Hello All

A heads up that today PDT an advertisement will be running on the site for the day, Feb 1st PDT. The modules are for Acura motor vehicles and First Class members should not be able to see them as they navigate through the site.

Again, it is running for 1 day only.

Thank you

It better not pave the way for future advertising in this form however. It just doesn't make sense to only have a thing like that up for a day, unless it was to be used as a trial.

Oh boy, the membership here's going to embrace this with open arms.

Look, I've followed this site since its very origins. I've read the forums for the last 8 years, and I've seen this site go through many changes. So I like to think that there might be a tad bit of validity in my opinion. This is easily the tackiest, classless change I've seen since this site's inception.

I mean, really?

I know its for one day only -- but what's to stop you from doing something like this one day out of the week? What's to stop you from doing this every day, with different advertisments? We're not idiots...

This is the highest quality aviation site there is...why do you insist on dragging it down?

Had to log out to see it for myself.

Ouch.

Couldn't have run quicker back to the good old FC Lounge.

I wish there would be some conversation about the vision developers had for the site. That way, at the very least, we can be clued into the developments that are to take place. While we may not agree with them, I think more than 'heads up' is in order.

Quoting PanAm_DC10 (Thread starter): A heads up

Oh, and by the way, how is it a "heads up" if you post it within an hour of enacting the change during the site's least busy hours? Yeah, like a good percentage of the members are going to see it and have time to discuss.  

Again, classless, tactless...

But hey, it's the way of the future right? More and more, companies use excuses like "these hard economic times" to suck the life and dignity out of anything for another buck. Splash advertisements all over the place. Their argument? "If you don't like it...leave..." as if they're doing you a favor by screwing you out of the door.

Don't be like a lot of companies...

[Edited 2010-02-01 01:34:53]

its difficult for non members to pick out the content of the site with that "thing" in the background. If you are to do advertising in that way from now on, please at least ensure the colour schemes somewhat match. also ACURA don't sell cars in Europe, its not even a relevant ad for me.

Quoting Airport (Reply 4): Oh, and by the way, how is it a "heads up" if you post it within an hour of enacting the change during the site's least busy hours? Yeah, like a good percentage of the members are going to see it and have time to discuss. Yeah sure

FWIW, we were told about it after the fact. I asked about it five minutes or so before this thread was started, and by then it had already been up for half an hour or so: What Happened To The Homepage? (by KingFriday013 Feb 1 2010 in Site Related)

Hopefully this really is a one-time thing. Maybe we'll see more people in the chat, where there are no ads for anyone!  

Here's to this never happening again,

-J.

I have to say, What I'm most disapointed about is the fact it's being shown to users worldwide and have to ask, Are the advertisers actually paying for this to be advertised to Australians?

That said, I don't really pay attention to all of the ads but most seem regionalised which is a nice touch.

As for, Well... In my profession, It'd be referred as "All over advertising" (on a Vehicle) - All over advertising is something I actually expected and I'm not at all supprised or overly bothered by it except for the fact that most of the ad is actually hidden by the content on the main page.

I probably shouldn't be giving you guys ideas, but I think if you're going to run a major ad campaign of this scale, You'd want it above all the content, not hidden behind.

I just figure, If you're gonna do something of this scale, Do it properly... Right now it just looks poorly executed.

[Edited 2010-02-01 04:25:41]

I don't like it. It just detracts from the content too much. I don't mind it above the header but behind the content makes it look messy and unprofessional. I can't even see the car behind the top 5.

Quoting Plainplane (Reply 8): I don't like it. It just detracts from the content too much. I don't mind it above the header but behind the content makes it look messy and unprofessional. I can't even see the car behind the top 5.

Exactly. It's an ugly mess. I doubt Acura will be pleased with the result either.

Because of that ad, I will never buy an Acura now.

So apparently, 'First Class' members don't see the ads- what about us 'cheap' folk who ponied up the $25 to be 'Second Class' members? Does that mean that we PAID to see this ad; that we paid to show interest in the site, drive up traffic and allow A.net to charge sustainable ad rates and now we get this?

