Welcome to the MacNN Forums.

Scifience · 03:47 PM

Somebody tell Mr. Advertiser that we're not likely to fall for this around here:

big image here

That might fool Micro$oft users, but not us!

Note: The image is small for dial-up users, only 10KB.

[edit: but it props open the browser window: NOT COOL! --tooki]

Brien · May 31, 2003, 10:51 AM

That banner is so old, so annoying.

rjenkinson · May 31, 2003, 11:32 AM

-r.

wdlove · May 31, 2003, 11:37 AM

I just ignore them!

digimage · May 31, 2003, 12:18 PM

Originally posted by wdlove:
I just ignore them!

Yeah, or use safari w/pithhelmet.

Unfortunately, I don't think MacNN has any control over the content, aside from maybe an option to not be served some of the more unsavory ads. I think they just get a package deal and the ad server folks pick the ads.

Scifience · May 31, 2003, 12:25 PM

Actually, being a webmaster, I know you can choose which ads to accept/not accept for your site. Those kind just tend to pay well (1.00 CPM or more).

Jens Peter · May 31, 2003, 12:27 PM

Originally posted by digimage:
Yeah, or use safari w/pithhelmet.

Wow! That's a great pice of freeware ! Love it allready...

Jens Peter

Steve · May 31, 2003, 01:02 PM

You do realize that if people start blocking ads, this site will be shut down. It costs a lot of money to keep something like this running, and we're not even paying admins/mods or anybody else.

People wonder why a lot of sites have problems staying alive; it's because people like you take away their only source of revenue so you don't have to ignore an ad

.

If you're going to block advertisements, at least put MacNN on the exceptions list.

Jens Peter · May 31, 2003, 01:27 PM

Originally posted by Steve:

If you're going to block advertisements, at least put MacNN on the exceptions list.

The sites I visit regulary, I have done that. And that includes MacNN.

But for other big commercial sites, I don't really care.

Jens Peter

Scifience · May 31, 2003, 01:37 PM

What MacNN should do is what many other sites have done: offer ad-free versions for a small subscription fee. For example: $20 for six months/1 year of no ads. That way, people who didn't like ads but wanted to support MacNN would have an option.

NoteStomper · May 31, 2003, 02:43 PM

Originally posted by Steve:
You do realize that if people start blocking ads, this site will be shut down. It costs a lot of money to keep something like this running, and we're not even paying admins/mods or anybody else.

People wonder why a lot of sites have problems staying alive; it's because people like you take away their only source of revenue so you don't have to ignore an ad .

If you're going to block advertisements, at least put MacNN on the exceptions list.

Thanks for your opinion.

May 31, 2003, 02:59 PM

Originally posted by NoteStomper:
Thanks for your opinion.

Why are you rolling your eyes at that. He makes a good point. Nothings free - if you cut off the financial support of the site, the site will cease to exist. Even "big, commercial sites"

voodoo · May 31, 2003, 03:36 PM

Originally posted by Steve:
You do realize that if people start blocking ads, this site will be shut down. It costs a lot of money to keep something like this running, and we're not even paying admins/mods or anybody else.

People wonder why a lot of sites have problems staying alive; it's because people like you take away their only source of revenue so you don't have to ignore an ad .

If you're going to block advertisements, at least put MacNN on the exceptions list.

You are free to put advertisements on the forum, I am free to block them and block them I do. These useless ads eat up my download quota and => cost *me* money. I'll be damned if I'm going to *pay* to watch ads

(how the heck can you expect to get people here to click the ads anyway if they are made with Windows users in mind -- how about getting ads here that Mac users might actually click on!??)

PS. I seriously doubt that these forums are run from whatever cents roll in from the ad clicking done here.

AKcrab · May 31, 2003, 03:52 PM

Originally posted by Steve:
You do realize that if people start blocking ads, this site will be shut down. It costs a lot of money to keep something like this running, and we're not even paying admins/mods or anybody else.

FUD from the moderator troll.

Severed Hand of Skywalker · May 31, 2003, 03:52 PM

Some ads are so annoying and flash and try to trick you and it is hard to read the content. For that reason I block ads and don't lose sleep over it.

iNub · May 31, 2003, 04:01 PM

What ads? I don'teven see them any .... oh, those little rectangles that flash! I have become so adept at tuning them out, I actually don't see them most of the time.

