Ads are coming

[Brock Beauchamp]

I want to remain as transparent as possible so in the coming days - I don’t know exactly when - ads will begin populating the site. I know ads suck but I hope you’ll all be patient with us as we implement them, as the majority of revenue goes right back into the content creators, moderators, and site infrastructure. It’s an unfortunate reality but all the labor that goes into this site requires compensation and ads are how we do it.

With that said, I hope you’re all enjoying the new site and I assure you we’re only getting started! Over the summer we’re going to keep adding loads of cool new features and we’re in this for the long haul. If you ever have suggestions or input, please feel free to contact me either publicly or privately. Thanks!

[nate82]

Well my adblocker is also coming just being transparent here.?

[Brock Beauchamp]

1 hour ago, nate82 said:

Well my adblocker is also coming just being transparent here.?

Cool. I love it when people boast that they’re removing any ability to operate this site or pay any of our creators for content. Super cool. 

[Samurai Bucky]

Could I put in a request to not have the floating DIV that has video that follows me everywhere?  So many of the sites I visit will start with the video and if I have the sound on, the people in my online meeting hear sports talk right away... ?‍♀️

[Brock Beauchamp]

1 hour ago, Samurai Bucky said:

Could I put in a request to not have the floating DIV that has video that follows me everywhere?  So many of the sites I visit will start with the video and if I have the sound on, the people in my online meeting hear sports talk right away... ?‍♀️

We will implement video at some point over the summer but there won’t be sound and there won’t be videos in the forum. 

[Ron Robinsons Beard]

The ads are here, and holy crap are they all over the place and terrible!

[Outlander]

On 4/5/2022 at 3:16 PM, Brock Beauchamp said:

Cool. I love it when people boast that they’re removing any ability to operate this site or pay any of our creators for content. Super cool. 

Posters that are here still have really only come here for the forum, there has not been articles/content for years. Obviously you expect some return on your investment and I'm sure you're also looking for new users but older users probably don't care too much about content creators since they have  been without it for so long. Don't really consider it boasting, just a different perspective.

[Brock Beauchamp]

2 hours ago, Outlander said:

Posters that are here still have really only come here for the forum, there has not been articles/content for years. Obviously you expect some return on your investment and I'm sure you're also looking for new users but older users probably don't care too much about content creators since they have  been without it for so long. Don't really consider it boasting, just a different perspective.

A bunch of the moderators are now contributing to the front page and being paid. Many other moderators will receive gifts regularly, some already have. This endeavor is more than creating a front page; it’s an attempt to give a little back to all the people who have supported this site for the past 20 years. Then there are hosting fees, various expenses, and the literal 150 hours I’ve personally put into improving the code base and adding feature sets.

I’m not going to tell anyone what to do; some of you are going to run ad blockers either way. But flaunting it publicly is a jerk move.

[Ron Robinsons Beard]

What about complaining about how the ads popping up all over the place makes scrolling the forum on a PC kind of annoying? I get the need for ads, but is there a better way to do it? This is almost as bad as visiting one of those illegal sports streaming sites. Is it because I'm using Chrome as my browser?

[Brock Beauchamp]

Just now, Ron Robinsons Beard said:

What about complaining about how the ads popping up all over the place makes scrolling the forum on a PC kind of annoying? I get the need for ads, but is there a better way to do it? This is almost as bad as visiting one of those illegal sports streaming sites. Is it because I'm using Chrome as my browser?

The ads are going to be a bit messy for a little while as the provider figures stuff out. I don’t even have access to the dashboard yet to change some settings I don’t like. Over the next few weeks, we’ll continue to make adjustments. 

[Brock Beauchamp]

And sorry, I may come across as a bit of a jerk about this but it's mostly exasperation. Small sites like this one where we work really hard to compensate people are hurt by ad blockers but monolithic sites like Facebook, Reddit, et al shrug it off because they have the money to do so, they don't compensate people for content, and they spend a ton of effort driving people to an app that doesn't allow ad blockers.

And the entire idea behind ad blockers is just kind of gross. If you enjoy something enough to use it, why not support it through such a passive revenue stream as ads? Now, be sure that I also dislike ads. If there was a better way to do this, I'd jump at it.

[Ulice Payne]

I appreciate what you're doing here; I've whitelisted you.  

[zurch1818]

I completely understand why ads are on the site. Is there a way to have a "pro" version and avoid the ads?  I make enough money where I have no issue just paying my ad cost per month to support the site.

It's really hard for me to justify whitelisting a site to have it run noticably slower. To put it into context, at times my internet at home is quite terrible (which is a whole other issue). The load times are noticably different when I use Chrome vs Brave on my phone. The ads just about make the site unreadable.

