The Official Radeon Ad Thread

Dave Astle · 2003-11-28T21:36:49

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"

GDNet Lounge Community

Started by Myopic Rhino October 22, 2002 05:26 PM

553 comments, last by Myopic Rhino 20 years, 4 months ago

ragonastick

134

October 23, 2002 05:21 AM

Just a thought. As much as many people are saying that they dislike the ad, in a way, it is ads like this which are going to keep things going (as has been stated). What I''m fearing is that potential advertisers will be discouraged from giving GameDev.net their hard earned money keeping this site alive. Sure, we have got this ad taking care of things for a while, but as has been stated, it is only temporary.

Personally, I think a good method might be to show a full page ad for a couple of seconds and then forward us the the real GameDev.net page and that is all we will see of the ad for the day. With my limited webpage knowledge, it could be made so it would work with all browsers, without any plug ins as long as people were allowing cookies... actually, maybe that would pose a problem. Bah, what would I know

If you weigh up what we are paying with what we are receiving, we have a pretty sweet deal. Before you go saying "I''ll never buy a radeon ever again.", consider that if a potential advertiser sees this, you might be the one to sway them into taking their business elsewhere leaving us nothing.

I realise that this post is hardly going to suddenly convert everyone to wanting to buy a radeon, but please consider the long term effects.

Perhaps we could form a list of possible ideas which would sit a bit better with people, for example, the sponsered skinning sounds like a good idea to me, not only would it help pay the bills, but it would give a nice bit of variety

Trying is the first step towards failure.

Trying is the first step towards failure.

Ronin_54

122

October 23, 2002 05:48 AM

I don''t mind the Radeon advertisement. I don''t really see the problem. It''s quite a novel approach, and since it helps gamedev, it''s fine with me.

Knowing that the number of times it is viewed counts, I''ll start to slow down with clicking to new pages (often I change before the add is loaded).

Oh, and if GameDev allows us to pay... not just paypal okay? Please ensure that there is also a way to wire-over the money or something (I don''t have a credit card, but I want to pay :D )

owl

376

October 23, 2002 06:03 AM

Allright with making it a pay site, take into acount I dont earn dollars

4 Pesos = 1 Dollar

But NO green mocus then!

[edited by - xaxa on October 23, 2002 7:05:55 AM]

[size="2"]I like the Walrus best.

Origin

145

October 23, 2002 06:06 AM

Thanks, Myopic Rhino, for this informative statement.

This thread is already three pages long and there are no flames or negative comments yet. My assumption still stands that if this statement had been posted right from the start (before launching the ad), all the irritation could have been avoided.

But better now than never.
I think this point is sufficiently clarified now.

Vaporisator

122

October 23, 2002 06:29 AM

Well, ad itself is (as some have said before) very weak! Why should I consider buying a Radeon after watching that?
Oh well, but I like that type of ads way more then those pup-up windows, because you don''t have to click it away...
So if it helps you paying the bills, then continue using that ad-type beyond november!

Yesterday we still stood at the verge of the abyss,
today we''re a step onward!

Yesterday we still stood at the verge of the abyss,today we're a step onward! Don't klick me!!!

Sandman

2,211

October 23, 2002 06:59 AM

I would just like to say that the ad seems to have progressed from being an acceptable nuisance, to being extremely annoying.

Basically now it seems to crash IE every time I visit the forums, unless I can click on a topic fast enough to avoid loading it.

I appreciate that ads are needed to keep gamedev alive, but this is starting to take the piss.

Oxyacetylene

426

October 23, 2002 07:41 AM

The ad is really annoying, but I lay the blame on ATI, not Gamedev. Gamedev needs the revenue, and it''s free.

Annoying as it is, I wouldn''t base my decision on what card to buy on an advert. (Although I prefer Nvidia anyway, as I''ve been doing some Nvidia specific OpenGL stuff recently, and want to continue doing that for a while.)

At the end of the day it''s still not annoying as spam anyways.

Taulin

100

October 23, 2002 08:01 AM

Gamedev could do that "membership = no advertisements" thingy some sites do (not saying which ones though..*cough*)

If Gamedev gets the search feature working again, I would be willing give about $5/month or so. I don''t spend a lot of time here (VS an MMORPG), but I don''t have to because the information (and making moderators angry) is so good!

Airo

197

October 23, 2002 08:14 AM

I don''t like the add but it''s oke with me if i just saw it once.

I''m afraid that with the paid membership the new articles that come out are not free to view anymore.

I hope there will be two versions. One free with adds and one paid with no adds and that that''s the only difference.