Backlog Should UU VIP membership block or minimize ads?

[ploverwing]

From the behavior of some other forums, I assumed by paying to be a UU VIP, the ads would go away. I now am reminded that assumptions only lead to disappointment.

I do believe that it is, generally, a good policy that donating to / paying for an, otherwise free, online site, just as with a iPhone app, should include the benefit of removing or, at least, reducing the number, size, and intrusiveness of ads.

 

[KohanMike]

I'm OK with the ads shown on UU because they're not as intrusive as other forums, but if they don't bring in as much as a VIP membership, then eliminating them is fine.

 

[TimWilson]

The plan is still to eliminate them for VIP members, but that option is not available in XenForo's native ad system. They're either all on, or all off.

On the agenda is buying and then later configuring the new ad platform that will allow us to do that.

It's not a lot of money, but it is a lot of time. I don't mean to keep listing the personal obstacles between here and there, but yeah, I have some. But this is something I take seriously as is not keeping up our end of the deal.

For two years, we were without a sysadmin, and in the almost 4 months I've been on board, and 3 with @ploverwing and @Arcy helping, we've been able to accomplish a lot of lighter tasks fast, but there's still quite a mess in the backend that needs to be cleared out before we can undertake the next round of big stuff.

All I can do is ask for your patience while we keep toiling away, which I assure you we are.

Among the things I'm still working on is tweaking the settings we have. If you see any ad with either offensive content or impolite formatting, please screenshot it, and PM me! I'm very happy to hear from you, and will do what I can as quickly as I can.

Finally, a reminder that what brought me here as a mod was asking @anaka to let be an admin so that I could do something about the ads. He responded immediately, got me wired in, and getting rid of the adult content ads was indeed the first thing I tackled. It's not everything, but it's something, and I try to clean the lineup out every day. But that's the start of it, not the end of it.

In the meantime, please don't think for a single second that I've forgotten about UU's commitment to an ad-free experience for VIPs, or my own origin story as an admin.

And do please send me screenshots of intrusive layouts and inappropriate ads. The more details I have, the easier it will be for me to address your concerns. They're my concerns too!

Mahalo,
Tim
Mod

 

[TBB]

I don’t mind seeing ads on UU these days. They’re mainly pretty relevant now, thanks to all the mods’ hard work and the renaming of “That Thread”, and I don’t find them annoying when I’m using the site.

Personally I’ve used UU on and off for years without paying for VIP membership so I feel like my subscription now is a bit of payback for all those years of free information, advice and community. Obviously not everyone’s experience is the same, and there are a number of people on here who’ve been VIPs for years, but from my point of view I’m quite happy to be contributing to the running of UU - ads or no ads.

 

[Patrick Madsen]

appreciate all you do Tim. I'd surely pay more if it took the ads away. You've done a good job cleaning them up but still would prefer they be gone. Thanks for all you do.

 

[TimWilson]

You've done a good job cleaning them up but still would prefer they be gone. Thanks for all you do.

Thanks for the kind words!

To put in one more bit of context, Google ads only allow me to block a handful of general categories. I can't say, "Hey, can you give us more music-related ads?" There's no actual control.

So we're nowhere near where I want to be for what the ads could and should be...

... but no question at all, the goal is still to get them gone for VIPs.

 

[ploverwing]

FYI @Whodad - Tim has provided some feedback for your UU VIP request (I'm presuming that you wouldn't be notified of this post or necessarily notice that it's been updated). It's a project on the books, but not highest priority just yet, as we have other back-end stuff to sort out first, plus it's a paid for solution (which does not mean it's "no", just "not yet"). Thanks again for your input!

 

[Whodad]

FYI @Whodad - Tim has provided some feedback for your UU VIP request (I'm presuming that you wouldn't be notified of this post or necessarily notice that it's been updated). It's a project on the books, but not highest priority just yet, as we have other back-end stuff to sort out first, plus it's a paid for solution (which does not mean it's "no", just "not yet"). Thanks again for your input!

FYI @Whodad - Tim has provided some feedback for your UU VIP request (I'm presuming that you wouldn't be notified of this post or necessarily notice that it's been updated). It's a project on the books, but not highest priority just yet, as we have other back-end stuff to sort out first, plus it's a paid for solution (which does not mean it's "no", just "not yet"). Thanks again for your input!

I understand the depth of complexity that goes into running a forum without it being specifically for a commercial/business purpose. It takes time, money, and attention. It is rare to find people to be willing to invest what is needed to what may, at much of the time, not seem to provide juice worth the squeeze.

I do appreciate this and other forums that continue to exist to bring together a community that would, otherwise, be sparse and without the worldwide network of knowledge sharing, troubleshooting, support, and marketplace. This may not matter as much to some that live in densely populated metropolitan areas, but for those of us in rural areas there is little or no source for these connections.

I believe the people who run, manage, and maintain the forum can l, at least, not feel any financial burden from doing so. I understand advertising helps there. As do members who contribute financially. As I have become more financially secure, it had become easier for me to give a few dollars here and there to resources I find helpful and to ones that I feel provide worldwide benefit. I know not everyone can contribute financially and I don’t think anyone should stretch too far to contribute financially is there is risk of doing so causing hardship.

Thank you for all you do. It takes much work to keep a forum free from bots, scammers, rage posters, etc. This will become even more difficult with the advent of AI-like tools such as ChatGPT that will make it harder to differentiate a bot from a real person.

Sincerely,
Jason

 

[Wiggy]

My hope is that paying for UU VIP "status" at the very least offsets the "micro-pennies" that the forum would otherwise receive for ads displayed during my times of being logged in.

I too sincerely thank all those who keeping this site up and running. That is no mean task.

Moo-Wah!

 

[BigJackBrass]

I'll be honest, I've never seen ads on here because I always run adblockers (currently reading the forums on my iPhone with Safari, blissfully unassailed by people trying to sell things to me). There's no such thing as a relevant advert in my book. It's a shame that selling ad space is one of the few ways for many sites to raise money.

 

[kerneltime]

One option if possible is to sell ads to folks that care about UU and display them. Right now the ads are completely irrelevant. I am not buying trump coins or can join Seattle humane society as I am not local. I am sure folks like K brands and others would love to have a better ads platform

 

[ploverwing]

One option if possible is to sell ads to folks that care about UU and display them. Right now the ads are completely irrelevant. I am not buying trump coins or can join Seattle humane society as I am not local. I am sure folks like K brands and others would love to have a better ads platform

Again, this kind of thing is in the works for the future. It's better than it was, but it can be even betterer! Tim is very keen to improve on this in due course.