Annoying Advertising

Originally Posted by HopeHacker

I agree with you, on the price, but maybe because TCS is such a huge board, the costs are more. My suggestion is: Use Opera as your main browser. You won't get Pop Up's with Opera. You'll still get the other advertizing, but IMO, that type of advertizing is easy to deal with.

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Thanks, but I don't have a problem with pop up's, evidently my browser or software is blocking them. I do find the flashing ads at the top of the page annoying, but of course I can live with that.

I would be happy to be a TCS subscriber (if the rates were lower) to show my support, as well as get rid of the ads. I'm sure that it is very costly to run this board. Again, my point is that the this board can make more money by lowering the rates & gaining more subscribers.

Originally Posted by cagnes

Thanks, but I don't have a problem with pop up's, evidently my browser or software is blocking them. I do find the flashing ads at the top of the page annoying, but of course I can live with that.

I would be happy to be a TCS subscriber (if the rates were lower) to show my support, as well as get rid of the ads. I'm sure that it is very costly to run this board. Again, my point is that the this board can make more money by lowering the rates & gaining more subscribers.

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If anything, subscription prices need to be raised. Instead, Anne has arranged for advertising so that subscription rates can be very low. Regular members get nearly all the benefits that subscribers do. I don't know of any snack companies that will let me eat cheese crackers all day and night with the hope that maybe some day I'll decide to pay. I'd put them out of business. I don't know of any cable companies that let me watch all the channels I want and have me pay only if I feel like it. This site is run on a high-end dedicated server. Here's a news flash... It costs money to do that. Once again... these ads are not costing the members anything.

How many hours a day, week, or month do members spend here? The board is, with very few exceptions, open 24/7, 365 days a year, so there's always somebody here to lend an ear, give advice, or just be goofy. An annual subscription costs USD 5 a month. How does that compare to one meal at McDonald's, a pack of cigarettes, one movie ticket, the gas you use to drive to your neighborhood post office, grocery store, or video store, instead of walking? The amount you pay to rent a DVD? Or have a drink at a club? One issue of Cosmopolitan or The Economist?
Nobody is demanding that all members pay to take advantage of what TCS has to offer. Many members have become subscribers because they wish to see TCS be able to continue to offer its services to felines everywhere, or because they want to take advantage of things like the Premier Lounge or no advertisements.
I suppose it boils down to setting priorities, which are obviously a personal matter. Few things in life are free, so we have the situation where some members prefer to pay for TCS access in hard currency, while others are left with the option of doing so by putting up with ads.

Thank you for the feedback everyone. I am putting this thread back into the feedback forum, as this discussion is actually important to me.

A few things I'd like to say -

We have every possible filter in place on campaigns. The one that was off was the audio/video one, and I have added this one as well now. We have the system auto-filter using every filter they offer. That includes filtering tobacco, Alcohol, Excessive Animation, Suggestive, Dating/Romance, Gambling, Expandable Banners, Political and Male Health, and now Audio/Video as well. These are all high paying ads that we turn down automatically, in an effort to keep ads on the site in line with the nature of this site, and as acceptable as possible.

We also have the pop-up campaigns set up to deliver up to one pop-up per use every 24 hours in the forums, and up to 2 pop-ups every 24 hours in the other sections of the site. No more than that. I am glad that people reported the mass of pop-ups, because that is certainly not our intention and I will be looking into the matter.

I confess, I am not a huge fan of pop-ups myself lol. And that's an understatement I am a surfer, much as any one of you, and pop-ups are somewhat annoying, that's for sure. That said, although I have 4-5 programs installed that are fully capable of blocking pop-ups, I always turn them off. Two reasons for this -

1. These applications often block legitimate pop-ups as well, such as messages from the site you're browsing.

2. More importantly, I realize how much more pop-ups pay the site owners (compared to in-page banners) and it's my way of paying something back for sites that I am using.

As for the cost of a paid membership here - we are currently looking into setting up a multi-tier membership plan, where we will offer 2-3 levels of membership at different price levels and different privileges. Again, feedback here is appreciated, as it's possible that we will be offering a basic paid membership plan at $2-$3 a month where members will only get the option to switch advertising on and off.

One more avenue that is already being pursued, is finding cat-related companies that will become sponsors to the forums. I'm sure TCS members will show their support to our sponsors as well. I can tell you that should we be able to fill in all the 20 sponsorship spots on the forums, there may be no need for pop-ups on the boards anymore. I do prefer having pet/cat related advertising here, rather than random flashing pop-ups. I'm sure you do as well.

I thank you again for your support We get so used to getting things for free on the internet, that we forget that they come with a price to the people supplying them. One way or another, you pay for these things, or these sites simply don't go on existing. It's not only hosting costs by the way. There are other costs involved in running the site as well and the site needs to be profitable to sustain itself. I promise to try and do my best to keep it pleasant around here, even with ads on the site

I can't afford to be a paid member either. I wish I could so I could support TCS.

While popups are annoying, I don't really see them personally since I am not here often enough.

I don't mind seeing the ads at the top since they do not restrict my views, however I understand everyones point of view and looks like Anne is going to do something about it.

She has no control over how many popups you see , if you are seeing more than you should then she will haev it taken care of.

However they need to be on the site, it requires alot of money to run TheCatSite.

