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The Official Radeon Ad Thread

Started by Myopic Rhino Oct 22, 2002 at 5:26 PM 553 replies 82.7k views

Original Post

Oct 22, 2002 at 5:26 PM

Okay, since I can't keep up with all the threads going on about the Radeon ad, I decided to start this thread. I'm going to close all the others, as well as any new ones that come up. If you asked a question/made a comment in one of the other threads that you would like to have me respond to, please repost here. I will edit this post to add relevant information. For starters, this ad is part of a 2 month long campaign with ATI. It will run through the end of November. Although I'm not at liberty to discuss the details of the campaign, the revenue generated by it will suffice to pay for our hosting and bandwidth for a while - something we desperately needed due to another sponsor backing out after several months into the deal - but that's another story. We are required to deliver a set number of views by the end of November. For this reason, although there are ways for you to circumvent the ad, we would appreciate you not doing so, since it will require us placing the ad on even more pages. We were very reluctant to take on this type of ad, and we informed ATI's advertising agency that some, if not many, of our readers would object to it. But the general feeling among advertisers is that most web users now automatically ignore standard banners, so more extreme measures are required to even be noticed. Will we be taking on more ads like this one in the future? I don't know. Our priority is the continued existence of the site, and if that requires taking on these types of ads, that's what we'll do. However, we are exploring other options. At this time, it looks like the best option for our long-term, continued survival will be adding a paid, premium membership. As I've said before, if we go that route, you will not have to start paying for things you get now for free (with the possible exception of hosting and bandwidth via the GDShowcase). Unfortunately, this is not something that we can implement overnight, and once it is in place, I expect that it'll take a while to get the subscription rate high enough to support the site, so interim solutions, like this ad, are needed. Feel free to post any questions or comments you may have here. Kevin and I will do our best to respond to them as quickly as possible. UPDATE (10/24): Currently, with the addition of the ad to the forum page, we're up to around 10,000 daily impressions, which is still considerably short. Unfortunately, this leaves me with two options: Add the ad to the individual threads (the most highly trafficed page on the site) or ask them to allow us to extend the campaign. They will probably do the latter, since the campaign was supposed to last 3 months, but they were six weeks late delivering the ad. Of the two, the extension seems like the lesser evil. UPDATE (11/8): In response to feedback from all of you, ATI has decided to pull the current ad, and replace it with a more conventional one.

Dave "Myopic Rhino" Astle Executive Producer and COO, GameDev.net Game Programmer, Avalanche Software Author, OpenGL Game Programming "Leaking and bleeding... that's what happens when you don't relax"

CpMan

Oct 22, 2002 at 5:32 PM

If it''s for the good of GameDev.....I''ll view the pages....Thanks for the Good Times.

Reality is Relative -Me and Probably somebody else

munkie

Oct 22, 2002 at 5:35 PM

Let''s just say you made things much clearer than anyone else has..thanks for at least giving a better heads up than anyone else has.

The fact that it will only last until November, and that you at least did appreciate the fact that viewers wouldn''t like this and made that concern clear to them, is good enough for me.

Ravuya

Oct 22, 2002 at 5:37 PM

I think we should contact ATI and register our disgust with this ad, not GameDev. I realize it''s for the good of GameDev, but still, it is very annoying, especially when viewed in public.

I''m glad I have Flash disabled and are not running a browser this appears to affect.

Resist everyone

Borfaux

Oct 22, 2002 at 5:38 PM

Personally the 10 seconds that it interferes in my life (which is also a good time to get a coffee). It really doesn’t bother me.

The ad itself may be a bit weak. But that is an ATI issue. If it pays for the site then giver.

For those that don’t like it. Maybe they should crack open their wallets and pay you to get it off the site.

Qw3r7yU10p!

Oct 22, 2002 at 5:41 PM

it''s a pain but it makes ati look bad not you, so that''s their loss.

i''ll put up with it no worries

wild_pointer

Oct 22, 2002 at 5:44 PM

I think it's decent of you to even care what people think of the ads, I personally have better things to worry about than the 2-3 minutes of my life spent looking at goo whenever i browse gamedev. Further, I hope not only do they support the servers, but maybe put some extra money in the staffs pockets.

As per impressions, does closing the add before it's fully opened count? Do multiple impressions from the same IP during the same session count, or from different sessions?

You have lots of bored and somewhat resourceful programmers here, might as well make use of them

CountOfMonteChristo

Oct 22, 2002 at 5:44 PM

Yes, thanks for taking a neutral position and explaining things clearly, without getting into phrases like 'It's necessary, you don't have to pay for our service, so shut up,' or semi-jocular "you let your life get ruined by a 2-second ad" remarks, which basically is just as bad as bluntly yelling 'GDNet are sellouts and don't care about their visitors'.

Anyway, I have a question here: Is clicking the 'X' on the add considered a view, or circumventing it? I'm not annoyed enough with the ad to such an extent that I'd disable flash, but I do get rid of it as fast as I can (basically, because it disables you from further browsing the site).

On the other hand, I would like to see it disappear as fast as possible, i.e. end of november.

"The general feeling among advertisers is that most web users now automatically ignore standard banners, so more extreme measures are required to even be noticed."

Heh. You'd think that, and the fact that banner-ads make less money every day, would give them a hint on how people feel about ads.

