Site Advertising

[dlf_jeffh]

Good morning all,

We know you've likely noticed a couple of advertisements that are now popping up on DFL. We very much value a very transparent line of communication with our community so we wanted to take a moment to explain what we're doing here.

It is something that we're only testing and we do know that almost no one is going to like it (including us), but at this point it's only a test to see what it generates vs. how obtrusive they are.

We are VERY mindful of the look and feel of DLF and "hate" the idea of turning the site into a "Vegas strip casino" sort of site. For this test, we've tried to put the ads in spots where they don't interrupt the flow of the material or the navigation. No way to make them not an eye-sore of sorts but we're 'okay' with the balance at this point.

As community members and subscribers, we hope you can appreciate what we're trying to accomplish here. We've kept our prices very low and run all sorts of specials to provide an even lower cost point for those that are income restricted, we want to get DLF into the hands of as many as possible to build the community. Despite what many may think, that fact is very important to us.

We've been told we could easily raise our prices but we don't want to do that. We've committed to a low cost model and we want to stick with it. In order to grow the site and provide more development, tools, content, main stream writers, etc., increased revenue in any form helps immensely and we've never tried capitalizing on advertising in any formal way.

As a test to capitalize on our popularity and pageviews, we're trying being a bit more aggressive with advertising to generate more income. We're not in love with it (far from) but we're hoping for a bit of grace from our membership on the issue while we explore the potential. We can assure you that we're doing it for the "right" reasons in hopes of generating even better content going forward.

I hope that adequately explains the situation and please know that we're not excited about it in ANY way, but it's something we wanted to explore and hope our community will understand the reasoning behind it. There's a very real possibility that we may not be able to stand for the change ourselves and could remove them almost as quickly as they were put in. We've put them in locations to minimize the impact and that's as far as they'll go.

We felt you all needed to hear it from us directly and know the reasons behind this test.

Thank you all!

[Coogan Football]

I've noticed them and they don't seem intrusive at all, if it helps "keep the lights on" I'm all for it!

[dynastyninja]

No problem here. I spend a lot of time on the forums, so DLF deserves compensation for that.

[IBall2]

You could make the Ads work similar to how some Apps work on your smartphone. If you pay for a DLF subscription, the ads are hidden. If you don't pay for a subscription, the ads are visible. That would also help persuade people to pay for a subscription to the site.

[Dr.Graffin]

You could make the Ads work similar to how some Apps work on your smartphone. If you pay for a DLF subscription, the ads are hidden. If you don't pay for a subscription, the ads are visible. That would also help persuade people to pay for a subscription to the site.

I like this idea the most.

Paying for a sub and still seeing the ads (which are not a welcome change/quite annoying coming from no ads) doesn't feel right. I'd be willing to pay a little more to not see the ads if they are now here to stay like it or not.

[Goddard]

You could make the Ads work similar to how some Apps work on your smartphone. If you pay for a DLF subscription, the ads are hidden. If you don't pay for a subscription, the ads are visible. That would also help persuade people to pay for a subscription to the site.

I like this idea the most.

Paying for a sub and still seeing the ads (which are not a welcome change/quite annoying coming from no ads) doesn't feel right. I'd be willing to pay a little more to not see the ads if they are now here to stay like it or not.

I agree. If this is a possibility, I think it makes most sense. If not, I'll just have to deal with clicking the X on the ad to get rid of it.

[dlf_jeffh]

Thanks for the ongoing support and suggestions. We have considered that and will continue to but that takes a LOT more development to be able to hook in membership/advertising functionality and could defeat the reason for doing it. It may not stick around but please understand we're doing this to help make DLF better for most/all in the long term. If we aren't able to accomplish that, we will eliminate them post haste.

I can tell you, first hand, none of us like them over here so they had perform to a material amount for us to keep them. If we choose to put our community through something like this then there has to be a trade-off that is acceptable, meaning that we're generating more income that will provide more/better/enhanced content. And that is what it all comes down to.

We want to keep DLF economical for all as many have a hard time even paying our normal annual charge ... so we don't want to raise the prices. We're committed to that.

For myself, I'm already starting to not see them, and they are performing much like we expected them too ... meaning that they are an eyesore to begin with but they don't interfere with functionality, scrolling and they aren't loud and obnoxious. I'm not even closing them anymore.

In any event, thank you for your support and constructive comments. I so appreciate this community!

[Bot101]

Im fine with it as long as it stays like it is or similar: non invasive.

[FiremanEd]

Non-issue based on what I’ve seen.

[dlf_jeffh]

Just to reiterate again, too, .... none of us here at DLF like advertising, especially obtrusive or annoying advertising. We would pull it if it ever gets that way. We may pull it anyway, it remains to be seen. We are only asking for a bit of patience ... maybe a month or so just to see how it plays out. We care about all of you too much to keep something that is universally hated or not effective. After we collect a little bit of data, we'll determine if the income generated is enough to add positive impacts to the site to off-site the angst about the look and feel of the advertising that generates it.

Just wanting to be ultra transparent with our community ... it's who we are and we think you all appreciate that!

[Edgy68]

My main issue is the ads aren't static. Ben Franklin's head keeps popping up, words move, colors slide in from the sides,... I like the idea of linking it to membership. I've never been on a paid site and had to deal with ads, but if they have to be there, please make them stationary (billboard style).
P.S. I believe I recall an article around the last subscription price raise saying this issue would be avoided.

[IBall2]

Ben Franklin's head keeps popping up, words move, colors slide in from the sides,...

I must not be seeing the ads the same as you? I have UBlock Origin on Google Chrome browser and the only ad I see is for a cyber week sale at the bottom of each thread.

Maybe if you use an ad blocker it goes away?

[Tyrober]

Nobody likes ads but we understand that you guys are running a business. ADs are part of any website but I have noticed dlf has been running extremely slow lately? Is this part of the reason why?

[Tyrober]

Nobody likes ads but we understand that you guys are running a business. ADs are part of any website but I have noticed dlf has been running extremely slow lately? Is this part of the reason why?

[WhatWouldDitkaDo]

Nobody likes ads but we understand that you guys are running a business. ADs are part of any website but I have noticed dlf has been running extremely slow lately? Is this part of the reason why?

Yeah the banner at the bottom is a bit annoying but more than tolerable. I have definitely noticed links to DLF threads taking a lot longer than usual to load though.