Feedback on bit-tech advertising
Posted on 10th Feb 2009 at 20:48 by Tim Smalley with 251 comments
You probably haven't noticed too many changes since bit-tech was acquired by Dennis in October 2008. We moved into our new offices at Dennis HQ over the weekend and we're slowly unpacking our boxes while hoping that we won't be moving again for a very, very long time.
One thing we've always prided ourselves on here at bit-tech is that we have always tried to provide advertising that is both non-intrusive and pertinent to the site and you, our readers. Without advertising, there would be no bit-tech at all – it's our sole source of revenue, which pays for the content, our facilities and equipment as well as the servers to keep the site running.
Dennis has run text link advertising on all of its technology websites for some time now and we have been asked to trial this on bit-tech. If you don't know what we're talking about, take a look at this page as an example. There should be a couple of words on that webpage that are double underlined and highlighted in green. When you hover over the link, a small ad will pop up. That's a 'contextual' IntelliTXT advertisement.
A few years ago, we did some market research on IntelliTXT ads and we'd like to find out again how they're perceived in 2009. Needless to say, we are very much a user-driven website and our community is the lifeblood of bit-tech, so your opinion is very important to us.
Would you be amenable to IntelliTXT advertising if it was kept to a minimum, such as a maximum of one per article page? Do you find them more or less intrusive than traditional banner ads? How do they rank against the dreaded pop-ups?
I've started a poll in the forum and I'm keen for all of you to have your say and vote on the matter. The more feedback we have, the better.
One thing we've always prided ourselves on here at bit-tech is that we have always tried to provide advertising that is both non-intrusive and pertinent to the site and you, our readers. Without advertising, there would be no bit-tech at all – it's our sole source of revenue, which pays for the content, our facilities and equipment as well as the servers to keep the site running.
Dennis has run text link advertising on all of its technology websites for some time now and we have been asked to trial this on bit-tech. If you don't know what we're talking about, take a look at this page as an example. There should be a couple of words on that webpage that are double underlined and highlighted in green. When you hover over the link, a small ad will pop up. That's a 'contextual' IntelliTXT advertisement.
A few years ago, we did some market research on IntelliTXT ads and we'd like to find out again how they're perceived in 2009. Needless to say, we are very much a user-driven website and our community is the lifeblood of bit-tech, so your opinion is very important to us.
Would you be amenable to IntelliTXT advertising if it was kept to a minimum, such as a maximum of one per article page? Do you find them more or less intrusive than traditional banner ads? How do they rank against the dreaded pop-ups?
I've started a poll in the forum and I'm keen for all of you to have your say and vote on the matter. The more feedback we have, the better.
251 Comments
Discuss in the forums ReplyI browse much like doug and find they get in the way...
ditto, the're hideous
Although it's now a lot harder to whitelist bit-tech without whitelisting a whole host of adverts from doubleclick
But I hate intellitxt ads with a passion - even if you only have a couple on a page, they're still intrusive. They stand out like a sore thumb becuase they're a different colour to other links and double-underlined; they're annoying, becaue they're so easy to activate by accident, and often the only way to get rid of them is to actively click the close button, which detracts from what you were trying to read.
The CSI one you have running in Joe's Dragon Age article is even worse because it has sound and video too. Yeugh.
tbh, I tend to steer clear of sites that use Intellitxt too much, because it's intrusive and annoying.
Just my 2p worth :)
The banner ads work really nicely imo; well placed, fairly sensible adverts in terms of flashing/strobing, and for related products. Great!
They make a website look cheap, so many rubbish websites use them and when I see them I automatically think the website is crap and leave very quickly. The worst thing about them is that when you move the mouse across the screen and go over an intellitxt, you, unintentionally, get a popup.
If this is added to this site, you may find that traffic will decrease and hence advertising revenue decrease.
EDIT: Something else worth mentioning: I'd rather the ad to the side of what I am reading and if it gets my attention then it gets a click. I will not wait for an animated ad to show it's worth whilst I am trying to read something.
I do hate them with a passion on most sites, but that's because there are normally 5-10 on a tiny page (the size of the first couple of paragraphs of most articles on here) and it then becomes a problem.
However, I have seen two different types - one type open on a mouseover, and then you need to click on the close link to get rid of it. These are bad.
The other ones I've seen close a 1/2 second after you move your mouse off, and aren't that bad if you accidentally activate them. These are the lesser of two evils.
Ads surround content. They don't go in content.
I just hate it when you accidentally mouse-over them and this thing pops in your face when your busy reading.
Totally, utterly, completely agree. "Intelli"... uh... what? Nothing "intelligent" about offering me products or services I don't require in a manner that only serves to irritate. If anything, it'll only make me avoid the product, company or site - dependent on my ability to do without said product, I can't for example, not buy milk or not run an OS - that is featured or the advertisement appears on.
Other then me reading less of the actual content, you guys would also go downhill in my esteem. Tell your "overlords" at Dennis that they are on a slippery slope here (just one per page, are you kidding me?), and that they will inevitably lose a large portion of the community appeal this site has.
