Absolutely ridiculous advertising sizes... again.

[Warby]

Come on guys... this is absolutely destroying the user experience. Literally HALF the screen taken up by the header because of an ad??

Seriously.. you need to ditch the ad scripts that you're using, or ditch whoever it is that's managing your website, because this is just stupid. Every other site seems to manage to present ads without these same issues.

 

[shanegtr]

Only around 1/4 of the page for me. Its a lot of space for a little square advert

 

[Warby]

The ads should never be able to affect the layout of the page like that.

@Patriot what's more important? The little bit of ad revenue or user experience???

 

[synchro]

Just use an Adblocker.

 

[Bomber2012]

The site is turning to shit , lots don’t come here anymore .

 

[2002GU3]

@Patriot - not trying to be a smart arse, but haven't you noticed that many of the new members post once or twice then don't bother coming back again ? or noticed that a lot of the regular long term members don't come here anymore or very rarely ? I tried quite a few times to access the store when you needed paying members but ended up giving up because of the stuffing around.......recently I tried to post some pics. using the same camera and same computer as I've used to post pics before, but now I can't post pics anymore (and I know I'm not the only one)...........now I get half a page of forum and half a page of ads.......I have met quite a few good people from 4x4 EARTH and have had some great trips with them, it would be a shame to lose anymore good people (and they're 4x4 knowledge) because of such annoying issues, you really do need to sort this site out sooner rather than later otherwise there will be no members left, and NO MEMBERS = NO FORUM.............(this is not a personal criticism of any admins or mods - just my observations and opinion - take it or leave it)............Jim.

 

[Triton14]

When I click on thread this pops up & takes over the whole page

I know forums need to revenue as they dont pay for themselves but if everyone is having to instal ad blockers not to see the ads then whats the point??

Beside whilead blockers block the content the space for the ad's are still taken up on the webpage.

 

[red hilux]

Just pay for a membership.

You won’t see any of that

 

[Rusty Panels]

I haven't had any problems with popups on this site. I'd reckon that's due to using antivirus software on both my Windows PC and my Mac.
Even a free antivirus should help but, after growing up with computers in the 60's (my dear old 93 year old Dad was an Engineer for IBM back then) and seeing the progression of home computers, along with the growing number of devious scumbags who use them to steal your information. I wouldn't run anything without decent antivirus software.
There are plenty of free ones out there but, you will get pestered by most of them to buy the full version. The paid versions usually do a few more things to help your PC run better.
The one I use on my Windows PC allows me to install it on a couple of devices under the same licence. It costs me less than $100 a year and I reckon it's worth it.
I am also a paid member of this site which may also help.

 

[Warby]

Just pay for a membership.

You won’t see any of that

I'm not paying for membership of any forum with admin who aren't willing to address the most basic and ongoing UX issues.

Edit to add to my original reply here..

I wouldn't, and won't, pay to access this forum. Nor should I have to - advertising is served to generate revenue, the paid membership was added as an option to remove the advertising. I do not get enough value from this site to pay for it, so I am happy to view advertising to support the site - but the admin of the website need to actually ensure the UX isn't ruined by those ads or they will gradually see this site die for the sake of a few $$ and youll end up with an echo chamber of a few paid members. Good luck with that.

 

[Warby]

I haven't had any problems with popups on this site. I'd reckon that's due to using antivirus software on both my Windows PC and my Mac.
Even a free antivirus should help but, after growing up with computers in the 60's (my dear old 93 year old Dad was an Engineer for IBM back then) and seeing the progression of home computers, along with the growing number of devious scumbags who use them to steal your information. I wouldn't run anything without decent antivirus software.
There are plenty of free ones out there but, you will get pestered by most of them to buy the full version. The paid versions usually do a few more things to help your PC run better.
The one I use on my Windows PC allows me to install it on a couple of devices under the same licence. It costs me less than $100 a year and I reckon it's worth it.
I am also a paid member of this site which may also help.

It's nothing to do with antivirus software or any lack thereof. It's the poorly implemented advertising scripts used and where the code to serve the ads has been inserted in the website layout.

 

[Kippie]

The advertising issues were discussed in an earlier thread. I paid my $20 and have no advertising. You get what you pay for.

New changes to 4x4earth - memberships, popups and ads.

Hello, Just a quick update on some changes to the site. Firstly, we are continuing to make changes to the ads. These will continue as they are needed to pay for the maintenance of the server and the website and to fund future features for the 4 wheel driving community. We have also...

4x4earth.com

 

[Patriot]

So a couple of things. Firstly, for the few who pay for membership, thank you very much!
Secondly, I hear a lot, a lot of I'm not paying for a membership, because of ........ There is more that we could do on a UX point of view, but I have ads turned on so that I get what the majority gets to see. Yes, they are annnoying, but for a site that has cost well over $200,000 to build and maintain, it is pretty simple, ads or die. Google make changes, and sometimes these upset the apple cart, but without the advertising, we would turn the site off, or sell it to an online store, which means that you would lose all of the indenpendence to write what you want (within reason) and they would use the site to flog stuff, so how many ads would you see then?
Thirdly, the popularity of the site is actually increasing. On Sunday we had 9,956 visits to the site, which is well up, considering that December is usually a quiet month.

The overarching thing that concerns me is that we have very little in the way or resources to do the 1 thing that this site exists for and that is to ensure that we and our children can access the amazing outback that we have access to in our 4 wheel drives. Without resources, we can't do that, we can't invest in keeping the site running, or encouraging others to go 4 wheel driving.

