Some Important News From Steve and Ron

[SCAudiophile]

Argh.....another forum devolves to bannered....understand the economic driver....but.....

Useful to give an alternate....as with many Apps...an option to eliminate adds with donations/paywall would be welcome

+1 for this; I am happy to subscribe/pay a fee to avoid large banners.

Don't get me wrong, banners if tastefully done are not so much of an issue plus I respect VSA, MasterBuilt, VAC and Ultra Analogue; I am running a 17" laptop panel at UHD-4K 3840x2160 and this new set of banners fills 70% of the view on EVERY page even the private message and profile edit pages.

***Check out the Genesis graphic at the top of the page,...plenty of room next to it for other similar size jump-graphics (i.e. those with underlying links). Most definitely a better alternative!

 

[Folsom]

It's been at the top of the home page for the past 3 years

I've been blind to the obvious a lot longer! I even looked for it before and decided you would post asking... ha.

 

[Steve Williams]

I've been blind to the obvious a lot longer! I even looked for it before and decided you would post asking... ha.

we actually posted asking on three different occasions.Matbe you understand now as well

 

[PeterA]

I understand and agree, adding some ad revenue makes sense. Since I mostly visit using my iPad, with four banners at the top all I see is ads on my screen besides the main site header at the very top. I have to scroll down before content appears, e.g. 'New posts' which is why I commented regarding how many banners are shown. I expect user experience will be different on my desktop with a large monitor.

Not really. I have to scroll down on my desktop to see content.

Steve, can you tell us if expenses have increased over the years, or have they remained constant?

 

[mauidan]

 

[Don Hills]

Well, that was a shock to the eyeballs...
I can handle banners at the top of major pages, such as when first landing on the home page, or the first page of a section.
But a full page of banners at the top of every page in a thread is just too much.

 

[Rodney Gold]

I too have to scroll down to see content. 14" laptop
Its a minor irritation on the homepage , but I understand the need...however appearing on ALL pages including PM's , it quickly becomes a pain

 

[trev]

? +1

 

[MasterChief]

It doesnt bother me at all. As long there is no banners in the threads I am totally fine with it.

 

[Ron Resnick]

Argh.....another forum devolves to bannered....understand the economic driver....but.....

Useful to give an alternate....as with many Apps...an option to eliminate adds with donations/paywall would be welcome

The voluntary donations concept just did not work well enough, and periodic but never-ending solicitations were not terribly welcomed by members. Plus the voluntary donations concept invites free-riding.

 

[BMCG]

That option has been available for 3 years. It's at the top of every page. Thanks but now you understand our plight. Do you think this should all be free and ownership cover the costs ?

Steve - well colour me blind to it...did not even register the Donate option....

just exploited the button though..

one query can you clarify what subscribe means? assume it is automatic deductions every "x" months?

-----

I value WBF...and wish to see it prosper....

Banner Ads...annoy me..and be more than happy to pay to remove.

 

[Steve Williams]

I thought I would post this short update to members regarding the use of banner adds

Indeed this is somewhat of a double edged sword trying to satisfy the desires of our advertisers who asked to have their ads on the home page. What we found in honoring that wish was that the vBulletin software considers an ad on the home page as a "global" ad and therefore automatically places the ad on every page in the forum which many have said can be tedious and annoying. So how do we honor the advertisers desires without creating problems for members.

First off we have a call in at vBulletin asking about a way to have the ads on only the home page without showing up in the same place on every page. Hopefully they will have some answers

Having said that a suggestion was offered by the programer who is helping me with the ads. I must say that just to get this far has taken the better part of the past 3 months.

So this is what we would like to suggest. This will tend to modernize the look as he has suggested rather than taking up the real estate under the NavBar with the 4 ads to create a "SLIDER" which is the size of one single stain ad and will continue to reside under the NavBar but every 10 seconds the ad will automatically slide to the next one etc etc, such that an endless loop of the ads will be seen.

Hence less real estate used and the desires of our advertisers are met. If we need to continue this as a Global ad in the event that vBulletin cannot provide a work around as to how to have the ads on just the home page then the slider will show up at the top of every page but will look less cumbersome even though the same ads will be displayed. If you have been seeing the ads appearing and disappearing it is because our programmer has spent hours on this trying to find a solution that works for all parties.

Thank you all for you patience and understanding

 

[Steve Williams]

Once final caveat

The only way I will approve a slider is if the advertisers are unanimously in agreement.

