Opinions Needed: Advertisements - DIFFERENT OPTION

[Elle 121,172]

Hi all,

 

So, last night's thread about the proposed vignette ads turned a little dramatic. I decided to lock that thread and pick up here, also because I've thought of a different proposed option.

I've heard all of you who are against vignette ads for whatever reason - technical issues, general annoyance, etc., and I'm listening.

That being said, over 2/3 of members who voted in the poll said they were willing to tolerate the vignette ads to generate more revenue for the site.

While I had proposed a $2 monthly cost for an Ad-Free version, I know some people were not open to that either, and that's completely understandable.

 

So I've thought of a third option:

• Vignette ads will be implemented for all members and will be kept for those who are willing to tolerate them.
• Those who do not want the new vignette ads but are still willing to tolerate the regular banner ads we've always had can request to have the vignette ads removed from their account for free.
• There is the option of a $2 monthly Ad-Free version that will remove all forms of ads.

 

With this new option, I'll be able to generate more revenue from those who are willing to tolerate the vignette ads, but those who do not want vignettes yet are still willing to tolerate our regular banner ads can have the vignette ads removed at no cost. All they would need to do is message my @admin account letting me know they would not like to see the vignette ads.

 

I will also not have vignette ads be available for guests as I heard your concern about possible new members being deterred from registering due to vignette ads. I will update the terms users must agree to upon registering, and inform them that the site runs vignette ads, but they can choose to have them removed at no cost so they only see our normal banner ads.

 

Let me know your thoughts on this different option.

The vignette ads will be a great help to generate more revenue for those who can put up with them, but members who do not want the vignette ads will have the opportunity to have them removed at no-cost while still seeing our regular banner ads.

 

I'm hoping this option is a bit more receivable, and I want to make sure users are not deterred from using the site or are tempted to use Ad-Blocker.

Ad-Blocker can greatly harm our revenue, and banner ads are not intrusive and a free way to help support our site. So, instead, I can just block the vignette ads from being seen for certain members who wish to not see them.

 

I'm going to repost the info included in the OP from my other thread for those who missed the last one so they can see the information about the implementation of the vignette ads:

23 hours ago, Elle said:

About a week ago or so, Google Adsense implemented an automatic experiment with vignette ads (full-screen ads) that occur in-between page loads.

It only affects 50% of our users for now, but it has shown that my Adsense revenue has already greatly increased. Some days, I'm making up to 5x more than I usually do.

The end of this experiment is approaching, and it will give me the opportunity to permanently implement this ad placement, or remove it.

I wanted to gather your opinions on possibly permanently implementing this full-screen ads before I make a decision.

 

To give you a bit more information on these ads:

• These ads will only occur in-between page loads. The ads will not randomly "pop up" as you are reading threads and such, and they will only occasionally occur when you click to browse another page of the site, and by simply pressing the "X" button on the ad, the ad will close and the next page will continue to load as normal.
• These ads will be the same forms of content as any other ads you would normally see on the site. So don't worry, you won't be seeing any sketchy ads for inappropriate content, but rather the same content you would see in the banner ads but in vignette form as well. They are the same Google Ads.

 

Things to keep in mind:

• While the site is free for you all to use, it is not free to host and manage. Each month, I pay several recurring fees to keep the site up and running for you all. I rely solely on Adsense at the moment to pay for these fees. As these vignette ads have greatly increased my ad revenue, this would help ease some of the stress of guaranteeing I generate enough revenue each month to fully cover the costs
• Any extra roll-over revenue these ads may produce will be greatly helpful to help finally pay off the loan I borrowed 4+ years ago to purchase LanaBoards in the first place, and can also help pay off the tab I have running from months that Adsense didn't fully cover the fees and I had to pay out of pocket.
• If I ever find I am generating more revenue than the site needs, I can absolutely remove these ads. (However, I still have lots to pay off for the site alongside monthly recurring fees, so this could be awhile.)
• I plan to implement an Ad-Free "subscription" package for LanaBoards that would be a monthly $2 cost for anyone who would like to be free from ads on all devices.
  • Users can also choose to donate with a lump sum upfront rather that split into monthly payments

 

 

 

So yes, please let me know your thoughts in the replies to this thread.

There is still about a week left of this automatic experiment implemented by Google Adsense, so I still have time to gather more thoughts and opinions before I make a final decision.

