Ads

[mfergusonjr]

Man, I just pulled up the AA site without being logged in. There are so many ads now. I don't like the idea of tons of ads being added to the site at the same time as the premium membership. Seems like AA is out for money now. I mean in ads inserted inside your posts. All I can say is, that's a ton of ads!

 

[Marconis]

There are a lot of ads, didn't notice that as I never log out...

 

[mfergusonjr]

I would like to request that my "supporter" status be removed. Not just the badge turned off. I don't want anyone to think I am supporting the new direction AA has gone in recently.
Thanks

 

[carey]

Wow you guys take this all too seriously. LOL There are ads everywhere for everything I don't really think it has to do with AA specifically. I have ads on my other apps too and I just ignore them.

I have the supporter status and I havent turned off ads. If they are relevant to the site then why not support them?

I use the actual website 99.9% of the time so I'm not sure if its an phone app thing.

But anyways, relax folks....this is the best site ever! ads or no ads. You all gotta agree on that dontcha?

 

[Marconis]

I'm pretty relaxed, merely stating an observation in response to Mark.

 

[mfergusonjr]

I never said I was using the iOS app. I use the desktop version of the site most of the time. Maybe that's the solution, switch to using the iOS app. Of course they will probably start inserting ads there to. I don't see half the number of ads on a site that I visit regularly than I do here. Try logging out and coming in as a guest and click on a thread. You'll see a billion ads. I know I don't see these ads normally it's just the fact that guests have to deal with them. Not a good rep to have.

 

[jenatron]

I will say that for non-supporter/un-registered users AA has more ads than all the other forums I'm on. And that's on desktop, not any app.
Regardless of enjoying the site or not, that doesn't mean you enjoy tons of ads.
For the record, I think we're all relaxed.

 

[mfergusonjr]

Oh and before any tells me I can block them. Yes I know I can do that, I could also write my own stylesheet to remove them completely. I'm not going to intentionally click one of those ads anyway. So I may as well be able to turn them off without having to work at it. Again, it boils down to money.

 

[mfergusonjr]

For the record, I think we're all relaxed.

Yep, I feel pretty relaxed. You should see me when I get fired up.

 

[neilanh]

I think it's important to note that up until now there wasn't a supporter program or any way for AA to generate revenue from it's members. Nor is the supporter system required.

It does, however, cost money to operate the site in terms of webhosting fees, technical staff, domain registrations, upgrades, etc etc, and ads are the way all forums (not just AA) generates revenue to pay for these things WITHOUT having to require users to pay annual dues or something.

 

[mfergusonjr]

A few ads are one thing, these however are overwhelming. You really aren't understanding what I'm saying. I've noticed more ads since the supporter program showed up. So now you are generating income from the supporter program and from additional ads. Why not add features to the supporter program that will draw people other than the removal of ads.

Maybe Social Knowledge should get back into the business of social knowledge, rather than generating a profit or change it's name to Social Profit...

At $15.02/year you could easily pay all fees with under 200 paid members. Since the site claims to have over 35,000 members that shouldn't be a problem. Then you wouldn't need ads all over the place.

Come on, someone with good business sense is needed.

I'll state it again. Please remove the supporter association from my account.

 

[neilanh]

I'm sorry that you feel that way.

I have removed your AA Supporter status from your account.

 

[mfergusonjr]

Thank you for making me a normal user again.

 

[Janet H]

Thank you for making me a normal user again.

I'm sorry you feel this way but wanted to let you know that the ads for unregistered members have been there for quite some time and all these things help keep the board up. Software, hosting, programmers, security - they all add up. Social Knowledge is the company that owns AA and it's not a big company. It's owned by one guy Andy R. Over the years Andy has worked to improve the forums features, speed and stability.

In many ways a forum is a partnership. Members are the topic experts and the site team guides the path of the community growth and structure. But as you have pointed out participation is not mandatory and in fact most forum users register (or not) and enjoy the content and get help from other members - all for free. Members helping other members continues to be the mainstay of Aquarium Advice.