Skimlinks adverts

No.
How about Dennis stops being so greedy and makes their revenue in a respectful way.
How about Dennis realises that *people* are what makes this website. That includes its users as well as the day to day staff - who are obviously against this but have to be diplomatic in what they say about it all.
How about Dennis realises that we feel this is *our* website, and are enraged about the disrespect of the skimlinks in *our* posts, and possibly even more so about the fact that nobody asked our opinion about putting them there in the first place.

Either that, or Dennis realises they have lost their community and have a lot less revenue from their adds.

The fact that Atilla says one skimlink in one of his posts will make him never post here again should set off some alarm bells - how much traffic have his logs generated?

Of course, they are a for profit company and I don't begrudge them that (Although I wonder if bit-tech is actually making a loss at the moment, and particularly the forums which can't costs much more than the server they run on and possibly the moderators [if they aren't volunteers?])

All ranting aside, this won't be fixed this weekend. The people in suits obviously don't work in the weekend. What worries me more is the moderator post above saying it won't be resolved immediately, even once the suits are back in the office... I am not sure how much patience I have with nonsense like this.

 

Hi James, I like most others appreciate that you are unfortunately caught in the middle with this whole debacle. And it is nice to see some official feedback from DP.

We understand that there will be advertising for a couple of reasons:
1. To cover the forum hosting costs.
2. To increase revenue.

I just question the method, please pass on our displeasure at the automated alterations made to users posts, especially considering that permission to do so has not been sought.

 

Oh so this is what was going on. I saw one of these the other day and tbh my first reaction was "duhhh why on earth would someone link stuff like that", decided the thread (which was a Hardware-question btw) was too annoying and left it alone.

Yeah I'm not going to watch those links either. I'm such a good person I've even disabled adblock on the site as I really like the forums, but yeah, those text-ads sure are a deal breaker.

 

I must say these links do make the build logs look like the posters are suggesting particular stores from which to buy items from. Just like the build log from ||Origin|| here.
I wish my work PC was able to filter these crappy ads out.....

 

I understand those members of staff that we have contact with are not to blame, also that they put alot of effort into their work and I enjoy it greatly. However, I will have to be greatly impressed by Dennis' effort in resolving this on the whole to even consider taking my subscription back up.

Like I said before, it is not necessarily anything to do with those that contribute work to the magazine so this is no remark on their work, just a stance of principal you might say.

 

Hmmmm as a long time member of bit-tech I think Id like to forward on my opinion from when it was just bit-tech and not the daft money grabbing sods that is Dennis publishing, since Dennis took over he has effectively slowly forced the old bit tech out, most reviews these days seem bias in some sort or a personal favorite of mine lack some serious depth (I'm bored of seeing one or two page reviews, how about cracking the gear open that your looking at we are after all computer nerds who need a bit of stimulation) it's not a go at the reviewers as I'm sure there in a tight spot sometimes.

However I understand a growing forum and review site needs more money as bandwidth isn't cheap, and if this was a year or two ago Id put forward the suggestion to offer a donation or some sort of member ship club but with the reviews that are been put out these days they seem made for a cpc article, then just copy and paste onto bit tech as an afterthought which is why I wouldn't feel happy donating or paying at the moment.

And if Dennis does want more money I would hastily suggest to Felix Dennis that by letting these stupid skim-links on a forum targeted at computer literate people will back fire, as Id like a raise of hands of people running an ad/flash block to get rid of them which also renders the rest of the ad's which I have absoulty no issue with as dud money makers

PLAY FAIR OR YOUR MEMBERSHIP NUMBERS WILL FALL.

 

I'm curious as to how the Skimlinks forum plugin is implemented. Who does the actual coding for the site, and does that person also manage the associated software that runs on the server?

Anyone who has been around here for an appreciable amount of time knows how the general community feels about advertising - particularly this sort of advertising. I'm honestly surprised the person who manages the site code isn't a forum regular, and I'm surprised her or she didn't share the pending change with the rest of the community.

 

Just look at what happened to Digg when they made a change that many users disliked: http://www.alexa.com/siteinfo/digg.com#

Major hit in traffic as many users left for sites such as Reddit. Loss in traffic = loss in ad revenue. Probably a much bigger loss than the gains provided by Skimlinks.

 

From this thread.

 

The person responsible for implimenting the code may not have been fully aware of the implications, or the maner in which the code would be applied.
I leave it to you, my fellow forum members, to trust me that if those who implemented the code were fully aware, the changes would have been shared.

 

Count this as my protest to these links, its confusing, irritating and downright silly on a technical site that has no need for useless irrelevant links.

 

CPC sub cancelled, may buy it from WHSmith when I'm waiting for a plane or something. **** you Denis Publishing, Felix, I'd rather crack one off to Alan Sugar.

 

Is that not going a bit far if it will possible be resolved in the coming weeks? By cancelling your subscription you just made a case for the links to be kept (loss in revenue).

 

The moderators are volunteers, with the exception some of staff members. Some of which have been members of the forum for coming on ten years, and therefore have your best interests at heart, unfortunately we don't have control over the commercial interests of the site. If we did I'm sure more consideration would be placed on the methods of advertising implimented.

As customers, members can voice there opinion freely (without mods altering posts) on the introduction of skim links/skim words on this forum.

 

You clearly misunderstand the concept of making a point through noticeable action. I can't even imagine how many scamlinks would have to be clicked on for 50 one year subscriber payments to be covered.

I'm cancelling mine in the Morning.

Another way to strongly oppose this on the forums is for everyone who can (which is... everyone) to go to each and every thread they can find on the forum and add the tag "no skimlinks" to it.

 

It may be easier to get skimlinks change the style of the links than it is to get it off the site. Just saying.


And if you don't like it as a reader/forum member - train yourself to hover links before you click them. If people don't click the links then the ad revenue won't be appealing and skimlinks will be a distant memory.

 

I would have agreed, until I visited the site on my iPad, no hover ability .

 

I understand the point very well, but can you not see the point I am trying to get across? Every subscription lost is just one more reason for the links to stay so they generate the revenue lost from people cancelling their subscriptions.

I feel like everyone else and think they shouldn't be here and have voted above to show this, not giving the mods / owners time to look at and resolve this problem before cancelling just adds to the problem. Or am I looking at this wrong?

A very easy fix I feel, even if it isn't the ideal answer it could be used as a short term solution.

 

It was still implemented without consultation and our posts are being modified without our consent. The views and opinions expressed by me and products discussed by me in my posts on bit-tech are just that - mine. They shouldn't be used as advertising space in the first place, never mind this scheme being implemented without consulting the forum members or the moderators.

At the moment I feel very uneasy about posting on bit-tech. If I name a product in a post, that post is going to be turned into a stupid ad that points to some unrelated website like Amazon or Play.com, neither of which nobody here would buy PC components from if they were paid to, and that makes me strongly consider not posting at all. I don't know about any of it because I'm AB'ing the whole site right now, but I still know it's happening.

 

Interesting... I thought they would on my phone - hover-overs usually do, I can get at menus and stuff - but they don't on that either.