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Anoying Advertising on PA --- or am I alone in my thoughts?
zWolf
Registered User regular
Registered User regular
Hello, (it was suggested that I move this here... )
long time fan - first time poster. So, one thing that I really like about PA is how selective that they are about what they advertise on the site. Pretty much anything that goes on the site, has to meet at least some level of approval from the PA staff, and that is awesome, I wish more companies were like that.
Now I know that Okami is a highly reviewed game, and I am not attacking the validity of advertising that product, it is the 'flashy blinky' nature of the add that disturbs me.
the way the animation of the Add scrolls all over, and the Wii controller makes it's swooping dives and swipes, I'm sure it took allot of creative thought on the part of someone, however the net effect is that it becomes almost impossible to actually read the content to the left (or below) the add because the eye is so distracted by the blinking and flashing that is going on in the okami and Haze adds.
That's great for the person that designed the ADD, kudos to them, they got my eyeball on the add - but honestly, I have clicked through on the PA adds WAY more than any other sites adds strictly because I know the high moral bar that they have set on their advertising standards - there have been games that I checked out via their adds that I would never have glanced at before, but because they were advertised on PA - I check them out, no blinky and flashy needed.
I know that dollars gotta be made, and that may be the best way to do it - far be it from me to try to rob dollars from the people that have brought such delight to my life over the years. But since PA has made it known that the advertising has to fit with their overall vision before they will allow an add to be posted on their site - I just wanted to post my displeasure at having my reading of the site interrupted by flashing annoying adds.
I guess I'm worried because I see a bit of a trend starting... I just did re-fresh for a while to check out some of the other Add's that are being run on PA. I found 6 Adds in rotation from probably 50 refreshes of the site, and here is how they stacked up:
Okami - Extremely Distracting Flashing.
Haze - Extremely Distracting Flashing.
Guild Hall - Minor Flashing (I really liked the side bar add - though the changing text does cause a bit of the 'flash' effect, and the horizontal one with the scrolling text... - arrrgh, scrolling text???!!!??? so 1998 don't you think? but I digress.)
D&D Minitures - very minor flash - I think the beholder animation is awesome, and doesn't detract at all. I wasn't even going to list it as having any 'flashy' characteristics, but there is a 'screen shake' thing programed in the animation that counts as 'minor flash'.
PAX - None
SUMO - None
So, of the adds I saw:
33% = hyper Flashy
33% = minor Flash elements
33% = no flash elements
So, you can see that the trend is there at least, and couple that with the fact that it was the flashy add's that would get the most rotation - and you have an awe full lot of flashing going on around the site most of the time.
Well, thats my opinion at least, I imagine that at least some others may feel the same. I'm sure that there are many in who's eyes that PA could do no wrong and won't feel annoyed at all... but for that group honestly they wouldn't care if you totally sold out and advertised crap either, so I guess I'm tossing my opinion out there to represent the group of gamers that really appreciates the high standards that you hold your advertisers too.
Thanks for considering the comments.
zWolf -out.
long time fan - first time poster. So, one thing that I really like about PA is how selective that they are about what they advertise on the site. Pretty much anything that goes on the site, has to meet at least some level of approval from the PA staff, and that is awesome, I wish more companies were like that.
Now I know that Okami is a highly reviewed game, and I am not attacking the validity of advertising that product, it is the 'flashy blinky' nature of the add that disturbs me.
the way the animation of the Add scrolls all over, and the Wii controller makes it's swooping dives and swipes, I'm sure it took allot of creative thought on the part of someone, however the net effect is that it becomes almost impossible to actually read the content to the left (or below) the add because the eye is so distracted by the blinking and flashing that is going on in the okami and Haze adds.
That's great for the person that designed the ADD, kudos to them, they got my eyeball on the add - but honestly, I have clicked through on the PA adds WAY more than any other sites adds strictly because I know the high moral bar that they have set on their advertising standards - there have been games that I checked out via their adds that I would never have glanced at before, but because they were advertised on PA - I check them out, no blinky and flashy needed.
I know that dollars gotta be made, and that may be the best way to do it - far be it from me to try to rob dollars from the people that have brought such delight to my life over the years. But since PA has made it known that the advertising has to fit with their overall vision before they will allow an add to be posted on their site - I just wanted to post my displeasure at having my reading of the site interrupted by flashing annoying adds.