Might i add that building a mod that could one day be featured on this site will be dropped off my to-do list if the article gets abused by these stupid ads.
'nuff sed.
The adverts in text are the worse though :(
+1.
I will be blocking the text ads sorry
Whoever suggested Intellitext ads on Bit should receive a promotion... as captain of the failboat.
Only thing worse than Intellitext ads are pr0n and 'dating' ads :(
+2
Voted, even tho I voted for blacklist all, id be much like the above and block text adds.
I find when looking at a new website that if it has intellitext ads I'm much less likely to visit again, and I'm sure I'm not the only one. The ads wouldn't put me off bit now, as I'm already a loyal member, but if I were new to the site as soon as I saw one I'd be a ghost.
But they are extremely annoying (especially since they obscure what your're trying to read and you have to actively close them to carry on reading when accidently moused over). Banner ads (preferably non-animated) are much better than unIntelliTXT ads...
I won't blacklist ads, but I really hate intelliTXT ads. They tend to pop up when I scroll down a page. Often they also stop the scrolling, and take a while to go away.
They are also distracting when reading text.
If more ads is needed maybe put some more banners at the bottom of pages, or even some small links between forum posts. The latter could look a bit ugly in some cases, but I guess it's a matter of choosing the lesser evil here. Done correctly that could look good, and the advertisers will get about the same "in the face" adverts without deteriorating the content too much.
Well, that sums everything up very well. Well said.
I make a habit of whitelisting my favorite sites to help them out, so I currently view all of Bit-Tech's banner ads. If Intellitext ads show up, I'm not going to spend the time to figure out the correct path and add a rule to block just those ads, I'm just going to take the site off the whitelist. Bit-Tech would not be the first site I have done this on.
i'd gladly donate to have a sparkly username... gotta be sparkly though
+1
Just no. When I come across a website using those type of ads I leave because it seems like a adodgy site if it needs to con users into showing up a popup. I click on them sometimes in error thinking they are weblinks but how wrong i am, and then spend ages closing some as they refuse to disappear.
this is a FAR better idea than using those in-article ads.. ugh, I can't stand those.. it makes everything hard to read and is annoying :(. I really hope you don't use them at all.
the mere fact that you are asking this question scares me.
Yeah, I hate them.
I read your articles/guides/... for the content. If I wanted flashy pictures I could randomly google images but it's the content that keeps me entertained here. If you start using that content as advertising space and it ruins my reading experience [which intellitxt adverts are successful at... the only thing they're good for by the way] I'll get very very angry.
BT has been my homepage since Orac and I don't really like change but seriously... please don't, it'll only cost you [more than] a few readers.
//edit: I promise to click on even more banner ads if you want me to. :D
Wait a second, I just saw a screenshot in another thread, is intelltext or whatever the hell it's called, are they those stupid little popups that tend to hover and move on the screen?
If bit-tech is seriously thinking about those.....lol
I would consider it adware and sites that use them are infected.
They add nothing, are poorly targeted, very distracting, require a crapload of extra advertising scripts, etc.
Banner Ads are tolerable since they relate to the content presented on this site, Paypal Donations are even better (especially if it comes with an e-penis enhancement like a shiny user name or a little badge that says donator :D)
B==================D - Well done, you've donated £12.52 so far!
Static ads and text ads are the way to go. Intellitext is the way to go if you want to be featured on the "Most Obnoxious and Stupid Advertising" list. Intellitext is known for being as intelli as advertising plane tickets in the articles about plane crashes.
...I was just about to finish typing this when Firefox crashed for the fourth time today as I opened a new bit-tech page.
Text ads, bad. Flashing/strobing ads, bad (see ninjavideos for some awful examples). Subtle, relevant ads around the page, tolerable.
The maximum I find tolerable is ones in a "cut out" of an article like you often have at the top right of an article. I was going to find an example when FF crashed.
edit: for example at the top of the Dragon Age preview. Incidentally, that just caused the fifth crash of the day, of which me looking for an advert of that page comprises two.
edit2:
This has been an issue for me as well, those BFG ads are awful. If I am using my old laptop or trying to save battery then I do disable them. On my phone I have disabled flash for that reason. No need most of the time.
Someone else mentioned ideas of where to put additional ads. How about here? There is loads of spare space!
http://forums.bit-tech.net/picture.php?albumid=147&pictureid=885
Damn straight. IntelliTXT is the single most annoying type of advertising ever.
I use Protowall that blocks millions of IPs even when I do not have my browser open. I use Firefox with ADBlock Plus and NoScript. and regularly update the blacklist as i see fit.
I do not intentionally block ADs on this site, but if its blocking similair ADs from other sites it will be blocking BitTechs also.
I can temporally unblock Ads while browsing BitTech and then when I leave it will begin blocking again. hhhmmm.....
Decent people allow ad's for a site they want to support so drop the attitude.
