Why does my annual subscription come with advertisements?

@JJWeatherman said:

@Buzzkill said:

One of the big reasons I subscribed to the site is so I could view it advertisement free. This is a pretty shady way of getting around that.

They came out and said in the very beginning that advertising quests would still exist and show up for all users (Because hey, we all want quests). It's not shady. It's fine.

Sorry I don't watch/listen to every little inside thing so if they came out and said something in the very beginning I missed it. When I try to sign up for a new account today this is what I see.....

https://auth.whiskeymedia.com/signup/

Do you see something that says no ads? I do. Time to get it fixed Whiskey Media.

I just want to browse GB ad free like they advertised or I'll seek a refund from their "no refund" policy, because something this blatant they have to make right for the subscribers.

@Buzzkill said:

Sorry I don't watch/listen to every little inside thing so if they came out and said something in the very beginning I missed it. When I try to sign up for a new account today this is what I see.....

https://auth.whiskeymedia.com/signup/

Do you see something that says no adds? I do. Time to get it fixed Whiskey Media.

I see nothing on that graphics about adds.

They are advertising for their website. What should they do? Not advertise for their own things to people that support the website. I guess you want to come to Giantbomb and just have it be a blank page with a search bar, and you just have to guess at whats new news and search for it. Gj guy.

Only a matter of minutes until some angry lawyer-wannabee starts throwing the word "sue" around.

Oh, Internet you big doofus.

I think also the reason it is there is because it is advertising website content not just 3rd party stuff.

People are way too quick to try and defend the site. They say no ads with the subscription and yet that is clearly an ad. Buzzkill has a valid point.

@Legend said:

I only subscribed to support GB. I don't mind any ads if they help the site grow.

^

@Buzzkill said:

@JJWeatherman said:

@Buzzkill said:

One of the big reasons I subscribed to the site is so I could view it advertisement free. This is a pretty shady way of getting around that.

They came out and said in the very beginning that advertising quests would still exist and show up for all users (Because hey, we all want quests). It's not shady. It's fine.

Sorry I don't watch/listen to every little inside thing so if they came out and said something in the very beginning I missed it. When I try to sign up for a new account today this is what I see.....

https://auth.whiskeymedia.com/signup/

Do you see something that says no adds? I do. Time to get it fixed Whiskey Media.

Hey, sorry you didn't know, but finding out all of the details is kinda on you.

Besides, is one quest sponsored by Adult Swim ruining the experience you've paid for? I'd argue no. Choose your battles. There're more important things than this to worry about.

I guess that's all I'll say.

This doesn't really bother me because I can pretty much just ignore it, but people who are complaining do have a valid point. When you click on the "ad" it takes you to the site for the show, not to screened.com, or an article about why this show is important. In fact, why is this show important? If it has nothing to do with videogames then it is just there because someone gave them money to promote it, which is what people have paid not to see. And one could make the point that it is going even further than previous ads, because it is now taking up the real time of one of the giantbomb dudes, which could ostensibly be spent doing something more productive for the site.

People are way too quick to try and defend the site. They say no ads with the subscription and yet that is clearly an ad. Buzzkill has a valid point.

It's a quest. It's not popping up on every single page. The AD on the main site is for the livestream premiere party with Ryan. It'll be gone on Friday.

I suppose the ideal solution for unique snowflake scenarios like this one would be to have two different graphics sets for the quests, one for subscribers (no background graphics or sponsor display) and one for regular users (appears as it does now).

I don't see that happening, because this is a really minor issue, and I'm sure the web design crew wants to spend time on more interesting features.

The guy actually has a point. While yes it's tied to a quest it's an ad when non are promised.

@steevdave said:

The guy actually has a point. While yes it's tied to a quest it's an ad when non are promised.

Tell em Steevdave

Because it is a quest and a Live show. If that wasn't there then people would complain that they missed XP or the whole show.

Sorry guys, we put it to the people pretty early on and asked if they wanted to be excluded from ad-supported quests, contests, and that sort of thing. The response, overwhelmingly, was that members still wanted to see those items. We've tried to be specific and say No "Display" Ads or No "Normal" Ads or something when discussing the featureset of the paid membership, but it looks like there are still some vague spots that need to be addressed.

It's not intrusive and the video was kind of funny in a hilariously dumb way.

@csoup said:

It's and ad for the website content, what the hell is wrong with that? That would be like being pissy that they advertise new videos on their frontpage.

People complain about the same thing on XBL. It has a lot of advertisements, but almost all of them are for newly released games or DLC.

They post dozens of trailers each month that show up on the front page. Now, for once, they are actually getting paid for it. 

