Hi,

I've noticed a sudden influx of full screen ads and pop ups (mobile device) when browsing AVSim these past few days, so as per the title does donating remove them? I couldn't find any relevant answer in the donation section.

Thanks

I have also recently noticed the introduction of ads (including ones that appear in the middle of the screen). Is this a new "feature" of AVSIM, or are these unwelcome "guests"?

Edited October 1, 20214 yr by Christopher Low

Me too but the full-screen ones have only appeared on my iPad but not my W10 laptop - yet.

It's understandable if donations have dried up. Servers don't run on fresh air.

Which reminds, me, time to throw some more cash at Avsim. Hopefully everyone else will too. and no, doing it doesn't make the ads go away.

There is now and suddenly  a permanent window on 16% of the height of the screen, on  the lower part, splashing  ads every 15 seconds and every so often a full page pops up. It makes reading the forum a truly unpleasant experience  !

Windows 10 with Edge.

EDIT I added an adblocker to Edge, problem solved.

EDIT 2 : I am not against  having ads on the forum as before but the sudden change was the work  of an obviously demented  publicist of Madison Avenue

Edited October 1, 20214 yr by Dominique_K

This is now putting me off using Avsim.

I find it rather amusing that one of the ads is highlighting a product that can remove all ads

2 hours ago, Ray Proudfoot said:

Me too but the full-screen ones have only appeared on my iPad but not my W10 laptop - yet.

It's understandable if donations have dried up. Servers don't run on fresh air.

I see it as a good incentive to Donate to remove Ads, RaceDepartment do this very successfully with their Premium Package for example:
https://www.racedepartment.com/account/upgrades

So if this is not part of the AVSim Donation as it is now, then maybe it can be discussed for a future addition perhaps?

@MarcG, I've posted in the staffer section so there should be a response in due course. I don't disagree with your sentiment. Donation above a certain amount removes ads.

22 minutes ago, Ray Proudfoot said:

Donation above a certain amount removes ads.

I'm inclined to suspect knowledge of this being the case would lead less people to donate to be honest. It suggests the notion of: 'please give us some money, however, if you only give us a small amount then you are of a lower tier'.

Dunno about you lot, but whenever I see begging bowls where there is a minimum suggested donation, I tend to donate to some other cause instead because I find it crass and ungracious to do that when one's cap is in one's hand. There is a lot to be said for the economy of scale, and I suspect a donation of a fiver would glean more of a total if that was something which waved those ads goodbye.

Edited October 1, 20214 yr by Chock

21 minutes ago, Chock said:

I'm inclined to suspect knowledge of this being the case would lead less people to donate to be honest. It suggests the notion of: 'please give us some money, however, if you only give us a small amount then you are of a lower tier'.

That was purely my thought. You could have people donating 1p or 1c and then expecting the same privileges as someone who had donated considerably more. We've had it in the past with donations like that. It hardly helps the owners.

Sent another donation (> 1c 😀).

BTW, why do we donate for 2020 right now? Well, I guess the answer but wouldn't there be more incentive for donating if there were a realistic goal which could be met to state at a point you're great guys we met out goal (like it's the case with the annual Wikipedia donations)? 

Kind regards, Michael

I do not exactly know how the machine ticks but I suspect the following : 

- Avsim carries the ads purchased to them by developers and inserts them on its pages

- It also carries the ads brought by Google, maybe through IPB,  and gets a commission on clicks. In this case, the ad insertion is done by Google or IPB.  The Google or IPB way of inserting ads has changed today. An IPB new version of the forum software ?

 If the present state of affairs goes on,  Avsim is going to lose part of its members who don't  know about ad blockers. Reading the forums without one has become a huge PITA since midday today.

I am not anti-ad at all !  They were visible but unobtrusive before. They are overwhelming aggressive now  

I use Adblock and it must be effective.....  I also support Avsim.  

Folks, we're aware of the changes and we're working on it.