Automatic video start and intrusive ads

[TimeToGo]

Hey,

Just about every time I open DU a video with audio starts playing on its own. It’s very annoying.

Also, the pop up ads are getting quite intrusive and difficult to close (or at least to find the X or close button).

I understand the need for ads, but do they need to this intrusive?

Any thoughts?

[SheltieLover]

1. Buy a membership & ads aren't a factor

[TimeToGo]

7. Well

There are ads and there are ads. I rarely complain about ads, but when they pop up and cover the page, that’s different.

[frogstar0]

2. Like many thing when you thing being obnoxious will help...

It will not. It makes people less likely to subscribe, not more likely to. And less likely to come to the site again.

[EarlG]

4. It's a catch-22 situation

I hate ads and I would prefer not to have to run them on DU, but the simple fact is that without them there wouldn’t be enough income to operate the site.

That’s because the amount of money that comes from Star Memberships isn’t enough to run DU on its own. I get that people don’t want to pay for Internet stuff, but you can’t run a site like DU without income.

Then there’s the paradox that if DU were free of ads, there would be even less incentive for people to buy a Star Membership. Why buy one, when you can read everything for free, without annoying ads?

So if we removed all the ads, we’d lose the revenue they bring in, and fewer people would choose to pay to keep the site running. Under those circumstances DU would be gone from the Internet within a couple of months, simply because there would be no money to operate it.

Removing some of the ads leads to a similar result as removing all of the ads, only somewhat slower.

I suppose hypothetically DU could be a private site only for people who have Star Memberships and still afford to run, but I would prefer to keep it open to as many people as possible. The trade off for doing that is annnoying ads.

[usonian]

6. EarlG, I gladly pay for star membership several times a year. And I block ads like crazy.

I'll pony up more if needed.

If people are REALLY cheap, ad-blockers are free, I have no sympathy for gripes, but I still contribute and urge others to contribute. But I understand your need to address lurkers.

What can legally be done to further incentivize star members/contributors?

Just some random thoughts without knowing enough about the operation to make educated business commentary.

Thanks for your efforts! I frequent only two internet sites. Both top quality operations., (Hacker News is the other)

[EarlG]

9. The balance of incentives works pretty well

Many generous people like yourself contribute to keep the site going, and that is invaluable. The three fund drives we run each year are great for reminding people that DU always needs support. The ads are a necessary evil which serve the twin function of either incentivizing people to purchase Star Memberships, or bringing in necessary revenue if they choose not to do that.

I have no control over whether people use ad blockers or not, so my policy is just to not worry about that at the moment.

[usonian]

3. Buy a star membership, get an ad-blocker and adjust your browser settings to not auto-play videos.

Star memberships are the best bargain anywhere.

Highly Recommended.

The ad-blocker will serve you well all over the internet, and by the way, since ads are a very common vector for malware, a big safety gain. I have several.

[I_UndergroundPanther]

5. I love my star membership

Du becomes ad free for a small fee. Du for me is ad free space. To get away from the ads get a star. It renews once a year.

[TimeToGo]

8. (It is set to stop auto play, but they still play)

[EarlG]

10. We do serve small video ads but

my understanding is that those ads should not play audio without consent, especially if you’ve specifically instructed your browser not to autoplay ads.

If it’s just one rogue ad, it will probably be taken out of rotation by our ad provider (assuming that they do not provide ads with automatic audio). But if it’s happening on every page load, I can check with our ad provider to figure out what the situation is.

[TimeToGo]

11. Sorry, I guess I wasn't clear

These aren’t video ads, just videos on the home page.

[EarlG]

12. Hmm, now I'm unclear on what you mean

Excluding ads, and unless I manually add a video to the Featured Stories section, there are no videos on the homepage. There is a video section on the homepage, but that just shows static thumbnail images from videos, which act as a link to the videos. The images are not videos themselves.

If on the fairly rare occasion that I put a video in the Featured Stories section, the video autoplays for you, I’m not sure why that would happen. My guess is it would be specific to a browser setting or extension in your browser, because YouTube videos don’t typically autoplay by default…

[TimeToGo]

13. On the right side of the page

Under the title of Latest Videos.

[EarlG]

14. Right -- those are not videos

They are static thumbnail images. They can’t autoplay because they’re not videos, hence my confusion. They don’t generate audio, so the audio must be coming from somewhere else…

[TimeToGo]

15. Well, then someone should tell the, to stop auto playing on my iPad. 😎

Happens almost every time I’m on the homepage

[EarlG]

16. To reiterate...

The video images on the homepage, shown in the "Latest Videos" section on the right-hand side of the page, are JPG images. They can't autoplay because they are not videos, they are static image files.

There *is* a video ad which may autoplay on the homepage, which I mentioned above in post #10. It used to overlay the lower right hand side of the video column, but we moved it to the left side of the screen some time ago. I think that must be what you are seeing autoplay. My understanding is that those video ads should not play with sound on by default, so if that is what's happening, I can let our ad provider know, and see if there is a solution.