Exactly, I whitelist Bit because they're kind enough to foot the bills so I have someplace to hang out and they do a damn good job of running things. Lots of places I adblock/flashblock (ebay for example) where the ads are annoying. I like google ad-words best, too bad the ad's have changed recently because they have become more annoying and intrusive.
Couldnt agree more!
I do not mind simple unobtrusive image only advertisements of things related to the site but i draw the line at flashy or obtrusive ads or ads in text im trying to read
To the overlords, if you wish to raise more money (for the site ONLY not for the pockets of dennis or its bottom line) here is a suggestion create a paid membership tier on the forums
Create a members only area and charge a few bucks (i'd pay $5 AUD tops) a month and throw in benefits like a members only section in the forum as well as some kind of tag when you post in the forum on your profile saying your a vip member or supporter etc
And run comps and monthly give aways for them like winning something you've tested that month (so long as it is NOT limited to one country or it'd kill it) it doesn't have to be something major either, a game, a cpu cooler, a usb key etc if cost is an issue or you can't get something from a manufacturer as a freebie
Im SURE you would get members signing up which would give you guys an added solid revenue stream for very little extra work once set up and running
So long as the powers that be don't decide to take away or change how the forum or site is already and make that a members only perk (that would kill what makes it so great) or decide to hike up fees for more profit and get greedy about it
You should really look into it, im sure many of us would sign up without hesitation
I love the site and the quality of content has always been excellent and this is supported by the ad revenue.
One suggestion would be to have ads that link to the manufacturers site with more information about the product, I find that some of the current ads that link to their sites lack enough information about the product and I have to do a Google search to find out more (And usually find out it's not available in this country)
EDIT: On the subject of banner ads, you could fit more down the side of the page, especially in the forums, I wouldn't mind having a few more just make sure they are plain images rather than Flash as this won't slow the browser down. I have the threads per page at 100 so having a few more down the side wouldn't hamper me. Maybe have it tied to the threads per page and add extra side banners for those of us who have the bandwidth to load a 100 post thread page.
I've always loved this site's community feel, and the way it seems run to cater to the users - as well as the way the staff come across as users themselves. Ads like IntelliTXT really do sour that, as they're plainly money over user experience. They make a site look grabby.
I really don't mind banner ads - hell, when working with a designer on another site I listed this one as a good example how i'd like them slotted in without leaving a sour taste! I only use a desktop to browse, so even the flash ads don't usually bother me (although there was one for Resistance or something a while back... expanded to 4X size on mouseover, THAT was annoying).
IntelliTXT would put me off. Where now I read articles that really don't affect me just because I like the writing style, these ads would really cut down on my casual interest - they make rowsing seem more like a chore, you shouldn't be concentrating on where your mouse cursor wanders whilst trying to absorb the information within a page!
It may be worth considering that reduced casual reading would dramatically cut down on the views of regular ads as people load fewer pages.
I don't game, I come here for hardware and case mods, but enjoy reading the columns, blog, and plenty of other incidental bits just because you guys do a good job, and it's plain enjoyable to read. Please, don't take away from that.
++
really intrusive seeing as they pop open the very instant your pointer goes anywhere near it. If you could get a 1/2 - 1 second delay on them opening up they would be easier to live with.
Also they seem to advertise very random things that have almost no relation to the word that activates them.
I just saw one too.
Well done on selling out to dennis, bit-tech.
Example page, where?
There's a pop-up text ad somewhere on this page (varies from PC to PC of course).
Yep, I know and I'm sorry - it was taken totally out of my control hence the blog post linking to this thread to gather more feedback. :(
In the first post: http://enthusiast.hardocp.com/article.html?art=MTYxNSwxLCxoZW50aHVzaWFzdA==
its as if all taste has suddenly fled, intrusive advertising, very loud noises and adverts that get bigger when you try to close them (the CSI one for instance in chrome expands as soon as you try to hit the x to close it making the thing hugh and noisy before you can close it). I'm now having to block ads on Bit can't have the chance of that amount of noise suddenly blaring out whilst I'm in the office, and I'm not willing to try setting up home and work advert preferences. for the love of <insert deity> please get the sound turned off at the very least
I'm certainly pushing from my side (as both Editor and as a reader on behalf of you guys) to keep advertising tasteful on bit-tech - it's something we've done and preached about for years; that's why you haven't seen text link ads before now. I am hoping that reader feedback on things like IntelliTXT will be taken seriously though because I'd hate it for someone to undo all of the hard work we - as in the bit-tech team - have put into making advertising relevant and non-intrusive over the years.
If anyone has any reasonable complaints relating to advertising (IntelliTXT in particular) that want to be heard louder than just this thread, please do email me (tim.smalley@bit-tech.net) and I'll make sure it is passed onto the relevant parties. I will also be passing on the feedback in this thread as well, for what it's worth.
