Why does my annual subscription come with advertisements?

@DivineCC said:

@NickL said:

@Devil240Z said:

I want to know what that is. Ryan is involved with something on adult swim?

My guess is adult swim contacted them for advertising and Ryan agreed to do a live stream watching the first episode and they also made a quest set about it.

The show looks absolutely terrible from all the trailers, not even Ryan being there will get me to tune in.

The show is supposed to be terrible, thats the whole point. Just about all of Adult Swim's live action stuff has been shows that are bad on purpose.

I understand that it is supposed to be terrible on purpose, it's pretty obvious that's what they are going for. That doesn't change my point.

There is a right way and a wrong way to do "bad on purpose" and I have not seen a single thing that makes me think they did it the right way.

@NickL: What if Whiskey Media staff members comment on it in a Mystery Science Theater 3000 style? Then we'll at least be amused by how bad it is.

Something about the wording of the topic itself: "Why does my annual subscription come with advertisements?" 
 
As if subscribers are the only ones getting the ad.

This thread continues to perpetuate the idea that a large amount of the users on this site are massive cunts. 
 
The guy tries to make a point he felt is valid, and you all shot him down cause "Errrr, giantbomb is RELY RELY GOOD LOL QUESTS"

Also a bummer for all the UK (and further east) folks who would have to tune in at 2am (or later) to complete the "community" quest.

@Matoya said:

This thread continues to perpetuate the idea that a large amount of the users on this site are massive cunts. The guy tries to make a point he felt is valid, and you all shot him down cause "Errrr, giantbomb is RELY RELY GOOD LOL QUESTS"

It's not really that he is complaining, it's his manner. Nobody wants to hear snide remarks from a self important ass.

It's clearly stated in the FAQ and Jeff even came in here and apologized for the misunderstanding, yet he is still going on about it, and people are trying to back him up.

The ad is site related and it isn't annoying in any way, it's not animated, it's not a popup, it's not ugly, it's related to site content and related to the interests of the majority of people on the site; this is not an ad about shooting ipads to whiten your mother's teeth for free gold!!!

Like I said on the first page, this whole site is advertising, the good kind and we like it, that's why we are here, enjoy it.

God this thread is hilarious. Crying over some tiny fucking ads. Jesus Christ.

I had a really bad driving lesson and instead of drinking to make myself feel better, I'm reading the 208 posts in this thread.

@Clubvodka said:

I had a really bad driving lesson and instead of drinking to make myself feel better, I'm reading the 208 posts in this thread.

haha yeah, I think I'd go back to drinking if I had to read through all 11 pages too.

edit: but I haven't looked at this since yesterday so I'm pinching my nose because in I go.

@Buzzkill said:

@Clubvodka said:

I had a really bad driving lesson and instead of drinking to make myself feel better, I'm reading the 208 posts in this thread.

haha yeah, I think I'd go back to drinking if I had to read through all 11 pages too.

edit: but I haven't looked at this since yesterday so I'm pinching my nose because in I go.

Have fun.

Just try and understand that this community doesn't represent humanity as a whole and you should manage to not kill yourself.

@AlexW00d said:

@iAmJohn: If you weren't here during that time you wouldn't know that they said that though would you? And I do agree the refund bit is a bit too far, but it is still well within people's rights to ask for one.

It's well within my rights to ask for a refund considering they broke the law. What they need to figure out is do they want to admit they breached a contract with subscribers, and potentially have to refund every subscriber who doesn't agree with adding advertisements, or take down the advertisement prematurely and breach a contract with whatever company hired them to put the banner there. I told them I'll wait until Monday before I get antsy. This allows them plenty of time to figure out how to block the ads for subscribers as advertised on their signup page, or give me a refund and keep the ads because I don't want to pay money for a web site and still have to see any kind of advertisement, even internal ones.

@endless_void said:

@laserbolts said:
The whole issue itself seems small and repulsive to complain about, but lets face the facts people, WM should be thankful to have people paying for a subscription on a site about video games when about 1000 others exist. It's competitive and no one should be ignored.

