interesting actions on behalf of geekzone (preventing access to pages or some features etc)... It seems you currently monitor registered website visitors to see if they have adblock enabled and email them.

Regards
Neil Gardner

Please note all comments are from my own brain and don't necessarily represent the position or opinions of my employer, previous employers, colleagues, friends or pets.

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#361242 1-Aug-2010 22:44

Exclude geekzone then? Its not like he has obnoxious things that play sounds and pop up other crap like most of the sites that you need adblock for.

Richard rich.ms

freitasm

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#361263 1-Aug-2010 23:24

By monitoring ad block usage I am trying to establish what impact this can have in our operation.

I decided to start monitoring this trend because about 36% of our traffic is using Firefox, and these are more likely to be users of ad block software.

If we find out that the ad block has no impact due to low usage, then things stay as they are. If ad block is shown to be used by a large number of users then yes we will have to work with those users to find a balance.

The reality is that while we do generate revenue from innovative usage of the media (just check the Visual Studio and the MyFreeview|HD review blogs), advertising is still a good part of our income.

One of the things that we could do is disabling the Quick Reply box if an ad block is detected. Users will still be able to post in the threads but will have to use the full editor instead.

freitasm

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#361268 1-Aug-2010 23:40

From Why Ad Blocking is devastating to the sites you love (Ars Technica):

There is an oft-stated misconception that if a user never clicks on ads, then blocking them won't hurt a site financially. This is wrong. Most sites, at least sites the size of ours, are paid on a per view basis. If you have an ad blocker running, and you load 10 pages on the site, you consume resources from us (bandwidth being only one of them), but provide us with no revenue. Because we are a technology site, we have a very large base of ad blockers. Imagine running a restaurant where 40% of the people who came and ate didn't pay. In a way, that's what ad blocking is doing to us. Just like a restaurant, we have to pay to staff, we have to pay for resources, and we have to pay when people consume those resources. The difference, of course, is that our visitors don't pay us directly but indirectly by viewing advertising.

If you read a site and care about its well being, then you should not block ads (or you subscribe to sites like Ars that offer ads-free versions of the site). If a site has advertising you don't agree with, don't go there. I think it is far better to vote with page views than to show up and consume resources without giving anything in return. I think in some ways the Internet and its vast anonymity feeds into a culture where many people do not think about the people, the families, the careers that go into producing a website. People talk about how annoying advertisments are, but I'll tell you what: it's a lot more annoying and frustrating to have to cut staff and cut benefits because a huge portion of readers block ads.

Let me stop and clarify quickly that I am not saying that we are on the verge of vanishing from the Internet. But we, like many, many sites are greatly affected by ad blocking, and it is a very worrisome trend.

So I'll end this part of the discussion by just reiterating my point: blocking ads hurts the sites you love. Please consider not blocking ads on those sites.

semigeek

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#361388 2-Aug-2010 10:09

I also received this email and have my ad blocker on as I find the flashing/animated type ads quite distracting. If they were text ads like on Google then I would add Geekzone to my AdBlock whitelist on a permanent basis.

Edwood

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#361412 2-Aug-2010 10:46

Hey,

I sent a reply email to the 'please don't block ads on Geekzone' mail that came my way, but it bounced.

My suggestion is that we remove as many barriers as possible for people to whitelist geekzone by telling them HOW to do this.

I'm not a complete nub, and it still took me over 5mins to figure out how to do this.

Anyway, here's my email:

"I'm sure most GZ users would be, I'm more than happy to comply with this request.

It did, however, take me a good 5 mins or so to figure out HOW to do this.

It would be a very good idea to include some instructions and/or links to the most common adblockers so there is very little barrier to do this.

Here's the link that i used:

http://adblockplus.org/en/faq_basics#disable"

freitasm

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#361415 2-Aug-2010 10:48

Good point - thanks for the link too.

johnr

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#361431 2-Aug-2010 11:11

I would suggest pay for the subscription guys

Equinox IT

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soleil24

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#361450 2-Aug-2010 11:38

"Whitelisting" or disabling a site or page isn't exactly hard with ABP (drop-down arrow and select current site or page - 2 clicks !)