NoteStomper · May 31, 2003, 04:10 PM

Originally posted by hayesk:
Why are you rolling your eyes at that. He makes a good point. Nothings free - if you cut off the financial support of the site, the site will cease to exist. Even "big, commercial sites"

If the ads here weren't lame-assed "click here if I flash, round-eye" instead of "Hey, small dog has 80 gigs for 30 bucks with free shipping", I'd be all about it. BUt until then, I'll block what I like, when I like.

And Steve, I'd seriously consider a pay version ad free. At least my money would be going directly to NN instead of a large percentage going to a sleazeball ad company.

Zimphire · May 31, 2003, 04:28 PM

I don;t mind ads as long as they are not IN YOUR FACE. Half the time I don;t even notice them. Popup ads are lame though. Pages that make you look at ads before you view the content is also lame.

Ozmodiar · May 31, 2003, 04:32 PM

Originally posted by Zimphire:
I don;t mind ads as long as they are not IN YOUR FACE. Half the time I don;t even notice them. Popup ads are lame though. Pages that make you look at ads before you view the content is also lame.

Agreed. I can handle the one little ad at the top of the page, but if NN switched to pop-ups (not that those are relevant with most OS X browsers any more) or interstitials I think I would pick up my ball and go home.

Same as if it becomes a subscription service.

Steve · May 31, 2003, 05:13 PM

Originally posted by AKcrab:
FUD from the moderator troll.

"It is a marketing technique used when a competitor launches a product that is both better than yours and costs less, i.e. your product is no longer competitive. Unable to respond with hard facts, scare-mongering is used via 'gossip channels' to cast a shadow of doubt over the competitors offerings and make people think twice before using it."

Yep. I guess that is FUD

You are free to put advertisements on the forum, I am free to block them and block them I do. These useless ads eat up my download quota and => cost *me* money. I'll be damned if I'm going to *pay* to watch ads.

You sure are free to block ads, but you can also lose a site that you visit frequently in doing so.

I'll talk to Monish about the types of ads we have here and see if we can do something that is a little more Mac specific.

scaught · Jun 1, 2003, 03:10 AM

Originally posted by iNub:
What ads? I don'teven see them any .... oh, those little rectangles that flash! I have become so adept at tuning them out, I actually don't see them most of the time.

exactly. they can flash. they can contain flash. they can say lots of things in big colors. they can say little to nothing. i think ive clicked a handful of them in all my time on the internet.

edit. oh. and i change the channel when commercials come on when i watch tv, and i change the station or listen to a CD when commercials come on when i listen to howard stern.

IUJHJSDHE · Jun 1, 2003, 11:35 AM

Seems my computer is broatcasting an Internet IP address!

Hehe, I love that banner.

Amorya · Jun 1, 2003, 01:56 PM

Originally posted by IUJHJSDHE:

Seems my computer is broatcasting an Internet IP address!

Hehe, I love that banner.

It's funny because it's true!

Amorya

IUJHJSDHE · Jun 1, 2003, 02:09 PM

Originally posted by Amorya:
It's funny because it's true!

Amorya

It's really funny because of how they say it.

Superchicken · Jun 1, 2003, 02:21 PM

I love the Ebay add with a 17 inch Alu book advertising PIII notebooks hahahaha

And sites don't cost that much money I'm sure you guys could easily find a few users to throw in a few bucks for your yearly fees, I pay like under 100 bucks Canadian a year for hosting a board then again I found an awsome Christian host and junk... but still Site5 is fairly cheap as are others.

nekura · Jun 1, 2003, 02:51 PM

Originally posted by Superchic[k]en:
I love the Ebay add with a 17 inch Alu book advertising PIII notebooks hahahaha

And sites don't cost that much money I'm sure you guys could easily find a few users to throw in a few bucks for your yearly fees, I pay like under 100 bucks Canadian a year for hosting a board then again I found an awsome Christian host and junk... but still Site5 is fairly cheap as are others.

You obviously don't understand how much it costs to run a real site, ie: one which requires a dedicated server. You may pay $100 a year for shared hosting, but dedicated hosting can cost that much a MONTH. I think it's pretty safe to assume that MacNN is a bandwidth-intensive site, especially if taking into account the popularity of the forums. Bandwidth is rather expensive, so I seriously doubt that the hosting fees for the site are anywhere near what you assume them to be.

talisker · Jun 1, 2003, 09:55 PM

Originally posted by Steve:
You do realize that if people start blocking ads, this site will be shut down. It costs a lot of money to keep something like this running, and we're not even paying admins/mods or anybody else.