No respect.
Tacky.
Confusing.
Completely ineffective.
Thoughtless.

This had better not be a trend: Otherwise I'll be looking for my money back and completely terminate my relationship with A.net. Terms and conditions may change but this is going too far.

Haha! I see this site going down the pan like most things eventually do! Come on guys you can barely even see the advert, it's pointless and irritating. If you're trialing it surely you can do that before publishing it? Poor!

Thank god for AdBlocker! (Fire fox add-on that blocks all ads). So, please tell me, why is it all-acura? really gets annoying.

How can ANY of you moderators/crew members think this is a good idea?

Quoting Braniff747SP (Reply 13): Thank god for AdBlocker!

Amen!

Yet another reason why I hate this Demand Media takeover. Do you guys really understand what this site is truly about, or is it just another money-making opportunity?   

Quoting PanAm_DC10 (Thread starter): Again, it is running for 1 day only.

you promise?

I think this is a storm in a tea-cup, To be honest.

The more I think about this, The more I can justify Demand doing this -- Airliners.net is an absolutely massive website, I think there's over a million and a half photos on the site, thousands of users, Paying or not.

Airliners.net would be a phenomonally expensive website to host, Paying members wouldn't really cover the cost of hosting the site as far as I'm concerned.

I know it always comes down to this with me, But let me use some examples.

Airlines, As in Commercial Aviation - NWADC9 - Do you really believe that? Demand Media are here to "truely understand" the passion? Do you think Airlines make money off "understanding the passion"? Everything costs money, If the airlines didn't charge accordingly, They'd go broke (and anywhere but America) and shut down...

Public Transport -- Almost all public transport systems do not survive on fares alone, The fares are low to make it accessible to everyone, but again, It cannot survive on ticket fares alone, Services need to be subsidised.


I believe this is what Demand are doing, They're advertising to cover the massive costs of running a site this big... First class and Premium memberships alone, as far as I'm concerned, are not enough to provide a premium quality service... Unfortunatly, A Premium quality service for all wouldn't have as many advertisements but without the income from advertisements, The site cannot be held on a higher end server which provides a 'premium product'

I'm not gonna get into the whole software upgrade issues, That's a whole 'nother can of worms.

I think everyone need to stop getting so worked up about "The image that the site conveys" or Professionalism.

If you really wanna get rid of the ads, Pay for the advertising space and allow Demand the profits required to continue hosting this site with such fast and stable host... or buy a First Class.

I personally don't mind the ads, It bothers me a little that it's not regionalised but really, I'm just being petty and at the end of the day, It makes little difference to me.

Just for once, Have a look at it from a rational point of view.

Brendan

Edit: I re-read this after posting and it sounded targetted at one user, which is not what I aimed for.

[Edited 2010-02-01 07:20:30]

Quoting NWADC9 (Reply 15): or is it just another money-making opportunity?

I think probably that option! I wasn't aware of this advert until I saw it mentioned on another forum, but I have to ask... What the hell are you doing, DM?! Actually, it's obvious what you're doing... Trying out another idea from your '1001 ways to make your members want to go elsewhere' book.

Seriously... I think you need to have a very serious rethink about doing this kind of thing. I can only comment for myself but I'm sure others will agree, we come here for aviation related reasons and whether we're first class members or not, we've all paid to be here. We don't want crappy full page adverts shoved in our faces. This really, really isn't good!

Paul

Quoting Czbbflier (Reply 11): So apparently, 'First Class' members don't see the ads- what about us 'cheap' folk who ponied up the $25 to be 'Second Class' members? Does that mean that we PAID to see this ad; that we paid to show interest in the site, drive up traffic and allow A.net to charge sustainable ad rates and now we get this? No respect. Tacky. Confusing. Completely ineffective. Thoughtless.

+1 My first thought was "So I paid $25 to get treated like a free member?"