[Brock Beauchamp]

13 minutes ago, zurch1818 said:

I completely understand why ads are on the site. Is there a way to have a "pro" version and avoid the ads?  I make enough money where I have no issue just paying my ad cost per month to support the site.

It's really hard for me to justify whitelisting a site to have it run noticably slower. To put it into context, at times my internet at home is quite terrible (which is a whole other issue). The load times are noticably different when I use Chrome vs Brave on my phone. The ads just about make the site unreadable.

We just released this on Twins Daily but only after we established enough extra content to warrant a subscription (without implementing any kind of dreaded paywall). Give me a little time to talk this over with the other owners and see if we can't reach some kind of resolution to do this earlier (and cheaper) without the extra content we provide at Twins Daily.

[SomewhereInTime]

The hostile takeover of Brewerfan has reached phase two as now loyal brewer fans can no longer scroll through their beloved forum without a bombardment of ads for products they will never buy.

[wildcat83]

These ads are a bit over the top.  There’s literally an add between every post on my phone, and pop ups on the bottom. Seeing post, ad, post, ad, when the ads are often the same one over and over is brutal.

[Brock Beauchamp]

5 minutes ago, wildcat83 said:

These ads are a bit over the top.  There’s literally an add between every post on my phone, and pop ups on the bottom. Seeing post, ad, post, ad, when the ads are often the same one over and over is brutal.

They're populating really aggressively right now and I don't like it either. Once I can get access to the dashboard - which I think will be any time between tomorrow and Monday - I'm going to start working on refining how and where they populate a bit.

[Samurai Bucky]

C'mon guys.  You must not visit too many sites.  The number of ads are tame compared to some sites. 

Being an older guy, I use a wheel mouse to scroll past the crazy amount of ads.  

The last thing you would want is to have a paywall (a la the Athletic).  

Logitech Wireless Mouse

Brock -- keep up the good work.

[greeg35]

A couple of observations: ads are tolerable on my phone; but problematic on my tablet.  I'd be willing to pay a monthly subscription fee to avoid.

[Brock Beauchamp]

14 minutes ago, greeg35 said:

A couple of observations: ads are tolerable on my phone; but problematic on my tablet.  I'd be willing to pay a monthly subscription fee to avoid.

I don’t spend a lot of time on a tablet. What is frustrating you about that experience?

[greeg35]

On a phone, the ads are peripheral.  On my tablet they're more in my face.  It looks like the side bar and bottom ad space are thicker.  I'm looking at it in landscape mainly. I'll try rotating it for a while.  

I haven't looked at this on a computer yet to compare.

[LouisEly]

I understand the need for ads.  Couple of requests/questions:

1. For desktop, what I don't mind is freezing the right 20-25% or so of the screen and having a fixed ad space that stays there as you scroll.  Not sure if this is possible, but it's much better than placing ads between posts (and as a marketer, I would hypothesize that it is more effective).
2. For God's sake, please do not put in any of those Outbrain/Tabloola/clickbait ads like you see on SBNation sites.  Please only have legitimate ads from legitimate companies.
3. Another option might be having to watch a 15-second ad before going to the site/article.  I would be OK with that if it keeps ads out of the forums.

[Brock Beauchamp]

1 minute ago, LouisEly said:

I understand the need for ads.  Couple of requests/questions:

1. For desktop, what I don't mind is freezing the right 20-25% or so of the screen and having a fixed ad space that stays there as you scroll.  Not sure if this is possible, but it's much better than placing ads between posts (and as a marketer, I would hypothesize that it is more effective).
2. For God's sake, please do not put in any of those Outbrain/Tabloola/clickbait ads like you see on SBNation sites.  Please only have legitimate ads from legitimate companies.
3. Another option might be having to watch a 15-second ad before going to the site/article.  I would be OK with that if it keeps ads out of the forums.

Thanks for the feedback! While I'll give 1 and 3 some consideration, we do our best to only display legitimate ads and if you ever see some terrible, dodgy ads appear, please screenshot it and let me know.

[Samurai Bucky]

14 hours ago, LouisEly said:

I understand the need for ads.  Couple of requests/questions:

3. Another option might be having to watch a 15-second ad before going to the site/article.  I would be OK with that if it keeps ads out of the forums.

I would disagree.  On my desktop, it isn't so bad.  I know it is only 15 seconds, but it is a nuisance for me on other sites.

[gebc1997]

This keeps happening to me this morning on my iPad .   It has happened before on other sites that were loaded with ads.