Important note regarding a new ad

[Arlie Rahn]

GDS community,

 

We've been selected to join a fairly prestigious ad network that could earn us credits to promote our games for a discounted rate. This involves adding a floating bottom ad to the forum.

 

Now, I have been very clear that no ads that disrupt the forums (ie, takeover ads) will be allowed. I also have wanted to give forum members a way to avoid them if they do have issues. Currently, we run google ads but only for non-logged in visitors. That won't change here.

 

So, here's my plan and let me know what you guys think:

 

1. I'm going to run a trial with the new ad for the weekend. If possible, I would like you guys to allow it and see if any impact you.

 

2. I have created a "no ads" theme for forum members. You can change to this by going to the bottom and selecting "No Ads default". If at any point the ads really bother you, feel free to switch to the No Ads version. But I would like to get some feedback from you guys over the weekend before you switch if possible.

 

After this weekend, I will leave it up to each community member. You can choose to keep the bottom ad if it isn't too intrusive (it will help is in a small way). Or, you can chose the no ad theme. If you do stay with the default, you will only get the new bottom ad (not the old google ads) - I just want that to be clear.

 

You guys are a vital part of our community and I want the forum experience to be as positive as possible. I am always looking for ways to grow the business and increase our fanbase - but not at the expense of you guys.

 

All that said, use this forum to let me know your thoughts on the new ads and feel free to switch to the no ad default theme if they bother you.

 

Thank you guys for your continued support of GDS!

 

Arlie

[AlexB]

Going straight to the no-ads skin. It’s annoying

[NotTheAEWCody]

Is the forum ever going to be... somewhat modernized? I find it a little concerning that you're still holding off on HTTPS but we're moving toward webpage ads. Recently as August we've had sections of the forum disappear due to database corruption without any sort of restoration http://www.greydogsoftware.com/forum/showpost.php?p=2464638&postcount=3

 

https://i.imgur.com/HN4SAMY.png

 

I'll be sticking with my ad block for now, thanks.

[Arlie Rahn]

I appreciate the feedback. Remember, you can switch to the no-ad theme at the bottom left of the main forum page if the ad bothers you.

 

The problem with upgrading is vbulletin only supports up to a certain level of PHP/MySQL. So we have to stay below that.

[Paul_Heyman_Guy]

So far I’ve seen two different types of ads: rectangular ads that go almost all the way across the screen but aren’t very tall, and square ads that sit in the lower left corner and take up damn near a quarter of the screen. I can deal with the little rectangular ads, they’re barely noticeable and something I could get used to. But the square ones are extremely disruptive, they block all but the top two forums or subjects, and I’m definitely going to the ad free version if those stick around.

[Arlie Rahn]

Yeah, I've seen the square ones too. That's a good catch and I'm going to see if I can remove those. It's on my list

[Judoku1819]

I can only see the small bottom one and on a regular PC it's really not in the way of anything. I usually hate banner ads but I don't find this one to really be in the way.

 

Not sure what this'll be like for mobile users though. I imagine on a smaller screen it's pretty annoying.

 

EDIT: I have now seen the bigger square ad in the bottom left. This one is definitely more invasive.

[jbergey_2005]

As much as Id love for you to get ad revenue from it. It annoys me. Every screen change it pops up a lot of times right in the way of something Im looking at. Thanks for the option to have the no ad option.

[Arlie Rahn]

Guys, just an FYI, but I removed the square ads - you should only see the bottom rectangle now.

[mike b]

i for one am all for grey dog growing so ill deal with the ads as long as they dont pop up every 2 minutes like on other sites and you tube lol

[Arlie Rahn]

Yeah, I have it set pretty safe now. So, if you were bothered by the box ads or older popups and don't mind giving the new ones a chance, you can try by switching to the "Default Style" and then switch back to the "No Ads" theme if it still bothers you.

[Bombstriker]

Isn't a bother at all, rather odd to see people immediately go for the "I'm getting ad blocker now" after just asking for input. Appreciate the fact that you are bringing it up and looking to work with the community. If allowing an ad at the bottom of the forum is the least thing you can do to help out I see zero problem with it. The ad blocker crew though... can't say the same.

[Arlie Rahn]

Appreciate that, Bombstriker. I've been monitoring and tweaking to remove all aggravating sizes/actions from the ads to where I think it is pretty benign now. Showing the ads does help our status in the network (which gets more visibility for our games). So, if anyone chooses to do that - we appreciate it!

[Paul_G]

FWIW I don't like them at all.

 

I can accept ads which are unobtrusively within the page, but banner ads like that big rectangular one which constantly pops up on the bottom of the screen are really unpleasant. When I'm trying to navigate the site, that thing popping up constantly is too much.

 

And with ads in general it is more than that. This website isn't like a blog where there would be no money coming in at all without ads. It's a store and the only sales pitches it should be doing are for your games IMHO.

 

Your forums are also ads. People read the different threads and get into what is going on. If I'm getting a popup every time I reload a page while I lurk, that's not going to encourage me to spend much time on the forum and on some level that reduces my potential interest in the games. I can tell you I upgraded a GDS game at least once through lurking on the forums and seeing what other titles had to offer. Out of curiosity, what has your forum traffic looked like since you locked non-members out, then added ads?

 

And to new players? The times I've gone to look at an interesting-sounding game and their site throws unrelated banner ads at me, it makes me think the devs aren't serious about what they're doing. It makes me think of cheap browser-based flash games and sketchy Russian websites that I shouldn't be providing any personal information to. It makes me wonder if they're going out of business or if they were ever really in business at all.

 

Also, not having a Steam presence already makes this company somewhat unusual in terms of how it distributes its software. Ads like this are putting you even further away from the norm and that isn't good. I don't see other good independent game devs plastering ads all over their sites.

 

Finally I'm just here to update to the latest version of WMMA5 (why can't upgrades be set to happen automatically FFS?), and I'm clicking on the button to do that and nothing is opening. That has never been a problem here before, so I can't help but think there's something about these site changes that my PC or AV doesn't like. I suspect you're trying to show me another ad of some kind to get my download kicked off and my PC isn't having it.

 

Just my 2c. Now time to hopefully figure what is wrong with my connection and get my damn update going.

[Arlie Rahn]

Paul,

 

Thanks for the feedback. In terms of updating WMMA5 - you can get the latest update from the our front page. Here's a direct link:

 

https://www.mediafire.com/file/qai8mmewe771a5e/WMMA5_118.zip/file

[Pipers Pit]

Now I understand why my phone will suddenly begin playing audio from an ad when the ad begins playing even if I have the chrome app in the background as the active tab.

 

Glad to know there's an option to turn it off.