I've got a feeling that this is the beginning of more of this kind of stuff to come. This is clearly a test to see how many clicks an add like this will generate (and to test the waters with members)...and unfortunately it will be a lot. As it is I have accidentally clicked on this ad twice as clicking anywhere on the background opens it....This is beyond tacky looking. I haven't posted much over the years (tho I follow the threads everyday) but this definitely compelled me to speak up!

Quoting CitrusRSW (Reply 20): This is clearly a test to see how many clicks an add like this will generate (and to test the waters with members)...and unfortunately it will be a lot. As it is I have accidentally clicked on this ad twice as clicking anywhere on the background opens it....

Do you have Firefox as a browser? If so, install ad block, and add the picture (accomplished by right clicking on it...you'll see it listed on the bottom of that menu).

This site is looking more and more like the "parody sites" several moderators on here have mentioned in the past.

Tasteless, Classless, Thoughtless. How much lower will a.net stoop?      

From this thread:

Quoting PanAm_DC10: Yes, it is 1 year to the day since the untimely loss of Paulo and the homepage is in his rememberence for the day. We will always remember

I take it the rememberance for Paulo then also was a test run for the new ad format?

This is revolting. Regardless of the fact if I have ad-blocker or not.

Quoting PanAm_DC10 (Thread starter): First Class members should not be able to see them as they navigate through the site.

Nuff said..

NO THANKS!

How stupid is an advertisement that changes the look of the whole front page to something totally confusing. And how dump must Acura be to book this stuff if the whole image of their car is blocked by the windows and bars of a.net? This campaign is a mess! Please don't do that again in future. It means a loss in quality, information, style and understanding. The whole page with it's hundreds of really good or even worldclass photographers looks as cheap as bad porn site. A.net and it's fans do not deserve to be treated like that. We paid a lot of patience after Demand Media took over the page. And we still have some minor bugs to be fixed even after years now. I don't think you will get more fist class members just by annoying the "normal" members with an overload of commercials. If I decide to get a premium user one day than it's because of the images on here and not to escape from the ads. Rather I'd be unsubscribing. A.net has a proud. Don't ruin it!

Stephan

Disapointing and ugly.

If I were in the U.S, I'd never buy an Acura.

Was that so much needed ???

Quoting KingFriday013 (Reply 6): Quoting Airport (Reply 4): Oh, and by the way, how is it a "heads up" if you post it within an hour of enacting the change during the site's least busy hours? Yeah, like a good percentage of the members are going to see it and have time to discuss. Yeah sure FWIW, we were told about it after the fact. I asked about it five minutes or so before this thread was started, and by then it had already been up for half an hour or so: What Happened To The Homepage? (by KingFriday013 Feb 1 2010 in Site Related)

I actually started seeing the ad last night, and asked about it here (reply 120):
Comments And Questions Re: New Release (by Moderators Jan 28 2010 in Site Related)

For that matter, there's now a giant area of A.net blue above the menu bar on the homepage. I don't know where that came from, but it looks really stupid.

Quoting GQfluffy (Reply 14): How can ANY of you moderators/crew members think this is a good idea?

Good question. Although, I was told that crew were upset about it (they apparently hadn't received any notice of it either).

Quoting NWADC9 (Reply 15): Yet another reason why I hate this Demand Media takeover. Do you guys really understand what this site is truly about, or is it just another money-making opportunity?

Then why did Johan sell it? You have to come down off this high and mighty thing. This site is many things to many people but in the grand scheme of things a site that ranks as high as this in site traffic is about revenue. Your not forced to upload or post here and your pics get hosted for free and seen by the most people.

Looks really really stupid, thank god for Ad-Blocker. As a $25 paying user I do hope it isn't the start of an annoying trend.

Not happy  

horrible horrible ad. You implement a full page ad (background) however I'm STILL not able to sort forums on date posted, one of the most basic options a forum should have.

Quoting PanAm_DC10 (Thread starter): Again, it is running for 1 day only.

It should be running for ZERO days.

Quoting NIKV69 (Reply 29): Your not forced to upload or post here and your pics get hosted for free and seen by the most people.

