Originally posted by Connmacart

Originally posted by jpnz

Originally posted by paroxysm

Originally posted by Admin

 

It does not matter if you click the ads.  We sell ads based on impressions, not clicks/results.  So even if you don't click the ads you hurt our entire site by running a blocker.  Running adblock on a site that supports itself with advertisements is no different than downloading pirated movies, music or video games.  You are in a sense stealing our content that we work hard to create and pay to an entire team to create.

This is a horrible comparison.  They are not the same at all. 

As stated by others, ads are about annoyance and security.  Nothing ever has to happen on your end for you to end up inadvertantly serving us malware/injection through a third party provider.

Personally, I run Adblock+ and Noscript with some extra filters.  I already made it so I'm not forced to see certain things you added for when people are not logged in.  I could easily do so for whatever you add in the future with a few seconds of element inspection and an added filter to catch and collapse it so I never see it.  I could do that for the background ads you use, but I do not.  I don't find them obtrusive as they are static and not garish.  It's all a fine line really.  I do not envy your situation and feel for your need to generate income.

However.  I am appalled by your statement quoted above about theft.  To that end, I will not be reading or posting to this site ever again.  I will not be participating in what you liken to theft.  There are way better ways to go about this.

Feel free to delete my account.  Good luck with your site.

This pretty much sums up the 'entitlement' issue that we see everyday in the world.

It has nothing to do with entitlement and everything with respect and good manners. Which the Admin showed not.

There is also the malware side of things, adds from third parties, which the admins have already admitted, the adds are sourced from another location, they just 'display' them. Firefox is probably one of the most secure browsers, mostly down to the add-ons that increase the browser protection, from ad block plus, to ghostery, and of course, no script.  even on this page ghostery shows me that its blocked 4 trackers - google adsense/analytics quantcast and viglink.. which compared to other sites is actually very few i've seen ghostery report blocking over a dozen sometimes (newspapers websites can be terrible for that!). Well that may sound like paranoia level of browser security, but, you do hear a lot of how people were hacked via drive by malware, just from visiting a web page, so yeah, i also use web of trust...

Part of the problem is that a good many web pages out there are just advertising 'land mines'  add ons like adblock and there are several varieties of it, exist to protect the user from, not just annoying adverts that try to dominate the web page your looking at, but pop ups pop  unders, and other slightly dodgy methods often more associated with malware than real advertising, its good that THIS website isnt one of those, but it also means that there will be people that don't feel comfortable with removing something that they consider to be protecting their computer, even if it isnt.. much.

I'd be willing to pay a subscription fee, if it weren't too high.  But I won't stop blocking ads.  If your unblocking attempts get overly annoying or restrictive, I'll sadly remove mmorpg.com from my bookmarks.

Also, I have to wonder...how do you know?  How much personal information from my browser are you folks collecting?

This does not make me a  happy camper.

Originally posted by Connmacart

Originally posted by jpnz

 

This pretty much sums up the 'entitlement' issue that we see everyday in the world.

It has nothing to do with entitlement and everything with respect and good manners. Which the Admin showed not.

I didn't realize asking people to support contents that this site provide is 'not respectful or good manners'.

Respect and good manners goes both ways but then again, the 'entitlement' issue that gamer has is wide spread so I can understand if you don't see it.

I don't mind the CEO/Admin calling me a Pirate. He is not lying, I am one! ;)

Yaarrrr! 

Originally posted by jpnz

Originally posted by Connmacart

Originally posted by jpnz

 

This pretty much sums up the 'entitlement' issue that we see everyday in the world.

It has nothing to do with entitlement and everything with respect and good manners. Which the Admin showed not.

I didn't realize asking people to support contents that this site provide is 'not respectful or good manners'.

Respect and good manners goes both ways but then again, the 'entitlement' issue that gamer has is wide spread so I can understand if you don't see it.

 

I didn't realize calling people who run adblockers stealing pirtaes was respectful. Respect is given not demanded, but if someone isn't respectful in the first place, than don't expect respect back. I can understand if you don't understand that though, since you didn't see it that way in the first place.

Originally posted by JayBirdz

Originally posted by Kyleran

Originally posted by Icewhite

This site goes a long way towards proving that no one is ever a villain from his own point of view.

From other people's viewpoints...not so much.  Fascinating social commentary.

I agree completely.

So often today people think they are entitled to consume content for free. They never see themselves as villians (pirates if you will) when they get something for nothing, and blame someone else for not providing them the alternative they expect.

Fact is, visiting a web site with an ad blocker in place is stealing the content for free, no matter how much they don't want to accept it, it is still true.

