I wonder how many people would pay $30 a year for no banners on this site? (1 Viewer)

[Fred Block]

Just curious. I would gladly pay $30 to $40 a year to access this site as a ... well donating member or whatever you want to call it. With the number of steady users this place has, that would sure help alot no?

I love the HTF and understand what it takes to run a site like this. The only thing that bothers me is the number of ads the site has. If I could, I would gladly pay to see a version of the site without ads.

Please don't flame. This is meant to be a thread for discussion.

Ron and Parker, give me no ads and I give a yearly "donation" hands down.

Best of luck. I will send something to you via paypal regardless.

Fred

 

[DanaA]

Me personally, I don't care about the banners whatsoever. Heck, I've even clicked on several of them during my stay here at HTF. I also like the responsiveness and imput from companies like SVS to the forum. The only thing that would annoy me is a ton of pop-up ads, but that's what I use Panicware for. As far as fees, I really like it the way they're doing it now, on a voluntary basis. Not everyone can comfortably afford fees, nor would everyone pay even if they could.

 

[Cam S]

The banners are good in my opinion. I mean look at SVS, they contribute ALOT to this forum, so I welcome their ads. The others are fine too.

 

[Frederick]

I don't mind the banners, as long as they don't start popping up or floating across the screen. Ron, Parker, my check is in the mail ...


Freddy C.

 

[Javier_Huerta]

This is the ONLY site in which I've ever clicked on banners. They are informative, the products are good, and they are NON INTRUSIVE (ra!).

BTW, I was thinking about something... not living in the US, I don't exactly know how much to donate to the forum. I'll do it, for sure - I've extracted so much knowledge out of here it'd be criminal not to do so - but how much would be a good amount?

 

[NickT]

Normally I would be all for getting rid of ads on any site, but this is one of the few that does advertising in a respectable manner. Not only that, they actually relate to the site. As long as pop ups, annoying ads about spy cameras, and other useless garbage don't show up, I'm fine with them.

As far as paying to get rid of the banners, they are plenty of free ways to get rid of them.

 

[JohnE]

I don't mind the banners, as long as they don't start popping up or floating across the screen.

Amen!

 

[Rob Gillespie]

Nope, I just run run an ad blocker.

 

[Frank Anderson]

I believe Parker has said in the past this site will never have pop-ups. I do not know a single person who likes them. I am surprised they are still used since most people either just click the X or have a pop-up killer. But then I guess they are like telemarketers, they must get enough business to justify their existence even though everyone complains.
Since this is a discussion about HTF I am moving this to feedback.

 

[Joe McKeown]

Amen to the no popups!
As for the banners, I know that this site does not whore-out ad space, so when I see an ad I know it represents a quality product from a company that supports HTF. ie SVS.
Finding a company's ad here actually does bump them up on my list and from previous posters it seems I am not alone. (Note to potential advertisers!)

 

[ThomasC]

I have absolutely no problem with the banners. When I get enough money to get better home theater equipment, I'll probably be clicking on those ads.

 

[Parker Clack]

First off you can be assured that we will never have any type of pop up ad or floating ads across you screen. I hate them myself.

The ads that we run on this site are because we believe in the companies. Ron and I have purchased the products ourselves. All of the companies that advertise on our site are second to none in the way they do business. That is they not only offer an excellent product they back it up with great service and support. We are proud of the companies that advertise on our site because they believe in this site and offer their support not only with their dollars but also in their participation with the membership.

Parker

 

[Ronald Epstein]

A few things to follow up on Parker's post with...

First, Hello Fred! Fred is an old friend of mine.
Let me quickly tell him I got his private email
and will contact him shortly. It takes me nearly
a week to get back to people via email on personal
matters these days -- that is how backed up I am
here.

Okay, let's talk about getting rid of banner
advertising in lieu of a $30 annual fee....

The $30 annual fee would kill us. Nobody would
pay it. No...that's not exactly true. We
would have only our most loyal members paying such
a fee. Everyone else would go elsewhere. Why
should you be mandated to pay for a Home Theater
site when others don't charge a dime?

We might make money our first year, but guaranteed,
we would get less with each consecutive year. Once
we go to a pay site we could never go back to a free
one. If we fail as a pay site (and we will), we have
just closed our doors forever.

As far as ad blocking....

I really wish people wouldn't use it. I'm not
talking about "pop-up" ad blockers. I hate "pop-up"
ads and I have a blocker for them myself. I am
talking about regular ad blockers -- you should
not use them.

Why?

The only way sites like ours can survive is partly
through advertising. The fact that this forum exists
is because of our advertisers. We graciously thank
them for their support every month. They depend on
us for exposure, and we depend on our members to
click on their links at least once during their
duration of stay with us.

Please do not use ad blockers here -- I can't
tell you how much I am against those things. You
should really support the vendors that support
your favorite sites.

We hope you will support our vendors.

 

[Nigel McN]

It was my understanding that he was suggesting an optional payment to remove ads, not a mandatory one, similar to what slashdot has done.

 

[Ronald Epstein]

I was just responding to the post about an ad blocker.

As for a fee to eliminate ads, this is not
something we can provide to the membership at
this time.

 

[Nate Anderson]

I personally don't find the banner ads to be intrusive and am also thankful that there are no pop-ups. I hate pop-ups!

 

[Neil N]

I also have no problem with the banner ads on this site.

If someone advertises here, I want to see the ad (within reason, of course), as it is an indication to me that this is a company that I'd probably like to do business with.

Companies like SVS, Better Cables, and Laser's Edge pop to mind immediately as companies I've been very happy patronizing. These companies, as well as the other advertisers on this site deserve our business since they in turn support this site, as well as offering great products/prices/customer service, etc.