How to White-List Ads on Gaia

[Cupcakechan]

TheOpenBox

I understand why you have ads on the site, but the only place I absolultly can't stand ads is on the meebo bar. This is the only reason I have ads turned off. Otherwise I would keep them on forever. Just the meebo bar is so cluttered as is. No need to take up more just for the one constent ad. Just my opinion on things. I know there is only so much you can do and you have to cover sever costs for the site and other things. I love Gaia, but I hate the meebo bar ad. ^^;

Thanks for reading,
TheOpenBox

Oh my gosh, this one million times. This.

[slp101]

I always see ads on the Gaia pages, but how do I know if what I am seeing is a legitimate AD that supports Gaia or one that is not suppose to be there and got in somehow?

Is there some kind of specific location or look for the Ads that helps to support Gaia?

[emothunder]

With the cheaper ad services I'm actually more worried about malware sneaking in. If the ads on gaia were nicer sponsored ads for related things (like anime or perhaps content depending on the section of gaia) and not the randomized cheapy ones I would take the adblock off immediately. Too many people I know have gotten viruses or blasted with sound. I know a bad ad like that will be taken down after the fact but that's just it... We should not have to get hit with this bad stuff beforehand in the first place. We as a site are a lot of traffic and we seem to get sponsors for items so why not just get official nice ads like the watchable ones? I know I try to watch those when I can since I overall do really want to give sites I like ad revenue.

Another thing to consider is possibly ads that are less computer intensive. The ones that pop up or are heavily animated are big resource hogs and the cool thing about gaia is you can log in and use it even on a horrible old computer.

[itty bitty north kitty]

itty bitty north kitty

..if there was a way/someone to scan the ads? for viruses and other bad things/not allow them to be edited once accepted/on gaia, then it would be worth allowing them..

[itty bitty north kitty]

emothunder

With the cheaper ad services I'm actually more worried about malware sneaking in. If the ads on gaia were nicer sponsored ads for related things (like anime or perhaps content depending on the section of gaia) and not the randomized cheapy ones I would take the adblock off immediately. Too many people I know have gotten viruses or blasted with sound. I know a bad ad like that will be taken down after the fact but that's just it... We should not have to get hit with this bad stuff beforehand in the first place. We as a site are a lot of traffic and we seem to get sponsors for items so why not just get official nice ads like the watchable ones? I know I try to watch those when I can since I overall do really want to give sites I like ad revenue.

Another thing to consider is possibly ads that are less computer intensive. The ones that pop up or are heavily animated are big resource hogs and the cool thing about gaia is you can log in and use it even on a horrible old computer.

Well said. ^

[emothunder]

Wow this turned out a bit long. Sorry!

I've been thinking about it a bit more while reading since I really do love the site and want it to do well. All parties would be happier if the advertisements were inviting instead of offputting to the users.

I could see Gaia having a little servery or page in the settings area where we can actually program in our product preferences. For example if I really like comics and clicked to approve those kinds of ads they would be something I would want to see and have a greater chance of clicking on them. On the other hand my friend might dislike comics but love big budget movies and would instead benefit from ads that link to trailers or official sites. It would also be great if we had an easy convenient way to give feedback on ads we liked and ads we disliked but weren't breaking any kind of rule (for example a lot of targeted things that find my age and gender love sending me baby and clothing stuff).

Another thing I've seen around the internet but perhaps not here is the concept of referral codes. We really do respond positively to when an ad does something nice for us personally. I've been reading this thread and a lot of people have mentioned how much they liked a few things gaia did to hide rewards in the ads occasionally. One thing that could be an interesting test at some point is to find a company that sells something that is either popular at the moment or something our general audience likes and form some kind of referral agreement with the other company. The way these work is Gaia would get a password or phrase we could use if buying something at the ad's page to get a discount. I think these ads generally only pay per time they get a sale but even if it was something small like getting 5% off or a small freebie it could effect clickthrough traffic. I don't think I described this option well enough but It is another angle to consider. We could also do it in reverse and if someone buys a thing from a specific official sponsor they could give us a code for one of the digital items. People on gaia seem to be really responsive to cosplay items.

The automated "targeted" ads never hit their mark for me and only generate ads I would never personally willingly click on or activate if they are interactive. The team needs to think why we respond positively to the pay bundles like the Adventure Time and Walking Dead ones are presented to us and why we don't respond well to the normal site ads. Despite the backlash that will always happen from pay content I think those were really good marketing moves and those dying for official crossover things were ecstatic (for pay content like letters and such there will always be those who will donate to the site to make gold. Those who would never donate still have access to them). If gaia actually made the ads something we want to see and use then the overall environment will be so much better.

[Rinn Lothron]

Rinn Lothron

I forgot that I even have the ad-block app on. rofl

In any case, Gaia ads are perhaps less intrusive than on other sites. e.g. Facebook.

Or it might have something to do with those four daily links that gave you 50g per day.


For auld lang syne, my dear.

Well, it was fine for a bit. That is, until it started advertising ecchi images and manga. emotion_puke

How the **** do I report ads???

Or I'll just use the filter anyway. So long Gaia ads~ emotion_facepalm

[Rinn Lothron]

Rinn Lothron

Rinn Lothron

I forgot that I even have the ad-block app on. rofl

In any case, Gaia ads are perhaps less intrusive than on other sites. e.g. Facebook.

Or it might have something to do with those four daily links that gave you 50g per day.


