New ad network 2025 - provide feedback here

[shaunj66]

We have switched to a new ad network. Please use this thread to report any browsing issues specifically caused by ads on GBAtemp.

Most ads include a "Report Ad" button so please use it to report any issues with ad content. There's no need to post about it on the forums, as we'll just direct you to that button.

Also, please keep in mind that these ads arent there just for the fun of it. We need revenue to keep servers going, to allow some staff to get (small) payments to keep the site alive, and giveaways, contests etc.

 

[JRave]

uBlock isn't giving me any issues, do you have Noscript by any chance? I got the redirect until I enabled JS for html-load.com. Have not had issues since.

Seems rather sketchy, the redirect made me think the website might have been hijacked at first because it's an unfamiliar domain and DDoS protection normally doesn't redirect to a different domain like this, an ad network definitely shouldn't be doing this, they have the power to essentially hijack the website.

Indeed I have noscript, and yes allowing html-load.com does allow the website to work. However it also allows any and all scripts the site is using to run as well. But as I pointed out before, this ad network works similar to malware which prevents me from wanting to allow their scripts to run.

I have however created some blocking rules for uBlock Origin that has currently taken care of the problem. For those interested these are the rules I added to My Filters in uBlock Origin. The error-report and content-loader ones -might- not be useful, but I added them anyway while I was testing. Once things worked I stopped.

gbatemp.net##^script[src^="*.content-loader.com"]
gbatemp.net##^script[src^="https://error-report.com"]
gbatemp.net##^script[src^="https://html-load.com/"]
gbatemp.net##^script:has-text(getBoundingClientRect)

 

[Costello]

Keep them coming, we are reading your feedback and forwarding it to the ad network to find the right settings for everyone.

 

[previous_member]

After all these years, is there no better way for a site to generate revenue than using obnoxious ads that no one will ever click on intentionally and for the most part piss everyone off?

What about monthly raffles? And I'm being serious. A monthly draw for something cool, like an Intellivision Amico. Buy a ticket for a couple of bucks, and you're entered.

We don't come to sites like these just to read an article or two, we also come here to discuss and sometimes argue with one another. This is a community. Everytime you go to the village square, you're not going to be constantly clicking giant ads hovering around and billboards blocking the path, just so you can socialize. You're going to move to another village.

Plus, can't sites like these get sponsors in the industry? I know that's a very slippery slope, but doesn't it feel gross to have ads on your site anyway? There ought to be some honest sponsors in the industry.

 

[CeeDee]

something cool, like an Intellivision Amico

you lost me

 

[NitroRevolutionNX]

I use Brave to block ads. that's all i need. Whenever that's on YouTube, GBAtemp or my favorite news site.

 

[Spidey_BR]

It feels more like the website used to be a source of income and now it's becoming less of a source of income. Could we have a bit more of transparency around the operational costs of the site? Could also add some labor costs, it's fine, monitoring, fine tuning, moderating, these all take time and shouldn't be taken for granted.

With a rough estimate we could discuss whether raffles, donation seasons, sponsored content, merchandise or a web shop would cover them.

Personally, I don't like giving money for something that I like and want to support, but have grown used to have for free. It's selfish, but it's how my brain works. But flip it around and make it a t-shirt, or a game, anything really with a markup and it becomes way easier to justify it to myself.

 

[SylverReZ]

What happened to all the giveaways like the homebrew bounties, console and accessory reviews, merchandise, and a whole lot more? The site seems to be getting less income nowadays and there is a lack of motivation to persistently continue with the above due to server management - you have the cost of the service providers, effective DDOS protection measures against LLMs scrapers, ad providers, as-well as only two admins who are here to continue keeping the site up for the long time by improving and updating the software.

I miss when you had many customization options like Patron which included custom tempStyles and the ability to customize your profile to your liking (i.e. custom username styles and badges). The throwback theme was an incredible revelation to me the most, not because it makes the site easy to read, but I also prefer when web design was a lot better back in the early days of the web before corporations started the "no fun allowed" rule to get serious with corporate modern designs, which is really unfortunate.

But you understand my frustrations, GBAtemp was my childhood, it has always and will be my go-to resource for discussing console modifications and general talk with a lot of enthusiastic like-minded folks who have the same interests as I do. I don't want to see this site go to waste now with the talks of AI/LLMs because it's so disrespectful and destroys the creativity that people work hard for.