 

I've added a new poll to this thread where there are four options:

• Yes, implement the vignette ads for members, and I will tolerate them.
• Yes, implement the vignette ads for members, but I will request to only see banner ads for free.
• Yes, implement the vignette ads for members, but I will pay for Ad-Free for no ads of all types.
• No, do not implement vignette ads at all.

 

 

Also, I feel like it would've had to go without saying, but let's try to keep this conversation calm and collected. I truly am open to hearing all thoughts and taking them into consideration.

 

All my love,

Elle x

 

 

 

 

[Yosemite 23,785]

Lmao I didn't say anything on that other thread bc it was getting too trumatic but I'm fine w/ those shitty pop-up ads. I mean, it ain't no different than being on YouTube or whatever- and it's easy to click away, at least on desktop. 

 

[Platinum Greenwich 13,845]

I can live with the vignette ads. If there was a "5 seconds before you can skip" type of thing happening, I wouldn't be amenable to them, but the way they've been implemented is just fine. 

 

Are you able to see how frequently the ads (are supposed to) appear, @Elle - or any control over that, aside from turning them on/off?

 

I'm not getting them very often at all, so maybe it's semi-random and I've just been getting lucky - but if it's possible to finetune how often they come up, maybe that would mitigate people's apparent issues with them. 

 

I do also want to say - I really appreciate that they're turned off for guests, good call.

[Lentilus 25,719]

 we can "ad" this hot mess to our iconic LB moments of 2021

@takeitdoen @Elle y'all had a moment last night huh!! I really read thought that. Lol. Anyways, I don't get why the stans were so pressed. Do what you need to do. So long as there's no shiny rewards for the paying customers, that classist separation would not look cute. 

[Dominikx4 25,404]

voted for option 3

[menslayer 18,827]

I think people need to chill. There’s bills Elle needs to pay to keep this forum up for u to meltdown freely and you still can’t tolerate ads? 
they are the best way for Elle to get some coins to pay your mental breakdowns. You just need to click on “x” to exit the ads. Stop being dramatic. There’s people that are dying.

[Lentilus 25,719]

2 minutes ago, gsnlp said:

I think people need to chill. There’s bills Elle needs to pay to keep this forum up for u to meltdown freely and you still can’t tolerate ads? 
they are the best way for Elle to get some coins to pay your mental breakdowns. You just need to click on “x” to exit the ads. Stop being dramatic. There’s people that are dying.

[Pico Ocean Boulevard 41,061]

1 minute ago, gsnlp said:

I think people need to chill. There’s bills Elle needs to pay to keep this forum up for u to meltdown freely and you still can’t tolerate ads? 
they are the best way for Elle to get some coins to pay your mental breakdowns. You just need to click on “x” to exit the ads. Stop being dramatic. There’s people that are dying.

 

Elle was always fair and kind and she does such a good but such a hard  job with being the owner of this crazy ass forum

I can understand that adds are annoying but it's not that dramatic and it's the easiest way to keep this forum for free , while Elle gets the money she needed to run this dramatic place

I'm fully with you @gsnlp...totally agree with what you said!!! 

You spilled bestie!!!

[hashtagtylerh 3,934]

Can't believe there is any arguing over this lol... this site is free to use and we don't have to do any of the upkeep

 

Make that money girl 

[Psychedelic Pussy 30,107]

fact is that Elle isn’t gonna be making serious bank with or without ads, and whatever she can scrounge up is gonna help cover the costs of running this site. How can you have a problem with clicking “x” on an advertisement when the entire internet is overloaded with ads? When you sit through half a dozen commercials every ad break on tv you can’t skip? When YouTube shows you ads all the time? Like....... the entitlement of some people. 
 

I vote yes for ads & NO for giving users an option to “request” out of the ads unless they pay. Suck it up bitches, this is a NON ISSUE 

[Elle 121,172]

Hey all!

Just wanted to bump this thread to gather more opinions since there hasn’t been as much feedback in the polls or otherwise as in the previous thread.
Please give me your thoughts both in the poll and comments!

I’m also especially interested to hear from anyone who voted for no vignette ads altogether, just to see what thoughts you may have about other routes to receive revenue for the site. It was because of the feedback on the last thread in opposition of the ads that I was able to formulate this new proposition, which seems to have appealed to more people. So, feedback helps! & I want to hear it!