Yep and I already explained why I'm calling them out on a small issue. Ads really get under my skin and if I'm paying not to deal with them I better damn well not see a single one.

I agree with the OP. I'm fine with it personally, but it's the principle. If he paid for a service expecting a particular thing because it was advertised as such, if s/he did not receive that upon paying, he or she is well within their right as a customer to ask for a refund. But this goes into a very grey area of what constitutes as 'advertising'. Are Quick Look EXs considered marketting or content, or marketting disguised as content? What about all the Bastion content? Moral of this post is, always remember to put socks on before you wear shoes because it's disgusting.

@The_Nubster said:

Something about the wording of the topic itself: "Why does my annual subscription come with advertisements?"

As if subscribers are the only ones getting the ad.

Yes but subscribers are the only ones who are not suppose to get the ad according to their signup page. It's a major business "no no" that someone would have brought up, not just myself.

A lot of people have questioned weather this is staged or some kind of sabotage because I chose the handle Buzzkill. Well it was a friend's suggestion because he knew I'm such a PC elitist that by joining a site full of console tards, just about everything I post here would be a buzz kill to them so I went with it. Joined the site because I wanted to support the good things the GB staff do like quicklooks, the portion of happy hour that doesn't include comic vine, and industry stuff like the live E3 broadcasts. 50 bucks was worth it for high def versions of that, advertisement free, and knowing I was supporting the site. The quests have always sucked, but they are different (and different is good) so I don't openly protest them. Adult Swim on the other hand is tainted by MTV, and after seeing that banner I've already made my mind I want to distance myself from this site and anything MTV related. Then I noticed I'm getting ads while being a full year subscriber and realized they had broken the law. Now they just need to decide on how they will fix things. I'll check back tomorrow unless urgent.

I just feel like pointing out that, besides the TC, everyone against the advertisement are coming off far better than the WM defenders. Yes, ads are a petty thing to complain about, but you people who feel the need to defend the staff so fiercely are making the whole place look a hell of a lot more awful than a single ad. 

Hasn't this gotten a little out of hand, maybe? a little? just a tiny bit?... Of course it hasn't look at what community it is.

I personally don't have a that much of a problem with a tiny ad but I can't totally see where you're coming from. And just to poke some fun in a thread that's turned into the dumbest place on Giant Bomb, please promise me that if you, for some strange reason decide to leave Giant Bomb, will make a "I'm leaving" blog just to piss off the Giant Bomb Defense Squad? :P

@Buzzkill: I guess you think that your viewing of a single ad was worth the whole year's subscription. An interesting viewpoint.

If you don't like advertisements, that is reasonable. Not every ad that I have seen on this website has appealed directly to me either. However, there is a right way and a wrong way to air your grievances with a company. Posting a random picture in a public forum and causing a huge stink about it falls under the wrong way in my opinion. If you truly were offended, why not just email the staff and ask them about it first? Instead, you have turned something that could have been a positive experience for Whiskey Media into a negative one. Many people talk about "supporting the sites", but for just a single second consider what is happening here. If I was an advertiser, there is no chance in hell that I would want to run another ad here, based on the community response to it in this thread. At least this ad was aimed at the right demographic, regardless of your feelings on adult swim personally.

If you want to "support the sites", your membership does a great job. However, no reason to undermine that by making the community seem like a place advertisers should avoid.

TL;DR The staff exist for a reason. Talk to them in private, instead of airing your dirty laundry in public.

@himalayanwombat said:

@Buzzkill: I guess you think that your viewing of a single ad was worth the whole year's subscription. An interesting viewpoint.

If you don't like advertisements, that is reasonable. Not every ad that I have seen on this website has appealed directly to me either. However, there is a right way and a wrong way to air your grievances with a company. Posting a random picture in a public forum and causing a huge stink about it falls under the wrong way in my opinion. If you truly were offended, why not just email the staff and ask them about it first? Instead, you have turned something that could have been a positive experience for Whiskey Media into a negative one. Many people talk about "supporting the sites", but for just a single second consider what is happening here. If I was an advertiser, there is no chance in hell that I would want to run another ad here, based on the community response to it in this thread. At least this ad was aimed at the right demographic, regardless of your feelings on adult swim personally.