This is an industry wide problem, it isn't just poor little us. The 4 wheel driving community is very fractured and it starts at the top, some of the big 4 wheel drive equipment manufacturers, for a variety of reasons, do very little to support 4 wheel driving activities.

It is a tough problem, and I have always apologies for the ads, but the number of people who financial support us is very few, the number who buy a tshirt is very few, the number of sponsored podcasts is very few.

The saving graces is that we are seeing more and more people come to the site and return to the site. Many people come to the site multiple times a day. In fact, on Sunday alone, we saw over 1,200 visits from people who had already been to the site THAT DAY!.

James

 

[Warby]

You're missing the point @Patriot . Nobody has said they have a problem with there being ads, the problem is that you're letting the ads ruin the UX because they've been poorly implemented.

I'm happy to support the site by being served ads, but there is no excuse for doing it so poorly when every other website and forum manages to do it without destroying the site.

 

[Patriot]

Come on guys... this is absolutely destroying the user experience. Literally HALF the screen taken up by the header because of an ad??

Seriously.. you need to ditch the ad scripts that you're using, or ditch whoever it is that's managing your website, because this is just stupid. Every other site seems to manage to present ads without these same issues. View attachment 70267

So Warby, to help, it would be great to know what page you are looking at and what browser and what device.
Part of the complexity we see is that there are, believe it or not, 559 different screen resolutions that were used to view 4x4earth in the last 30 days. We try to get it right for most people, but we cannot test for all variations, and that is just screen resolution, you also have operating system and browser, so there would be over 5,000 combinations.

 

[Warby]

So Warby, to help, it would be great to know what page you are looking at and what browser and what device.
Part of the complexity we see is that there are, believe it or not, 559 different screen resolutions that were used to view 4x4earth in the last 30 days. We try to get it right for most people, but we cannot test for all variations, and that is just screen resolution, you also have operating system and browser, so there would be over 5,000 combinations.

The screenshot is in the first post, and it was like that across every page on the forum. Using Chrome on a Windows 10 laptop, with default resolution (can't recall and not at that PC right now).

There is nothing exotic about that setup. This SHOULDNT be a problem man - like I said multiple times, it doesn't happen elsewhere. Putting the ad in the page header like you have is the problem - the header is scaling to fit the ad, which it should never be allowed to do. If you're paying a web developer to do this then he or she should be all over this. If he/she isn't, get a new developer.

 

[peterfermtech]

I concur with @Warby. There is nothing wrong with having advertising. It is the implementation that is the issue here. You still get paid for the add whether it is to the side or engulfing your content. Other sites manage it very well without damaging their asset. If you don't provide a good user experience in the first instance you will miss out on return viewers who won't even get to know you have an add free option. If I was a new arrival to your site I reckon I would be bouncing back out in seconds. As for your mobile experience I don't even bother.

 

[Warby]

To provide perhaps a slightly more constructive input that just my previous complaints...

I assume you are serving the ad in the header because you perceive that's how you will get the maximum number of impressions and viewing time, right? Last night, when I visited the site I looked at a couple of posts. Gave up, posted this and left. You would have got more revenue from my visit if the ad hadn't destroyed the user experience

You can get exactly the same number of impressions if the ad is served at the top of the content frame, instead of the header. The header is scaling to fit content, the ad is scaling to fit the screen. That is not a compatible set of parameters so you have to find a compromise. Placing the ad in the top of the content frame could achieve that - the ad is served, it can scale all it wants and the user can scroll past it.

 

[peterfermtech]

From https://www.webpagetest.org/lighthouse

 

[Triton14]

So a couple of things. Firstly, for the few who pay for membership, thank you very much!
Secondly, I hear a lot, a lot of I'm not paying for a membership, because of ........ There is more that we could do on a UX point of view, but I have ads turned on so that I get what the majority gets to see. Yes, they are annnoying, but for a site that has cost well over $200,000 to build and maintain, it is pretty simple, ads or die. Google make changes, and sometimes these upset the apple cart, but without the advertising, we would turn the site off, or sell it to an online store, which means that you would lose all of the indenpendence to write what you want (within reason) and they would use the site to flog stuff, so how many ads would you see then?
Thirdly, the popularity of the site is actually increasing. On Sunday we had 9,956 visits to the site, which is well up, considering that December is usually a quiet month.

The overarching thing that concerns me is that we have very little in the way or resources to do the 1 thing that this site exists for and that is to ensure that we and our children can access the amazing outback that we have access to in our 4 wheel drives. Without resources, we can't do that, we can't invest in keeping the site running, or encouraging others to go 4 wheel driving.

This is an industry wide problem, it isn't just poor little us. The 4 wheel driving community is very fractured and it starts at the top, some of the big 4 wheel drive equipment manufacturers, for a variety of reasons, do very little to support 4 wheel driving activities.

It is a tough problem, and I have always apologies for the ads, but the number of people who financial support us is very few, the number who buy a tshirt is very few, the number of sponsored podcasts is very few.

The saving graces is that we are seeing more and more people come to the site and return to the site. Many people come to the site multiple times a day. In fact, on Sunday alone, we saw over 1,200 visits from people who had already been to the site THAT DAY!.

James

A forums that I was an assistant administrator of came to a similar cross road & the owner definately didnt want banners all over the pages so also introduce paid membership.

We structured the site that paid membership gave access to areas that the free membership did not, If I use this site as an example free members could have access to say just the General 4wd forums section, then only paid or "premium" members could access things like tracks, podcasts, trips, camping, classifieds, community etc.
The uptake was good because people did really want to access those other areas & it keep the site financial enough with the addition of site sponsors.

This was all explained in the registration page.

To me thats more of an insentive to say that if your a paid member we wont slug you with advertisments.