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The Devastating Effect of Ad-Blockers for Guru3D.com

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Re: The Devastating Effect of Ad-Blockers for Guru3D.com

#211

Post by mozumder »

robgibbons wrote: post #204
mozumder wrote: post #188

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The burden is on you to justify your right to privacy. Otherwise it just makes you look bad, as if you're trying to defend indefensible actions. Remember, you're visiting THEIR sites. They aren't visiting your sites. They have something you want when you visit their sites, and you have to offer something in return. If you're unable to justify yourself, then companies (both advertisers and media publishers) will proce…

With all due respect, advertising networks have been tracking people for far longer than there have been ad blockers and privacy guards. This category of programs was literally created in response to the existence of such networks. Tracking companies will do as they please, regardless of any steps I take to defend my data and my privacy. The burden is on the shoulders of website operators to present meaningful altern…

Or they could just block you and others that use ad blocking, and work on the audiences that don't block them.

Re: The Devastating Effect of Ad-Blockers for Guru3D.com

#212

Post by zyxley »

intrasight wrote: post #119
intrasight wrote: post #113

I use uBlock Origin. I don't block ads - I block 3rd party requests. People that complain about ad blocking are indeed missing the mark. I'm fine with ads - really. But if you want them seen, you are going to have to serve them yourself. There is no going backwards - for reasons spelled out by others in this thread. So if your business depends on ads, then you are in the ad business. Web sites are going to have to be…

I just looked at the guru3d site. The content is the ad - there's no need to add more ads. You just need to monetize the "ads" you already have. You are promoting these products. Negotiate with the vendor or reseller directly to get your fair share.

http://thewirecutter.com is a website that does something like this. They do in-depth reviews of all kinds of things and, as far as I know, make the money for the site off affiliate retailer links for the products they recommend.

It helps, though, that their articles can have thousands or tens of thousands of words comparing and contrasting different products in the same category in depth, including clearly outlining the flaws of the products they consider the best option, while Guru3D seems to have articles that are badly rewritten press releases and/or bullet points copied from the back of a game box.

Re: The Devastating Effect of Ad-Blockers for Guru3D.com

#213

Post by imgabe »

jhall1468 wrote: post #206
imgabe wrote: post #196

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> It's killing content that survives between the insane traffic of Facebook and the complete lack of traffic in personal blogs that 12 people visit. What does that tell you about the value of that content that people are not even willing to be exposed to an ad in order to consume it? This is the proper application of "the customer is always right". When the customer doesn't want what you're selling, it's not the cust…

> When the customer doesn't want what you're selling, it's not the customer's fault. They do want it, but for free. And while they still consume it, for free, they hide behind some non-sense about tracking or privacy, even though if those two issues were resolved they would block it any way because it's not convenient to white list a site. Duckduckgo is perfect evidence of that. > No, it's not. Sometimes the unbiased…

> They do want it, but for free.

Yes, this is relatively common. People will take something for free that they aren't willing to pay for. Other things they'll pay one amount for, but not a larger amount. Everybody decides for him or herself how much something is worth to them. If the majority of people decide that value is "nothing, not even looking at an ad", then that's what the value of that thing is. That's how markets work.

Re: The Devastating Effect of Ad-Blockers for Guru3D.com

#214

Post by mozumder »

intrasight wrote: post #113

I use uBlock Origin. I don't block ads - I block 3rd party requests. People that complain about ad blocking are indeed missing the mark. I'm fine with ads - really. But if you want them seen, you are going to have to serve them yourself. There is no going backwards - for reasons spelled out by others in this thread. So if your business depends on ads, then you are in the ad business. Web sites are going to have to be…

So, they make a CMS plugin that serves ads from same origin, instead of different origin.

How would that help your user experience? (it might.. dunno)

Re: The Devastating Effect of Ad-Blockers for Guru3D.com

#215

Post by douche »

bad_user wrote: post #186
wazoox wrote: post #153

Earlier quoted context omitted.

And don't forget the bandwidth and capacity usage for those on capped mobile data. I only have a 512MB/month allowance, I don't want it spent on downloading ads.

That's bullshit. If you don't want those ads, then don't consume that content.

Well, it's not as though every random link on the internet has a Surgeon's General Warning-esque disclaimer: "Clicking this link will download 23MB of Javascript frameworks, tracking coookies, advertising iframes and uncompressed, full-resolution images."

Re: The Devastating Effect of Ad-Blockers for Guru3D.com

#216

Post by icebraining »

imgabe wrote: post #201
bad_user wrote: post #181

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You are probably a middle-class caucasian male from a western country. I can make that assumption because this willingness to pay that you're talking about cannot be a reality for the poor or for citizens of underdeveloped countries, or in other words ... the majority.

You're right. And addressing issues like poverty is one of the many better things we could be doing than trying to figure out how Buzzfeed can get paid to tell us about 35 Things Only Parapalegic Law School Students from Cincinatti Will Understand.