But I'm with johnr on the much better solution

toprob

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#361459 2-Aug-2010 11:49

At the moment I have GZ+ads on probation, I'll give it a go for a week, hopefully I can live with it:)

Does what I'm seeing actually represent the current state of web advertising? I admit I've been out of touch since I started blocking ads, and my first reaction was that things have got a bit out of control.

I'm seeing about 40% of the page devoted to 4 ads. Two of them are big, red and animated, and just keep on playing. The other two are just different layouts of the same Google ad.

What Adblock needs is a 'allow 40% of the ads on this page' button.

michaelmurfy

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#361462 2-Aug-2010 11:50

Paying for the subscription means no emails like that, plus also it's a tad nicer and faster.
Do it, I took the plunge :) Now I am flying first class.

Michael Murphy | https://murfy.nz
Referral Links: Quic Broadband (use R122101E7CV7Q for free setup)

Are you happy with what you get from Geekzone? Please consider supporting us by subscribing.
Opinions are my own and not the views of my employer.

josephhinvest

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#361464 2-Aug-2010 11:52

Yah, I too have now whitelisted Geekzone. I'm not a subscriber, but I also don't want to be a leecher... (Chome, AdThwart).

Cheers,
Joseph.

freitasm

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#361481 2-Aug-2010 12:05

toprob: At the moment I have GZ+ads on probation, I'll give it a go for a week, hopefully I can live with it:)

Does what I'm seeing actually represent the current state of web advertising? I admit I've been out of touch since I started blocking ads, and my first reaction was that things have got a bit out of control.

I'm seeing about 40% of the page devoted to 4 ads. Two of them are big, red and animated, and just keep on playing. The other two are just different layouts of the same Google ad.

We actually work really hard to make pages small as possible, using different techniques and software to achieve this. We monitor almost everything here and one of the metrics I put most attention on is the time to load a page - this includes the ads.

This is one of the reasons why we have our server in Auckland - we also make sure we are close to our users to reduce latency. About 45% of our readers are in New Zealand, and of those about 55% are in Auckland. So we have our server in Auckland. Having it in Wellington would introduce extra hops that would affect those in Auckland, and also extra hops to those accessing from overseas.

We do a lot of things to reduce the impact those ads could have in the time you spend waiting for our pages to load. Obviously we also do a lot when it comes to the ads themselves. For example you don't see any of those icons, emoticons, ringtones, cursors ads on Geekzone - not here and not overseas. You don't see those flashing "You are the winner" or "You are our 1,000,000th visitor" ads. We don't run popups or popunders.

So all I ask is to let the ads we run go through. My promise is that ads will continue to be relevant, and it will help us keep the site going with more features coming.

nate

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#361528 2-Aug-2010 12:53

Would more of your subscribe if freitasm provided a local credit card processor to register your details with (such as Westpac/ASB or DPS)?

johcar

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#361537 2-Aug-2010 13:03

Instructions for those using Google Chrome with the "AdBlock" extension. Just press Ctrl + Shift + L , then press "OK" on the prompt, to add Geekzone to the Whitelist...

Edwood

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#361539 2-Aug-2010 13:06

soleil24: "Whitelisting" or disabling a site or page isn't exactly hard with ABP (drop-down arrow and select current site or page - 2 clicks !)

But I'm with johnr on the much better solution

IG

I did expect someone to say this "It's easy".
Most things in life are very easy... when you know how.
I've never looked at ABP since I installed it, and I suspect like many others, id forgotton I had an ad blocker, i didn't know it was called, if it had a logo, and where the logo may or may not be.

I made my way by going into addons, then found what it was called, went to ABP options, filters etc... However, I certainly didn't know how to create a filter that looks like this: "@@||geekzone.co.nz^$document".

Fortunately, I was committed enough to the process to google it, and found the 'easy way'.

Naturally, if we tell people how to add GZ to a 'whitelist', there will be significantly more who do so.

wrt/ subscription. As a very casual attendee, I didn't know subscription existed, I've never been bothered by ads, and in fact quite like some advertising. I'm more than happy to see some ads (and even click on some) to help GZ be successful.

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