Adblock Walled?

AuraNova

Reflection of Elegance
:
Florida
:
'20 Blue CX-30
Does anyone else here use any form of adblocker here? I am all of a sudden getting an anti-adblock message on the forum and clicking the tiny "x" on the pop-up doesn't make it go away. Oddly, the site is fully functional, but so dim. It's hard to see much on the screen. I am making this thread through this right now. Has there been an update to the site or something that is causing this? It never popped up before.

Before anyone asks: Yes, I have ublock on, and there is likely no chance I will turn it off either. I don't want to make a problem, but I do have my reasons. I am getting this issue on FireFox and Vivaldi. Both have ublock Origin installed.
 
Thanks for the feedback, we've just started testing an ad-block message. We require ad revenue to operate this site and ad-blocking makes it quite difficult to do that...That said, we're looking into offering a paid option to remove ads although I not really keen on charging Members.

The bottom-line is it's a full time job to maintain this site day after day, month after month and year and year and we require revenue to do that and advertising is the most effective way to keep the lights on.

As for the ad-block message, we're just testing it at this point but I do appreciate the feedback...If people are interested in a paid option to remove ads (it would be as reasonable as possible), please let me know, thanks!
 
If it's any consolation, I wouldn't mind the idea of having a voluntary paid membership tier system that would grant certain permissions. Something akin to a Patreon. I've seen other sites do it. Make a free option to be able to post on some sub-forums, and do different tiers for other sections of the site. An example would be if you pay $5/mo. you could have access to the Marketplace. Something like that. In time, I'd love to be a contributor and help out. I have been enjoying it here, and I would hate to leave.

I understand places like this need to make some sort of money. Leaving it up to ad revenue services could cause major issues. Random ads placed in could cause issues and bring browser speeds down and even go as far as download things without your permission or even install trojans. Some ads have been known to download and run programs that use your computer's resources to mine bitcoin. I have seen it happen. Most ads are not controlled by the forum, but by the ad revenue services. Ads that pop-up randomly are based on what is "relevant" to a person's browsing habits and internet history. It's all in the glory of saying to you "BUY MORE THINGS! WE WANT YOUR MONEY! CONSUUUUUME!!!" Not to mention the possibility of seeing offensive ads as well. Besides, I personally don't like being told what to buy either. But that is a minor personal issue. The main one is the malware. I have had to "cure" my computer once in the past because of things like this, I'd rather not do it again.
 
Thanks again for the feedback, @AuraNova First of all, you've been great and I've enjoyed your posts...I wouldn't want you to leave because of the anti-ad-block system. I've disabled it for now but the message is still important. I may find other ways to raise awareness without preventing the use of ad-blockers.

As for having optional paid tiers, it's still under consideration. Based on past experience though, it's not going to replace the need for advertising revenue.

I also don't want to divide the Community by giving paid Members "special access" etc...Perhaps creating a subscription system where you get a badge and ad removal (if you're signed-in) would provide a way for people to support Mazdas247 if they wish and remove ads when logged-in at the same time...Would you be interested in this..?
 
I am also seeing suddenly seeing problems with Adblock. I'm using OS X and Safari. I have configured Adblock to allow ads on this site and I do see the ads. However the site is prompting me to download Flash (from an untrusted site even!). Flash is a security risk and I'm not going to download it. I can use the rest of the Internet without using Flash, what is now different about mazdas247?
 
Mazdas247 would not prompt you to download anything, certainly not flash. The ads shown should be legitimate and if there is an issue, please PM me and I’ll be happy to do what I can to resolve it ASAP.

Note that I personally do not use an Adblocker, if there is an issue with an ad, I’ll experience it first hand and I’ll also contact our ad partner immediately.

Also note that if you’re experiencing issues, it could be from another site or source.

As mentioned above, I’ve disabled the anti-Adblocker system. You’re free to use one but please understand that it affects our ability to keep the site online. Any support you can provide (even simply posting and or responding to threads and telling others about us) is greatly appreciated!
 
I was able to click the "X" to make that message go away and bring the site back to normal illumination, but I then disabled Ad Block for this site anyway. That was last night.

