"A Few Words About the New Banner Ads" Topic

As a few of you have noticed, we're experimenting with the Google Adsense banner system at the moment. Basic Members will see one or two additional advertising banners on most of the pages of TMP.

When the website transitions to TMP 4.0, we may have to give up our current advertising system and use one of the "out of the box" solutions, such as Google Adsense. So we have turned it on to get some experience with it.

Like most modern banner systems, the Google Adsense system selects banners to display based on your viewing history. The banners you see will be different from the banners that someone else will see.

You can apparently influence the Google Adsense system manually, by clicking in the top right corner of the banner and telling Google which categories you are not interested in.

The system also allows us here at TMP to control what banner ads are displayed, in two ways:

1. We can turn certain categories of advertisement off.

2. We can turn specific banners off, if we know which URL they go to.

We're currently watching the performance reports, so that we can see which kinds of banners you are most interested in. It is in our best interest to winnow down the categories to the ones you like best. For instance, right now it is you like the "video game" and "health" categories, but not "Beauty & Personal Care"!

Also, we're not entirely clear what goes in each category. For instance, which category includes ads for miniature wargaming? Probably "video games." And someone complained about a banner ad for girly pictures, but it's not clear which category that would fall under.

So let's give this new system a chance. I think the ads will be more targeted soon, and it gives the advertisers some idea of an option for TMP 4.0. I am also open to suggestions for alternate systems we should look at.

The only category currently turned off is "Gambling and Betting," as I'm not sure of the legal implications…

I'm guessing that means no more wargaming related ads, correct? I hardly think Google is going to be pushing them.

Altfritz – I don't think I have ever in my life seen a Google ad for a tabletop gaming product except..maaaaaybe.. D&D.

I'm guessing that means no more wargaming related ads, correct? I hardly think Google is going to be pushing them.

Actually, I've seen several come through already.

"Cool stuff inc" pops up for me.

I'm not seeing these. Are they showing up in the same place as the current banner adds? Are the current banner ads showing up when a google ad shows up?

Scott, you aren't seeing them because you are a Supporting Member. I wonder how long you will be immune?

Bill, I don't want to see ANY of them. I have tried turning categories off and that does not work.
Do I have to install Adblock? That way I will see no TMP sponsor banner ads. Is that what you REALLY want?

And don't give me any b-s about "browsing history". I have done nothing to bring up Thai dating sites.

Bill, I don't want to see ANY of them. I have tried turning categories off and that does not work.
Do I have to install Adblock? That way I will see no TMP sponsor banner ads. Is that what you REALLY want?

Transfer some of your Supporting Member credit over from your other account, then. It's not like you haven't got years and years of membership credit.

And don't give me any b-s about "browsing history". I have done nothing to bring up Thai dating sites.

All I know, Winston, is that I'm seeing ads for Warmachine and online games… no dating ads.

So, if I am a supporting member these won't be inflicted on me?

So, if I am a supporting member these won't be inflicted on me?

Under TMP 3.0, correct.

I saw a Russian dating site earlier….

Our wargame retailers all have banner ads-is there a way to cycle those through among the others?

Just saw a War Machine one.

Also, TMP freezes my android phone now.

Any chance you can update my membership since I already paid for it?

What my friend Winston has said.
I don't want to see anymore than threads…

Amicalement
Armand

Ah. A "used truck for sale ".
How does that fit in my browser history?
Or a massive app dump for ONLY $499 USD per month?

And would someone please tell Sandra Bullock to stop lying. Every time that omnibus ad shows up there's something about her lying and something about vacations to Ireland. And getting a veteran ID, which might be fraud since I am not a veteran. Nor am I a Christian seeking to self-publish.

Hope this doesn't ruffle any feathers, but I have a legit question. Is TMP that cash strapped that this new "ad banner model" is absolutely necessary? Is the revenue gained from all the current advertisers and subscribers not enough to keep the site afloat as it has for years? If not, what changed?

If you don't want to see ads, pay the man some money.

Since I am a skin-flint I shall have ads. And I won't care.

Cheers,
JohnG

If you don't want to see ads, pay the man some money.

Actually, it sounds like Bill is considering making that ad system the default for everybody. Right now I see good ads, but the flash ads from Google and Doubleclick could replace them.

Does he new ad "malware" make money for TMP just by it being enabled on the site or is is a "pay per click" system?

There's not many options out there for publishers, and adsense can do some really stupid things that are outside Bill's control.

Bill, you got the right tags being fed in to adsense? Not sure if there's a tabletop gaming vertical on adsense.

Well, it cant be based on browsing history. Im getting russian dating ads etc. Not once have I searched or browsed such things.

I come to TMP to look at wargame related stuff, pics of figures etc. Ads to wargame related stuff would make sense, not random ads to a dodgy looking Russian dating site that no one in their right mind would click on unless they want to be spammed and infested with malware and viruses.

Its your site, I can ignore the ads, but then perhaps there are those members who will take offence to such things.

Steve

What adsense neglects to mention is that if you have no browsing history to use, it will pull ads that have displayed on other sites you have visited or rotate them randomly from its catergories.