For auld lang syne, my dear.

Well, it was fine for a bit. That is, until it started advertising ecchi images and manga. emotion_puke

How the **** do I report ads???

Or I'll just use the filter anyway. So long Gaia ads~ emotion_facepalm

Oh, and also - Where do I go to tell this mod to stick this thread where the sun don't shine?

Because I'm obviously considering doing it for her, but then I could be charged with assault and battery.

[Far-Roaming Euryale]

I've been on Gaia almost a year and just saw my first inappropriate ad.

I went to report it, but I need to download a program and go through a ton of steps. Are you kidding?

There needs to be a better, easier way to report bad ads (this one had manga style female nudity.)

Since there are 13 year-olds on this site, Gaia, you need to do better, even if you have to change how you sell add space.

I'm not going to block ads because of this one ad, but now I see why some people are blocking.

[kike2424]

sweatdrop

[siskataya]

Happy Monday everyone! Thanks so much for the continued feedback over the weekend. I've passed along your suggestions and ideas to the ads team, as well as your feedback on why you will or will not white-list ads on Gaia.

As always, if you have any more ideas, let us know! biggrin

[Badass Barracuda]

iFaiji

i dont know why your saying its helping gaia if many things have gone into maintenance mode, i would not be surprise if many people will not listen and ignore this plea. I for one am sick of the ads o3o
couple is ok but those auto player that lag you suck.

Actually, a lot of people might agree with you, I know I do.
A couple IS enough, but when you spam us with all of these video players and crap it's just annoying, and lags you.
Also, please tell me how this is helping the site.
You've removed half of the games section and aren't even really tending to zomg anymore.
A LOT of people buy gaia cash and cash items, and I think a lot of users DID actually deal with ads, UNTIL you started putting up video ads.
If you would just put more inanimate ads up, it would be much better, and I think people would start turning off their ad block.
Anyway, whateves, I started using ad block because of youtube and now gaia.
Too much for me. >.<

[Sint Joris]

siskataya

Have I missed any of your concerns? If so, please let me know and I can certainly add them to this list. I want to have a good understanding of why ads are bothersome, or not worth watching.

Take care and please keep the feedback coming! ^^
Sisky

What - I think - should be added to your list is that advertisements make Gaia very laggy. It slows down my internet drastically. My previous post (perhaps you missed it, it's on page 14):

http://www.gaiaonline.com/forum/site-feedback/how-to-white-list-ads-on-gaia/t.84076533_204/#204

[Cedarbox]

siskataya

Happy Monday everyone! Thanks so much for the continued feedback over the weekend. I've passed along your suggestions and ideas to the ads team, as well as your feedback on why you will or will not white-list ads on Gaia.

As always, if you have any more ideas, let us know! biggrin

Since I highly doubt you guys are willing to actually moderate the ads before they end up on the site (dirty look implied here), you're gonna have to make it as easy as possible to report all the bad things that show up. As it is now, just getting in contact with any form of customer service is a huge pain.

Add a button under every spot where ads can appear that, when pressed, automatically files a report with all the relevant information, including a screenshot of what's in the ad space. If an ad (or a report with an identical screenshot) gets reported a lot and suddenly (such as when it first appears on the site), ban the ad until a staff member has a look at it personally. Because it can be accidentally clicked and nobody wants to deal with spam, add some kind of feature that requires confirmation, even if it's just a second click.

And for the love of god, uniformly ban all flash-based ads, flashing GIFs and ads with noise. Ads here should know what people are interested in (anime and games), so there's no need to track us. Ban ads that try to read into our history or stick cookies on our system.

Simple JPGs and a link. That's all anyone needs to know if they're interested in a product.

If you guys want to give people extra incentive to see ads, offer randomly placed raffle tickets for the latest sealed letter. The more raffle tickets you have, the more chances to win. Soul bind the tickets and make a big deal out of the weekly raffle drawings - weekly so that you have an excuse for a regular reminder to white list ads.

[edit] If you really need people to white list, work the raffle into the storyline for extra attention. [/edit]

There you go. You have a positive excuse to remind people, a positive incentive for those that white list and you don't have to look like a bad guy. Everyone's a winner.

[mirendalin]

Why I really don't see why I should white-list Gaia, in order of importance:

1) Malware ads. You don't filter ads enough to keep out malware. This one is a deal breaker, I catch a virus and you're black listed. End of story.

2) Pop-up ads. Again this should be filtered out, for one this is a sign that you aren't in control of your ads leading one to believe that your ads could easily contain malware. This is a biggie, and when I've white-listed Gaia, it happens.

3) Sound ads. I'll give up screen real estate to help out causes, but I turn off all sound in Gaia that I can. My audio options are not part of the site and if the ads use more then I'm here for, then my Gaia experience isn't that important. I've left site where I felt that I needed to support with ads that didn't filter, but with Gaia I've bought so really feel that I've done my part.

4) Porn/Hentai ads. Why aren't these filtered out before the 13-year-olds you cater to see them? Seriously, are you even trying?

5) Hook up site ads. Again the fact that this site claims to cater to 13-year-olds makes these ads really uncomfortable.

Without these it's really hard to white-list Gaia.

Honestly you'll probably make the most by cutting back to only image ads, no video, excepting the video offers, of course. Allowing advertisers to pick what they put up allows them to abuse the privilege and while we might want to trust you we can't trust all of them.