 

[orangy57]

I've been reading threads with 5 moving ads on my screen for the past week and I'm being served a chatGPT generated article on why this is a good thing

It's one thing for a static ad but the fact that all of them move has been driving me nuts

 

[CMDreamer]

I have a general rule for myself, sorry if it hurts someone's feelings/pockets.

Any ad I see for whichever product it is, a product I won't ever buy or get interest in. I don't ever decide "ad-directed".

The more ads a site has the faster I move away.

One mistake many sites have done is thinking they are the only source for content/information in the whole internet, to the point they believe they can "force" people to register or stay while being literally attacked with ads all over.

This happened -for me- to Wololo with their ad enforcing model. It was (or is, I haven't returned) way too aggressive to the user, to the point I moved away completely.

 

[CeeDee]

and I'm being served a chatGPT generated article on why this is a good thing

It's a little disheartening to me personally that this is how the news is being conveyed tbh. I haven't noticed any changes on my end, so the article is what made me aware of the change, and I would personally hope that a frontpage article about these changes would justify an article written by a human.

If you're trying to convince someone to help financially support the site, its staff and writers, using an article that reeks of chatGPT goes against that. If I were someone else, why would I give my money to a site that can't even write their own article to justify using a more hostile ad network?

 

[Costello]

I've been reading threads with 5 moving ads on my screen for the past week and I'm being served a chatGPT generated article on why this is a good thing

It's one thing for a static ad but the fact that all of them move has been driving me nuts

View attachment 521575

Yes, you are entirely right, ads suck, but the reason why they are there are in the thread you linked;
No one said ads were a good thing, the thread simply explained why they are there, and why there are many of those.
(I indeed used AI to rephrase my shitty english as someone who is not a native speaker, these tools are very helpful to get messages across.)

 

[VinsCool]

Yes, you are entirely right, ads suck, but the reason why they are there are in the thread you linked;
No one said ads were a good thing, the thread simply explained why they are there, and why there are many of those.
(I indeed used AI to rephrase my shitty english as someone who is not a native speaker, these tools are very helpful to get messages across.)

No offence but the entire thing reeks of AI generation, I doubt you also took the time to draw that cheesy artwork of a game controller flooded by "ads".

 

[Costello]

No offence but the entire thing reeks of AI generation, I doubt you also took the time to draw that cheesy artwork of a game controller flooded by "ads".

I am not sure what is your point here? I used AI to rephrase the points I wanted to get across. And I inserted a placeholder image while Shaun could work on the formating (which he just finished doing). Wow thats terrible I suppose?

Maybe we should just stay on topic

 

[DerEineee]

Using gbatemp on my phone was horrible over the past few days/weeks.

There was always a top banner ad that blocked about 1/3 of the screen and a bottom banner ad that blocked about 1/4 of the screen. Most of the time the website loaded faster than the ads and when I wanted to click something on the website the ad suddenly popped in and in more than one occasion this caused me to click the wrong things, because the whole website started to shift the moment the ad got loaded.

This is why I started to use brave to visit gbatemp on my phone

 

[K3Nv4]

Hey @shaunj66, @Costello I've come from many different forum systems back in the early 2010s I remember new sites becoming more successful just by adding an affiliate banner. This might be the same idea as Adsense but less corporate, when gbatemp does do business with partner sites, companies, or small devs looking for more attention a new tab titled "our partners and affiliates" could be a good idea. Before accepting a deal you could ask that person reaching out to add an affiliate banner on their site as well as gbatemp doing the same.

Part of why this method died out probably is part of people discovering you can just throw Adsense everywhere and earn a few pennies with cpm. But honestly it wouldn't hurt to ask to have gbatemp logo permanently on their site when a person asks to advertise on gbatemp. Less Ads on the main page, more attention for the site might even out.

 

[Costello]

Hey @shaunj66, @Costello I've come from many different forum systems back in the early 2010s I remember new sites becoming more successful just by adding an affiliate banner. This might be the same idea as Adsense but less corporate, when gbatemp does do business with partner sites, companies, or small devs looking for more attention a new tab titled "our partners and affiliates" could be a good idea. Before accepting a deal you could ask that person reaching out to add an affiliate banner on their site as well as gbatemp doing the same.

Part of why this method died out probably is part of people discovering you can just throw Adsense everywhere and earn a few pennies with cpm. But honestly it wouldn't hurt to ask to have gbatemp logo permanently on their site when a person asks to advertise on gbatemp. Less Ads on the main page, more attention for the site might even out.

