Have the ads gone too far?

[Wardrop]

I was on Anandtech today on my computer, and it just struck me how many ads are crammed onto the homepage, and it's really starting to impact the usability of the site. You've got a huge ad at the top pushing the whole page down. A huge ad on the right pushing the pipeline stories waaay done the page to the point that "More pipeline stories" is more prominant than the latest pipeline stories. I've got an ad overlaying the bottom of the page extending the width of my screen. Finally, there's at least 3 standard sized ads scattered throughout the rest of the page.

I understand there's no such thing as a free lunch, but I just feel Anandtech is becoming a bit of a joke. Would it not be better to have one or two prominnant ads and call it a day. Certainly as an advertiser I would be willing to pay more to be 1 of 1 or 1 of 2 ads, than 1 of 10. Anand managed to keep the site afloat before purch bought it with way less advertising, and way less insulting (i.e. insulting to the intelligence of the Anandtech readership), so surely the ludicrious extent of the advertising of this site can be tamed without affecting the viability of the site.

If I wasn't a long term reader of Anandtech, the impression I would get as a new visitor would not reflect the high regard and reputation Anandtech has built up over the years. It'd be a shame to squander that over a few extra ad dollars.

 

[Stg-Flame]

More and more sites are using the "screw the user experience, we've got to make money off these intrusive ads!" mentality which is prompting a lot of people (myself included) to just load NoScript when I click on this bookmark. I would love to continue supporting the site, but until they get the hint that gigantic ads that actually screw with the user's experience are bad for business, I'll continue using script blockers.

 

[ultimatebob]

The ads on the forums have basically made the site unusable on mobile devices. The full screen ones like the HP laptop ad cover up the text box when you try to create or reply to a post.

 

[JEDIYoda]

I myself have quit trying to use these forums on my cell phone!! The ads take over everything!!
But on my computer the ads are manageable!!

 

[deadlyapp]

How can anyone even use this website with a mobile device? I get stuck with an ad that requires scrolling but never clears. Android, IPhone, it doesn’t matter it redacted me on every thing. Even using a browser with an ad block will cause it to just clear the ad but not prevent the impact to the page. It makes it utterly impossible to use.

Profanity is not allowed in Forum Issues and Feedback.
You can express your frustration without resorting to
that.

AT Mod Usandthem

 

[BoomerD]

How can anyone even use this website with a mobile device? I get stuck with an ad that requires scrolling but never clears. Android, IPhone, it doesn’t matter it profanity removed me on every thing. Even using a browser with an ad block will cause it to just clear the ad but not prevent the impact to the page. It makes it utterly impossible to use.

I have that issue with Chrome on my iPad, but not with Firefox or the Samsung browser on my phone.

 

[WelshBloke]

Even with my ad block off I get hardly any ads on the main page using chrome on Android. It's the same on the Samsung browser as well.

(Sorry about the large photo but I wanted to check if this is not how you guys see it)

 

[ultimatebob]

This is what I'm frequently seeing when I browse the forums on mobile:



Once you get ad, it's basically "game over". Scroll as much as you want... you can't see any posts until you refresh the page.

 

[WelshBloke]

This is what I'm frequently seeing when I browse the forums on mobile:

View attachment 13472

Once you get ad, it's basically "game over". Scroll as much as you want... you can't see any posts until you refresh the page.

Weird. I get a small ad at the top and a small ad at the bottom of the page!

My main issue is that the ads load slightly slower than the rest of the page so you go to click on a thread and the page scrolls down.

 

[deadlyapp]

This is what I'm frequently seeing when I browse the forums on mobile:

View attachment 13472

Once you get ad, it's basically "game over". Scroll as much as you want... you can't see any posts until you refresh the page.

That's the one I was getting all last week. It's not happening right now so I'm not sure if it just gets served sometimes or what decides how it gets served.

 

[Fanatical Meat]

Even with my ad block off I get hardly any ads on the main page using chrome on Android. It's the same on the Samsung browser as well.

(Sorry about the large photo but I wanted to check if this is not how you guys see it)

View attachment 13471

Agreed, I barely see ads on mobile. I do still occasionally get the ad that takes over the entire screen but that is rare today.
I see ad “boxes” on my desktop but the ads aren’t any more prominent than any other website.

 

[RossMAN]

Android users which browser are you using?

 

[WelshBloke]

Android users which browser are you using?

I use the Samsung browser (for the built in ad block) usually, but I've switched back to chrome now that I'm using the system wide ad block Blokada (get it from the website, the play store one is gimped on demand from google).

 

[RossMAN]

I use the Samsung browser (for the built in ad block) usually, but I've switched back to chrome now that I'm using the system wide ad block Blokada (get it from the website, the play store one is gimped on demand from google).

Thanks I'll give it a shot.

 

[Thebobo]

This is what I'm frequently seeing when I browse the forums on mobile:

View attachment 13472

Once you get ad, it's basically "game over". Scroll as much as you want... you can't see any posts until you refresh the page.

Yep same here what a pain.

 

[Thebobo]

Android users which browser are you using?

Chrome

 

[RossMAN]

Chrome

Also using chrome for Android, I wonder if brave is better (as wise)?

 

[Carfax83]

You guys can complain about this until the cows come home, but nothing is going to change. This has been a problem since they rolled over to the new forums, and the fact that it hasn't been fixed by now either means they don't care, or they don't know how to fix it.

It's OK though, because I will just turn on ad block for these forums. Of all the tech forums I visit, Anandtech has by far the most intrusive ads and craptastic user experience. That's why I rarely post on these forums anymore.

 

[woodman1999]

I gotta say, came to the forums this morning and the entire backsplash is rinsed with a Fast and the Furious ad. This is absolute garbage and it's extremely frustrating as now the forum itself is condensed into the center of the screen and not spread on my widescreen display. wtf is this?

 

[crashtech]

This is what I'm frequently seeing when I browse the forums on mobile:

View attachment 13472

Once you get ad, it's basically "game over". Scroll as much as you want... you can't see any posts until you refresh the page.

This is what I get on the mobile site as well. Sometimes I can get it to go away, but if I ever scroll back up even a tiny bit, the ad will drop down and cover everything again, so that if I scroll down again, I will have lost my place and have to scroll all the way to the top of the page again and start over. It's so frustrating that I rarely visit the mobile site anymore.

 

[Stg-Flame]

I gotta say, came to the forums this morning and the entire backsplash is rinsed with a Fast and the Furious ad. This is absolute garbage and it's extremely frustrating as now the forum itself is condensed into the center of the screen and not spread on my widescreen display. wtf is this?

Ad block. Until the ads stop being so intrusive to the user experience, just block the ads entirely. Some people say that using ad block is only going to cause the ads to increase since they want their revenue, but they will eventually get the message that the users for a tech forum don't want gigantic banner ads or background ads like you showed.