Oh, man. The ads recently...

Lemme get this out of the way first: I'm not a premium member. There. Don't bring that up. Don't tell me the solution is to go premium or use adblock because that is not the point of what I am trying to get across.

I don't know if there's a term for it, but the ads that piss me off the most are the ones that disable the links on a page and then warp the page to do their own stupid thing. It is sad to see that this is now occurring at Giantbomb.com. I haven't been able to get the ad again, but it was a Netflix ad that cut the page in half and folded it like a curtain, leaving me forced to watch the ad before I could click on anything.

I don't care if the ads have moving parts. I don't care if the ads are a banner that take up the sides of the screen. I don't even mind if the ads are videos. But ads that physically prevent you from accessing the site for a period of time? Not cool at all.

Sad thing is that Giantbomb has no control over it, and the only two solutions are to go premium or use adblock. I should not have to resort to those options to avoid intrusive advertising.

We can usually kick these kind of complaints up the ladder if something is truly intrusive. Let me find out the best way to do that. One issue is that most of the staff have premium accounts, so we don't always see the worst kinds of ads that are displayed; if you guys see anything that's really obnoxious, maybe send me a PM and I can try to find someone to report it to.

I imagine they probably actually do have some control over it. If they're made aware of an ad being THAT intrusive, they might be able to do something about it. Might be worth shooting a PM off to Rorie or something.

Here's a puppy if you need to sweeten the deal.

EDIT: Nevermind, beat to the punch!

@rorie: It'd be cool if the staff somewhat regularly had non-premium alternate accounts that they would use around the site. That way, they'd get a feeling for how it really is for non-premium members.

Or, hey, just browse through some sections every week or so and see how it is. Maybe even you could oblige such a vacation amongst the commoners! ;)

@truthtellah: Like Rorie said the worst ads are usually taken down. I generally browse the site not logged in when I am at home and about 40% of the time when I am at work. I have most definitely asked for things to be taken down or restyled but some things are out of our control. I'll keep an eye out.

@alexisg: Thanks for the heads up, Alexis. I just worry about the non-premium members. I know how crappy ads can be, especially considering the staff's past statements criticizing invasive ads. I'm glad you're trying to look out for the bad ones; though, I suppose the best way is to just PM you guys if a non-premium member sees one.

@rorie@alexisg Glad you guys are looking into it. I assumed the staff may be unaware of the problem and decided to update. I'll be sure to PM you if something like this happens again.

I will say that the ad quality hasn't been groundbreaking which is a shame given how much I love this site. Even though I'm a premium member, I would like GB to be on the forefront with good advertising on the internet. For the most part it's either been pretty standard or somewhat dominating which has forced me on more than on occasion in the past few months to login as fast as possible and stay logged in.

I definitely don't consume video content not logged in though, what's the skinny on pre-roll video ads? Because those are the worst, or at least the ones that turn my web experience from content to miserable instantly.

Just thought I would throw my two cents in while we're on the subject. Still super cool that Giant Bomb is on the forefront in another way, by continuing to be super transparent and communicative about these kinds of decisions and site design in general.

@bacongames: pre-roll stuff is not pleasant, but they also make far more money for the site than display ads do, alas.

As a premium member the one thing that bothers me are Twitch ads. Which are, I assume, out of your control. It bothers me that when I watch premium streams, that I pay to watch, I am still shown ads via twitch.

I suppose that's why they continue to stay around. I didn't want to make it seem like I hate the ad situation was bad or in any way reflective of the GB back door team. Rather, the experience as can be seen here is somewhat inconsistent due to any number of factors. I feel I can speak for most people on the site when I say that I wish it weren't so.

Yeah... on the odd occasion that I load the site without being logged in it's really disheartening to say the least... really low quality ads the kind you'd see on the worst possible kinds of sites, it sure must not be a good first impression on newcomers..

Adding to the chorus here, about half of the time when I load up a page, I'm stuck watching Jeffrey Tambor eat an ice cream sandwich. Don't get me wrong, I like Tambor, but that's not why I come to GB. It's even worse when I try to browse on my lunch break because of the crappily-networked ancient iMacs we use here. The ad loads slowly and the X doesn't even appear to back out of the ad for a good minute and a half.

@reverendhunt: I hate the ad too, but I've only had to see it once. The ad only runs on the home page. I get to the site by having my profile page in my bookmarks and from there I usually go to the forums. Anything new on the homepage gets posted to twitter and I get to it through there, so it's only very rarely that I'm actually on the home page.

@gruebacca: Just use adblock or become a premium member bro.

I don't understand all the hate for pre-roll ads. Most of the videos on this site are upwards of 30 minutes long, I'd gladly sit through a few ads before the video started. Especially if it makes more money for the site.

Having these shitty ads that cover stuff up or move things around is far more annoying to me.

Well a lot of the "pre-roll" ads on twitch happen the first time you load up the player/video, regardless the status of the broadcast. That and Giantbomb doesn't see a penny from those, afaik.

I hate ads. Phew, cleared that elephant in the room.