It will never say, I have no relevant ads for this person therefore I will show none.

TMP 4.0 sponsored by Google

Yeah, they are pretty annoying. Plus they are a lot bigger than our usual sponsor's banners. Is it really worth the money?

Yeah, I noticed Adblock Plus blocking more TMP ads (2 on this page)

yeh just use Adblock, the only downside to it is you stop the banners at the top that manufacturer's have paid for. apologies to them in advance that I no longer see them and thus may well not hear of them/visit them/ buy from them.

And of course, run adblockers and no clicks for the site and it earns no money from the ads, but if the monetisation is that tight that will kill one of TMP's revenue streams.

Of course it would have been nice if Bill had mentioned to his paying wargames advertisers that they might lose this source of advertising or be replaced by Google adsense.

Whatever the changes are or will be, so far this experiment is a bad public and trader relations.

"but if the monetisation is that tight that will kill one of TMP's revenue streams."

Suspect its worse than that:

TMP paying advertisers are/will react negatively

Supporting members ditto come TMP4 on the basis of why am I paying for this nonsense

That's the financial model gone. It makes no sense to me.

Nor to me.

I'm using Adblock. I can see the banner ads on top but no more of the other ads – which is perfect.

One thing you may not have thought about Bill – if the site keeps pimping enough dating, TMP might be listed as a dating site with Websense and other proxy services. That would kill access from corporate networks. No more reading TMP during lunch.

So I logged out, then came back to the site to see what was going on. I didn't find the ads obtrusive.

I generally know how AdSense works, so I created a few fake browser histories to see what I would get. Apparently, without a robust browser history (with IE, you can kinda do this with "In Private" browsing), you get ads very focused on your current page. This was a lot of fun going down the TMP Plus Food board to see what I got.

If this comes to be, I will block ads from the site. Not because I care about the content, but rather to avoid the active content pushed into my browser from the provider.

As far as whether or not it makes sense or not, every business decision is a trade-off. Everything you do at least has its inherent opportunity cost, and often shifts the appeal dynamic of your presentation to the customer. You can guess, get advice, and poll to try to predict the effect, but ultimately you do something or you don't (which is also doing something) and see the effects.

As far as my own banner ads, I will track the click throughs after the change, correlate with sales as best I can, and periodically evaluate the utility of continuing, just like I currently do.

I was wondering what was happening when I started noticing them in places than at the top of the page. Thanks for the explanation Bill. Not really a fan of them though.

I guess I'm the only one that doesn't mind them. Doesn't affect my enjoyment of the site.

Steve

I just had an ad for a car dealership 10 miles from my home.
That means your harmless little program is harvesting personal data from TMP.
This was not for a dealership in Glendale Arizona. This was in Scranton.

Couldn't care less. I just ignore them. If Bill gets more revenue, so much the better.

I would rather like to stick to the current wargaming ads related.

QUOTE[I just had an ad for a car dealership 10 miles from my home.
That means your harmless little program is harvesting personal data from TMP.
This was not for a dealership in Glendale Arizona. This was in Scranton.]QUOTE

Wasn't there an admission about not having a Privacy Policy sometime before Thanksgiving? This is making me wanna go elsewhere for news, bad enough the annoying ads on the news channels but this is a step too far … well, that's just my two cents …

Not a supporting member and I'm not getting any ads. Running firefox and adblock plus

Jakse375, do you get the advertising banners at the top of the page?

If it helps you Pictors, I'm running Firefox and Adblock Plus now. I'm not getting any ads at all, Google based or the old wargames advertisers either!

I finally saw one of these new ads for a site I have actually visited previosuly. eBay. But I am certainly not going to click on any of these annoying ads now that I know they will only use it to force feed me other annoying ads. So I am staying AWAY from ALL TMP ads now, whether they are wargame related or not.

@pictors, only on the main page.

Lolwut did an editor change my post??? That seems a bit low, especially since I said that TMP is whitelisted (i.e. ads are not blocked).

No, you've just been hit by the famous "TMP Bug"!

Winston, in order to send you ads Google has to get your IP address. It is trivial to figure out rough geographic location from IP addresses assign to physical carriers (as opposed to those used by cell providers).

But I'm sure it fits your knee jerk reaction to instantly assume that a conspiracy is afoot to subvert your online life!

And part of my missing post also mentions that flash ads are bandwidth hogs, which is a huge turnoff for those of us who browse TMP on phones and tablets.

Admittedly, my phone is a touch older (original Nexus or some such) but TMP crashes the browser now.

Only thing I worry about is that AFAIK ad revenue through the regular ad networks has fallen pretty dramatically over the years. As a supplement to what already exists it is probably fine, but I don't know if I would discard the current ads and rely on Google. It also puts you at Google's mercy if they decide to cut you off.

Rich

I must say I have not really noted the ads. I know they are there. I do not care. Until this thread I was happily engrossed in the wargaming parts of the hobby. Then again I have found a second venue to present my stuff, so between that and TMP I can avoid getting irked by things. Now I just enjoy the shinny stuff.