I think people saying "just get a subscription" have a pretty gross position. A site shouldn't hold people hostage into subscribing. Granted, Giantbomb probably has no control over what ads go onto the site, but people make it sound like the site is free to make the experience bad (not worse, worse is fine) for non-subscribers.
Having a slightly annoying ad every once in a while is not "holding people hostage into subscribing". They're not preventing you from accessing the site. If an ad can make people like the OP this upset, maybe they need to take a look at their lives and figure out what went wrong. You want annoying ads? Go back in time 13 years. Remember those pop-up ads? 50 would pop up at once and you'd have to close out of all of them just to see the website.
Saying that Giant Bomb lost their integrity? Please. They're just ads. This is the free market. They gotta pay the bills. I get that maybe Jeff said something about not having ads way back when. But guess what? A lot's changed since then. Things don't always work out the way people plan them to and their opinions on things tend to change accordingly.
I think people saying "just get a subscription" have a pretty gross position. A site shouldn't hold people hostage into subscribing. Granted, Giantbomb probably has no control over what ads go onto the site, but people make it sound like the site is free to make the experience bad (not worse, worse is fine) for non-subscribers.
Having a slightly annoying ad every once in a while is not "holding people hostage into subscribing". They're not preventing you from accessing the site. If an ad can make people like the OP this upset, maybe they need to take a look at their lives and figure out what went wrong. You want annoying ads? Go back in time 13 years. Remember those pop-up ads? 50 would pop up at once and you'd have to close out of all of them just to see the website.
I'm not saying this ad is a big problem or anything (I don't mind it or the site skin that people have been complaining about), just that the attitude that if you don't like the free site then you should subscribe. People should subscribe to get more content, not hide from parts of the site. It's a slippery slope of just shooting down every valid criticism of the site because you can pay your way around them.
Saying that Giant Bomb lost their integrity? Please. They're just ads. This is the free market. They gotta pay the bills. I get that maybe Jeff said something about not having ads way back when. But guess what? A lot's changed since then. Things don't always work out the way people plan them to and their opinions on things tend to change accordingly.
Nothing in this post refutes that they've lost their integrity.
"Oh, people change. Into assholes. Deal with it." Yeah, not re-subbing.
Saying that Giant Bomb lost their integrity? Please. They're just ads. This is the free market. They gotta pay the bills. I get that maybe Jeff said something about not having ads way back when. But guess what? A lot's changed since then. Things don't always work out the way people plan them to and their opinions on things tend to change accordingly.
Nothing in this post refutes that they've lost their integrity.
"Oh, people change. Into assholes. Deal with it." Yeah, not re-subbing.
You'll be missing some of the best video content about videogames on the internet or you'll be exposed to those awfull ads...
And for what?
you would prefer they fight the ad team every time they make a buisness decision?
Or should they go under as a matter of principles?
This is the first time I've heard of the term 'eye-blaster', which I find strange for how much it's being used.
@HarlequinRiot said:
I think people saying "just get a subscription" have a pretty gross position. A site shouldn't hold people hostage into subscribing. Granted, Giantbomb probably has no control over what ads go onto the site, but people make it sound like the site is free to make the experience bad (not worse, worse is fine) for non-subscribers.
I was going to say 'get a subscription' in response to the people saying you should just bear the ads if you like the site. I think if you like the site, you should give some money to the guys and get even more awesome content in return. I feel the same way about free-to-play games. If you've played a game for free for 200 hours, maybe it's time to buy a hat for a dollar or something.
I got this add too when I cleared my cookies and had to log in again. The greatest part is that it actually got stuck on the last frame, which was a giant explosion and would not let me click anything on the screen. Nothing, this Giant Bomb site experience was just a giant explosion on the screen.
So this awesome ad, which completely filled my screen (I was on a tablet to be fair), thus ACTIVELY KEPT ME FROM USING THE SITE.
Awesome. It's almost worst than that Meebo bar thing.