If you want to "support the sites", your membership does a great job. However, no reason to undermine that by making the community seem like a place advertisers should avoid.

TL;DR The staff exist for a reason. Talk to them in private, instead of airing your dirty laundry in public.

I see the OP's point even though I think it's kind of dumb myself. But he's entitled to whatever considering he pays money. I also agree with the people saying read the FAQ (I did even though I was going to subscribe anyway). However, I think himalayanwombat's suggestion is the best one. Just email Jeff or Dave or something and see if you can work something out. All this thread has done is bring out the zealots (I'm a huge fan, but the GB crew aren't immune to my hate from time to time) and the "fuck the guys! Give me ad liberty, or give me death" people. The other side though is what if they ignore Buzzkill's email? Though, I really doubt it if you used this thread's title as the subject of your email and accuse them of basically fucking you over in the body. They would probably reply to you and see what they could do.

WHY ARE THERE ADS FOR TNT AND THE HAPPY HOUR. I THOUGHT NO ADS WTF?

@Buzzkill said:

I'm not pursuing any sort of refund less I continue to see the ad next week, and I'm still a subscriber. If they want to keep the ad and refund me, I'm totally cool with it. If they want to remove the ad, or give subscribers away to not view them, I'll accept that solution too. I don't go out of my way to do the quests and thought they were a tad on the dumb side but I'm not here to shit on quests, or the paper thin tee-shirt some of you have also brought up.

Two of my biggest pet peeves are advertisements of any kind, and being lied to. (lied is a harsh word because it implies malicious intent but it's the word I used so deal with it) Giantbomb managed to do both at once so I'm calling this one out. If they pull the ad, they could breach a contract and lose tons of money. If they give me a refund, then they admit there was a "mistake" and could have to retroactively refund every subscriber who felt "misled" despite whatever policy they hold. It's a tough situation I wish them the best of luck with while they sort things out.

What if they chose to not drop the ad... and then not refund you? It's like everyone but you wins! Which is pretty much about as good as everyone winning.

I thought you might have had a valid point initially, except for this retarded post. You sound like a real brat.

@The_Nubster said:

Something about the wording of the topic itself: "Why does my annual subscription come with advertisements?"

As if subscribers are the only ones getting the ad.

Yes but subscribers are the only ones who are not suppose to get the ad according to their signup page. It's a major business "no no" that someone would have brought up, not just myself.

A lot of people have questioned weather this is staged or some kind of sabotage because I chose the handle Buzzkill. Well it was a friend's suggestion because he knew I'm such a PC elitist that by joining a site full of console tards, just about everything I post here would be a buzz kill to them so I went with it. Joined the site because I wanted to support the good things the GB staff do like quicklooks, the portion of happy hour that doesn't include comic vine, and industry stuff like the live E3 broadcasts. 50 bucks was worth it for high def versions of that, advertisement free, and knowing I was supporting the site. The quests have always sucked, but they are different (and different is good) so I don't openly protest them. Adult Swim on the other hand is tainted by MTV, and after seeing that banner I've already made my mind I want to distance myself from this site and anything MTV related. Then I noticed I'm getting ads while being a full year subscriber and realized they had broken the law. Now they just need to decide on how they will fix things. I'll check back tomorrow unless urgent.

Yeah I don't want to see this kind of shit on the site. I live in France thus this ad doesn't even concern me. I pay good money for ad free enterrainment. Also linking a quest to an ad is a shitty way to generate traffic.

@SeriouslyNow said:

@AlexW00d said:

@FateOfNever: You're still wrong about that. The consumer should never have to delve through pages to find hidden terms and conditions. They should be on the page in which you sign up from. There is no asterisk or other symbol by the side of 'NO ADS'. It just says 'No ads'. There is nothing below. It should be on that page, not off in some FAQ on a different fucking website. Just face it, you're wrong about that.

He's not wrong. Every product for sale comes with a contract and it's ALWAYS up to the purchaser to inform themselves. The retailer only has to provide the information and make it accessible. What you want out of life isn't what life will end up giving you. Stars on things only happen when their is something particularly interesting to be made note off because said thing needs to be explained in more detail.