When I clicked on it it took me to a site outside of Giant Bomb so I don't think it's really and advert for something on Whiskey - they are obviously doing an tie-in with some other company. I understand what Jeff said but if you advertise no ads that is what it should mean. 
 It's not a huge problem at the moment but I can understand why Buzzkill has brought it up. The problem with making exceptions to rules is that it can be the start of a slippery slope. "Look we already post ads with the quests - why not put a small one on some of the wiki pages."  
 I like Giant Bomb because of the anti-marketing, genuine attitude in industry where people will think nothing of re-posting company PR as story and carpeting their sites in ads and while this is a very small thing I think if you have paid your sub you should be able to opt out of it.

@Legend said:

I only subscribed to support GB. I don't mind any ads if they help the site grow.

Agreed. I paid to support what I think is one of the best gaming sites on the internet, not to get out of seeing ads. There are ad blockers for that (if for some reason you just can't handle an advertisement here or there).

@Jeff: Whether true or not, the different thing about this is that an outside party is giving you money and getting Ryan's time in return (and the time of whatever production staff, if any, is involved). I love Whiskey live events because it feels like dudes goofing around for the specific sake of the Whiskey community. This feels like someone has paid money to get that "magic" for their product. Again, I am more than willing to be wrong, but that is the way it strikes me.

@Jeff: Whether true or not, the different thing about this is that an outside party is giving you money and getting Ryan's time in return (and the time of whatever production staff, if any, is involved). I love Whiskey live events because it feels like dudes goofing around for the specific sake of the Whiskey community. This feels like someone has paid money to get that "magic" for their product. Again, I am more than willing to be wrong, but that is the way it strikes me.

@brianp

@Jeff: Whether true or not, the different thing about this is that an outside party is giving you money and getting Ryan's time in return (and the time of whatever production staff, if any, is involved). I love Whiskey live events because it feels like dudes goofing around for the specific sake of the Whiskey community. This feels like someone has paid money to get that "magic" for their product. Again, I am more than willing to be wrong, but that is the way it strikes me.

I feel the same way. If i remember correctly one of the core reasons for having paid subscriptions was so that the content of the website would be dictated by the users and not by advertisers or sponsors. This seems to go completely against that idea.

1st world problems....

I think it only irks me because it links to off-site content, which feels a bit like an ad at that point.

I thought that ad was rather annoying at first, then I ad-blocked it and everything was fine again.

I feel like this addressed this issue when they first came out with subscriptions. The quest overwrites the ad.

Everybody does see the part that says "Join Ryan for a special Livestream" Its no different then an ad for TNT or Happy Hour. There's gonna be some original content from Whiskey its telling me about it, i'm happy.

The problem with having paying member is that said members feel it entitles them to piss and moan about anything they don't like.  Personally I would refund their money in full and tell them to GTFO :D

I'm but "use an ad blocker" isn't a response.  First of all with adblock you don't get the quest which is everyone elses reasoning for the ad. Second of all it shouldn't be necessary. Let's just say buzzkill doesn't do quests and joined the premium service to get the extra content provided, of which "no ads" are mentioned explicitly. Now his options are "ignore it" or go and get a secondary software to remove something that he paid money to get rid of ads, which he just paid money to do. 
 
Now, is the ad small? Yes. Is it tied to quests and site content? Yes. However this is a site that was started BECAUSE of advertising within websites. The fact that someone presenting a legitimate, if not slightly over-exaggerated, issue is mocked and called a crybaby  is frankly immature and ridiculous.

@ashkanhoss29 said:

@brianp

@Jeff: Whether true or not, the different thing about this is that an outside party is giving you money and getting Ryan's time in return (and the time of whatever production staff, if any, is involved). I love Whiskey live events because it feels like dudes goofing around for the specific sake of the Whiskey community. This feels like someone has paid money to get that "magic" for their product. Again, I am more than willing to be wrong, but that is the way it strikes me.

I feel the same way. If i remember correctly one of the core reasons for having paid subscriptions was so that the content of the website would be dictated by the users and not by advertisers or sponsors. This seems to go completely against that idea.

I'm almost certain that the money Whiskey Media makes from subscribers is no way near enough to cover all the costs of the websites, staff and equipment. Ads are pretty much necessary at the moment. Sometimes you have to do things you don't want to do. Besides, Its not like the ads are changing any major content. It's one sponsored livestream that no one even seems to know is about. 
 
I'm hesitant to use the phrase but it might just be acceptable, 
 
"Deal with it"

@SamFo said:

1st world problems....

Indeed. Seeing people complain about one small ad related to the community quests is quite pathetic.

It doesn't bother me, personally. I didn't subscribe just to get no ads.

@Zimbo said:

Indeed. Seeing people complain about one small ad related to the community quests is quite pathetic.

Saying that just because a problem/issue isn't huge it shouldn't be discussed is the worst laziest logic.

