Proposal: remove advertising

[orudge]

Hi all,

As I'm sure many of you know, TT-Forums has shown advertising for almost two decades now, which has been helpful for covering the hosting costs (which is then supplemented by the annual fundraiser, and by a few recurring donations that some kind individuals have set up). Unfortunately, in recent years, the advertising has become somewhat more obtrusive and sometimes inappropriate, and I know a number of users have found it to be rather annoying and even off-putting. At the same time, the amount of income from the adverts has decreased.

I therefore would propose increasing the fundraising target to £700, and if we're able to reach that, we could then remove the advertising from the forums. This poll is to get an idea of whether there's support for that. I suspect the "removing advertising" part of it will be extremely popular, but it would rely on your continued generosity.

I'll run the poll for a month, and make a decision from there, but any comments or thoughts are appreciated.

Cheers,

[jfs]

It's been some years since I last donated, although I will admit to still reading the forums with an ad-blocker. Last I viewed the forums without blocking ads, I recall them being horribly intrusive, even getting in the way.

[Chrill]

I confess I have used Adblock for a while, just because they are quite intrusive. For this reason, in addition to my time moderating, I happily contribute every year. I would be keen to continue doing so if ads were removed.

[Redirect Left]

I would vote for removal of adverts, and I would definitely donate if it was to keep the adverts not here.
They're rather intrusive, rarely of any interest (this may be me specifically that they're targeting badly though), and at worst sometimes stop functionality of the forums like overlapping the mark all read button.

[bjgttd]

I'd vote for "What advertisements?", but it's not in the list.

[pickpacket]

I have to admit that I didn't even know there were ads here

I put aside ~€5/month that I donate at the end of the year. A voluntary subscription fee, if you will. I could raise that to ~€6, I guess. If it helps give a better experience to less technical users it's a win for the community.

[pickpacket]

I therefore would propose increasing the fundraising target to £700, and if we're able to reach that, we could then remove the advertising from the forums.

Is this fundraising for the forum only or for the whole OpenTTD shebang with bananas and blog and AWS and github and steam and stuff? £700/year doesn't sound like an awful lot for all of that. And not like an impossible amount to reach

[jfs]

Is this fundraising for the forum only or for the whole OpenTTD shebang with bananas and blog and AWS and github and steam and stuff? £700/year doesn't sound like an awful lot for all of that. And not like an impossible amount to reach

As far as I understand, TT-Forums and OpenTTD financials are entirely separate. Donations to TT-Forums do not cover any expenses for OpenTTD, and vice versa.

[pickpacket]

As far as I understand, TT-Forums and OpenTTD financials are entirely separate. Donations to TT-Forums do not cover any expenses for OpenTTD, and vice versa.

Oh! If that's the case I haven't sent a penny to the forums ever

[orudge]

As far as I understand, TT-Forums and OpenTTD financials are entirely separate. Donations to TT-Forums do not cover any expenses for OpenTTD, and vice versa.

Correct, the two accounted for separately.

Since the poll has come through overwhelmingly in favour of this change, I have now removed the advertising from the forums. Thank you too to those who have donated over the past month or so. I've reopened the fundraiser topic for the moment to track the new £700 target, but we're almost there already.

I hope this will help make everyone's forum experience more pleasant!

[andythenorth]

Thanks. This is a much better experience

Also...might be imagined or unrelated, but pages seem to render faster now.

[orudge]

I suspect that’s entirely possible. The forums should be pretty lean in themselves.

[Quast65]

Thank you!

[Gymnasiast]

I'm barely active here, but I would like to show my appreciation. Chipped in a bit as well for that reason.