If I remember back to the few years of contract law that came with my business education (which is the only reason why I'm in this thread) Buzzkill is still totally right.

You are right that the retailer only needs to provide the information, but this information/terms must be implied right there and then -- which is why in a regular paper contract you would have all of the small print at the bottom of the page -- but in this case they have not provided it to us/consumers. Things added afterwards, or in separate conversations/threads/occasions would be deemed out of contract, or even counter-contracts.

I'm fighting writing walls of text right now, because the more I think about this the more that comes back to me, so I shall leave it at that. If we were to go to a lawyer trained in contract law I definitely think he would side with Buzzkill.

@SeriouslyNow said:

@AlexW00d said:

@FateOfNever: You're still wrong about that. The consumer should never have to delve through pages to find hidden terms and conditions. They should be on the page in which you sign up from. There is no asterisk or other symbol by the side of 'NO ADS'. It just says 'No ads'. There is nothing below. It should be on that page, not off in some FAQ on a different fucking website. Just face it, you're wrong about that.

He's not wrong. Every product for sale comes with a contract and it's ALWAYS up to the purchaser to inform themselves. The retailer only has to provide the information and make it accessible. What you want out of life isn't what life will end up giving you. Stars on things only happen when their is something particularly interesting to be made note off because said thing needs to be explained in more detail.

If I remember back to the few years of contract law that came with my business education (which is the only reason why I'm in this thread) Buzzkill is still totally right.

You are right that the retailer only needs to provide the information, but this information/terms must be implied right there and then -- which is why in a regular paper contract you would have all of the small print at the bottom of the page -- but in this case they have not provided it to us/consumers. Things added afterwards, or in separate conversations/threads/occasions would be deemed out of contract, or even counter-contracts.

I'm fighting writing walls of text right now, because the more I think about this the more that comes back to me, so I shall leave it at that. If we were to go to a lawyer trained in contract law I definitely think he would side with Buzzkill.

@Buzzkill said:

It's well within my rights to ask for a refund considering they broke the law.

I love how you keep repeating this FUD that numerous people have called you out on to the point where you refuse to comment on anyone who has rightfully called you out on your bullshit. They haven't broken the law or done anything illegal, and if you really think they have then I highly suggest you take them to court because the fact that you still see ad-quests is, once again, common knowledge that is part of the FAQ and it is your own fault, as a consumer, for not being properly informed before creating your account. In fact, I'd love to see you laughed out of court and possibly having to pay their legal fees for such a stupid case if only because of how much of a self-entitled prick you are; the karmatic retribution would do my heart so much good.

As others have said, if you really feel like you're not getting what you were promised (even though you are), email Dave or Ethan or whoever is in charge of subscription support and ask for a refund. But try not acting like a seven-year-old when you do it.

Broke the law? Hilarious. Absolutely hilarious.

The very fact he thinks he can get a refund shows how he just ignored their entire FAQ about paid memberships. You don't get any right to complain when you blindly throw money at them and then demand things because of it.

@Yanngc33 said:

Yeah I don't want to see this kind of shit on the site. I live in France thus this ad doesn't even concern me. I pay good money for ad free enterrainment. Also linking a quest to an ad is a shitty way to generate traffic.

Maybe because it's an American website with an American Ad?

@DeeGee said:

Broke the law? Hilarious. Absolutely hilarious.

Agreed. Buzzkill appears to have devolved entirely into a 7 year old who doesn't understand even the tiniest shred of real world business.

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

After reading through some of the previous comments, I will say that i find it funny that people hate these kind of ads, but they don't mind game trailers, which are basically ads themselves.

@Duffman said:

After reading through some of the previous comments, I will say that i find it funny that people hate these kind of ads, but they don't mind game trailers, which are basically ads themselves.

The difference between trailers and ads like the one being discussed is that with trailers you're watching it to gain more information about a product you are interested in and want to learn more about, rather than ads which seemingly shove the information down your throat even if you despise the relating product or type of product.

