Ad Blocking

Ahh, I see. That might be doable.

I still think that any kind of thing you guys may try and sell would rake in tons of cash based simply on you being the most useful and trustworthy website in FFXI existance.

Is there anyway to block individual ad's instead of just ad networks?
Only ad's that annoy me are these Timewarner ads

There isn't a single ad that bugs me. I just ignore them all.

I get Nexus One ad's 90% of the time... Google is reading my mind (or maybe my search history :-)

Is there just a way we can snail mail you the cash in side a card of thanks to you guys directly to one of your mail boxes??

Just pvt mess maybe your addy. I'm way too oldskool to maybe do the online crap, and i'm one of the ones that's afraid to E-Online banking type.

I perfer to walk in and do my banking...

After having my wife's account exploited through an .swf ad from here back in the day (yes, it was a long time ago) we've blocked ad's ever since with noscript... that said, if a donation were available, we'd contribute but we'd never consider allowing ads because while I believe your intentions are good as to the "do no evil" advertising, you cant ensure the ad's pushed are safe with 100% certainty any more than any site can - again not your fault, we're just not willing to accept the risk.

I enabled these in AdBlockPlus:
@@|http://ads.ffxiah.com/ffxiah/*
@@|http://partner.googleadservices.com/gampad/google_service.js
@@|http://partner.googleadservices.com/gampad/*
@@|http://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/ads?*

And I disabled the one showing the images:
http://pagead2.googlesyndication.com/pagead/imgad?*

This way you still see the link (barely visible), but not the offensive images.
All I was seeing was those hidious RMT ads.
I don't know if the links alone give revenue, though.

It is! Link is here:

http://www.ffxiah.com/donations.php

Donate away!

Oooo the FFXIAH POBOX :) Can see the swarm of junk mail and pedobear gifts.

It's not really gotten off the ground yet, but have you guys looked at this?:

http://flattr.com/

I think many people would be willing to make small payments on a monthly basis for the great work this site does.

In the meantime, donating, as there's no way I'm re-enabling ads anywhere :P

Um, please allow me to explain, as "pedobear" is not my style, and certainly very crude for you to say on your behalf...

If you kindly read, I said pertianing to the FFXIAH Bosses, if they would send me a pvt message, if they wanted to, that would be entirely they're call.


To the reference of "Pedobear", I really think you should Retract that....I find that extemely offensive, as I am a parent, but like that you really care.. its the interwebz


/sigh....

I don't use an AD blocker, but only because it's just extra resources being taken away from my CPU that could be spent elsewhere and most of them are absolutely worthless..

I don't like ADS, at all... Infact, I find them quite annoying, and the fact that any given page has 4+ ads on it, is really starting to effect my surfing habits.. I'll avoid sites I know are full of ADS (and I know plenty of people who do the exact same) so you see, whether I block the ADS or I just get fed up with being spammed, you'll lose revenue either way..

This is in no way directed towards this site, just webmasters in general.. but you chose to open the site knowing full and well of the financial aspect that comes with it, and it really irks me when websites will throw it in your face that the ADS support said site.. By all means, feel free to shut down the site if you are unable to keep up with the financial responsibility, but do not push it off on me..

There are other ways to reduce costs or generate revenue that are no where near as annoying as ADS plastered all over the place are. (charge membership fees, hand out quotas of visiting partner sites [so that it's the viewers choice] limit bandwidth to unregistered/non-paying visitors, etc etc)

Throwing in ADS that scream 'You won!' or flash constantly REALLY piss me off.. Having your site infested with those, will almost guarentee I won't be back..

Anyways, that's my 2 cents..

I don't know what kind of adds you guys get.. atm i got a Toothpaste and computer parts... and the occasional gil seller probably pops up because they see FFXI in my history



blabla

First off I want to say I just donated to the site to help you guys cover costs. I don't mind paying for services I use, but I prefer being asked up front. There is no shame in being honest with us about the cost of running this site. Stuff costs money, that's life!! I also like the premium feature idea and I'd pay for that if it was implemented.

Now with that out of the way I'll add this. I use both adblocker and noscript and I'm not ashamed to admit it, nor will I be disabling them. It's true that the internet is a scary place and that nothing is 100% secure, but it's foolish and stupid to increase your security risks because of that. That's like not practicing safe sex because there's a chance the condom may break. Adblock and noscript are the best ways to purge security risks from your web surfing. It's that old analogy "An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure". Once you get a virus or spyware or trojan it's a pain in the *** to deal with, and some varieties are really hard to clean up. The dangers from them are very real so avoiding them altogether is best. I run daily sweeps with my virus and spyware program, but I'm not going to turn off my shields just because of that.