 

See here is the problem with this..  I'm not blocking ads so much as noscript is preventing all scripts from running. I could careless if ads were working.  Matter of fact all ad frames are still in place, just blank.  I never saw the banner people are talking about.  I turned off noscript briefly to see if that was what was stopping ads and it is.  I'm not leaving it off.  It's a first line of defense, not going to happen.  It would be absurd if I asked them to compensate me if I get infected from something on their site. It's just as absurd to call me a pirate for protecting myself.  

There is more than enough middle ground here to find a way that their ads work along side noscript without me having to turn off noscript.  I visit other sites which have ads that work just fine.  I don't know why those work and the ones here don't.  Never really thought about it or looked into it.

This site has been targeted a lot in the past as I mentioned in an earlier post. Literally one of the main reasons I switched browsers and started using noscript. Not so much through ads but through ActiveX malware ect.  Has it been lately?  I couldn't tell you. The sites got a bad track record though. It really was laughable at one point as to how often this site was being hit.  I'm sure you were around for that.  Seemed like every week maybe even every other day there was a new post pointing out that there was some malware (ActiveX bar) asking people to install it.

I completely allow sites like YouTube in noscript when TotalBiscuit asked because I trust YouTube to squash issues with their site pretty much as soon as they come up. In the past on MMORPG.com I have seen some questionable junk even those ActiveX popups sit around for a day or two before getting any attention. 

I get the Admins fustration but asking people to turn something like noscript off or you are a pirate is a bit much given all that.  There is more than enough middle ground here.

You are far too paranoid.

I've been visting this site for over 6 years, and as you can see from my post count it must be pretty freaking often. 

Not one single infection from an ad on this site, not one in 6 years. And I only have average anti-virus controls in place.

So how much of a guarentee are you looking for?

I'll grant you, visiting porn sites like [mod edit] probably gets you infected, but here is as safe as YouTube or anywhere else.

Take off the tin foil hat and white list the site, it's safe to go back into the water.

And to the folks with all the self righteous indigination over the comment by the Admin, to quote CCP, "Harden the F up!"

Originally posted by lotaparty
i still refuse to whitelist you guys . the reason? because you already make up alot of money by taking bribes from mmo companies to write favor articles for them and make us do the wrong decision by buying a crapy game . how many times have you done this to us? swtor ? aion ? tabula rasa? diablo 3 ? the list will get pretty long . 

Sigh, unless you have proof of such allegations, you are committing libel against the operators of the site.

Just because you are hiding behind your computer doesn't give you the right to behave in an uncivil manner.

Originally posted by SuperDonk

My 2 cents - I don't mind the ads nor would I block them. Nothing is free in life, and the people who maintain this website need to feed thier families. Blocking ads and still participating in the discussions on this website is lame.

 

Either unblock the ads or find a new forum to discuss MMOs, blockers should be ashamed of themselves, but they won't, pirates ruin it all for everyone else and laugh about it.

I'm not unblocking the ads and I'm sticking around. A yo ho ho, a pirate's life for me.

But you know; for piracy to be piracy you have to steal something and then profit from it. Or at least use it. 

I'm looking at information. 

In other words.. 

 Did I just pirate an image?! Nope. I hyperlinked to it. Honestly the vocabulary  used in this thread is disgusting.

Many years ago Id pay 10-15$ per month or more on gaming magazines. They came with interesting articles, freeware games, demolevels of games, trailers, and other assorted software.

I would rather pay a nominal monthly fee than put up with visual pollution. Id also expect better quality reporters to be employed as a result of monthly customer fee's.

Could be a win win situation, a return to some real journalism as opposed to this latest trend of "never say wrong" against your advertisers.

Food for thought at the very least.

(ps: I dont use an ad blocker, just trying to point out there may be a more professional directional you could be looking into)

I don't post here much and lately i haven't read a whole lot because the articles posted seem more and more like paid advertising than actual opinion pieces.

I don't care if you don't make money from me running an ad blocker.  There are other sites that provide similar content without huge page encompassing advertisements for garbage games.  And now you have a huge red banner across the top of your page because I choose not to see the crap that would be there otherwise.  Replace annoying ads with enormous annoying red bar.  Flawless logic.

Originally posted by Psychow

Originally posted by Cephus404

Originally posted by RefMinor

Originally posted by Psychow

I think it's amusing that a simple thing like "Hey guys, can you turn off ad block here, it'll help us out" turns into a maga debate. 

 

Is it too much to ask of the community to just say "ok, no problem". Jeez... /rolls eyes

I think it was the ill-judged post on the first page by Admin accusing people of piracy that helped things along.

Not to mention the annoying penalty banner they impose on anyone who doesn't follow their "suggestion".  Yes, I saw your request.  Yes I saw your banner.  I am exercising my right to decline your request.  I have no obligation to do so.  So when do I get to turn off the annoying banner?

 

I'm guessing when you comply with their simple request.

