Ads In OP of Threads...

The intellitext just has to go. Anyone who looks at the links that it gives will realize that it's useless even from an advertiser's point of view, and it just bogs down load times for everyone.

The ads inside the OP are annoying for the same reason. I don't care if this means that Inde makes us all click on the "Baby Suri" ad a thousand times a day to keep the site going, or if we have to do it via paypal donations. Both options sound better to me than what's happened now.

EDIT:Looks like the first issue is fixed. I promise to click on the banner ad at the top three million times a day if you guys remove the OP ads. Seriously.

Please keep the feedback coming. We are reading every post, let me stress again that ad blocker talk gets your post deleted. We are looking for constructive criticism and feedback.

Quote: Originally Posted by arcanemacabre

Issues with the green text aside, as Tetris already made a brilliant post on that subject. The ADs in the OP are jarring and intrusvie, but if that's what it takes to keep GwG running, I can manage it.

I would point out that text does not always line up well with the ad... especially quoted text, and it seems to take the fire out of a post to have to read around the ad... Maybe if it was on the top of the post instead of the side? or the bottom? And smaller regardless.

After reading this thread, I logged onto PCMech (a site I haven't been to since 6/26/06) and donated $26.99 just to get rid of the ads on that site. I probably won't log onto that website for another 3 months, however I just hate ads that much.

<-- willing to donate





I'm trying to focus, but that ad is distracting.

Panicked this morning. Thought you guys had been hacked or something when I saw the ads.
Ummm.. never saw the green text, but I agree that would have been the more annoying of the two. The in-post ads feel more intrusive(it's violating my 'personal space' you might say) but I could learn to deal with them. It would be nicer if they could be moved off to the side or something, but if they have to stay there, I'll deal.
As for donations, would love to but think about the fact that you're a forum for a bunch of people who decided to play a free online game. Even if I had the money to spare, I'm paranoid about putting credit card stuff online, even to start paypal.
I'm going to go start clicking ads now, let us know the final verdict on the test.
But thats just my two cents

The ads in the OP are tolerable albeit on the large side. I have grown accustomed to ignoring ads everywhere I go so I don't see it as that big of a deal. The text ads are just downright annoying. Really, having to dodge text ads with my mouse pointer is downright annoying.

Ad Blocker does remove all the ads, but it makes the site load a hell of a lot slower. I'd vote to remove the large pictures and use the green links (I never saw the links), if it makes the site load normally again.

I'm glad the green links are gone as they were the worst, but I'd still like to see the OP ad removed.

If you guys want to make more money, why not make a deal with NCsoft that if any referred customers from this site buy an ncsoft game, GWG will get a commision?

Another thing is maybe you guys could think about cutting costs by eliminating one or two features of the site.

I would love for the in post ads to be removed,the one on top is enough.
(I even clicked on the free smilies eon and am using the smilies provided in my msn they are very nice, you sould try em)
I also would like the Donation or premuim membership option.

But thinking real here, i dont think the ads will go, so i thought of an idea.
Why not put ads like the one on top ( the size) in between posts, say like after the 5th post you have one of the ads.As long as its not too big ( the one on top is perfect) i dont see any problems with em.

Having the in post ad right under the top one doesnt really help ,because for me atleast they are advertising the same thing, having it somwhere in the middle means im not looking at the top one anymore meaning the ad is basicly always in view ( good for the advertisers)

But theres another issue, the load times, the one on top doesnt prevent the site from loading that slow, but for some reason the in post ones do.

So my idea : Put a ad same size as the top one after the 5th post.

I've been proposing the change in location for the ad itself. I don't mind more than one banner ad, I just think that tact lies in placement (without being overly gaudy!).

Good suggestions so far though.

I don't mind ads, I'm used to them, they're everywhere. But they should not be located in our posts. Leave them as banners on the top, bottom and sides of pages and its fine, but when they get in the posts, then its in the way and a becomes an incredibly annoying thing to deal with.

it seems as though my post earlier was deleted, since i mentioned ab blocker, but what about just keeping the ads to the banners on the top??? those ads in the banners never bothered me, but ads in the top post on the page seems just like an invasion, but honestly why not just set up a pay-pal donation to help with server fees and such? this isn't the first time you guys have tried to implement ads into the forums, first time was that text when you scrolled over it'd have a website where you could "buy" things, then shortly after it was gone, guru is definitely one of the better guild wars sites out there, alot of knowledge here when the right people speak up just IMHO placing ads in someones post is wrong and it will drive alot of people away.

Las, you mean like a banner ad at the bottom of every page as well as on top? That might work fine.

What about text ads like the Google ones in a column OUTSIDE of the posts or in between them? A donation ability would help a lot I think. Adding a custom title or name color shouldn't add to the bandwidth. Might have to do a little ALTER TABLE stuff to keep track of who donated though.

All I know is that more pictures slows down me cause of my slow connection, and I doubt I am the only one. The pictures are easy enough to ignore unlike the IntelliText popping up unexpectedly though. Maybe have the picture in between like the first and second post on every page ???.

Quote: Originally Posted by Lasareth

Sidebar or between a random post (as long as they don't start showing up between all posts or the majority) would be fine.
The sidebar would be the best.
Also the 'premium' account can work (even though I find that ironic when it deals with free games). You'd also have to give ANet reps an account that would never show green links or ads within their posts.

Bad places: While writing a reply or creating a topic, at the 'thanks for posting' redirection page (you don't spend much time there), and within posts (though most places state when you submit the info it now belongs to them).


Guess I should'a got a screenshot of the green text too.

do what other large sites have done in the past...
post how much it costs to upkeep the sites bandwidth on a monthly basis (give it its own little page or something), and post how much has been donated (update daily or weekly or whatever).
i can almost guarantee you, if you let people know what it costs to keep guru running, and what is donated towards that cost regularly, you will pay for the bandwidth...and probably have money left over.

Ads in a post are bad, really bad. Please remove ASAP. This is the sort of thing to leave over.

I really cannot stand it. Having ads at the top of a page is one thing, but in the posts themselves (particularly word-wrapping or even obscuring them) is another. Not to mention it slows down page loads even more- even before this GWG, and in particular the auction site, has always been insanely slow, one reason why I prefer GWO.