Even if the personal targeting in bad_user's post is uncalled for, the point is still valid: right now, ads serve as a redistribution mechanism, and pretending that Buzzfeed and the likes are the only sites that will be blocked to the lower classes in a paywall-laden web is just demagogy.

In fact, Buzzfeed will probably still be available to the general public, since they already engage in "native advertising", where the content is the ad. It's sites that still maintain some editorial independence that will be most affected.

Re: The Devastating Effect of Ad-Blockers for Guru3D.com

#217

Post by imgabe »

dwild wrote: post #209
imgabe wrote: post #137

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Most content is worthless. Content that has actual monetary value to someone, market research data for instance, has no trouble finding people willing to pay for it. The fact is most "news" and other article type sites do not serve a purpose other than satisfying some idle curiosity or passing time. Very little of it has a material impact on anyone's day to day life. The purpose can easily be filled by some alternate…

> Most content is worthless. Which is why ads are the only way to monetize it and be able to actually have it somewhere. > The purpose can easily be filled by some alternate, free material. Except nothing is free. Someone has to pay for it. If it's not ad networks and if it's not donations (again, mostly because most content is worthless, and probably also because most people are greedy), who will pay for it? > Very…

> Which is why ads are the only way to monetize it and be able to actually have it somewhere.

Why do we need to have it somewhere if nobody wants it enough to pay for it?

> Except nothing is free. Someone has to pay for it. If it's not ad networks and if it's not donations (again, mostly because most content is worthless, and probably also because most people are greedy), who will pay for it?

People who want to disseminate information will pay to do so. Hacker News doesn't have ads. YCombinator is paying for it because it serves their purposes to have an online community for hackers.

People write and create other content for a variety of reasons. Usually the best content is not created to maximize the amount of money it makes.

Re: The Devastating Effect of Ad-Blockers for Guru3D.com

#218

Post by robgibbons »

mozumder wrote: post #211
robgibbons wrote: post #204

Earlier quoted context omitted.

With all due respect, advertising networks have been tracking people for far longer than there have been ad blockers and privacy guards. This category of programs was literally created in response to the existence of such networks. Tracking companies will do as they please, regardless of any steps I take to defend my data and my privacy. The burden is on the shoulders of website operators to present meaningful altern…

Or they could just block you and others that use ad blocking, and work on the audiences that don't block them.

That would certainly be one way to pivot, and kudos to those that do. However, I suspect that the percentage of adblocking users will only continue to grow, giving this particular solution fairly diminishing returns.

Re: The Devastating Effect of Ad-Blockers for Guru3D.com

#219

Post by lazyjones »

jhall1468 wrote: post #177
lazyjones wrote: post #164

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> What kind of logic are you following? I think dropping a bomb on Paris is going to kill a whole lot of people. How does it follow that because I think that, it stands to reason that I think it's "good". It's good for the majority of publishers if they accept it as their preferred solution as you wrote. Unless you think they ought to be driven by other motives than making sound business decisions - like cruelty or w…

> It's good for the majority of publishers if they accept it as their preferred solution as you wrote. Unless you think they ought to be driven by other motives than making sound business decisions - like cruelty or whatever you were trying to insinuate with your slanted rhetoric. Perhaps my rhetoric is slanted, but yours is fully bent. When only one solution eventually exists, it doesn't make it the preferred soluti…

> When only one solution eventually exists, it doesn't make it the preferred solution, it makes it the nuclear option. [...] I'm suggesting that advertising-supported businesses are eventually going to have one remaining option. That isn't slanted rhetoric. That's common sense. Unless of course we come up with a completely new way for content creators to earn a living with their content outside of charging for it, or using advertising for it. Because new forms of compensation in exchange for content are popping up all the time.

You don't make any sense. Why would it become the only option when other forms keep popping up? Even with very hypothetical 100% penetration of (unblockable) ad blockers, this won't be the case.

> No one is going to change to paywalls until every has to.

You must have missed the NY times, the largest german newspaper (BILD) and other large publications switching to paywalls then. Perhaps look around some more before beating dead horses here... Also, your inflammatory language hurts your cause.

Re: The Devastating Effect of Ad-Blockers for Guru3D.com

#220

Post by jhall1468 »

imgabe wrote: post #213
jhall1468 wrote: post #206

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> When the customer doesn't want what you're selling, it's not the customer's fault. They do want it, but for free. And while they still consume it, for free, they hide behind some non-sense about tracking or privacy, even though if those two issues were resolved they would block it any way because it's not convenient to white list a site. Duckduckgo is perfect evidence of that. > No, it's not. Sometimes the unbiased…

> They do want it, but for free. Yes, this is relatively common. People will take something for free that they aren't willing to pay for. Other things they'll pay one amount for, but not a larger amount. Everybody decides for him or herself how much something is worth to them. If the majority of people decide that value is "nothing, not even looking at an ad", then that's what the value of that thing is. That's how m…

This is a load of BS. The reality is most people install a blocker and never think twice. Your implication that people make a value decision for every website they visit is laughable, and more importantly, exactly the opposite of what most people do.
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