[edited by - Bas Paap on October 22, 2002 6:46:30 PM]

Fuzztrek

Oct 22, 2002 at 5:48 PM

I do not mind the banner along the side, but seeing the overlay on every page every time you visit the site is a bit much. I do not mind it as much on the front page now, but I would really like you to consider taking it off of the print article page.

I am glad that you guys are making some money off of it and I hope that the money improves gamedev even more. I will try to get used to it, but my comp isn''t that fast and it takes about a minute for the thing to load. Even though its loading, whenever I click on anything it pops up the radeon site, so there is no "x" button for me. If i''m fast enough I can avoid it, but I don''t think thats the point of an ad. Anyway, Glad its only couple of months (one moderator or something told me taht it was a year long program)

Fuzztrek

¬_¬

clrscr

Oct 22, 2002 at 5:50 PM

If it pays for GameDev then I''m all for wasting 12 seconds of my life

-----------------------------
Its not knowing the path but walking it.

CountOfMonteChristo

Oct 22, 2002 at 5:52 PM

quote:
Original post by wild_pointer
I think it''s decent of you to even care what people think of the ads, I personally have better things to worry about than the 2-3 minutes of my life spent looking at goo whenever i browse gamedev.

*sigh* Nobody worries about the ad. Nobody -really- thinks their lives are ruined. People are just stating that it''s an annoying ad.

iNfuSeD

Oct 22, 2002 at 6:08 PM

Free things need to get revenue from somewhere to survive. Advertising is a simple way to do this. Personally i don''t think it is that annoying. It''s the way the internet is evolving. Bandwidth costs money and advertising supplies that money. The advertisers want to be seen so they need to use methods to be seen. So everytime you whiners see this ad, don''t think "AH! AN AD! I''M SO INCREDIBLY MAD AT THIS!!" , instead think "Hmm, good thing that is there or else this free site that I love so much would not be able to exist. Yay for this ad, this ad is a hero!"

"The human mind is limited only by the bounds which we impose upon ourselves." -iNfuSeD

CountOfMonteChristo

Oct 22, 2002 at 6:11 PM

quote:
Original post by iNfuSeD So everytime you whiners see this ad...

No need to start calling names, dude.

helix

Oct 22, 2002 at 6:19 PM

I would not mind if it didn't come up EVERY SINGLE TIME! Displaying the ad once per visit to the site is enough and perfectly reasonable and gets its point across in my opinion. But every single page I go to pops that ad up and it drives me batty! Advertising is fine but this is so obtrusive. The more it pisses me off, the less likely I'll buy anything from the advertiser.

Is there a reason why it needs to be displayed on every page?

[edited by - beoch on October 22, 2002 7:22:00 PM]

monkeyman

Oct 22, 2002 at 6:21 PM

I was a little annoyed when I first saw it, but I immediately understood the necessity..

I agree with others that it just makes ATI look bad..I hope they realize how much they hurt their credibility pulling stuff like this..I''d much rather see a flashy tech demo that shows off the actual product than be _distracted_from_what_was_doing_ to see their ad.

But hey, if they''re willing to pay actual money to lose customer support I guess that''s their business, not mine..I''m glad it''s going to GDNet and not someone else..

"Like all good things, it starts with a monkey.."

max621

Oct 22, 2002 at 6:41 PM

I don''t mind spending a few seconds (someone said 10 seconds? Is it really THAT long?

looking at an ugly ATI advertisement. Plus it supports GDNET, and since I am unable to donate money, I''m glad I can help :D

As long as the site doesn''t become flooded w/ 20 popup ads, I think we will all survive.

benjamin bunny

Oct 22, 2002 at 6:58 PM

If we all promise to buy a radeon, will you take the ad away?

____________________________________________________________
www.elf-stone.com

RipTorn

Oct 22, 2002 at 7:45 PM

I can certainly understand the need for this ad, but I still feel it has been taken too far.

I only noticed the ad when I used an older machine running IE the other day, and due to the fact it was a cyrix, the thing would take a good 30-40 seconds to play... Which became annoying extremly quickly (watching verticle redraw always driver me insane)... It''s just my normal browser of choice is Opera, and it prevents this kind of stuff (and the popups and large side ad it seems), so I would not have seen it otherwise.

It''s depressing in a way, though. I''d expect the majority of people who have actually visited ati.com because of those ads are mostly likly where they have missed clicked the close button (I managed this a good 5 times at least), so the marketing division at ati are likly going to be seeing much higher numbers from the ad than those who genuinly clicked the link... And enivitably get the idea that the ad was a success..

Recently, I feel ati have improved their image alot. I feel that they are now the ones pushing quality and respectability, yet things like this can quite easily destroy a reputation like that...

<-- smile :-)

Project-X

Taulin

Oct 22, 2002 at 7:48 PM

I don''t get the add, but an error message pops up. Either my firewall is blocking it or IE5 is just not good enough for it. I don''t care enough to check it out.

At least with banners I could see the ad. I think their reason for this type of advertisement will have the same effect as using a standard banner. While it does grab attention, and will generate more clicks, it will at the same time annoy more people decresing the chance for clicks. Or, like me, just not work at all. However, I am sure they got ''market people'' on it, that did their little analysis and determined goo brings in more hits than a banner.

EODCyismARDEM

Oct 22, 2002 at 7:50 PM

wow guys its not that hard, the x for the add is in one of two places. After clickin it so many times i automatically do it within like half a second. I don''t really notice it anymore.

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