I guess I'm worried because I see a bit of a trend starting... I just did re-fresh for a while to check out some of the other Add's that are being run on PA. I found 6 Adds in rotation from probably 50 refreshes of the site, and here is how they stacked up:
Okami - Extremely Distracting Flashing.
Haze - Extremely Distracting Flashing.
Guild Hall - Minor Flashing (I really liked the side bar add - though the changing text does cause a bit of the 'flash' effect, and the horizontal one with the scrolling text... - arrrgh, scrolling text???!!!??? so 1998 don't you think? but I digress.)
D&D Minitures - very minor flash - I think the beholder animation is awesome, and doesn't detract at all. I wasn't even going to list it as having any 'flashy' characteristics, but there is a 'screen shake' thing programed in the animation that counts as 'minor flash'.
PAX - None
SUMO - None
So, of the adds I saw:
33% = hyper Flashy
33% = minor Flash elements
33% = no flash elements
So, you can see that the trend is there at least, and couple that with the fact that it was the flashy add's that would get the most rotation - and you have an awe full lot of flashing going on around the site most of the time.
Well, thats my opinion at least, I imagine that at least some others may feel the same. I'm sure that there are many in who's eyes that PA could do no wrong and won't feel annoyed at all... but for that group honestly they wouldn't care if you totally sold out and advertised crap either, so I guess I'm tossing my opinion out there to represent the group of gamers that really appreciates the high standards that you hold your advertisers too.
Thanks for considering the comments.
zWolf -out.
zWolf on
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This discussion has been closed.
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not even really get it changed, the cost / benefit might be so great that they just have to keep the flashy parts in, and if that be the case then so be it. I totally understand - maybe 200% more people click on the add when it flashes, and maybe they get paid on click th roughs, if thats the case then like I said, so be it.
But I did at least want to get my opinion out there.. however you may be right, perhaps an e-mail to the web master would be the best route.
if this turns into some 'flame war' I'd be the first to vote to lock/delete the thread.. that's really not what I'm wanting... first and foremost I'm a fan... I just wanted to share my opinion on the new adds.
thanks,
zWolf -out.
I noticed them, but they were not annoying.
And to the dude that made the thread, only people who are going to know bout the ads are us, you wont get any one elses attention. Thanks for playing, try again.
but they're listening to every word I say
You're better emailing them. I don't think any of the PA staff pay much attention to the forums.
Also, there's always Flashblock. I actually have the Flash plugin disabled for *.penny-arcade.com since we started getting inline youtube videos.
But that may be just me.
Making threads is not the way to communicate with the management of Penny Arcade.
I don't think he's trying to communicate with them. Just presenting it for discussion.
I'm honestly curious if you have ADD (the condition, not the misspelled word). If so I think you'd be better off getting treatment or medication for that rather than trying to banish flashing elements from the internet.
--
For those of us who hate Flash things automatically loading: get Flashblock.
Oh, huh.
See, I only skim long posts unless I have the feeling it would be useful to read the whole thing. :oops:
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Although this is the wrong place, complaining that particular ads are annoying, might not be a bad idea expressly because of Ad Block. Ads are how the site makes money, so not viewing them is kinda slightly bad.
Oh course, I disabled AdBlock and NoScript and still don't see any ads, so I can't really comment on how annoying they were. It's still probably better for the site if they weren't so annoying people felt compelled to block them.
Now if you like a website but it keeps throwing a NSFW ad up at you, then that's a little different. I've always had luck mentioning that sort of thing to webmasters though (who generally want to keep their sites SFW) who have promptly gotten rid of the offending advertisement.
That would be great if sites sold ads based on page views that don't have AdBlock et. al installed, but they don't. They sell on raw pageviews.
I think he edited his OP. I could have sworn there was something in there about this being an attempt to get through to the PA staff.
Just as a point to zWolf: if you want to talk about annoying ads as a conversation, that's fine. However, when people say "Gabe and Tycho do not read the forums" they mean exactly that. Gabe and Tycho basically never read the forums, and almost nothing that ever happens here penetrates their consciousness. You're seriously better off just emailing them.