Almost the entire premise of Giant Bomb is for the user to learn more about video games and the industry surrounding it, whether it is through the top notch unfiltered commentary by the staff or by the some of the trailers and news articles posted. It should not be a place where the highest bidder chooses what content is pushed onto the user base, even if it isn't gaming related. One of the main goals with memberships was so that this could be possible. That we would pay Whiskey Media so they could stay independent and have varying and appropriate content.

I don't understand the people in an uproar about the adult swim thing, the site is totally dead in terms of content in these hours any other day.

Glad to see the GB Defence Force still White Knighting for the guys and making excuses for them the second anyone brings up a valid complaint or topic discussion that is anything but a circle jerk about how much everyone loves the site/guys.
 
Anyway, why not just set it to off by default, and the first time they log in let them opt into seeing it if they are one of those idiots that like playing the silly pad GB page view count numbers to make the site look like it gets more traffic then it actually does quests game?

Since it's not really an ad for the show, but an ad for a whiskey media live stream, I'm cool with it. I probably wouldn't even know they were doing it, if the ad wasn't there. Glad I saw it.

How come I'm still seeing ad-driven quests?

We've made the assumption that our members would be more disappointed on missing out on the extra XP and prizes that go along with ad-sponsored quests than seeing the marketing that goes along with those campaigns. In general, our No-Ad policy only covers display and video advertising and will not cover interactive contests, quests and other opportunities the whole community might benefit from.

I hope nobody skipped this due to principal, cause you just missed the greatest fucking pseudo-quick look ever.

@NickL: Dude, can I ask you why you chose that avatar? I only ask cause I spent the last few weeks using that thing as filler art in a game I was working on. Lol.

@AlexW00d said:

@SeriouslyNow said:

@AlexW00d said:

@FateOfNever: You're still wrong about that. The consumer should never have to delve through pages to find hidden terms and conditions. They should be on the page in which you sign up from. There is no asterisk or other symbol by the side of 'NO ADS'. It just says 'No ads'. There is nothing below. It should be on that page, not off in some FAQ on a different fucking website. Just face it, you're wrong about that.

He's not wrong. Every product for sale comes with a contract and it's ALWAYS up to the purchaser to inform themselves. The retailer only has to provide the information and make it accessible. What you want out of life isn't what life will end up giving you. Stars on things only happen when their is something particularly interesting to be made note off because said thing needs to be explained in more detail.

If I remember back to the few years of contract law that came with my business education (which is the only reason why I'm in this thread) Buzzkill is still totally right.

You are right that the retailer only needs to provide the information, but this information/terms must be implied right there and then -- which is why in a regular paper contract you would have all of the small print at the bottom of the page -- but in this case they have not provided it to us/consumers. Things added afterwards, or in separate conversations/threads/occasions would be deemed out of contract, or even counter-contracts.

I'm fighting writing walls of text right now, because the more I think about this the more that comes back to me, so I shall leave it at that. If we were to go to a lawyer trained in contract law I definitely think he would side with Buzzkill.

He isn't. You aren't. There's nothing more that needs to be said.

@Chop said:

I just feel like pointing out that, besides the TC, everyone against the advertisement are coming off far better than the WM defenders. Yes, ads are a petty thing to complain about, but you people who feel the need to defend the staff so fiercely are making the whole place look a hell of a lot more awful than a single ad.

I entirely agree, which is why I'm not responding to the majority of the comments here.

Edit: the irony will be how many of those "blind defenders" take giantbomb up on the offer to refund them, because it looks like giantbomb is taking the route of leaving the ad up, and having to deal with false advertising claims. The end result could very well be they are forced to send each and every giantbomb annual subscriber a letter explaining the situation, the mistake they made and how it broke the law, along with an apology and offer to refund that member if they don't agree with the policy even if the member didn't even know what was going on. Even if a subscriber doesn't care about ads, but was feeling let down by the service, this would give them a way out because of the advertising blunder. I don't blame them for taking the weekend to think about it.

@Buzzkill said:

@Chop said:

I just feel like pointing out that, besides the TC, everyone against the advertisement are coming off far better than the WM defenders. Yes, ads are a petty thing to complain about, but you people who feel the need to defend the staff so fiercely are making the whole place look a hell of a lot more awful than a single ad.