127.0.0.1 intellitxt.com
127.0.0.1 vibrantmedia.com
Edit, I have mixed feeling posting this. I know ad blocking is bad for sites, but intellitxt is a serious PITA. :(
Delete if inappropriate.
it really makes me fear for the future of the site that a decision like this was taken away from the bit-tech team, and that dennis cares for their readers so little that they are willing to do things that they specifically know will piss us off.
that's pretty slick.. thank you, sir.;)
Yep, I'm afraid I have to do the same.
I HATE those adds, I find them pointless and intrusive.
I LIKE Bit-Tech sponsored ads.. They are relevant and non intrusive.
I also keep in mind those companies that bought adverts on bit-tech. (Its more subconscious I think)
I voted... Get rid of em or "I would block them and blacklist all other adverts on bit-tech" and I really don't want to do that.
-edit-
I just realized the ads bothered me so much I hadn't actually finished reading the review of the AMD processors.
That intrusive enough for ya Dennis? O.o
Ditto. Two mouseclicks and no more ads from this site in Firefox. Thank you, Adblock Plus!
http://www.petitiononline.com/noITXT/petition.html
Maybe it'll help, Tim. Thanks for trying to push them.
no, serious, no ads in the text please
On a level I find them interesting though, hovering over 'server' on one page brings up an add for some sort of whitebox - I don't even know what that is. The random links that come up amuse me.
Guess what Riyad had to say :D
Both intellitxt ads i encountered played sound as soon as my pointer flashed past them they were for CSI and PS3. The only plus side to these ads is that it has once more strengthened my resolve over not buying a PS3, it was starting to edge level with buying a new lens and down it falls once more
Did it involve swearwords?
Riyad never swears. He also never wears trousers
Please don't use these. I hate them.
I'm currently using Firefox and running Noscript. Following the appearance of intellitxt on Bit-tech, Noscript is now enabled when browsing the site. It blocks the intellitxt ads fine, but also blocks any other ads that aren't simple animated / static GIFs. I would however revert to allowing the other ads should the intellitxt cease to be.
/me turns off whitelist for BT
to your windows/system32/drivers/etc/hosts file.
Unfortunately its not just the intellitxt ads that are now annoying, the Be There ISP ad is incredibly bouncy and annoying, and really has a very tenuous link as a product to Bit. There just no longer seems to be the quality and targeting the ads had before
And while the be ad may be slightly annoying, it is relevant to bit users.
if that was the reasoning for the ad appearing it would be better placed on home moving sites, the only link i see between Bit and Be There would be that Bit is on the internet and Be supplies it, in which case following that logic the Ad could appear anywhere on the internet. Its just doesn't appear to me to be a well targeted Ad.
I've seen more links on Giz, Engadget, Digg and other popular Tech News sites to Bit-Tech project logs than any other forum I know of. This helps to drive advertising numbers and of course to encourage other modders to post their logs here. Part of the great user experience has been the quality of the ads that complement and don't interfere with the experience. I'm sure some users disagree and block all ad's out of the principle of the fact but I have chosen to support and thus whitelist Bit-Tech.
After the acquisition of Bit-Tech by Dennis I was worried about possible changes to drive online revenue for Dennis since they acquired Bit to shore up that area of their media portfolio. Obviously having separate ad systems doesn't make a whole lot of sense so I tolerated the change to more invasive ads that happened recently. However, it's obvious that Dennis is not an expert in generating revenue from online technology resources or they would not have needed to acquire Bit-Tech. This becomes obvious when the idea of Textlink ads is being considered and trialed without fully considering the reason Bit generates ad revenue and occupies a relatively niche space in the online technology market.
I have confidence that the Bit-Tech staff is looking out for the readers an users and would trust them to do the right thing if it was their sole choice to make decisions about advertising. However, if Dennis chooses to add more invasive advertising techniques I'll likely find ways to circumvent them and probably begin to spend less time here.
From a pure business perspective if ad revenue from Text link ads can increase the content enough to offset the losses from users leaving and users who block all ads then it makes financial sense and it's hard to argue with making money. I do believe long term success is about continuing to do what Bit-Tech excels at, and that's have a great online experience and have great project logs along with tons of modding knowledge.
Sorry for the long post but I would be quite saddened to see Bit-Tech lose part of the quality that has earned it a great reputation.
If it came down to some kind of fund raising, I'd be down to buy like a Bit-Tech T-shirt, case sticker etc. to bail them out. I get a lot of entertainment value reading Bit-Tech articles that keep me up to date on the tech. I'm getting real aggravated by the idea of some big business messing around with what I think has been a very well ran, admired organization.
Tim, your a cool guy, thanks for the email back. By the looks of it, you have a very big and passionate community at your back, I'm sure most of us are wishing we could do more for you. Perhaps they need reminded that Bit-Tech is not theirs to own, that its the community that has continued to support it.
-Evre-
I personally know how to selectivley block different types of adverts, but am considering blocking every damn advert type from Bit until the text adverts are confirmed as gone. Somethings are just a matter of principle, and i'd rather offset the extra revenue gained by the text adverts beeing viewed by some, by costing them revenue in normal ads.