I know some people voiced concerns about sharing their opinion as they didn’t want to receive a reply from me, so if you’d like to leave feedback but don’t wish to receive a reply from me, you can indicate so in your post. If you’re worried about replies from others as well, you can privately DM me your thoughts on @admin I’d also like to note that my replies were not meant to discourage anyone but rather to answer questions or clear up misconceptions I noticed, but I still understand if you would feel more comfortable knowing that I won’t reply to your thoughts.

 

Thank you all for your feedback on this manner! x

[5adboy 5,015]

I’m using AdBlock, there’s even an app for your phone

highly encourage everyone to do the same if you don’t like ads! x

[99centlips 8,519]

1 minute ago, 5adboy said:

I’m using AdBlock, there’s even an app for your phone

highly encourage everyone to do the same if you don’t like ads! x

 

thanks baddie 

[honeybadger 40,620]

i just got a full page video ad that i couldn't skip  

 

so personally i might not want vingette ads, but as long as it's easy for you to remove them for specific users, i'd be happy with keeping them and users can opt out!

[Elle 121,172]

52 minutes ago, 5adboy said:

I’m using AdBlock, there’s even an app for your phone

highly encourage everyone to do the same if you don’t like ads! x

 

50 minutes ago, 99centlips said:

 

thanks baddie 

 

Please don't encourage Adblock! Again, this is a free site for you all to use, but not free for me to pay for each month. Ads of any kind are a free way to help support the site. AdBlock can severely detract from our revenue, resulting in ad revenue not fully covering the costs it takes to keep the site up & running each month. I have never profited from ad revenue, as all revenue goes fully into the costs for the site.

 

I understand not wanting vignette ads, which is why I've proposed the option to implement them, but users can freely request to have them removed for their account and only see the banner ads we've always had at no cost. The banner ads are not intrusive, and there's usually no more than two per page.

Alternatively, I've proposed the $2 monthly Ad-Free version which will get rid of both the new vignettes & our usual banner ads, and the cost makes up for the lost revenue from removing all forms of ads.

 

Again, I completely understand not wanting the vignette ads, which is why I've added the option to only keep them for users who are willing to tolerate them, and remove them for users who don't want to see them for free.

 

I could also impose Ad-Block blockers, but I feel that would anger even more of you, even though this guarantees essentially free revenue for the site.

Given the banner ads seem to be not intrusive and are a free way to help support the site, I am wondering what issues you may have with the banner ads? Again, feedback of all kinds is welcome here, and suggestions are helpful for me to understand users' opinions & ideas to generate revenue to pay for the site that all are on board with x

[CyberCherry 2,039]

I love this site too much so I don't mind either way, if it starts bothering me I'd be more than happy to pay $2 every month  
This site is genuinely starting to feel like a big, loving, family to me and I don't want to lose that  do what you need to do to keep the site running @Elle <3 xx

Edit: I voted for the first option but if I could I would vote for the 3rd as well 

[99centlips 8,519]

30 minutes ago, Elle said:

 

 

Please don't encourage Adblock! Again, this is a free site for you all to use, but not free for me to pay for each month. Ads of any kind are a free way to help support the site. AdBlock can severely detract from our revenue, resulting in ad revenue not fully covering the costs it takes to keep the site up & running each month. I have never profited from ad revenue, as all revenue goes fully into the costs for the site.

 

I understand not wanting vignette ads, which is why I've proposed the option to implement them, but users can freely request to have them removed for their account and only see the banner ads we've always had at no cost. The banner ads are not intrusive, and there's usually no more than two per page.

Alternatively, I've proposed the $2 monthly Ad-Free version which will get rid of both the new vignettes & our usual banner ads, and the cost makes up for the lost revenue from removing all forms of ads.

 

Again, I completely understand not wanting the vignette ads, which is why I've added the option to only keep them for users who are willing to tolerate them, and remove them for users who don't want to see them for free.

 

I could also impose Ad-Block blockers, but I feel that would anger even more of you, even though this guarantees essentially free revenue for the site.

Given the banner ads seem to be not intrusive and are a free way to help support the site, I am wondering what issues you may have with the banner ads? Again, feedback of all kinds is welcome here, and suggestions are helpful for me to understand users' opinions & ideas to generate revenue to pay for the site that all are on board with x

 

hey elle! 