 

As for the CEO's statement, is it really that hard for people to look past and forgive when someone misspeaks? I mean seriously, how can some of these people even function in society if they are going to hang on every word and jump on anyone who uses a poor hyperbole? (note: I similarly dislike it when the media jumps all over some celebrity for some Tweet or comment he said in front of a reporter...it just seems mind boggling stupid to me)

 

 

I will forgive and unblock mmorpg.com when the admin can realize his mistake and apologize appropriately.

It is , to me, a severe insult when I am accused of something I didn't do.

I believe many feel the same way, may them post it or not. I am surprised that he fails to react to it quickly.

He's hurting his site with his poor choice of word. He's hurting it more doing nothing about it.

Edit : **I did not even know adblock exists till I read this thread!**

Originally posted by Kyleran

Originally posted by lotaparty
i still refuse to whitelist you guys . the reason? because you already make up alot of money by taking bribes from mmo companies to write favor articles for them and make us do the wrong decision by buying a crapy game . how many times have you done this to us? swtor ? aion ? tabula rasa? diablo 3 ? the list will get pretty long . 

Sigh, unless you have proof of such allegations, you are committing libel against the operators of the site.

Just because you are hiding behind your computer doesn't give you the right to behave in an uncivil manner.

 

To be fair, the Admin did accuse people of piracy at the start of the thread, by your reckoning would that also be libellous. I don't use AdBlocker but if I did I would not be a pirate. MikeB's OP was a respectful and polite request which I am sure would have produced a respectful and polite thread.

I just repeat what I wrote in the thread Love the Site But Not All of the Articles a few weeks ago (Post #67):

I'm usually in the habit to disable Adblock on sites I visit frequently and had done that for MMORPG.com as well, I'm aware that it costs money to run the sites and to pay the salaries. Thus me watching ads is kinda necessary to keep the sites financed. No problem. However, I've put MMORPG on Adblock some time ago, it's just too much for me to read a forum while I have four Flash ads throwing "Buy Now!!!" buttons at me - at times it feels like watching ads on 4 TV screens simultaniously.

Can we all take a moment and have a silent prayer for the "USER DELETED" people who made the ultimate sacrifice in defense of inappropriate hyperbole.

May their souls be ever free...

Currently the way it is now. With constant remakes of trolling treads on just about every game. No real news, unless it's from some angry person that comes out sometimes days before you actually release the news. Favoritism of some of the bigger trolls.

I will be keeping ad-block. Best case senario you guys lose this IP and real mmorpg players take it over. 

Originally posted by rubyfalcon
Larsa, that's a reasonable opinion of it. Too bad you're still a damned dirty piece of pirate scum like me and more than half of the posters in this thread. You scumlord disgusting pirating bastard!

There needs to be a section added to the Forum called Tortuga! Where ABP is required to enter. Then we can plot the nefarious over throwings of other interweb trading staples! A yo ho ho!

Can I get a "Branded Pirate" forum title BTW?

Originally posted by SuperDonk

Originally posted by Psychow

I think it's amusing that a simple thing like "Hey guys, can you turn off ad block here, it'll help us out" turns into a maga debate. 

 

Is it too much to ask of the community to just say "ok, no problem". Jeez... /rolls eyes

 +1. It's like people think mmorpg.com is stealing from them or something.

 

omg I'm so offended, a site I visit everyday and enjoy wants to stay afloat...

 

 

Quite.  Maybe things will be a little quieter around here now?  Some people seem ready to fly into a rage regardless of the subject.

So, back to the topic which is ads generating revenue and using sofware such as AdBlock to block them.  I've always hated adverts of any kind, partly because I hate the whole consumer/materialist culture and ideology, but also because they over-load me in terms of sensory input.  I have Asperger's Syndrome which means that I'm easily overwhelmed at any time by any sensory input.  This makes life extremely difficult, believe me.  Loud noises at a particular pitch hurt, literally hurt me.  In recent years I am unable to look at the colour red because it is too bright, so I can't have that colour anywhere in my house.  

Coming back to the ads on this page, like other posters I absolutely can't handle the ones which flash.  They make me feel like I will have a seizure or something: it's a horrible feeling, for me, when something is flashing at me in the corner (or centre) of my vision.  I have to use a Stylish script called Daylight to change all pages to a soothing grey for this same reason: white pages and/or bright texts etc are too much for me.  Anyway, I appreciate having the staff point out their dilemma in needing revenue from ads and needing us to not block them, so I tried disabling AdBlock.  Unfortunately there were two flashing ads immediately so I had to re-enable it pronto.  I tried blocking the individual ads but it didn't work for some reason :(

If you can guarantee no flashing ads, then I'll turn AdBlock off because I want to continue to support the site.  Unlike other posters, however, I'm not interested in seeing pictures of semi-naked women, in fact it irritates me and gets me thinking about that whole thing (portrayal of women in the media) when I'd rather just read the articles and comments.