I entirely agree, which is why I'm not responding to the majority of the comments here.

Edit: the irony will be how many of those "blind defenders" take giantbomb up on the offer to refund them, because it looks like giantbomb is taking the route of leaving the ad up, and having to deal with false advertising claims. The end result could very well be they are forced to send each and every giantbomb annual subscriber a letter explaining the situation, the mistake they made and how it broke the law, along with an apology and offer to refund that member if they don't agree with the policy even if the member didn't even know what was going on. Even if a subscriber doesn't care about ads, but was feeling let down by the service, this would give them a way out because of the advertising blunder. I don't blame them for taking the weekend to think about it.

You are totally fucking delusional.

Keep us updated on how your lawsuit goes.

@Buzzkill said:

@Chop said:

I just feel like pointing out that, besides the TC, everyone against the advertisement are coming off far better than the WM defenders. Yes, ads are a petty thing to complain about, but you people who feel the need to defend the staff so fiercely are making the whole place look a hell of a lot more awful than a single ad.

I entirely agree, which is why I'm not responding to the majority of the comments here.

Edit: the irony will be how many of those "blind defenders" take giantbomb up on the offer to refund them, because it looks like giantbomb is taking the route of leaving the ad up, and having to deal with false advertising claims. The end result could very well be they are forced to send each and every giantbomb annual subscriber a letter explaining the situation, the mistake they made and how it broke the law, along with an apology and offer to refund that member if they don't agree with the policy even if the member didn't even know what was going on. Even if a subscriber doesn't care about ads, but was feeling let down by the service, this would give them a way out because of the advertising blunder. I don't blame them for taking the weekend to think about it.

WTF are you talking about? They didn't break ANY law and they don't have to refund anything.

And yeah, of course. Everyone who disagrees with you and just talks facts is a "white knight" or "blind defender". Riiight...

Also, as has already been pointed out to numerous times, this is part of a quest (see membership faq) and an "ad" for a WM event. Every QL or TNT is no less an "ad" for the respective game in that sense.

@Chop said:

I just feel like pointing out that, besides the TC, everyone against the advertisement are coming off far better than the WM defenders. Yes, ads are a petty thing to complain about, but you people who feel the need to defend the staff so fiercely are making the whole place look a hell of a lot more awful than a single ad.

I entirely agree, which is why I'm not responding to the majority of the comments here.

is op 12?

Oh God its an ad for more content on the sites you are giving money to.

EDIT: I see the ad is gone now anyway.

Unfortunately I was waaaay to tired yesterday and fell asleep sometime after TNT (which ended 3 am my time anyway). But having watched the archive on justin.tv now I have to say it was a really fun show. Most of the time was actually dedicated to QL-like gameplay and commentary which was very entertaining to me and happens to be just the sort of stuff I'm here for in the first place. The "ad" part at the beginning and end was fine in my opinion. Even if it wasn't exactly spectacular or anything too exciting.

Considering this has been their first experiment with that type of show I'll have to say WM handled it very well and I got a lot more out of it than I thought.

@Buzzkill said:

@Chop said:

I just feel like pointing out that, besides the TC, everyone against the advertisement are coming off far better than the WM defenders. Yes, ads are a petty thing to complain about, but you people who feel the need to defend the staff so fiercely are making the whole place look a hell of a lot more awful than a single ad.

I entirely agree, which is why I'm not responding to the majority of the comments here.

Edit: the irony will be how many of those "blind defenders" take giantbomb up on the offer to refund them, because it looks like giantbomb is taking the route of leaving the ad up, and having to deal with false advertising claims. The end result could very well be they are forced to send each and every giantbomb annual subscriber a letter explaining the situation, the mistake they made and how it broke the law, along with an apology and offer to refund that member if they don't agree with the policy even if the member didn't even know what was going on. Even if a subscriber doesn't care about ads, but was feeling let down by the service, this would give them a way out because of the advertising blunder. I don't blame them for taking the weekend to think about it.

Wow, you really are deranged.