 

look at the end of the day this is your site, you may do however you please! clearly there’s a minority of us who oppose the vingette ads, and you don’t have to make everyone happy.

 

you’ve now received feedback that the majority of users don’t mind the vignette ads in two separate polls. it seems a non-issue at this point and it feels like we’re beating a dead horse. do what you want sis, if you needed justification to keep the vignette ads, you got it already. 

 

you can impose ad-block, you can keep the vignette ads, you can put unskippable video ads up, whatever you please really. it’s clear people will still support your site. if the minority decides to not visit anymore or as much, it’s not many people so i don’t think you should be worried about revenue loss. 

 

good luck 

o 

 

[prettywhenimhigh 49,321]

I voted for the second option, it's more democratic

if I don't get used to the vignette ads I would like to be able to have only the banners for free, because 2 dollars is not exactly cheap for me as I am not from the US

[stupidapartmentcomplex 10,345]

1 hour ago, Elle said:

I am wondering what issues you may have with the banner ads? Again, feedback of all kinds is welcome here, and suggestions are helpful for me to understand users' opinions & ideas to generate revenue to pay for the site that all are on board with x

 

hi I voted for option 2. In the previous thread, you asked if there are people who would be less inclined to visit the site if vignette ads were implemented and i'm very sorry to say that i'm one of those people. I understand this site needs ads to keep existing and if more ads are necessary for upkeep of the site then that's also completely understandable and should be implemented. I enjoy it here very much so of course I'm willing to support this site in order to keep everything running.

However, it's the vignette/pop up ads specifically that are just too intrusive for me. Many have stated that it is no bother for them to get a pop up and just click it away, and i agree that it is a minor inconvenience, but unfortunately things like this bother my browsing experience a little more than others, please don't hate me for that.

It's just that it being a minor inconvenience doesn't immediately justify implementation for me, especially when i felt there were so many better, less intrusive ideas posted in the previous thread.

Merch is fun. More perks for supporters to make becoming a supporter more attractive is fun. Extra themes for supporters is fun. Donation possibilities or a fundraiser is cool. I would even prefer ads in between posts over pop-up ads, which someone in the previous thread also mentioned.

 

I hope this helps you!

[Elle 121,172]

15 minutes ago, stupidapartmentcomplex said:

 

hi I voted for option 2. In the previous thread, you asked if there are people who would be less inclined to visit the site if vignette ads were implemented and i'm very sorry to say that i'm one of those people. I understand this site needs ads to keep existing and if more ads are necessary for upkeep of the site then that's also completely understandable and should be implemented. I enjoy it here very much so of course I'm willing to support this site in order to keep everything running.

However, it's the vignette/pop up ads specifically that are just too intrusive for me. Many have stated that it is no bother for them to get a pop up and just click it away, and i agree that it is a minor inconvenience, but unfortunately things like this bother my browsing experience a little more than others, please don't hate me for that.

It's just that it being a minor inconvenience doesn't immediately justify implementation for me, especially when i felt there were so many better, less intrusive ideas posted in the previous thread.

Merch is fun. More perks for supporters to make becoming a supporter more attractive is fun. Extra themes for supporters is fun. Donation possibilities or a fundraiser is cool. I would even prefer ads in between posts over pop-up ads, which someone in the previous thread also mentioned.

 

I hope this helps you!

 

Hi, thank you so much for this feedback!

I understand how vignette ads can deter from user experience, and that's why I'm happy to offer the option to remove the vignettes for those who only want to see our usual banner ads at no-cost. After hearing last night's feedback, I feel this option leads for a better middle-ground than an all or nothing scenario. I may also try to run my own experiment with more banner ads in-between posts just to see if that makes much of a difference.

Merch and supporter perks are things I have been considering for the last several months. Merch will take more research and work first before I can implement a store, but I can get supporter perks rolling within the next month or so. I will probably create a new thread asking for opinions on supporter perks, as some users voiced they felt the forum could be divided among Supporters and non-Supporters, although we do currently already have several Supporters from users who have donated in the past. I would try to keep everything fair, and just offer special "thank you" perks for those who choose to donate, such as the extra themes that could be an incentive. I suppose I will need to gather opinions on this matter too before I decide a course of action.

Thank you again for your feedback, I greatly appreciate it!! x