Topic: I'm getting really fed up with the Crusader Kings 3 ad.

Showing up multiple times on the same page as I scroll is bad enough, but now it's actually disrupting the website by covering parts that are supposed to be for text and links, and as I scroll down, it just gets worse. Is there something you (whoever runs this site) can do to fix it? It's beyond annoying at this point.

@DrDaisy Just use uBlock Origin. It'll take care of all of that, and it's available for most browsers.

@DrDaisy you can email site staff through the "contact" part of the site. This is the sort of thing site staff would want to know. Site staff & site users would both benefit.

@ThanosReXXX we’d prefer people don’t use ad blockers as that basically says you don’t support our site and welcome reports like this so we can get issues resolved.

@DrDaisy if you could email us a screenshot of the problem that would be awesome. Send to [email protected] thanks!

@antdickens While I can absolutely understand that from your point of view, my point of view is that sites shouldn't be spammed with all kinds of banners, labels and borders of stuff that very few people care about. Often times, it's for completely unrelated PC stuff and what not, so not even relevant to a Nintendo-focused site or for its members/users.

And besides that, I like choices, especially voluntary ones...

On a side note: I'll gladly support this site, and I'd even be willing to pay a small fee, but only of my own choice, and not by being forced to accept annoying ads that I neither want nor care for. And I don't think that people that don't like ads aren't supporting your site: we've already made the choice to support you guys by subscribing and generating traffic and clicks, so that's a bit too black & white for me.

No offense, though.

I agree that this particular ad has been very annoying. I visit this site on mobile, and the ad has a tendency to grab your finger when you try to scroll past it. Wouldn't be that big of a deal if it wasn't plastered in 3 times for every page.

I've had this exact same issue on mobile; I also tend to visit the site on mobile (Chrome) most of the time.

Alright. It seems random, but I'll take a screenshot the next time I see it. Unfortunately I don't have one of those browsers that can take a screenshot of an entire page that's long enough to scroll so I hope just seeing one of those ads will do.

@ThanosReXXX yeah, the truth of the matter is that if we didn't have the adverts the site wouldn't exist. The content and the adverts are one and to block one to get the other is essentially not supporting the work of the people that create the content. We are looking into having a paid/subscription alternative for those that would rather pay a fee than view the adverts - but realistically 99.9% of people prefer the "free/advert" model than paying. Anyone that doesn't want to view ads OR pay a fee is definitely being unfair and we could easily block them (but currently don't). And don't worry, no offence taken!

@DrDaisy You could always scroll down and take extra screenshots of the lower parts of the page...

@antdickens Well, you could at the very least opt to make the ads relevant. I don't care much about PC gaming, other than a handful games that I already own and play, and you'd think that you'd see Nintendo-related ads on a Nintendo-focused site, but often times, it's something other than that. And the amount of them is sometimes also a bit too much, with multiple vertical banners on the sides, and horizontal ones in between articles, or maybe that is the glitch that people are talking about.

On a side note: weird that you don't get anything (or enough) out of the traffic and clicks. Far as I know you are one of the largest, or perhaps THE largest independent Nintendo-related site, with thousands of active members.

And as far as fees go: as mentioned, I like choices. I already figured that most like their websites for free (although if I had to make a bet, I'm all but sure that practically none of them actually "prefer" ads along with it, they just grudgingly accept them), but various options to suit each individual would be nice, so paid subscriptions for a premium, ad-free version of the site might very well be the ticket to that.

It might even be a good topic for a poll...

@ThanosReXXX yeah, we've had some interest in an ad-free paid option, so it's something we'd like to implement further down the line.

The advert relevance is actually something that is much more complex, advertisers profile and target their ads at audiences, so for example, there is probably a high probability of someone being into PC gaming if they visiting a Nintendo based website. Or something in you Google history thinks you are interested... it's never controlled by us, we just present the ad opportunity and then it's up to the advertiser to decide if their content is relevant to that audience.

Basically, what I'm saying is the relevance is actually more down to you (and the advertiser) and the technology. That's why you'll probably see PS4 and Xbox ads on our site too, but 9 times and out 10 a user will own more than just Switch.

I'm not sure what you mean by getting anything out of clicks/traffic? We get a bit from the labelled affiliate links if people go on and buy something, yes.

@antdickens That actually makes it even weirder, because I don't click on, or view, PC game-related material. The only time I might, is when a PC game is ported to the Switch, and you guys mention that in an article, but that does not account for ads for MMORPGs or whatever else I see plastered on the sides of the page.

As for the clicks/traffic comment, that's probably my lack of understanding, then. I thought that generation clicks and traffics actually provided some benefits to websites. It's mentioned SO often in articles by people when they don't like articles or whatever (the clickbait comments and such) that I figured you must at the very least gain something out of the thousands of members clicking on your articles and generating traffic, but I guess I was wrong.

@ThanosReXXX it actually costs a website money to serve you a webpage, therefore if you generate a lot of traffic it costs more money to do that. However, 99% of the time that is then offset by advert revenue, and therefore makes a profit - but it obviously costs money to run a website.

Again for the relevancy, it's not just your personal actions, but there will be a lot of statistics the advertisers use to target people. If the product isn't for you, that's fine, their statistics are never 100% accurate, but even if they are hitting 50% of the right market, that's still a good result for them.

@antdickens Yeah, I suppose so, but I'm almost afraid to think about how my next online purchase will affect the banners on the sites I visit. I just HATE targeted ads, especially since they often advertise the very thing that you've already bought, and as such have no interest in anymore, which is also the dumb thing about them. But again: no offense meant.

I actually don't mind ads on sites if they're not disruptive. Unfortunately, a lot of them either take up way too much space or slow the site down and chew up data. I'm not asking to remove the ads, just make them less disruptive. I think a lot of us notice static ads as well, but this Crusader Kings 3 ad is actually killing any interest I could ever have in even checking that game out.

I visit the site on mobile, tablet, and pc and haven't found the ads to be intrusive ever. Pretty easy to just ignore them to be honest.

@redd214 What browsers do you use?

@DrDaisy I only use Chrome since it's always pre-installed, no ad blockers or anything.

That's the same one I use.
...
Maybe I'm also getting really sick of seeing that baby, but that's beside the point.

Something's screwy with the ads. Is there any chance that's the one that doesn't load half the time and traps you at the top or bottom of the page without the ability to scroll? I had to turn adblock back on until whatever that is is fixed.