But even after having disabled Ad Block, I'm not seeing any ads. I saw none last night, and after restarting my PC and reopening my browser this morning, I'm still not seeing any ads...and I've specifically looked to see what the "Allow Ads" experience might be like. It's no different that the "Block Ads" experience. I've opened threads, posted comments, etc. There are no ads, and AdBlock remains disabled for this site.

I'm on WIN10 and Firefox 75.0 64 bit.
 
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Mazdas247 would not prompt you to download anything, certainly not flash. The ads shown should be legitimate and if there is an issue, please PM me and I’ll be happy to do what I can to resolve it ASAP.
This no longer is happening, maybe it was an ad that was trying to download Flash and that ad is no longer showing.
 
This no longer is happening, maybe it was an ad that was trying to download Flash and that ad is no longer showing.
OK, now it's happening again. And I got a new popup that says my Norton antivirus subscription has expired. I do not and never had Norton. I dismiss the popup and it takes me to what looks like a malware site.

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I wouldn't mind the ads so much if it didn't slow the screen response so much. Apparently you're using a service for the ads and if that site is busy it slows everything else down.
Problem with ad sites is there's a lot of overhead involved.
 
Thank you @Antoine for that. I appreciate what you do here, and fully understand what it's like to run a forum. I have done it once, and was a mod on another a long time ago. It's a much larger undertaking than most people realize it is. At times, it becomes less of a hobby and more of a business when you have enough people join. So having money is important.

Building on what @wlong01 said, ad revenue sites gather ads from different types of ad sources. Not just their own. Sometimes, they don't filter well, and a bad ad or two winds up slipping through the cracks. Mobile devices have it worse right now because of some ads. They add pop-ups in their code that slow loading times down, even going as far as crashing the browser.

I remember one time years ago, Skype tried inserting ads alongside the chat window, and some ads were very intrusive. Including one where the volume never stayed muted after a refresh. The same ad auto-refreshed every 5 minutes for a while, and would replay with the volume on every time. Oh, and repeat ads are why I adblock stuff like Twitch and YouTube because of repeat advertising. It gets annoying.

As I had said, there are times where it's a case of "I hate ads because they are telling me what to buy!" But it's really not that with most users. I don't want it to look like I am complaining to be cheap or something. I'm most concerned about having an enjoyable experience.
 
It's funny, I don't have fast internet (Verizon 4g wireless, sometimes spotty here in the country), and I haven't incurred a performance issue here because of the ads.

There's a news site I frequent that does not permit Ad Blockers. I go in, read what I want, and then close that Firefox tab. If I leave the site open for any length of time, my browser gets locked up by whatever ad service they use. I'll get "Script is slowing down your browser. Stop it?" messages that sometimes I can't act on because the browser won't even respond. I've had to "End Task" Firefox via Task Manager because of those ads on that site before I shortened my browsing time there.

After 10 days of having ads enabled here (Firefox Enhanced Tracking Protection and not AdBlock was previously blocking them), I've not had a single issue here with anything slowing down my experience, and as I said, I do not have blazing fast internet.

This is not to negate the experience of others, it's just another data point for those who are smarter than I on this subject.
 
I appreciate everyone's feedback. As I mentioned previously, I do not run any ad blocking at all and if I run into any issues, I will be sure to try and resolve them ASAP.

Regarding stickerbush's issue, I sent stickerbush a PM about it and I believe all is well now...If not, please feel free to PM me.

It's funny, I don't have fast internet (Verizon 4g wireless, sometimes spotty here in the country), and I haven't incurred a performance issue here because of the ads.

There's a news site I frequent that does not permit Ad Blockers. I go in, read what I want, and then close that Firefox tab. If I leave the site open for any length of time, my browser gets locked up by whatever ad service they use. I'll get "Script is slowing down your browser. Stop it?" messages that sometimes I can't act on because the browser won't even respond. I've had to "End Task" Firefox via Task Manager because of those ads on that site before I shortened my browsing time there.

After 10 days of having ads enabled here (Firefox Enhanced Tracking Protection and not AdBlock was previously blocking them), I've not had a single issue here with anything slowing down my experience, and as I said, I do not have blazing fast internet.

This is not to negate the experience of others, it's just another data point for those who are smarter than I on this subject.
Thanks for the update, good to know! (y)
 
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