Bottom Banner - please read

**Scream And Fly** · 05-08-2023, 04:32 PM

Hi All,

You've probably seen the newer Google banners at the bottom of the site. I wanted your opinions on that. The way i see it, the banner might be a borderline case of being too invasive. I've always had a rule here that I will not let any Google banner become invasive to the degree that it detracts from the site's experience. So to put it bluntly, if you all feel that banner needs to go, let me know and I'll have it removed. In the long run, it will likely be removed anyway, however I really do want your thoughts on it.

Google has regular reports to their ad partners about site performance relative to banners. The big problem this site has right now is that its traffic has been increasing each year for the past six years (that's good), however there is also a corresponding increase in the use of ad-blockers (that's very bad). A larger issue is that nowadays most browsers (including on mobile devices) have some degree of ad-blocking built in. Unfortunately, when an ad-blocker is being used to visit the site, it denies us the ad revenue from Google, which is a major source of revenue to maintain the site. So as the sitewide traffic increases, naturally we have to pay more for internet bandwidth, but our ad revenue declines in the process. This is not just a problem here, but for most other news/forums sites. On top of that there have been some big increases in the cost of network bandwidth in the past year, and Google ads are paying less due to the ongoing war in Ukraine. I'm not sure how a war in Ukraine affects ads here, but that's the reason Google gives.

I won't ever add an ad-blocker blocker such as we see a lot of news sites using now, where the site is not viewable unless the ad-blocker is disabled. Regardless of whether people use ad-blockers or not, the site will always be 100% functional. If you could give some thought to whitelisting this site in your ad-blocker, that would go a long way toward alleviating the Google ads problem. I want to also mention how grateful I am to those of you that have done so, and have also helped to support us by becoming a Team Member.

Thanks for reading everyone,
Greg

**hydra-sports** · 05-08-2023, 04:47 PM

The banners were a pain in the you know what. If this keeps the site cash fluid then keep them. Also people that use this site should pay or continue to pay for team membership. There is NO FREE LUNCH. The knowledge you gain from using this site is a heck of a lot. Good job Greg.
Thanks,

**David - WI** · 05-08-2023, 04:51 PM

The bottom banner is by far the least intrusive as far as I'm concerned. I rarely scroll to the bottom of the page anyway... so I rarely see the banner and it's not in the way of anything I need.

The top banner ad blocks the function buttons the I do use.

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**Dave S** · 05-08-2023, 05:09 PM

No problem........

........

**CUDA** · 05-08-2023, 06:46 PM

It sucks

An adventure bike site I frequent removes ALL adds if you pay them $38.00 a year, I pay because I hate adds in all forms, I get 6 to 10 spam calls a day , text messages e mails I'm sick of unsubscribing to things I never wanted in the first place, anyone that gives you $100. per year should not have to put up with that chit.
Chewie

**Frank Molé** · 05-08-2023, 08:27 PM

dont like it...lets just pay what we can..

**TooStroked** · 05-09-2023, 12:00 PM

I'm not a big fan of Google or the banners, but if they help support the site, I'm ok with them. I don't find them all that intrusive anyway.

If I were given the choice of banners or annual subscriptions, I'd opt to pay.

**Merc ModVP** · 05-09-2023, 12:24 PM

Don't mine banners but do not like the bottom one which is in the way every time you are scrolling down.

**mr fun** · 05-09-2023, 07:14 PM

anoying , every time i change pages it is an extra step

**sonicss33** · 05-09-2023, 08:16 PM

I’m on here several times a day and the banners are a PIA. Just my opion that you asked for. I would gladly pay a membership fee to keep the site w/o them.

**keith scotton** · 05-10-2023, 07:55 AM

You have banners on the right the left, top and bottom. Left, top and bottom most of the time have nothing to do with boating. I do not come here to look at the shopping network.
I do not like it.
Just What I Think

**Scream And Fly** · 05-13-2023, 11:07 AM

I appreciate the feedback everyone. I'll submit changes today to remove the bottom banner.

Edit: I have made the change to remove the bottom banners. It should take effect within an hour or sooner.

**pcrussell50** · 05-13-2023, 04:21 PM

I don't mind the banners on home broadband, but they chew up a lot of cellular data when accessing by phone. I don't run an ad blocker on my phone. Just regular iOS Safari.

===

Also happy and proud to be a Team Member. But I forget when I signed up. Do you send out reminders when it is time to renew?

===

Also, as to not wastefully up the post count, can someone link me to the thread about the history of the Merc V6, that was started by the engineer in charge of the project? Using the search function is drawing a blank for me. I'm only about a third of the way through reading it and failed to bookmark it.

-Peter

**CUDA** · 05-13-2023, 06:15 PM

Greg check out Advrider.com I like their policy, you pay a yearly price and NO adds at all,

I'm happy to pay, I understand you need money, I hate adds with a passion and If $25.00 or what ever you deside makes them go away I'm happy!

A$$ CASH or Grass not one rides for free 70's thing,