Ads are the most common target of malicious code because they reach the largest number of people in the shortest time span. Web sites with ads relating to their content are especially dangerous because they are specialized and hackers know that by attacking those adds they will hit the largest group of people within their target audience. The simple fact is that ffxiah.com is a final fantasy related web site so hackers know that if they can infect your ads they can put keylogers on the pcs where the playonline client is most likely to reside. You can take every measure to safeguard this from happening, but it doesn't change the fact that the risk is greater here than other places. If a hacker wants to infect FFXI players with a keylogger they won't target sites relating to a childrens book series, they'll target sites like this. Furthermoe there are keyloggers which can bypass the security token through active monitoring. While it's not LIKELY to happen the point is that it can. Allowing ads just increases the chances of this happening.

I put my safe browsing habits first. The lost revenue from ads that don't load is an unfortunate side effect, but that isn't going to change. I don't think it's selfish so much as precautions. I don't want somebody else to hurt me, and that's a normal human emotion. However I never knew about the donation button because it's in such an obscure location. My suggestion to you is to make it more readily visible so more people know about it. I know I'm not the only one who would donate to cut costs. The premium feature is the other idea I'd like to see. But my adblocking will stay, and I'll never change that decision.

I will not disable my adblocking software, however I will give you a donation after I have posted this.

That donation list is pretty sad... I'll assist on that momentarily.

Quick idea--remove top banner ad (assuming there still is one) and replace it with a link to the donation page.

Noscript has four sites whitelisted. Three are my work sites and the last is my personal domain. That will not change as long as ads are scripted/java/flash and not 100% controlled by webmasters. Ergo, it will likely never change.

/em steps on a soapbox
Webmasters are exactly that; lords of their web domain. They [we] are ultimately responsible for everything someone sees when they point their browser to our site(s).

Using an ad set that I have no immediate and direct control over is only putting myself and my viewers/users at risk. Expecting the advertiser to use better discretion with the ads they push through to my visitors, even if based on my direction, is wishful thinking at best. Oh sure, easy for me to say when my monthly bill is less than what I spend for lunch on any given day. Still, there are principles I won't let go of and the way ads are handled is one of them, whether I have two hits a month or two million.

If nothing else, its nice to see that people actually did donate who said they would in this thread. From the donations page:

Like others have said, the web is a dangerous place and hackers are a universal threat. Web sites taking a hit in revenue from adblocking is an unfortunate side effect, but so long as humans are humans ads will carry malicious code. There is only so much a web site owner can do to protect their ads, and infected ads can harm people from the moment they go into effect. Even with careful monitoring an infected ad will hit many PC's before the site takes it down. Human reaction speed does not allow site owners to protect everyone when attacks can happen at any time but surfers view the site constantly. That's why internet security is necessary, and it comes in two forms. Spyware and virus removal tools act as cures to remove infected files. But it is the shields that prevent the infections from happening in the first place. Adblock and noscript are my strongest internet shields, and I couple them with a firewall. This creates a security web which greatly reduces the risk of my pc getting infected.

Our society lives in an era where protecting our security is a necessity. I don't agree with web sites telling their viewers to lower their security so they can make revenue off of ads. There are other ways to get revenue from these people, and as you can see I donated $10 to cover my browsing costs. The people who are so conscientious of their security are often the same people who will be more willing to donate. I went out of my way to pay for my security and I understand the value of that. Security itself holds value because you don't waste time and money to fix problems. Formatting is a pain in the *** and because of that prevention saves money. Nothing is free in life and I believe in a "give and take" partnership. Other like minded individuals are sure to feel the same way. I'll probably donate more later in the year, but right now I need to save my money to replace my car. The donation feature of this site should be more readily emphasized though. A premium feature where we can do extra things with our verified characters is also a welcome idea. I like ffxiah.com, and you have a strong community. I don't think asking each of us to do our part is an unreasonable request at all.

ya the donations link is in a really bad place probly the majority of peeps dont even notice it there i sure didnt

Thanks Scragg for the reply. That was and will be most very helpful,the info you sent.

Thnx

A bit late to the party, but would it be possible to make RMT ads an "opt-in" option? (i.e. I wouldn't have to see gil or characters for sale unless I specifically enable it in my user preference.)

I'm wary trusting ad companies, but I do want this site to get the ad revenue and so would be willing to tell NoScript to be a bit more relaxed--but, having constant RMT ads in my face is just too much.

Give me those "Amazing! Seen on TV!" ads or something else instead. ._.

Er, I think I just stated I find them annoying. So, I do, at least. (And, if I am the only one, of course the site operators should just ignore me and move on.)
Given how much easier it is just block the ads, I was asking for incentives to unblock them. Don't think it hurts to ask.

Just a question for Admin, dont people have to actually click on the adds for you to get money for it? Or is it enough that they are just visible on our computers?

Because if you have to actually click on them then it wouldnt really matter if you ask ppl to remove adblock, or am I wrong?

Bolded the important part for you.

That's still greek to me D:

You have to click ads or not? And if not, how do the ads know that they arent displayed on my screen?

Depends on the ad I think. Need to ask Scragg about that.