And i fully accept this is not Bit's 'true' staff wishes, but hopefully dennis will realise the text adverts are not wanted.
Tim its not jsut the work you've done to create appropriate and tasteful advertising, its also the work done in building and keeping happy such a great community. This may start to see the loss or angering of users, and that won't be good for anyone and it will undo all those years of work in teeny tiny steps. Maybe Dennis aint bothered by that, but i am.
Poor poor Bit :'(
The value of a company is based on its revenue and profitability (although for acquisitions, quite often a multiplier of the profitability is used) - although I don't know the exact figures, I'd imagine that bit's vaule is worth somewhere in the tens or hundreds of thousands.
Add in the fact that Dennis would probably inflate the price due to the fact that they'd only just acquired bit, and you'd be looking at a considerable amount of money.
There are a whole host of other factors to consider too (such as moving the team to a new office - again, third time in a year).
Something that would require slightly more than sales of a few t-shirts or stickers :D
Sorry bit, hope you can get this sorted Tim.
Now if anything, dear Dennis Publishing you have an excellent opportunity to open up a dialog between yourself and the reader/users of Bit-tech, use this opportunity to find a middle ground where both parties (users and advertisers) are satisfied with the outcome. Maybe even use this newly acquired knowledge to alter your other technology related websites as well. I am quite certain that those users would appreciate it equally much.
Personally I would not mind advertising between paragraphs. Or to make myself clearer here's an example.
Paragraph
Paragraph
Paragraph
Advertise
Image of Product
Advertise
Paragraph
Paragraph
... You get the point.
But this is merely my personal opinion, to reach the previously mentioned middle ground I think You should consider other alternatives/other people's opinions as well.
The difference between this site and so many of their others (I'm looking at the footer now - auto express, evo, fortean times, Mac User...) is that our users are more technology savvy.
Sorry, Mac users, I couldn't resist.
The majority of the userbase of car magazines, fitness magazines, camera magazines etc. aren't going to have the first clue about AdBlock and the like. We do, and as such are a different demographic.
In buying Bit-Tech, Dennis would have recognised its profitability. If, by blanket blocking the ads on the site, we dent that profitability then Dennis will be forced to review its advertising policy - it's cheaper and better PR for it to do that than to try to get it accepted.
I appreciate it's not Bit-Tech's fault that the adverts are in place, but this needn't be damaging to Bit-Tech so much as the parent company (I assume Bit staff's salaries are not directly proportional to revenue, so a dip in revenue followed by a swift remedial policy change would have no adverse effect on employees).
Just blocking IntelliTXT would see ad revenue largely unaffected, albeit slightly boosted by the few folk that don't block, and thus not hurt Dennis, so they woud remain.
That's how I see it - but I'd love to be corrected where appropriate. I don't have any desire to upset the staff - quite the contrary, I'd love to see them given more control over the site, as they've done a genuinely fantastic job to date. It's that lack of total control that I see as the root issue, frankly.
Well, I wouldn't call it a divorce as much as the whole Bit group resigns from Dennis and starts up a new site in the style and flavor of what it is that makes us all like it as it is now. If they (Dennis) are smart it won't screw with a working model in an attempt to get a few extra bucks as it can easily come back to bite them in lost revenues as members stop visiting the site.
I agree (and voted accordingly) that the IntelliTxt stuff is no good. Anything obtrusive (pop ups, intellitxt, sound, etc.) do not encourage me to click and just make me think even less of that product/company and make a note to avoid them in the future. On the other hand, the banner ads that are NOT annoying have, on occasion, been of enough interest that I clicked to find out more.
Many sites you go to just look like a giant collection of ads with a little bit of content stuffed in there somewhere. You have to actively do some searching to find the content. Sites like this do not encourage me to come back again. The more ads that are put on the site the more likely it is that my visits to bit will go down.
If they made an appearance, I would just stop coming here all together.
Wait, what. Was that patch tuesday thing a one off test, or is that indicative of how it's going to be from here-on in?
http://www.bit-tech.net/blog/2009/02/10/advertising-feedback-on-bit-tech/
http://forums.bit-tech.net/showpost.php?p=1920337&postcount=86
Please read those.
I didn't receive an email from you yet - not sure if you've sent it?
Tim
http://rsty.org/images/tossah.gif
Neg, car drove into me on Tuesday
I didn't catch the blog, but I did catch the post when I was browsing the thread.
All I can say is, I sincerely hope that the community is listened to by the bigwigs (I know you chaps are doing your best for us), I like the site as is, and would hate for it to go the way of intrusive advertising.
+1.
Thanks Dennis.
http://www.yodasarmpit.com/pics/ads.png
I have always supported bit-tech, and have never blocked any ads served on the site.
I urge Dennis Publishing to review their advertising policy, the increase in ad revenue will pale in comparison to that lost via users employing ad blocking techniques.
Banner ads are fine I even click on them :P
I hate Intellitxt more than any other form of advertising. My Hosts file is their nemesis.
They ruin the internet!
