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.

 

[eternal]

I know google adsense back in the day frowned upon asking or requiring that users click on advertisements when you used them on a website.
Do other* advertisers in general have that as a requirement still, if ever?
Maybe you could get away with also "gaming the system" by hosting a page monthly where you asked users to "Please check out our advertisers" > link to page... but only if the advertisers didnt cause lots of malware issues, etc. lol

 

[The Catboy]

I wanna talk about this part here

Ad blockers are no longer a niche thing. Depending on the audience, between 30–40% of visitors may be blocking ads entirely. In tech-savvy communities like ours, that number can be even higher. No matter how engaged those readers are, blocked ads mean zero revenue from them.

The worst part about this situation is that it’s compounded by social media, mostly YouTube. Because these platforms are fighting a constant cat and mouse battle, the rest of the internet is being caught in the crossfire.
The tragic reality is, independent internet is dying because large corporations want all of the money. They’ve created monopolies and we are suffering the consequences.

 

[previous_member]

I'm going to mention raffling one more time. There was a lot of excellent discussion since my last post, and it seemed to have gotten missed. What are thoughts on such an idea to generate revenue, and scrap ads altogether?

You hold the draw once all tickets are sold. I'm sure everyone would be encouraging eachother to buy a ticket. Raffles can be fun. I've seen it be very successful for generating revenue for physical entities, like a library.

Now if you had a bunch of sign wavers running at you down the street waving signs in your face, you're not going to visit any of their businesses. You're likely to be doing a lot of punching.

 

[Scarlet]

I'm going to mention raffling one more time. There was a lot of excellent discussion since my last post, and it seemed to have gotten missed. What are thoughts on such an idea to generate revenue, and scrap ads altogether?

You hold the draw once all tickets are sold. I'm sure everyone would be encouraging eachother to buy a ticket. Raffles can be fun. I've seen it be very successful for generating revenue for physical entities, like a library.

Now if you had a bunch of sign wavers running at you down the street waving signs in your face, you're not going to visit any of their businesses. You're likely to be doing a lot of punching.

You have to be careful regarding paid raffles, it seems very easy to make an illegal lottery if you're not giving people a free way to enter. And if you're giving people a free way to enter, the vast majority will just use that. Not to mention you have to pay for the prize too.

The happiest medium I can see from the discussion here would be to go with a visual "£X until we're funded for the next three months, £X more on top of that for a sitewide raffle". That way everybody could enter as thanks for the larger community's contributions as a bit of a stretch goal.

It would be fun, but it also puts the site's survival entirely on people contributing. I guess it's just a bit of a leap and a risk.

 

[Maximo101]

I just don't trust ads anywhere. To many nefarious actors out there trying to steal your info. If I run into any trouble on a website accessing content cause of ads, I just stop going. Case in point, another site with similar content asking for $$ in a pop up that shows EVERY time, even if you give money every time you visit. Used to visit 3 or 4 times a week and now once or twice a year...

That said, this is one of the sites I visit regularly for video game related info.

 

[Xdqwerty]

Ads arent so cumbersome to me aside from those at the bottom of the page

 

[Dominator211]

Ive stepped back from using GBATemp a lot in recent years ad just browse casually now, I felt the need to chime in on this. This is going to be blunt but it comes from a place of love and ultimately wanting to see the site continue to exist.

While I am personally not too bothered by the ads the evidence that users have published that suggests that whomever the new advertising company is, is pushing ads so hard it borderlines malware-esk behavior is disturbing. I am not going to pretend to understand the HTML behind it all as, malware/adware revese-engineering isn't my specific wheelhouse. But the evidence put forth is damning and makes me as a cybersecurity professional deeply concerned. To put it simply, somebody screwed up and I hope for the sake of the site (and it sounds like this is the case for now) that the advertisement company is the one that screwed up. Could it be a clerical error on their end, or did someone not do enough research into the company to begin with, we don't know and I certainly hope that most if not all of the blame falls on the advertisement company. As for what could be done going forward, I don't really feel one particular way or another, as I have largely stepped away from the site in recent years. So I cannot offer much in terms of input. But I will say this... (Here comes the blunt part) the Administraion of GBATemp currently has a problem on their hands that can very well spiral into a crisis, and it is entirely up to them on how well they deal with it. So far, I have seen mostly good things that show that they want to get through this but they are not out of the woods yet and it remains to be seen how this will turn out.

