What Happened to the old commitment for high quality, high level posters to not see ads?

Years ago . . . Y'all made a commitment that those of us who had achieved sufficient numbers and qualities of such numbers of good posts would no longer see ads in our experience of ATS.

I think a lot of us felt that THAT COMMITMENT was a good and wonderful thing . . . if not a kind of contract . . . that if we fulfilled our part, y'all would fulfill your part in sparing us such ads.

Along the way . . . I read something about--well, we wouldn't see ads except in the home page; recent posts listing etc. . . . but wouldn't see them in the threads.

NOW THE BLINKING THINGS ARE EVEN ON OUR THREADS . . . SOMETIMES WHERE WE HAVE TO "X" OUT AN AD to even begin reading.

It just feels like a trashed commitment without our having any input into it at all.

That is exasperating, hurts and feels more than a little like dirty pool.

I don't understand how it makes a good business model to infuriate and trash one's best contributors with the best posts and threads bringing the most readership. How does that make sense?

I can't believe that the difference in raw per person views of ads EVEN INCLUDING ALL such old timers and better posters . . . would make a significant difference to the bottom line in terms of cash involved.

It also just seems

--crass
--mercinary
--cheap
--insensitive
--trashy
--like a renigging on a commitment supposedly among mutually respectful friends.

I realize y'all are the bosses . . .

I just happen to think that whatever decisions went into this change . . . are poorly thought out, if at all . . . and are EXTREMELY DEMOTIVATING in terms of participation . . . much more so quality participation.

What ads?

I don't see ads and I'm not using adblocking stuff right now. Did notice that on mobile they were there though, but mobile is completely screwed on my iPhone to the point it's unusable even with the ads.

Yea im not using any add blocking..what adds? and the little ones on the side are no biggie...but again..nothing in life is free, so id rather have ads then have to pay for membership....think about it.

a reply to: Domo1

Haven't seen ads for years--I'd assumed totally because of the commitment to us heavier duty, better posters in terms of quantity and quality. . . . I think I was near or above the criteria when the commitment was made.

The last few weeks . . . it has seemed like they have multiplied like rabbits.

. . . and well into the turf I'd been led to believe was sacrosanct under the old commitment to spare us such ads--particularly and at least on our thread viewing.

IIRC . . . the total number of points used to be a factor in calculating the no ads seen criteria. Now with the points unavailable . . . sadly . . . who knows what the criteria is or how it's applied . . . or IF it's applied still.

Sigh.

I remain quite disappointed.

a reply to: BO XIAN

Haven't seen ads for years--I'd assumed totally because of the commitment to us heavier duty, better posters in terms of quantity and quality

In my case quantity lol.

I don't remember it being based on points, I thought you had to have a certain number of posts, a certain number of flags and (maybe) stars. I know that was all factored in to the point system but I vaguely remember being excited to get a certain amount of flags (I want to say 1,000) because it would eliminate ads the honest way.

Not sure, either way I would hope you are exempt from ads because you've been here a long time and are a quality poster. I'm HORRIBLE with names and easily recognize yours.

Try ATS not logged in. The few ads I see now are not a problem for me. Considering that all of ATS is free for any registered logged in member, a few ads is a really small price to pay.

imo

a reply to: BO XIAN

I've been wondering where the adds disappeared to. I don't miss 'em, but now I've got a clue. Sorry Bo.

Ads pay for the website, which comes to you absolutely free of charge. That's how the internet works. This isn't a new thing. The ads on ATS are in no way intrusive.

Seems that you regard yourself very highly and feel that for some reason your sacred eyes should be exempt from seeing something as crass as an advertisement. If they really get you as worked up as this post would lead one to believe, there are options. Browser extensions that would remedy the situation.

It also just seems --crass --mercinary --cheap --insensitive --trashy --like a renigging on a commitment supposedly among mutually respectful friends. - See more at: www.abovetopsecret.com...

Wow. This hurts my brain.

a reply to: ausername

imho,

It's NOT about ATS being worth the hassle of ads . . . though in some contexts on some threads with lots of personal assaultiveness, frankly, it's not.

But that's not the issue.

It's a commitment made and received and responded to in good faith . . .

only to find the last several weeks or so . . . that seemingly . . . . said commitment/contract has been arbitrarily trashed--and that without any dialogue with those of us so affected.

I don't understand why I was ad free for so many years and now--they plague even the thread reads.

And I don't understand why I now have ads and some report not having them.

a reply to: Monger

I'm not sure where the breakdown in communication is occurring . . .