At the very least I wish Jeff or someone would speak about this in a more noticeable way (if they haven't already, the only info I've seen about it is a link to a formspring question). Even if it's not to give any good news I feel like enough of these threads have popped up that it deserves addressing. Even if they just say "Hey guys, we're not in control of the ads anymore, I know some of them suck, but there's nothing we can do about it. If it really bothers you we've got subscriptions so you don't have to deal with them." That's all I really ask. At least for them to acknowledge that they know instead of keeping quiet about the whole thing.
Adblock is your friend, but you might as well just pay the money for membership if you use the site regularly. Support content you like with your dollars or your adviews.
Oh good this thread is big enough for my reply to fade into obscurity so here we go.
This might come as a shocker to you, but none of the staff gives a flying pigshit about you or me regardless of whether you have a purty medal around your avatar. Whether you're annoyed or not, using adblock or not, whatever. They care that CBSi is giving them a paycheck calculated from site performance metrics not accessible to me or you.
Now, you have options if you are truly fed up. Don't consume their content whether it be through this site or their YouTube channel. Don't come to the forums. Hell, don't visit the website and just forget about GiantBomb altogether. While you're at it, don't talk shit about GiantBomb to your friends because in a way you're still advertising for GiantBomb.
Again, the staff doesn't fucking care. Look how many times they reply to shit like this whether or not you feel entitled to a staff response from paying a whole $whatever/year for a subscription. So just leave. You won't miss us and sure as hell nobody here will miss you, you fucking asshurt whiner.
Generally I don't mind ads, I don't have the money to support the site that way and I really don't mind ads that aren't intrusive (in fact sometimes I like them as it reminds me of a something - usually a game - that I was meaning to go and get but I forgot). However, there is one specific ad that keeps annoying me here. It is for Speed Stick (a brand of anti-persperant which either isn't available where I live or not at all in the UK - I checked because I didn't recognise the name at all and the ad was so jarring for me).
The annoying part of the ad is that it comes with a pop-up, a very generic pop-up which asks a "survey question" about what people think about Speed Stick (obviously all of the answers are positive and there is no way I am going to click on it anyway) and it makes Giantbomb look like one of those shitty websites that require you to answer a survey before they let you see an image that you found on Google. It really left a bad impression, and I fear that new viewers to the site may see it and write off the entire site as one of those junk websites and won't return. Ads like those are not just mildly inntrusive to consistent users of the site; they actually can turn away new viewers from ever getting to that point. Those are the ads that bother me as I truly think they can be damaging for the website as a whole.
Man, the dream really has died. God, I feel bad for criticizing them, because now I'm realizing exactly how depressing it must be for them to be bent over like this.
If I could, I totally would go back to 2010 me and slap myself in the face every time I bitched that TNT was out of sync or ILM was on a Tuesday. My hope is that Jeff and them are just as pissed off at these ads as we are, but can't say anything about it.
No matter what shitty pro-corporate, pro-site reasoning you put behind it, these are still fucking terrible in every way.
@ThePickle said:
@Brodehouse said:
Man, the dream really has died. God, I feel bad for criticizing them, because now I'm realizing exactly how depressing it must be for them to be bent over like this.
If I could, I totally would go back to 2010 me and slap myself in the face every time I bitched that TNT was out of sync or ILM was on a Tuesday. My hope is that Jeff and them are just as pissed off at these ads as we are, but can't say anything about it.
I haven't really had an issue with ads to be honest. The sidebar and bottom ads are usually for sites I already frequent with deals (mostly tigerdirect and newegg). I think I'd had one actual pop-up ad and even then it was 5 seconds. Gave me a chance to go grab a drink and return to watching some videos. Just be patient is what I'm saying. The ads go away and you can continue on your day if you really can't afford a sub (I can't either so I choose to be patient).
It sucks, but it's not the end of all things good. I'm just happy they're still pumping out good videos, and even that seems to be picking up speed lately.
Adblock, I cancelled my membership with the lack of premium content because I was only on silver anyway. I actually learnt about Adblock when I signed up for Giant Bomb Premium which was helpful.
I have literally enjoyed 100's of hours of entertainment from the content these guys put out, without spending a dime. I can live with some Ads. Internet entitlement is a hilarious thing to behold.
I have literally enjoyed 100's of hours of entertainment from the content these guys put out, without spending a dime. I can live with some Ads. Internet entitlement is a hilarious thing to behold.
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