@steevdave said:

Now, is the ad small? Yes. Is it tied to quests and site content? Yes. However this is a site that was started BECAUSE of advertising within websites. The fact that someone presenting a legitimate, if not slightly over-exaggerated, issue is mocked and called a crybaby is frankly immature and ridiculous.

It's funny because the community got worse "After" I became a subscriber, like they know I'm stuck with something I wasn't aware of.

Anyways thank you for getting the point.

@Jeff said:

Sorry guys, we put it to the people pretty early on and asked if they wanted to be excluded from ad-supported quests, contests, and that sort of thing. The response, overwhelmingly, was that members still wanted to see those items. We've tried to be specific and say No "Display" Ads or No "Normal" Ads or something when discussing the featureset of the paid membership, but it looks like there are still some vague spots that need to be addressed.

That's a pretty big "vague" spot when you come right out and say "no ads" on the signup page, then members who were "out of the loop" magically start seeing the word "advertisement" on the front page. If the majority of members don't mind them then I see no reason to change policy. A few refunds will be in order tho to those who were misled.

edit: This isn't some "don't open the lid idiot there's hot coffee inside" issue and I hope you realize how big of a business "no no" it is to advertise one thing and do the other.

Don't feel great about it, especially when I was clicking for info about Ryan's livestream and instead got a generic ad landing page with zero info on Ryan as was shown in the ad.

I understand the financials may be worth it for Whiskey Media and want you guys to do well. Maybe the ad free feature shouldn't be included if subscriptions alone don't cut it.

You have a point Buzzkill. Can't say it annoyed me personally so far but I see why the quest could do that to other people. I think I'll have to wait for the livestream to really form an opinion on this. If that turns out to be a glorified ad for the series without authentic commentary and the usual WM craziness I will be disappointed for sure.

Then again, I found the linked trailer to be pretty entertaining for what it was, so I didn't feel like I wasted my time. On top of that there's a lot of "shady" quests I'll never get just because they involve all the social networking bullshit I hate with a vengeance. But that doesn't bother me either since I can just opt to ignore all that and still get an amazing amount of premium content that feels like it is well worth the price to me.

I personally think my subscription is worth it for Giantbomb and some cherry-picked Comicvine content alone so I'm happy for now. But it doesn't hurt to keep the WM staff on their toes and talk about issues you might have either.

Well, if we really want to get hung up on what the sign up page says, it says "No Ads"  which, is plural.  The Quest is a single advertisement, at most, so, clear there.  It also just says "No Ads", not "No Ads or Quest Related Ads/Ad Related Quests."  This is a Quest Related Ad, or an Ad Related Quest, which is something different than just an ad, or, multiple ads.  I mean, if we're completely discounting everything they've said in the past, since they did say in the past that ad related quests would still be around but apparently that doesn't matter, then I feel I've still managed to shoot enough holes in your argument.

@Zimbo said:

Indeed. Seeing people complain about one small ad related to the community quests is quite pathetic.

Saying that just because a problem/issue isn't huge it shouldn't be discussed is the worst laziest logic.

@Daveyo520 said:

Sometimes I really wish I could downvote threads here.

Honestly, I kind of wish they'd bring back the karma system for posts. It would sure make it easier to downvote all the shitty threads we've been getting lately.

And yes, this is one of them.

@FateOfNever: Regardless of what it ties to, it is still an ad. It advertises off-site content. Click on it, it takes you off-site. Plain and simple it is an ad.

-

Buzzkill has a perfectly good point. You can't claim that a lack of ads is a subscriber benefit and then chuck in ads, regardless of what they tie to, it is just not done.

they get money from ads. stop whining.  
 
also: that show looks pretty funny.  
 
also #2: if you don't want ads install adblock. it's not hard.

Sorry guys, we put it to the people pretty early on and asked if they wanted to be excluded from ad-supported quests, contests, and that sort of thing. The response, overwhelmingly, was that members still wanted to see those items. We've tried to be specific and say No "Display" Ads or No "Normal" Ads or something when discussing the featureset of the paid membership, but it looks like there are still some vague spots that need to be addressed.

@AlexW00d said:

@FateOfNever: Regardless of what it ties to, it is still an ad. It advertises off-site content. Click on it, it takes you off-site. Plain and simple it is an ad.

-

Buzzkill has a perfectly good point. You can't claim that a lack of ads is a subscriber benefit and then chuck in ads, regardless of what they tie to, it is just not done.

They came out and said that ad-quests would still be seen by subscribers when they launched subscriptions. This has never been a secret. Perhaps they could've said that better like Jeff said, but it's been common knowledge for months and is only coming back around because of how rare ad-quests are anyway. In fact, the fact that they're so rare is part of what makes this such a stupid fucking issue in the first place.

And that's not even getting into the baffling fuckwittery of some people demanding refunds because of it. Jesus fucking Christ, you entitled fucking ninnies.