This is probably the reason I have never heard of Dennis Publishing before they became involved with Bit. Sites with Intellitext look unappealing and break accessibility rules. They make content seem jumbled and frankly make the page look a mess.
When Bit-tech updated their website to link to Dennis' other websites, I was curious to explore them. Computer buy: hey, I buy computers. Click. Find article. Intellitext. Close.
I shop for computers too. Computer shopper: Click, find article, Intellitext, close.
Den of geek. I'm a geek. Hey, looks interesting! *spends time reading*
Evo, what's that. Driving, close.
IT Pro. Close. Intellitext does NOT equal Pro.
Mac User. I own a mac, but I don't exactly use it. Intellitext, close. Not really a great loss there though. ;)
Out of all those sites, there was only one I looked at for more than 15 seconds. It's the one that doesn't use Intellitext. Coincidence?
Bit-Tech has my loyalty, gained from years of excellent content, so I will be blocking the ads using noScript. However, ordinarily if I come across a site that uses Intellitext, I leave immediately. Sites (tech sites in particular) that use intellitext obviously don't understand their readers as a demographic and this forces me to treat their material as suspect. Had I discovered Bit-Tech tomorrow, I would not have given it the chance it so undeniably deserves, because of the overwhelmingly negative experience Intellitext (and other forms of invasive advertising) forces upon us.
I said I'd accept for more content when I meant I'd hate them and stop visiting.
Or at least employ adblocking big-time.
Very well written and to the point.
You should ask for a job at BT. ;)
/faints
I admire the lack of swearing - Something I could not do.
I would give you some rep for that one, but apparently I can't... (You was probably the last one I gave some to.)
Is I making u faint in a gud wai xxx
(Sorry, I had to :P)
When I saw that image I thought it must be a bug in the ad script, but have just experienced it myself. It was only a few weeks ago I was saying how great the advertising here is but asked for reassurance it wouldn't change.
Intellitxt and adverts popping up over the navigation? I think more fuss kicking is needed really....
nice email doug!
RwD
Sorry Bit, blame Dennis.
Had the navigation blocking bullshit as well. I TRIED to not use noscript + adblock on Bit-tech to support the good site, but no way am I gonna look that bullshit any further. Back to block.
That appears to be a page load error, for what it's worth. :)
Just the articles, not forums.
Until someone at Dennis decides the forums are frequented so much they have to get some money out of that as well...
shhhh! Don't give Dennis ideas.
I'm guessing Dennis is making you use these ad servers, but I've blocked them for a reason. They're absolutely the worst around!
There is no algorithm, it isn't even trying to be clever. They quite literally tell the scripts to look for certain words, and match up ads that they've sold for that word. There's nothing clever about it at all.
IntelliTXT is flawed from the ground up because of
1) being limited by their shitty sales team's (lack of) ability to sell anything worthwhile
2) not being context sensitive in the slightest
3) being the most annoying method of advertising ever
I hope they go bust
Bit-tech is becoming crap because of the ad's. I know they have to make some money, but i refuse to click on ad's that are forced on me.
If i want something, i go searching for it and find the best price. Denis your ruining are be-loved site and i bet soon are forum!
P.S pay the bit-tech staff more money please, as they have to deal with your BS!
I don't understand how they haven't already. How does any site make any money from such adverts? HOW!?!
0.001% of spam gives a hit, so you send out 1,000,000,000 emails and you'll make a profit
They don't worry me as with FF 3.1 they're just not there. ;)
//edit: No AdBlock, no black listing in hosts or anything.
However, Dennis this needs to stop. You have a fantastic userbase here with people who have designed cases for software/hardware companies. Users who work for major tech companies and of course the general population that make Bit-Tech the good all round source for banter and fact finding.
By using these adverts you're making the general readership as well as the tech guys irate, you've also added the main front page to the block list of the proxy we have to go through at work.
I'd hate to see people leave over the miniscule amount of extra income you're making from this outdated and spamerific technology.
So come on boys, let's put things back to the way they were before before Uncy fev jumps off this run-away horse and goes back to reading print media.
(PS. MODS: can i have FS access back yet? Pleeeeeeeeease)
I understand that advertising is required to help cover costs and I don't mind banner ads (I've even clicked a banner to buy something to support this place, not that the ad influenced me however), but IntelliTXT would simply make me stop reading.
Can someone please vote for this, it looks lonely :(
The second someone votes for that option is the second someone from Dennis has signed up to the forum.
It seems to me that Dennis publishing saw the numbers of users and thought "cash cow"
The ones that have appeared on BiT so far have just been one word per article, which is tolerable I guess. One would have to be a seriously whiny ho' to complain about that, especially if there's always one and one one per article (because then you'd come to expect and avoid it, problem solved.)
It'd be nice if they were limited to news and announcements, though - somehow they'd be more annoying in reviews, maybe because they're multi-page and less industry-related.
Seems they've started cropping up. Have fun with that.