Those photos that DM "graciously" hosts for free bring in millions in revenue to this site. Likely significantly more than an intrusive ad from Acura.

Indeed, the only reason this site is able to sell ads is because it has a membership that actively uses the site. That includes those of us who "only" paid once.

The viewer can't even see most of the ad, it's blocked by Airliners.net content. Why not remove the Airliners content so the ad can be viewed?

Wow. I couldn't even see most of it. I think it looks horrible. Think about the people who are visiting the site for the 1st time, doesn't make a good impression does it?

Quoting Brendan03 (Reply 7): You'd want it above all the content, not hidden behind.

Yeah. Run it above the photos. For one day only. Or once a week.

Ad blockers, folks. Ad blockers. Use them and you'll love them.

Wow.. unreal.

Recipe to loosing dedicated *paying* fanbase: -- See home page.

I'm very disappointed. Don't websites (especially those with deeper wallets) generally improve over time? I hate to say it a.net, but this is a really good advertisement for jp.net. Perhaps it would do good to recall that the majority of your traffic comes from the very same fanbase you've been alienating since the switch to Demand Media.

This site, more and more seems to be turning from the high class website that I actually showed people as an example of a nice design towards the kind of website you can create on myspace or any other free webhosts. I am really dissapointed about this add.

If this kind of advertising is to continue, which as many have pointed out may be nessesary to continue the upkeep of the site, I would suggest both a redesign of the add to actually fit on the page, as well as making it invisible to the regular members who pay thier $25. I am fine seeing the banner adds, although using safari on a PC, they just appear as white rectangles, but the front page ad, in its current poor configuration is taking it too far. As has been said, it will generate a ton of clicks from users accidentaly clicking on it. I myself find it opening constantly as i have a habit of clicking off to the side all the time.

I very rarely post, but this has gone too far now.

Graham

A.net is starting to sell out BIG TIME!

Oh...wait....that happened a long time ago. (*Ahem* Demand Media)


Please no more ads on the background...

I actually like and don't mind this.
It looks better than the boring plain backround that I am sick of so I welome it with open arms!!

This website used to be so much better when Johan was still i charge. Now the site is looking more and more bland and is full of ads everywhere including those annoying keywords that turn into links when you move the mouse over them. But it's not just the ads. When the whole design of the front page changed after it was taken over demand media, it started looking much less classy, and more of a soulless moneymachine, now slowly being pumped with as many ads as possible.

I already back then stated my opinion about the changes, but had my posts deleted. Great!

I agree with the general sentiment here. Having a full ad like this sucks. Big time. I used to feel a bit guilty about having adblock, now I don't.

Tony

40 posts of dissent
1 post (reply #40 t8keoff) in agreement.

I'll let mine be the 41st post of 'what the hell were you thinking?'. Totally classless.

Tell ya what...as a photographer, I would be rather pissed off if one of my photos made the home page today. I would not want my photo displayed in such a way. And I'm a FC member who does not see the ad (had to log out to see what all the fuss is about).

And with all of the functions still broken, their efforts go into this?  

[Edited 2010-02-01 11:50:50]

It looks beyond horrible and from the sounds of it the vast majority of the membership hates the idea. End of story.

Also as other members noted if I was a first time visitor to this site, which technically every single member here was a first-time viewer at one point in history, I'd probably take one look at that home page and very shortly after Foxtrot Oscar back to the "other sites"...


CanadianNorth

Are

You

Kidding?

It looks very tacky and cheap. Definitely detracts from the user experience. I can live with banner ads, but a splash screen or a full page wrap is just a bridge too far, especially for a membership site.

Pathetic. Simple as that.

Does DM not remember the photographer revolt a few years back?

That looks terrible.

This site is a joke now anyway and i would never pay money to sign up if i was new.

I never visit the homepage anyway as it takes so long to load and i'd seriously recommend using AJAX to fill the drop down with all the airports and planes. Also i don't understand why the branding on the homepage is different to the rest of the site.