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Digital bits sinks to new low (1 Viewer)

Greg_M

Screenwriter
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Mar 23, 2000
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1,189
I was reading an article at the Digital Bits web site when half way through a commerical appeared. There was no way to close it and it filled the screen then sat in the lower right hand corner. I didn't read the advertisement so it wasn't effective but it did get me to leave the site.

I hope these forced real time commericals aren't going to become the norm on the internet but I have a feeling they will - it will be just like network tv. Not a good sign.

I don't mind the regular advertising I understand why it's there but to interupt in the middle of an article is terrible.


Bill you've sunk to a new low.
 

Travis W.

Second Unit
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Jun 11, 2004
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305
They have to make money someway. That's just what it comes down to, advertisements. It'd be great not to have them but everything has to go corporate it's the only way to survive anymore.
 

Greg_M

Screenwriter
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Mar 23, 2000
Messages
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No one wants to wait to watch a stupid commerical while reading the net. Wait until there are commercials every 2 minutes.

I guess like cable tv, I'll have to wait for a commercial free server.
 

Peter Overduin

Supporting Actor
Joined
Jun 30, 1997
Messages
776
I've followed his site since before it was even up and the only thing you saw was 'under construction' or something to that effect.

I'm sure Bill would love to dispense with those annoying pop ups - and they are annoying - if even 10% of his readers committed to sending him a measly 10 bucks a year.

Until then, while I will wince in annoyance when they come up, I'll put up with it because of the value of the site.

I think telling Bill he has sunk to a new low; is, well, a little low; actually.
 

Bruce F

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Sep 20, 2000
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Bruce
In addition, all of the ads I've seen have had close boxes on them.

Yes, it's annoying. It would be much more annoying to me if the site didn't exist.

If he needs to put those up to help pay for maintaining the site, I'm all for it. If I could pay him $25 a year to get the site without popups, I'd do it in a second.

Business is business. And as long as those pop ups continue to have a close (yes, you do have to search for them) button, I can live with it.
 

Scotty_McW

Second Unit
Joined
Jan 13, 2002
Messages
370
I've been following the Bits since late 1998. The columns, the reviews, everything is top-notch. It's the first place I stop each morning for any DVD news.

Sure, the pop-up ads get annoying, but like Peter said the value of their site outweighs the inconvenience of moving my mouse and closing out a new window.

Bill has sunk to a new low? Not in my book. The site is better now than ever before.

To Bill and the crew at the Bits: Keep up the great work!!!:D
 

Scott Kimball

Screenwriter
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May 8, 2000
Messages
1,500
Firefox is my browser of choice on the PC - great popup blocker, and the browser is fast and lean.

On the Mac, Firefox or Safari also have popup blockers.

Ditch IE.

-Scott
 

Ronald Epstein

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Gentlemen,

It's no secret. We have talked about this many
times before.

The studios don't readily invest in forums like ours.

It has come to the point where in order to survive
all of us have to consider taking on intrusive ads
in order to make money.

We deal with the same advertiser broker that THE BITS
deals with. For the moment we have not opted to have
these intrusive ads on our site. THE BITS, however,
does not get ad support from hardware vendors like
we do so their options obviously are more limited than
ours for the moment.

With all the great information sites like THE BITS
provide at NO COST to any of you, why complain about
intrusive ads?

Furthermore, if more people opted to invest in more
aggressive ad blockers all of us would be out of business.
 

Michael Reuben

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I'm not sure what your cable service is like, but on mine you have to pay extra for premium channels with no commercials. Sites like the Bits (or, for that matter, HTF) could eliminate or drastically reduce ads by going to an all-subscription format. But that has big drawbacks.

M.
 

Joshua Clinard

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I stopped visiting the site ages ago when they started playing the animated ads over top of the articles. They are way over the top. Sites like that will soon have to switch advertising methods, since IE now includes a pop-up blocker which is on by default. Now I only visit HTF and DavisDVD for my news and info. I only visit The Digital Bits when something very important comes out, like the Star Wars reviews.

I know for a fact that these sites don't require "THAT" much money to run. I used to run MuggleNet, which is a a very high traffic site, and my hosting fees were less than $200 a month. Compare Mugglenet's traffic to The Digital Bits traffic.

http://traffic.alexa.com/graph?w=379...igitalbits.com


I used EV1Servers.net, and the server was very fast, and there was more than enough bandwidth. Plus, I covered my hosting fees and had money left over from advertising fees. I never used Pop-ups of pop-unders. If The Digital Bits would bite the bullet and switch to a host that offers unmetered bandwidth, such as EV1Servers.net, they wouldn't have to use such obtrusive ads.