It'd likely come through me as your local Dennis representative. ;)
I find the whole idea of trialling this odd. You can't have been expecting any positive feedback. Does that mean that Dennis requires a certain amount of negative feedback to change their decisions?
Seems to me like a whole lot of corporate bureaucracy, and it sounds like you lost out on some ad revenue in the process (ironically).
What was the benefit of being bought out again?
It ought to be an easy point to make, 50% of the userbase would use BiT less often because of them.
I'd like to change my vote actually.
I've never used Adblock up till now, but it does get rid of them IntelliTXT wotsits!
It's something that I am in the process of putting a fairly comprehensive report together on ready to present next week - if it's just a few people saying "this sucks," then I believe that isn't compelling enough evidence. That's why I've said the more evidence I have, the better it is for everyone. Unless I've missed an email, I've responded to all with a rough outline of my intentions - I'm sorry I haven't had time to communicate them fully in the forums.
In short, I wanted to make sure I have a decent amount of evidence before saying "hey, I told you the community hates this stuff - here's proof."
For instance as i type this Orange is advertising me a contract deal for £30 a month looping around and around telling what a deal, buy me!
For me going online is an escape in many ways from advertising, i stopped watching TV most evenings because once a good programme comes on, 10 seconds later i have some gimp trying to sell me crap.
So when reading a quality review or article on bit, the last thing i want to see is a load of bullocks about crucial memory being a cheap upgrade. The joke is one day bit might be recomending one brand of memory, but the dam text link satan cum system kicks and highlights the word memory and tries to advertise another brand!
How confusing could that be!
Thinking about it bit-tech dosen't require advertising, there reviews recomend what is the best purchases availble in the market. There 'What hardware of the month' articles is selling the hardware.
Forum members trust bit-tech staff, hence the reason why we are still members. Yes the modding has decreased and its all hardware related now, but i blame that on members more as we keep asking for the reviews! lol!
Each review is lovingly crafted, to be as in depth as possible, something i dare say Custom PC could learn from, i read a review of a motherboard in the magazine and still find myself thinking i've learn't nothing special about said item. Hence why i stopped buying there magazines each month, i pick one up in the shop and have a browse, but nothings changed.
Maybe i am just a gruppy old git....
Bit-tech had a good thing going for a while, quality reviews linked to free delivery from Scan for its members. Now i believe we are left with quality reviews infected with txt ads....:'(
It's just a shame the intellitxt ads seeped in, and even that was against the wishes of the staff.
I found I missed the site if I used it less - I've installed AdBlock for the first time, instead. I'm afraid I'm opting for site-wide blocking rather than specifying intelliTXT, since a) I don't think the latter would be of any consequence to Dennis, and b) I don't know how yet ;)
I'll whitelist the site (or more likely just uninstall it - I just avoid other sites with intrusive ads, and have no objection to regular banners etc.) if I am made aware that the text ads have gone.
How do you think the bills are paid? We don't charge you to read our content, we don't charge manufacturers whose products we are reviewing and we aren't selling our content (or our souls, for that matter) to the highest bidder.
Simply put, without advertising bit-tech would not exist - we are 100 percent reliant on revenues generated from advertising to pay the team, to pay for the development time put into improving the site and to pay for the servers and hosting so that we're not running off a 486 on a 56k connection to the internet.
That doesn't mean we have to rely on IntelliTXT advertising specifically in my opinion... it just means we couldn't run ad-free without charging more than at least 95 percent of you wouldn't be prepared to pay.
So you sacked Jamie?
Bit-tech is an online magazine for knowledgeable people and enthusiasts. Dennis's own description of the site says so.
The use of IntelliTXT which is well known to offend most people is an insult to its readers who know full well how to easily block them, but regrettably also nukes all other ads on the site (and hence no clicks).
It is evident that someone up there has no idea about the target audience of bit despite thier description of us. We are harsh, demanding and dont really tolerate incompetence. Even Dennis realises that its us that people turn to for buying advise. Its ironic that they cant read there own product page...
I mouseover them accidentally and that really interrupts the reading in a very bad way.
I don't mean to play terrorism to make BT do as I please, but it would slowly make me visit less due to discomfort. Maybe that's why I haven't seen this type of ad recently.. :P
Stick with the banners without Flash or heavy stuff. It's not like I have flash installed here at work, but it can make our PCs slowdown when surfing with several tabs.. Even in our non-IE browsers.
Good move in asking!
I feel it gives the whole site a cheap cashing in feeling.
ESPECIALLY when reading the "complete guide to left for dead" and being shown vocal films for nicoette inhalers everytime my cursor brushed over "Smoker"
On the lighter side (See what I did there! haha) at least I'll actually be posting and contributing to the forum now!
It highlighted the word "virus" and the popup was a Resident Evil 5 advert, although the actual creative was rubbish because it wasn't obvious it was RE5.
Seriously BT I have been reading for years and this is making me go else where.
One of the only reasons i got your site in my favs is due to the fact you dont have these ads.