The 10 seconds seems long to some feedback I have already received. The time can be set to whatever we want.

The bottom line is if the advertisers are not in agreement the ads will stay as posted. All parties must be in agreement

 

[marty]

The issue you are considering (how long to leave a banner ad visible) has been studied in depth. A good source is a book called "Visual Marketing" From Attention to Action by Michel Wedel and Rik Peters, Lawrence Eribaum Associates, New York and London 2008and can be downloaded here for free:
https://www.researchgate.net/profil...s-of-Indoor-Shopping-Environments.pdf#page=22


The information you seek can be found in Chapter 2:
Eye Movements during Reading, Scene Perception, Visual Search, and While Looking at Print Advertisements
Keith Rayner and Monica S. Castelhano

But let me save you some time. Here is the key figure. The bottom line is that 5 seconds is plenty of exposure for a banner ad.

 

[microstrip]

Steve,

Unfortunately the way the banner shows differs from computer to computer - in some cases it has acceptable dimensions, but is the one I am currently using it completely hides the normal forum menus. The activity stream button shows the four IMHO excessively large advertisements.

 

[Steve Williams]

Interesting micro becsase im using my iPhone to type this and nothing is hidden

 

[ddk]

Hi Steve,

Straight up, get yourself a new programmer and update the software if that's an issue this is the worst I've seen, layout is amateurish and annoying. The Genesis banner is camouflaged in the forum's header and on mobile devices its annoyingly close to the "What's New?" button and get's clicked by mistake all the time. I highly recommend getting someone experienced who knows what they're doing to set this up there are plenty of forums who've implemented ads properly, not rocket science anymore.

david

I thought I would post this short update to members regarding the use of banner adds

Indeed this is somewhat of a double edged sword trying to satisfy the desires of our advertisers who asked to have their ads on the home page. What we found in honoring that wish was that the vBulletin software considers an ad on the home page as a "global" ad and therefore automatically places the ad on every page in the forum which many have said can be tedious and annoying. So how do we honor the advertisers desires without creating problems for members.

First off we have a call in at vBulletin asking about a way to have the ads on only the home page without showing up in the same place on every page. Hopefully they will have some answers

Having said that a suggestion was offered by the programer who is helping me with the ads. I must say that just to get this far has taken the better part of the past 3 months.

So this is what we would like to suggest. This will tend to modernize the look as he has suggested rather than taking up the real estate under the NavBar with the 4 ads to create a "SLIDER" which is the size of one single stain ad and will continue to reside under the NavBar but every 10 seconds the ad will automatically slide to the next one etc etc, such that an endless loop of the ads will be seen.

Hence less real estate used and the desires of our advertisers are met. If we need to continue this as a Global ad in the event that vBulletin cannot provide a work around as to how to have the ads on just the home page then the slider will show up at the top of every page but will look less cumbersome even though the same ads will be displayed. If you have been seeing the ads appearing and disappearing it is because our programmer has spent hours on this trying to find a solution that works for all parties.

Thank you all for you patience and understanding

 

[Steve Williams]

I have a knowledgeable programmer David. I have full confidence in him. It has taken 3 months of sifting through the software limitations and then having him write code to make this happen.

Again it is the limitation of the software. Gary did his own ad specifically like that.

I can remove those header buttons if it would make you happy. My programmer is excellent David. I feel your comments are out of line TBH. Two years ago you told me that you were opposed to banner ads of any kind on any forum.

Again David I appreciate your comments but you're sorely mistaken

This is all a limitation of vBulletin V4.

V5 is reportedly more stable however any upgrade to newer versions almost always results in glitches

 

[Kal Rubinson]

The only way I will approve a slider is if the advertisers are unanimously in agreement.

The 10 seconds seems long to some feedback I have already received. The time can be set to whatever we want.

OK. Price the ads by time and not space.

 

[ddk]

I have a knowledgeable programmer David. I have full confidence in him. It has taken 3 months of sifting through the software limitations and then having him write code to make this happen.

Again it is the limitation of the software. Gary did his own ad specifically like that.

I can remove those header buttons if it would make you happy. My programmer is excellent David. I feel your comments are out of line TBH. Two years ago you told me that you were opposed to banner ads of any kind on any forum.

Again David I appreciate your comments but you're sorely mistaken

They might not be as unfiltered as mine but if you read the comments they're not complimentary. I have nothing against banners and it's not to make myself happy, just replying to your post Steve.

david