Now, making a large profit from the site, that is another story.
 

Will*B

Supporting Actor
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Will
The Digital Bits is nowhere near as bad as DVDReview.com

That site, which used to be one of my favourite forums (apart from HTF of course!) is now totally unusable thanks to advertising.





Because users will simply stop reading the site, forcing it to either close down or charge a subscription. There are much better ways of using advertising to one's advantage without forcing them into people's faces.

After all, would you ever consider buying a product from a telephone salesman who calls you on a weekend evening when you're trying to relax? This is the web equivalent.

Of course, advertising makes the web go round... but there should be better ways and means of making it do so.
 

Scott Kimball

Screenwriter
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May 8, 2000
Messages
1,500


Pop-ups are where I draw the line, though. I don't make any attempt to block ads within a page... heck, I'll even click on them occasionally... but when control of my browser is taken away from me and new windows start opening up... to me, that's as intrusive as a telemarketer or spammer.

Having said that, I certainly understand the need for advertiser support, and applaud HTF and The Bits, and other free sites I visit, for doing the work they do. I accept the advertising they must display to keep the site running.

Unless it's a popup.

But instead of complaining about the popups, I just got proactive and switched to a browser that solved the problem for me.

-Scott
 

Ronald Epstein

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I have to laugh at anyone that thinks that it
costs $200 a month to run a site like THE BITS
or HTF.

Our cost alone per month is at least 4-5 times
that amount and I know THE BITS has just as much
traffic as we do.

Don't also dismiss the fact that we, as people
who put our blood into running these sites, need
to earn income.

The status of internet advertising has changed.
These new "in yo' face" ads are amongst the new
wave of advertising that many web sites are adopting --
especially since there is more money for those who
run them.

We haven't simply because we earn income through
our hardware advertisers. Most other sites don't
have that luxery. We don't want to subject our
members to these intrusive ads -- however -- you
can bet if advertising ever dries up here we will
be looking for more aggressive ad campaigns to support
this site.
 

Joshua Clinard

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Ron, did you look at the graph above? Mugglenet has way more traffic. It is hosted on Ev1 servers, and they offer packages of 1400 GB of bandwidth for $300. I don't believe that The Digital Bites, which has less traffic, would use more bandwidth.

I can however, understand that this site uses more bandwidth.
 

Greg_M

Screenwriter
Joined
Mar 23, 2000
Messages
1,189
While I'm not happy the Bits was gone this route, I'm more concerned that this will become the norm for all web sites in the coming years. I don't mine the box advertisements or even the pop-ups - you can close them, but I draw the line at tv like commercials, unlike advertisements you have no choice to be interupted and I can see this starting to be come the popular trend.

Again greed wins over quality of life - just look at network tv - constant advertising even during the show, we all know it is only a matter of time before the networks will have a constant bar across the bottom of the screen with 24 hours of commerical ads running - the scrolls are just the beginning. HDTV will bring a better picture but the quality of what is aired will be greatly diminshed.


When they start inserting commercials into movies on DVD the end is near.
 

Joe Caps

Senior HTF Member
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Dec 10, 2000
Messages
2,169
I think that Greg is talking about someth8ing worse than a reggular pop up ad. Its some kind of 3-d is ad for Alias (?) You can't close it out. I was trying to read the new storyu about classidc coming attrractions but that damn ad came up again and I could not do it. It drove me, running, from the site.
 

Ron-P

Senior HTF Member
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Ron
Agreed. If you’re not investing in a site like the DB don't bitch about it. It's like complaining about the locally elected officials yet you didn't vote.

Now, if I was investing money, time...etc into the DB and I had to deal with those pop-ups that'd be a different story but since it's all free, I'll happily deal.
 

Andrew Bunk

Screenwriter
Joined
Nov 2, 2001
Messages
1,825
The Digital Bits ads never really bothered me until the Kill Bill Vol.2, Shaolin Soccer and Alias Season 3 campaigns. All of these were extremely annoying. For the most part I was able to find the close box within a few seconds. But recently with the Alias ads, because my resolution is set to 800x600, I couldn't see the Close option, and when I scrolled down the ad went down as well.

Personally, I'd be willing to pay both the Bits and HTF up to $20 a year for subscription if they were ad free, or at least free of ads that flash, have sound or video, or hijack your browser.

What some of these sites have to realize is that many users will instinctually stop going to sites with heavy ads even if they don't make a constant decision to do so.
 

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