Now you do its pushing me away
I dont mind sideboard ads. ie, ones that are to the edges of the content i actually want to look at. (so long as it's not that annoying talking smilies ad. *shudder*). i dont even mind "click thru" ads. ie, you click the "next" link somewhere, and instaed of ending up where you were going, you're looking at an ad, with a "continue to content" button. Ok, those ones are slightly annoying, but at least you know to expect them.. right.
what i wont stand for however are (in order) intellitxt (and / or Any other mouseover popups). they're just too invasive. you tag them accidentally. ALL the time. especially when using mouseless browsing (ie, just the scroll wheel that's on the side of this keyboard).
popups. These are just all banned. even to the point where when i WANT something in a new window, i have to turn my popup blocker off.
Popunders. Get entire site blacklisted, and i dont go back. there's nothing worse than browsing a website, and then having to spend 10 minutes closing all of the popunders. Not as bad as intellitxt (where you have to spend 10 mins trying to close a mouseover popup just to get to the bottom of the page!)
Seriously. we dont mind banner ads. we dont mind mid content ads. we con probably live with click thru ads.
but really. Intellitxt? no thankyou.
The day Bit-Tech has text ad crap is the day I delete it from my fav folder...
Did I say NO...?
like hardocp (they ban just for talking about there adds that just reminds me to block all there adds for banning me last time) i just blacklist it in opera so i would never see them on this site or any site,
they are the worst type of adds you can use as well as that some agane like hardocp do it in forums as well
your web site adds right now work well
you could of done with an 6th option on the poll as i picked block all adds but i would only Block *intellitxt* domain and not the other adds on the website
AdBlock Plus has been given the Green for Bit-Tech
NoScript blocks intellitex, google-analytics, and DoubleClick.
Those three are mandatory for me to block in my book.
I'm very happy with the way things look.
Hope Bit-Tech can receive all the support it needs with this arrangement. :)
Although, being as you are now owned by Dennis Publishing, chances are you will soon have a website where it is difficult to view anything apart from the ads, like the CustomPC forums have become. :(
1.They popped up only when they were clicked on, like a link, but still in front of the page not on a separate one. As I mouse over what I am reading, it is intolerable to have them pop up whenever they are moused over.
2.They were actually relevant to the text, which so far I have not seen once. If I ever saw a text in an article of something I was planning on buying, I wouldn't be confident it would actually be an ad for the same thing. This makes them even more useless and tasteless.
I know Bit needs ad revenue to survive, but these are tasteless, and they really cheapen the site in my book. With a readership this technologically inclined, it seems to me that the blocking of regular ads will cost more than will be gained by these new ads, assuming you only get paid when they are clicked on and not when they are moused over. My post count may not be high, but I've been reading for years, and I would hate to see bit-tech go downhill after this acquisition.
For the sake of GOD get rid of them..................!
I will only put up with it for so long, then I will do one of 2 things
1) feel less inclined to visit Bit-tech.
2) Install, configure text add blocking.
What is the policy - from the vote it is CLEAR that WE DO NOT WANT THESE TYPES OF ADDS...!
thanks
EDIT - for those that haven't spotted it, there's a bit-tech text on the words "dual-core" towards the top of this page - http://www.bit-tech.net/hardware/cases/2009/02/25/antec-nine-hundred-two-902-review/4
I could close it [good] but why was it there in the first place?
http://img7.imageshack.us/img7/7361/intellitxt.jpg
Time to prepare AdBlock it seems. :(
Right, that's that done then. All other adverts appear.
WHY bit-Tech why................:(:(:(:(......>:(......:(
do you guys even give a sh1t anymore or what.....?
GET RID OF THE ADDS - NO one wants them and no one even looks at them.....
Be more original to get more cash for example
* Create a forum page dedicated to advertising, so if you want to see whats new you can have a look..... this is just INSANE.
EVERYONE HATES TEXT ADDS
With Firefox download and install Adblock Plus
then insert bit-tech.uk.intellitxt.com into the filter
Goodbye to green underline and unwanted add window. ;)
Works well on Hexus and HardOCP - obviously you will need to type in
hardocp.us.intellitxt.com
hexus.uk.intellitxt.com
Doh...:o Yeah thanks.....;)
Check that = "The post of the Beast" - LOL
(will be writing an E-mail as well)
I now blacklist at home but browing the site at work nearly EVERY page (from all sections) had text ads. I have a carp mouse at work that does not track too well and you only have to brush (not stop on) them to activate and they stay for ages (with nothing relevant).
Please. They ruin the look and feel of the site, hog resources and nobody who would visit Bit-Tech would ever intentionally click through. We arnt |\|00bs.
Well, sort of. I'd lay a hefty bet that the only reason it has gone is that it wasn't making enough money ;)
And it wasn't making enough money because we were all blocking it lol.
shouldn't soddin have to - managed fine with just AVG for donkeys years.
I can unblock bit now!
Thanks from me and my wallet :)
was soon gonna order an akasa mini-itx and when catching up on missed articles read the review. No longer gonna order one!
See above... B)