1. It was a commitment from ATS to those of us posting a lot etc.

2. It was a welcome token of appreciation for high quantities and qualities of posting.

3. It was a fitting reward

4. It was a motivating factor in contributing lots and well.

5. All that has evidently been arbitrarily trashed.

However, I do note your insults.

a reply to: BO XIAN

Have you tried asking a mod? I know that's what this sub forum is for, but they can't see everything all the time. This may be a dumb question and I'm kinda joking but have you tried turning it off and on again? Log out and back in and see if anything changes?

a reply to: Domo1

1. Thanks for your suggestions.

2. Haven't asked a mod. I'd guesstimate that 45-75% of my queries to mods go totally ignored. They are understandably busy. If someone in the know sees this thread-well and good. If not . . . I'll survive.

3. Have not logged out and back in. Have had to log back in on one of the browsers I trade off between. Fire Fox I have to log back in on. Chrome, I don't. Have rebooted several times. No change.

4. Will log out and back in and see if that changes anything.

Thx.

added: LOGGING OUT AND LOGGING BACK IN DID *NOT* solve the problem, at all.

Thx.

a reply to: Domo1

Domo I had the same, I use a S4 so my screen is pretty big, so my solution was go to your profile settings and disable mobile ATS. When your on your phone you get the same site as here on your desktop.

Saves a lot of agony.

And honestly the mobile ATS sucks big time, with newer smartphones the regular sites are perfectly accessible.

Edit: What's even worse is that ATS can generate enough revenue by the page hits alone, all these ad's are just greed imo.

originally posted by: MessageforAll
a reply to: Domo1

Domo I had the same, I use a S4 so my screen is pretty big, so my solution was go to your profile settings and disable mobile ATS. When your on your phone you get the same site as here on your desktop.

Saves a lot of agony.

And honestly the mobile ATS sucks big time, with newer smartphones the regular sites are perfectly accessible.

Edit: What's even worse is that ATS can generate enough revenue by the page hits alone, all these ad's are just greed imo.

Greed??

I think you don't know what the costs of running a site this size are!!

Though I do concede that the site has become overly Ad focused and I have said so to the establishment... Unfortunately the response I got was anything but professional and really quite overtly emotional.

But you may keep trying, I doubt there will be any real change here.

Peace,

Korg.

a reply to: Korg Trinity

Websites also get money from traffic.

I found this, take this with a pinch of salt, since I don't know how reliable this is.

So you’ve got a blog, or an inclination to start one – how many hits do you need to make money on it, and how much can you make? Here are some rough figures to go by. I’m no google genius, in fact I’m pretty horrible with computers but I do blog full time, I run a number of sites and it’s my full-time income even though I don’t have to work ‘full-time’:

making money from your blog

Now I’m sure these figures can be disputed but they give you an idea about what page rank you require, and how many unique monthly visitors you need to generate a certain amount of cash (through ads etc). So if you wanna make $50k USD per year, then you need a site with a Page Rank of 4 and with around 50,000 unique visitors per month, not that difficult and certainly achievable within a year.

onestep4ward.com...

So yeah, I do think ATS could lose some add's and still make some nice money, which they have every right to btw.

originally posted by: MessageforAll
a reply to: Korg Trinity

Websites also get money from traffic.

I found this, take this with a pinch of salt, since I don't know how reliable this is.

So you’ve got a blog, or an inclination to start one – how many hits do you need to make money on it, and how much can you make? Here are some rough figures to go by. I’m no google genius, in fact I’m pretty horrible with computers but I do blog full time, I run a number of sites and it’s my full-time income even though I don’t have to work ‘full-time’:

making money from your blog

Now I’m sure these figures can be disputed but they give you an idea about what page rank you require, and how many unique monthly visitors you need to generate a certain amount of cash (through ads etc). So if you wanna make $50k USD per year, then you need a site with a Page Rank of 4 and with around 50,000 unique visitors per month, not that difficult and certainly achievable within a year.

onestep4ward.com...

So yeah, I do think ATS could lose some add's and still make some nice money, which they have every right to btw.

Agreed there are many income stream possibilities here, But good luck putting that across to the ATS owners... They don't take kindly to intelligent input from the membership.

I'm a successful Business person whom made his money in the web sector, my background is mostly physics and Math but saw the opportunity back in the early 90's to make some money... I've been involved in developing how the network infrastructure of the UK worked concerning web access and hosting.

So I know a thing or two about what I say... but all fell on deaf ears....

One thing I learned quite early on in my career is... "be strong with your ideas but always consider what others have to say with just as much reverence, discard the bad and add the good to your own!"

I am quoting myself here

Peace,

Korg.

a reply to: BO XIAN

Bioxan, I don't get ads at all, but in order to do that, I have to tweak my computer using the tools/manage addons, I downloaded 5 littler addons under the tracking protection that will take care of most intruding tracking pain in the neck, like Google tracking as I will have nothing to do with google.

But be warn, enabling this addons on protection can stop almost anything that is interesting in the net.

a reply to: BO XIAN

Good point. I'm on Chrome and I do see ads on the top of my page.