-D

 

[SS4]

I am not affraid to say i use adblockers, BUT, its setup in a way it only blocks intrusive ads and allow "good" ones to show up.
So everything intrusive gets blocked while well placed ads that don't hinder browsing/viewing experience online shows normally.
Dunno if many others do it like that but i feel its the proper way to use adblockers.

 

[previous_member]

You have to be careful regarding paid raffles, it seems very easy to make an illegal lottery if you're not giving people a free way to enter. And if you're giving people a free way to enter, the vast majority will just use that. Not to mention you have to pay for the prize too.

The happiest medium I can see from the discussion here would be to go with a visual "£X until we're funded for the next three months, £X more on top of that for a sitewide raffle". That way everybody could enter as thanks for the larger community's contributions as a bit of a stretch goal.

It would be fun, but it also puts the site's survival entirely on people contributing. I guess it's just a bit of a leap and a risk.

Good points here. I'm sure there are ways to make raffling legal, if no free way to enter. I can understand that putting the site's survival on contributions is a risk, but still better than ads. As many have mentioned, ads drive people away. Especially when intrusive or sketchy. I'm sure we as a community can come up with a better alternative.

 

[Akorax]

TLDR. Imo, move the content to Discord and we'll be fine.

 

[Exnor]

TLDR. Imo, move the content to Discord and we'll be fine.

And lose all independence.

Bravo, excellent idea

 

[AndorfRequissa]

personally i dont think these type of sites should be about money. this is a hobby that enough people here could throw a couple buck towards to keep the site running. I don't think a site like this has much overhead either. At least it shouldnt.

You just need some dedicated hobbyists who have a regular job and can work together in teams to help out to make it work.

Ads are a part of life unfortunately but I love sites like this that havent sold themselves out to pushing ads at you and then making content just to clickbait people to make money off the ad revenue. Thats the name of the game for alot of websites. Clickbait for ad revenue. Its a shady business when ur doing that.

 

[modrobert]

I'm not an active member of gbatemp, but have been lurking here for the past two decades or so, and might be able to provide some insights from my experience running a console hacking forum called eurasia[.]nu (the domain name points somewhere else now). My advice would be to go as independent as possible, shorten the distance between your loyal members and the ways they can support. Patreon seems like a good idea (until they ban you for some reason), so perhaps crypto currency is a better route in the long run.

We lost google ads back in 2011 when running eurasia[.]nu because they wanted to remove content, first they kept sending delete requests about files in the download section, then they went after forum posts like innocent christmas greetings (might be NSFW these days, but those were different times). That was the final straw, it felt good to kick google out even though it meant we lost some income (ads were at that point enough cover the hosting). The independence was worth it, and not the reason we finally shut down the site roughly seven years later.

 

[MidTV]

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.

Most ads I have been receiving are for scams, like "Download extension for Chrome" and those ads with a link to "minecraft" that take you to a virus. As I am typing this, I see 3 ads, for unblocked games, fake extensions, and "free" coupons. I am not saying the ads are bad, but they need to be moderated more.

 

[DragonMals]

TLDR. Imo, move the content to Discord and we'll be fine.

I use discord but I also use gbatemp. Golden rule is to not have to use Discord as a storage space otherwise it can be gone lickety split.

 

[tech3475]

Ads arent so cumbersome to me aside from those at the bottom of the page

Same, for some reason that seems to be the most annoying.

As I type this it isn't even showing an ad, just a white box.

 

[Xdqwerty]

As I type this it isn't even showing an ad, just a white box.

Same

 

[Tom Jones]

I'd rather see gbatemp go under completely than move to discord...

 

[ChibiMofo]

Wait. GBATemp has ads?

Since when?

 

[Payne]

Patron of GBAtemp I have become. I've never had ad on gbatemp, I just whitelisted it on adblockers but still no ads. I use firefox on strict privacy settings, maybe thats why I dont see ads?