Ad Block Notification.

[Rustpot]

I realize the forum makes money with ads. I can see all of the ads. I have browser plugins/mods/whatever, but it's there to increase my enjoyment of the internet.

I started getting a popup from the forum today telling me I have ad-blocker software in place. This is true. It asked me to disable it. Ok, I allowed the ads for this domain.

I'm still getting a popup on EVERY page I navigate to on Oakley Forum asking me to disable the blocker. The software is running, but not actively blocking ads. It's blocking some scripts to prevent the ads from scraping data from my browsing history, but I can see the ads. I WILL NOT ALLOW THESE SCRIPTS TO RUN. But I have no problem letting the ads show me irrelevant, non-targeted, ads.

Is this an issue? I'd like the popup to not bother me.

 

[OakleyBoss]

What browser are you using? and What plugin? I tested it in firefox, and once I disabled AdBlock Plus for "OakleyForum.com", the popup's stopped showing up. I didn't disable the add-on, just went to Tools>AdBlock Plus>Disable on OakleyForum.com.

 

[digi7alph0enix]

I'm all for ad revenue keeping the site free to use and helping add extra features, but I've got a problem with how the popup is being used. I use a pop up blocker, true. I'm also not willing to disable it when I already see ads from shadestation on every page (not that I mind), but when browsing the forum via tapatalk with no addons I see no ads whatsoever. If it's that big of a deal to not run a pop up blocker while browsing the desktop version of the site, I'll just stop using that version and see no ads whatsoever.

Not trying to be a prick but with an already ad free alternative (and arguably better browsing format anyway) already available, I'll just switch to that if I have to.

One question though. I know premium members are supposed to get an ad free experience anyway, are any of those users who have an ad/popup blocker running seeing the notification about ad blocking?

 

[OakleyBoss]

I'm all for ad revenue keeping the site free to use and helping add extra features, but I've got a problem with how the popup is being used. I use a pop up blocker, true. I'm also not willing to disable it when I already see ads from shadestation on every page (not that I mind), but when browsing the forum via tapatalk with no addons I see no ads whatsoever. If it's that big of a deal to not run a pop up blocker while browsing the desktop version of the site, I'll just stop using that version and see no ads whatsoever.

Not trying to be a prick but with an already ad free alternative (and arguably better browsing format anyway) already available, I'll just switch to that if I have to.

One question though. I know premium members are supposed to get an ad free experience anyway, are any of those users who have an ad/popup blocker running seeing the notification about ad blocking?

So you're fine with the site being supported by ad revenue, as long as your don't ever have to see the ads? Not trying to argue at all, I just see a flaw in that logic. Yes, we have ads on every page of the site, but truthfully I don't think they are invasive or obscuring to the content in any way. I am a member on a lot of forums, and I consider us to be very light on advertisements. Most forums I belong to show several large advertisements on each page, and on the sidebar at all times. We show our members 2 banner ads per page.

Maybe I am mistaken, but I am pretty sure Tapatalk shows mobile ads in their app, as a way of supporting themselves. I personally don't use Tapatalk. I find their interface to be very appealing at first glance, but very difficult for absorbing large amounts of information. In addition, because Tapatalk is an outside platform, we have little control over it and it lacks many features our main site has. We simply enabled Tapatalk functionality because we haven't developed our own mobile solution yet, and it functions as a nice alternative. Even on my mobile, I prefer the full site, though I do that for most websites.

If you prefer to use only the mobile version of our site, that is 100% your choice. But I don't think it is that much of a big deal to simply click one button to disable adBlock on our site.

To answer your question, Premium Members do not see the adBlock alert since they already pay to not see ads, it has not effect on them.

 

[Rustpot]

I use tapatalk on my phone, I don't enjoy using browsers on my phone.

On my home desktop I'm using Chrome with AdBlock.

Nevermind, though, I went into my options and enabled the script looking for adblock software, so the forum is happy again.

To reiterate, I'm running the ads. I have zero problem with ads. I'm blocking them from accessing personal data and mining my information, invading my privacy in the interest of targeting the ads to try and make more money from me with the ads.

Sorry for the confusion, thanks Boss!

 

[OakleyBoss]

No problem. So let me ask you this, because this is something I have been working on. If this site had a mobile friendly, responsive design(i.e easy to use, see, similar to apps), but in the browser, would you be willing to use that over tapatalk?

The real issue with tapatalk is the lack of control. We implement something here, and we can't do anything for tapatalk. I understand it is an easy interface, but if Oakley Forum had one just as easy, would you be ok using it?

Ideally we would love to get off of tapatalk in the near future.

 

[Supero100]

If this site had a mobile friendly, responsive design would you use it?

Yes. Though tapatalk puts alerts in my system tray, which I do like rather a lot; I'd probably keep tapatalk installed just for that reason.

 

[OakleyBoss]

Yes. Though tapatalk puts alerts in my system tray, which I do like rather a lot; I'd probably keep tapatalk installed just for that reason.

I can understand the alerts. Though that could be a possibility moving forward natively from the site.

 

[digi7alph0enix]

So you're fine with the site being supported by ad revenue, as long as your don't ever have to see the ads? Not trying to argue at all, I just see a flaw in that logic. Yes, we have ads on every page of the site, but truthfully I don't think they are invasive or obscuring to the content in any way. I am a member on a lot of forums, and I consider us to be very light on advertisements. Most forums I belong to show several large advertisements on each page, and on the sidebar at all times. We show our members 2 banner ads per page.

Maybe I am mistaken, but I am pretty sure Tapatalk shows mobile ads in their app, as a way of supporting themselves.

To be more clear, I have 3 different paid versions of Tapatalk, so that could be why I have no ads. Back when I bought them it was to unlock other features, not to avoid ads.

My main issue with ads is with those not hosted by this site. Sure Google ads are easy and generate income for the site but they also leave all its members vulnerable should Google's ad system ever get comprised. The odds of someone attacking this site directly vs Google is surely not 50-50. Is that paranoia and unfounded logic? Sure, until it happens.

The main sticking point I have with the forum popup is that it serves as an annoyance every single time you click something. The exact annoyance in fact that got me started using ad blockers in the first place. While someone like me may just switch to Tapatalk or block the individual script causing the popup, I think it could be better utilized if it also pointed members in the direction of premium membership instead of just endlessly pestering them. Case and point, new members.

I'm sure a massive amount of this sites traffic started out much like my own, with a Google search about an Oakley topic. Had I been bombarded with messages about disabling my ad block from a site I knew nothing about, I would have skipped joining all together and moved on to the next Google result. Now if instead that message politely offered an alternative such as disabling the popup for 10 mins or signing up for premium membership, I'd be much more likely to join and in turn also become a premium member.

I'm not out to deny the site revenue that in all honesty it deserves, I just think there has to be a better way to go about it than mimicking the exact behavior people are trying to avoid when installing a popup blocker in the first place.

 

[Rustpot]

Oakley Forum is the only forum I use Tapatalk for. So it's nice that I can launch the app and I'm on the forum and I can browse the new post feed while I'm on the can at work or something.

If the forum had a mobile site I'd be interested in trying it. Some mobile sites are troublesome and lack features. Some are intuitive and work well.

I generally don't enjoy web browsers on my phone. My iPad? All day long, I use the main site unless I'm just reading on the aforementioned can. The phone is just too small, the auto-hide for controls annoys me, the way the phone won't preload tabs, I just don't like it. Safari, Firefox, Opera, Chrome, IE, I've tried them all. I use Chrome for its cross-platform function, I like the adaptability of Firefox more for a desktop browser and use that at work.