This is covered and explained in the thread I made on the homepage - there aren't really a lot of partners willing to invest in traditional banners nowadays. This format has somehow lost a lot of value, and most of the times adblockers will also block these anyway so we're circling back to the same issue. Nowadays it's all about video, Youtube, influencers, instagram and whatnot.

 

[K3Nv4]

This is covered and explained in the thread I made on the homepage - there aren't really a lot of partners willing to invest in traditional banners nowadays. This format has somehow lost a lot of value, and most of the times adblockers will also block these anyway so we're circling back to the same issue. Nowadays it's all about video, Youtube, influencers, instagram and whatnot.

I feel like the more people see the loss in value of Adsense the more people will go back to the traditional ways. It wouldn't hurt to put a little pressure in getting investors to try this again. But I'm sure some of the editors might be willing to go the way of a video? Gbatemp already gets mentioned in a few youtube videos by popular enthusiasts. It might pan out if gbatemp is displayed more on video and editors can still write a brief description on the main page being uploaded to the gbatemp main channel.

It is understandable 100k subs barely make ends meat but always the chance more companies will reach out through youtube. I get it's easier to write an article than to publish a video. Probably covered this also, sometimes it's easier to go where the money. Anyway hope it pans out I don't see this site vanishing any time soon. You built the best audience you could on this site over the years.

 

[Scarlet]

I feel like the more people see the loss in value of Adsense the more people will go back to the traditional ways. It wouldn't hurt to put a little pressure in getting investors to try this again. But I'm sure some of the editors might be willing to go the way of a video? Gbatemp already gets mentioned in a few youtube videos by popular enthusiasts. It might pan out if gbatemp is displayed more on video and editors can still write a brief description on the main page being uploaded to the gbatemp main channel.

It is understandable 100k subs barely make ends meat but always the chance more companies will reach out through youtube. I get it's easier to write an article than to publish a video. Probably covered this also, sometimes it's easier to go where the money. Anyway hope it pans out I don't see this site vanishing any time soon. You built the best audience you could on this site over the years.

The challenging part of that from the perspective of the mag staff is that videos take a good chunk of time and effort. We're already stretched a little thin as it is. Getting that kind of content out regularly just doesn't seem feasible, as nice as it would be on paper.

 

[Costello]

I feel like the more people see the loss in value of Adsense the more people will go back to the traditional ways. It wouldn't hurt to put a little pressure in getting investors to try this again. But I'm sure some of the editors might be willing to go the way of a video? Gbatemp already gets mentioned in a few youtube videos by popular enthusiasts. It might pan out if gbatemp is displayed more on video and editors can still write a brief description on the main page being uploaded to the gbatemp main channel.

It is understandable 100k subs barely make ends meat but always the chance more companies will reach out through youtube. I get it's easier to write an article than to publish a video. Probably covered this also, sometimes it's easier to go where the money. Anyway hope it pans out I don't see this site vanishing any time soon. You built the best audience you could on this site over the years.

Yes, that is also our reasoning but it takes so much effort to produce quality video content. If we earned enough through ad revenue we could get people to create content, we've already asked around in the current staff and unfortunately it isn't a common skill; but since there is barely any revenue anymore that's become out of the question.

Plus, if anyone is able to create good content by themselves, why would they do it for someone else - they would just create their own channel and keep ad revenue for themselves. And rightly so, I think.

EDIT: Scarlet said it better (I should have used AI again... lol)

 

[K3Nv4]

Yes, that is also our reasoning but it takes so much effort to produce quality video content. If we earned enough through ad revenue we could get people to create content, we've already asked around in the current staff and unfortunately it isn't a common skill; but since there is barely any revenue anymore that's become out of the question.

Plus, if anyone is able to create good content by themselves, why would they do it for someone else - they would just create their own channel and keep ad revenue for themselves. And rightly so, I think.

EDIT: Scarlet said it better (I should have used AI again... lol)

The challenging part of that from the perspective of the mag staff is that videos take a good chunk of time and effort. We're already stretched a little thin as it is. Getting that kind of content out regularly just doesn't seem feasible, as nice as it would be on paper.

Legal contracts; plus out of nearly the 600k members I'm sure you could find someone loyal enough to deal with all that pressure of it. But I fully get it and I'm sure you could come up with a system to make everyone happy if enough thought is put into it.