Animation Source Forums

As I'm sure we've all noticed, AS has been invaded by advertisements. This is nothing new; many sites display ads to help pay for maintenance, and I usually have nothing against them. However, it's difficult to "simply ignore them and move on" when Blue underlined Text of various sizes interferes with what you are reading.

"But at least they only show car, loans, medical searches, and pizza sites, right? And they do show a preview before you actually click on anything!"

Hmmm...maybe. At the very least, this makes them even more so distracting. At worst, someone still might accidentally click on it and potentially get more than they bargained for, as many of these sites (at a glance) seem to eventually want money (or even be "sketchy" at best.) Why? Well, not only are they smack dab in the middle of users' posts, they now situate themselves next to links and command boxes (including this site's rules hyperlink)...I'm hoping I'm not the only one who thinks this is potentially problematic.

But here's the rotten cherry on the shake:

Two of the "top screen banners" said this seconds apart of switching pages.
-"Should medical marijuana be legal? YES-NO-VOTE HERE!"
-"Is Sexting cheating? YES-NO-VOTE HERE!"

Last I checked, this is still (hypothetically) supposed to be a Kid Friendly Site.

...Please someone tell me I'm not the only one who's concerned by this. (And I would be curious to know if anyone knows if the French side has seen similar changes.)

I have to agree to a point. The ads at first weren't that intrusive, but I have noticed within the last few days to a week that they've gotten REALLY annoying and some as you said inappropriate. I know it's how Steet is making money, but there must be a better way to display and control what appears on the sources.

Hidden text : click to show

I've also noticed that sometimes, when I'm in the shout box, I get this message at the bottom of the screen that claims I'm using an ad blocker and asks me to disable it for this site. I don't even use an ad blocker as far as I know! How can that message be coming up if I'm not even using the device in question?

It may already be implemented/installed as part of your browser. I added it to my google chrome browser. Unfortunately, it doesn't do anything about the ads that stretch the posts, but it does get rid of those annoying infolinks and the others. I'd say I'm sorry that I'm using an ad blocker, but I'm not. I get that ads can help pay the bills, but choosing to allow intrusive, annoying, and highly disruptive ads is disrespectful to your users. I'll disable adblock for this site when it starts respecting the users.

I was wondering why the posts keep getting stretched. That explains a lot.

I know this topic is a bit older, but I thought I would post my complaint in a already existing topic.

I found that I had to disable the ads with ABP (ad block plus) since the laptop I'm using is experiencing lag due the ads. However, the popup that comes up when you have ABP enabled is more than annoying. The banner also says the ads are NOT "intrusive". I hate to say it, but the ads ARE intrusive. This whole ad thing needs to be rethought out, as it's taking over the visual appeal of the sites and forums. Having them under their own "ad tab" on the site is fine, but everywhere else is unnecessary.

I wasn't aware of this topic.
Well, the problem with ads is finding the right balance. As you suggest, catering the ads to a tab, just doesn't work. No one clicks on ads that are hidden from view. However, I've done some work to integrate them to the site styles better.
What do you find intrusive on the site, exactly?
I'm always browsing the site without adblock and to be honest I think it's OK. Most sites are worse when it comes to being intrusive. (with full screen popups, for example... I don't use that)
I'll try to find a way to avoid stretching the posts on the forums.

1. The banner that tells me I'm using an ad blocker. I understand that the ads help you pay for the server, but I feel like I'm being forced to allow the ads on AS to remove the notice. I understand your motive behind it, but some people may need to have ads disabled. People who may have a slow computer or internet connection.

2. The second issue I have with the ads are the ads that appear in between the comments. These ad posts are just flat out annoying and distracting when trying to read through the comments.

3. I've found that the infolinks makes the site and forums look messy. And as of recent, the infolinks has started popping up on my screen without me doing anything. It's even more annoying when you use a mobile device. I've had issues with tapping on a link when trying to to get rid of the popup.

I have drastically reduced the number of links displayed by Infolinks. As for the pop under that sometimes appear, I've just removed it, we'll see how things go. (I agree that one was kinda annoying)

The popup to remind about the ad blocker is more or less a necessity considering that nowadays, half of the visitors use adblock... Otherwise it just becomes pointless to add ads if no one sees them. The ads shouldn't really slow computers that much. If you have a really old machine which doesn't like Flash ads too much (because it's often Flash which slows computers down), there's always the solution to display Flash parts only when you want to. (in your browser options)

As for the ads between comments, to be honest I don't think they're so annoying (compared to other kinds of ads, like the full screen or popup ones), and they're clearly the ones giving the most earnings. So... I'm afraid they'll have to stay. Keep in mind that most of the time, they just won't display anything (because the fill rate is very low, about 20%)

I'll be working on a way to avoid ads making posts abnormaly longer on the forum.

I'm having issues with using my iPhone on here lately. I can't brows through AS without the App Store popping up nearly every second, and I'm also being directed to other sites without me touching any ads. This doesn't happen on other sites such as YouTube and Facebook, so it isn't my phone.

Do you still have that problem?

I've been using a different browser (Dolphin) to brows the web, and this issue doesn't seem to occur with that browser. But I'll use Safari later today and get back with you with my results

Edit: I browsed around for a few minutes without any issues.