Theres the server for a start, which is a high end server and also in a datacenter that provides excellent protection, this has to be taken into consideration.

Then theres myself, which Anne has to pay for along with that she has to make money for herself afterwords.

So I see both sides of it Glad to see Anne is having it looked into.

-Scott

I have to say thanks to Weight Watchers advertising it's given me the kick up the backside i've needed and got me back onto a healthy eating programme this week

I think $5 a month is very reasonable but I can't pay it in one lump sum. If it is taken out of my account as a monthly carge I am sure I could contribute more than $5 per month. I am not a member of multiple forums. I haven't found any but TCS that meet my expectations so I would be more than happy to support TCS! Is there a payment plan in place where the members who can help support TCS can pay the year subsription over time instead of one lump sum?

Yes, you can subscribe for less than a year, for a smaller amount.

Originally Posted by valanhb

Also, while the cheapest (per month) choice is paying for a year up front, there are also 3 and 6 month options available for $19.50 and $33.00 respectively. http://www.thecatsite.com/forums/payments.php Thought I would mention it as some said they would be willing or better able to contribute throughout the year rather than a lump sum.

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Originally Posted by rosiemac

I have to say thanks to Weight Watchers advertising it's given me the kick up the backside i've needed and got me back onto a healthy eating programme this week

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Susan I may have to turn my ads on to see the Brad Pitt one

Originally Posted by Phenomsmom

You know I heard somethign shout hello and I couldn't figure out what it was!

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It took me a few times too and I was at work.

Originally Posted by Rockcat

It took me a few times too and I was at work.

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I am glad I am not the only slow dork that was looking around to see if someone was talking to me!

Well this will make you laugh!. I don't have speakers on my pc at work so i couldn't hear that smilie woman said hello, but when i went on at home last night i heard her and thought it was someone on my yahoo id ringing me?, so when i heard her say "Heeeelllooooo" i said hello back!!!

It cracked me up!

Originally Posted by Anne

Thank you for the feedback everyone. I am putting this thread back into the feedback forum, as this discussion is actually important to me.

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Thank you for putting the thread back on the board. I was puzzled as to why it was removed, since IMHO, it was a very civil & constructive discussion.

As I stated before, I'm personally not against the advertising & just feel the current subscriber rates are too high for a message board. I think that the ads & lower rates can coexist & still generate more revenues for TCS than high subscriber rates. I think that the tiered plans are a good idea & I'm interested to see what you come up with.

I'm a mod on a Proboard, which is a free board, but we have to pay to keep it ad free. We like it ad free, so twice a year we have fund raisers. In the spring we have pet photo contest & the winner is crowned King or Queen for the year & also gets a few pet related prizes. The entry fee is about $5.00 per photo & the members do the voting.
In the Fall we have a calendar contest & we sell the calendars.
These are just a couple of options for raising money to support the board, that you may want to also consider. Note.. A photo contest is usually very popular & much less work involved than putting together a calendar!

I think Cagnes has a great idea with the fund raising idea! Iphoto contest and a calander are genious ideas. I know I would buy a calendar with my favorite TCS kitties on it!

I agree on the ideas that Cagnes stated, how fun would that be?

For some reason, I don't get the popups at work - but last night while I was on here - I got about 10 pop ups at one time, and everytime I would click on a thread, I would get more!

I have blockers that work on the rest of the pop ups on my sites I go onto - I just thought that there were SO many of them, I could hardly reply in a thread without 2 or 3 of them coming up and inturrupting my typing!

Although I do not like them, I would never stop coming to TCS for that reason only - I love it here

I particularilly like the Brad Pitt banner that comes across at times

The flashing banners do annoy me but they are out of sight when you scroll down so itsnt not that big of a deal.

Shalom Annie, Ani Larke, ha bayta in Canada! I'm writing because a problem just occurred two days ago (and has continued) which is very annoying. I have a Mac, don't mind the regular ads or popups, but the new problem is that as soon as I'm on your site a blank page "Untitled" appears behind the site page, and if I access any (Behaviour) forum postings, another blank pg. appears on top of the 1st, called 'Untitled 1 (or 2 or 3...) and when I leave the website, I have to manually click off on all the blank sheets before I can go to another site or even just my desktop. I do hope you won't tell me I have to pay to get rid of the pages, as they are not ordinary popups or ads, but an invasion of my system, and a huge nuisance. Besides I love the site and don't want to abandon it because of them, but I'll be darned if I pay to get rid of them either. Bavakasha, lyla tov, Larke

i LOVE the idea of a photo contest. I'd be more than happy to organize this, or some other similar fundraiser! Think about how much fun that could be!

As for some sugestions to help with ads. Are you all using internet explorer? I use Opera, and only have one add, and never once had a pop up ad. You might want to think about getting firefox or Opera. Tab windows is awesome too!

Good luck, and thanks so much for the site!

-Jade

I like the ideas of contests. We used to have quite a few in the past, and might be time to bring them back. But I won't be using them as fundraisers. This site, along with a few others, is a business. Privately owned and run by me. So, no, I'm afraid fundraisers aren't the way to go about this. Do keep the suggestions coming, I do appreciate them.

Oh, and Larke, yes, that is a bug somewhere. I did contact our advertising network about it and am awaiting their reply. And Shalom to Canada too