Nonsense. I have never ever clicked on a banner ad on a website, and never will, so can you tell me how exactly blocking them is going to lose MacNN any revenue?

joe_kr · Jun 1, 2003, 10:19 PM

Originally posted by talisker:
Nonsense. I have never ever clicked on a banner ad on a website, and never will, so can you tell me how exactly blocking them is going to lose MacNN any revenue?

many banners are sold based on page-impressions (just loading). So, yes, you are costing them money if you are not allowing the ads to load.

joe_kr · Jun 1, 2003, 10:21 PM

Originally posted by Ozmodiar:
Agreed. I can handle the one little ad at the top of the page, but if NN switched to pop-ups (not that those are relevant with most OS X browsers any more) or interstitials I think I would pick up my ball and go home.

Same as if it becomes a subscription service.

people say this "I'd leave" as if they are "punishing" the site.

The reality is that each time you visit the page, you cost the site a small amount of $$. Each ad that loads earns them a small amount of $$.

The goal is tp make the earnings $$ >= spending $$.

If you (individually) are costing them more than are generating, then you are welcome to leave.

joe_kr · 10:48 PM

Originally posted by Superchic[k]en:
I love the Ebay add with a 17 inch Alu book advertising PIII notebooks hahahaha

And sites don't cost that much money I'm sure you guys could easily find a few users to throw in a few bucks for your yearly fees, I pay like under 100 bucks Canadian a year for hosting a board then again I found an awsome Christian host and junk... but still Site5 is fairly cheap as are others.

You think MacNN costs $100/year to host?

I'd wager it's $500-$1000+ a month (for hosting alone) depending on how many servers they have. I know they have one dedicated just for the forums.

Actually - let's look at Site5 as you state -- Looking on Site5 - it looks like a Dedicated Dual PIII costs $550/month for the low end machine. and $850/month for the higher end one... ASSUMING you stay in the Bandwidth limites.

Now... I recall the MacNN server is a Dual PIII wtih (I believe) at least 1GB RAM - which is $850/month from Site5.

That's not counting the main site (macnn.com) -- which likely requires another dedicated.

I'm sure your next reply will be "that's ridiculous - you don't need that big a server for these forums" -- but I'll save you the trouble:

Let's ask the people who wrote this bulletin board software (vBulletin), how many people can a server like this support?

This thread asks on vBulletin's Support Forums:

How many concurrent users could this rig handle if the config is as stated below? It'll serve every aspect of my site, including the mail. It'll only host my site.

Dual PIII - 1Ghz, 512mb Ram, 80gig 7200rpm HD.
Gonna be loaded with Redhat 8, Apache 2.0, PHP 4.2.2, MySQL 3.23.54, postfix, pop3, and imap. (If I'm missing anything, let me know).

Answer from the vBulletin employee (eva2000) is:

i'd say that server with apache 1.3.27, php 4.3.1 and mysql 4.0.12 and properly tweaked /etc/my.cnf and php.ini and httpd.conf settinsg would be good for 150-350 vb displayed online users...

oh look - there are 172 on MacNN as of this writing. And it's Sunday night. Traffic is higher during the days.

Dogma · Jun 1, 2003, 10:48 PM

It's all data throughput. Hosting is only good if it has enough of a Data Transfer quota to handle it. If my boards were even a hundredth of MacNNs, my host would be sure to up my �30 a year or whatever it is for about �5 for each additional Gb of data transfer needed to keep it going. Just think how many users there are here...

just think...

right?

Okay, now assuming each "registered user" posts ten times a week. Then assume people hit reload a lot, then assume the obligatory lurkers. A lot of data man.

That said. Knowing the full amount would be interesting. If it costs less than a grand a year I'd be surprised, I myself am prepared to expend that amount on my own site, so, as with many sites, stick with it. More, look at dedicated corporate sponsorship. Where else do so many varied Mac users get together?

I myself, am against the idea of paying for any web site, and would be quite sad to see MacNN go that way, for one, as it is usually the death nail for any site, two, I just wouldn't visit it - much like most people aren't really reading the home page anymore cos the stories are so out of date with other sites.

Ah well. Just twenty bucks.