Ads on SPW?

Advertisements on SPW?

  • get rid of adverts and pay for forums ourselves by donations

    Votes: 2 13.3%
  • ignore the adverts and get free forums

    Votes: 9 60.0%
  • Boring poll dudes!

    Votes: 4 26.7%

  • Total voters
    15

dpr

Well-known member
Wow, I just read a thread about dreading Valentine's Day, and right in the middle of the original post was a great big eyesore of a GOOGLE AD!

"Don't miss out on Valentine's Day! Buy your <insert ridiculous product here> today!"

Do we really need ads on a website catering to people with problems that are no doubt exacerbated by the mainstream media?!

Don't get too fat! Buy the right car! Wear this mascara! Spray yourself with axe or you won't get laid! Keep up with the mainstream and what's cool, even though there is no such thing as "mainstream" or "cool," we just made it up to sell you shit you don't need!

Enjoy the money, webmaster.

What a bunch of bullshit!

I feel for you all of you guys. I really do. I hate this world and what it has become. And I hate that it is so cold and unforgiving that you have all ended up here, looking for answers. And what do you find? ADS!

****ed up.

You all deserve better and I hope you find it someday. But remember that the answer is not external. Websites and books and pills can't retrieve your soul. You have to confront your problems and overcome them by yourself.

May you all find happiness!

Love,
Mike
 
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Remus

Moderator
Staff member
I'm on a forum for balance disorders, we all have to chip in as sponsors every year, It's a nice system but at the end if the year the admin have to beg abit to get the funding.

I dont really care about adverts, I barely notice them
 

MadCat

Well-known member
LOL the whole "we need to get paid" argument doesn't work. Sorry, this site doesn't drive enough population to cost "THAT" much. It was quite a lot, but not a lot that would cause any sort of huge investment.

DS 3 | 30-40 USD a month, at most. One can make that in donations easily within a couple of weeks with the population that the site does have, instead of plastering ads all over the place. It's a shame that even websites that target vulnerable people are trying to line their pockets from said people. It's all about profit, and it's wrong.
 
A banner ad is fine, but the huge box ad embedded in the first post really sucks. dianetics.org? you got to be kiddin'
 

StonedBob

Well-known member
Yeah, ads annoyed me at first (especially those about scientology, what a joke :rolleyes:), but I fellowed the advice of RiiyaX, I downloaded Adblock and it works very well : no more Google ads when I go on SPW ::p:
 

dpr

Well-known member
Yes, it's a mad world out there.

So when are we moving to China?

Ah yeah... the "it could be worse" argument. Who needs "it could be better?" when you've got that.

I suppose we really do owe them a lot for this amazing website. The ads are totally justified. Why not have sponsored suicide notes too? It would be great! This suicide brought to you by Yahoo!

And yeah... Firefox add-ons are awesome. Have fun dealing with all the malware you get from browser intercepts when you update the lists for those add-ons.

You should really delete more of your posts. Seriously.
 
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dpr

Well-known member
I'm on a forum for balance disorders, we all have to chip in as sponsors every year, It's a nice system but at the end if the year the admin have to beg abit to get the funding.

I dont really care about adverts, I barely notice them

I would like that better, actually. At least you'd have a choice, and you'd feel like your money is going to a good cause. It'd be a lot less sleazy than going all "captive audience" on someone who came to this website for help, in my opinion.

What really bugs me about it is that google ads and the like are always specifically geared toward the website they appear on (i.e. "How To Be Popular" books, CoS crap).

The underlying message being: "Let's try to make money off of these confused people by making them think we have the answers to their problems. They've no doubt all been burned by self-help books and Personal Power seminars in the past, they're probably used to being ****ed over by now so what's the harm?"

It wouldn't bug me so much if the ads were for gum or tennis rackets or something. But "Social Skills By Google?" ... So slimy
 
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Remus

Moderator
Staff member
nobody is forcing anyone to buy anything, the ads are abit irritating but I dont see what the deal is? don't buy anything! XD
 
Yeah enough with the ads already, I just saw a page that had one entire screen of about a dozen google ads before the actual post started. This is ridiculous! Wait, I think I was still not logged in at the time, so that's what you see if you're not registered or logged in.
 

Erdkunde

Active member
I'm with the OP. No amount of platitudes like "you don't have to read them" or "this is free, stop complaining" counter his argument: the purpose of this forum is to make people feel better. The ads will make a lot of people feel worse. Maybe most posters, including me, are able to shrug off instrusive and inappropriate advertisements, but I guarantee they will drive away at least some members.
 

Erdkunde

Active member
I also take issue with the "social skills" stuff. It's patronising to assume that we're socially phobic because our social skills aren't great, rather than the other way around (social skills are built through practice, after all).
 

dpr

Well-known member
nobody is forcing anyone to buy anything, the ads are abit irritating but I dont see what the deal is? don't buy anything! XD

That's fine for you and me and everyone else who is media literate.

What about those with self-esteem so low that they actually believe "The Popular Social Skills Guide" nonsense will help them? Seriously, it's like putting ads for ephedrine on an "anorexia sufferers" forum.

A website this basic does not need ads to keep it running. I know web developing, and as a previous poster pointed out, it is obvious it costs next to nothing to run this site, and the ads are purely for profit.

I sure am glad I'm not an OCD sufferer who compulsively shops! Wait... isn't there an OCD forum on this site? Oh yeah, there is.

It just makes no logical sense to advertise products on a website that is supposedly trying to help people who are at a point in their life when their feelings of self worth are fragile and confusing.
 
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Remus

Moderator
Staff member
I sure am glad I'm not an OCD sufferer who compulsively shops! Wait... isn't there an OCD forum on this site? Oh yeah, there is.

Would you like me to move this thread onto the OCD forum to warn people? I'm thinking it's not really a problem for those with SA, I think we are more naturally suspicious of anyone hard selling....oh hang on, this is a social phobia site! ::p:

Hear's an idea, instead of moaning, just ask the Webmaster is he would accept donations instead, get a band of people to donate, I'd chip in :cool:
 

dpr

Well-known member
Would you like me to move this thread onto the OCD forum to warn people? I'm thinking it's not really a problem for those with SA, I think we are more naturally suspicious of anyone hard selling....oh hang on, this is a social phobia site! ::p:

I wouldn't say that. If anything, people with SA most likely have low self-esteem, and since advertising thrives on attacking one's sense of self-worth, those with SA would be more willing to hand over their cash to someone that promised to help them feel better about themselves, don't you?

Hear's an idea, instead of moaning, just ask the Webmaster is he would accept donations instead, get a band of people to donate, I'd chip in :cool:

If it means the ads disappear, then I'm in.
 
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