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[Necro] Pop-unders on Wowhead
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Post by
Malgayne
The first mistakes wowhead ever did was to sell out to IGE, a scam company that literally takes advantage of gamers. ZAM is still IGE, which is still Yantis ideology, which will forever remain online exploitation.
I can understand if ZAM network wish not to lose money on wowhead, that is perfectly fine. However, trying to use an outdated system such as popups and pop-unders is only going to enrage the already familiar internet user.
As mentioned, being one of the leading websites online means there's going to be a lot of revenue from normal ads, using additional exploitation for the "extra percent" just doesn't flow well with a well established community.
Wowhead would not exist without it's community, treating your contributors like idiots is a bad move.
Suggestion: move the servers outside of the united states, with the right deal you could save a lot of money (not that I'm familiar with your numbers, wowhead is, after all, designed to use as little bandwidth as possible - it's a convenience both for the users and the owners).
Wow, it's been a while since I've seen a gold-seller comment. I really thought we were past this.
I am shocked and appalled that there are people out there who are accusing us of scamming them, taking advantage of them, and treating them like idiots. Are you guys reading the same thread I'm reading?
I've given you a level of access to information that's unheard of from a business perspective. I've done it because I don't like treating Wowhead like a business, I like treating it like a family. I'm aware that pop-unders are an outdated system. I've been very clear about my feelings on pop-unders in this thread. But the fact is, advertising revenues are down—especially in non-US markets. We're a new player in terms of trying to sell ads. I want to have ads for movies, games, computer hardware, etc. etc. on the site—but all those movie and game and computer hardware companies are spending their money to advertise on
Gamespot
and
IGN
instead, because in tough economic times people don't want to take risks on a site that's only been around since 2006.
In the meantime, we are faced with an unfortunate decision. We have a lot of traffic, but a lot of traffic doesn't necessarily mean a lot of money—in order to get a lot of money, you have to
sell
that traffic to an advertiser in one way or another, or you have to charge for it directly. So, force people to pay money in order to use the database (which would be INCREDIBLY sleazy, since you guys are submitting so much of the data in the first place), or find other ways of making ends meet. That's what this is. I've opened this thread up to suggestions, and we've gotten a few (I hear your suggestion about moving the servers), but we've also gotten a lot of hate, and I honestly don't understand it. If there's another way, we'll find it—but we haven't found it yet.
And by the way—when I headed over to IGN, the first page I got was
this
. I'd rather have a popunder. =/
Post by
Wildhorn
Dont listen to Merowlin. You do a great job at wowhead! Only idiots would not know how much wowhead are against gold-seller and scam stuff. You are the best wow database out there and we love you all! Keep the good work! And pop-under are 100000 times better than a "Continue to >" ad.
Goooooooooooooooooooo wowhead!
Post by
Malgayne
LOL—well I appreciate the positive responses too. :P
I just want you guys to know I'm trying, and I'm not just sitting in my big evil supervillain chair with my fingers pressed together, laughing maniacally and shouting "I have you now!"
Post by
Wildhorn
Searching for a picture of "
I have you now
" I found
this
. Made me giggle :P
Post by
8694
This post was from a user who has deleted their account.
Post by
300178
This post was from a user who has deleted their account.
Post by
mudd
The PP advert is getting the demographic way wrong, and is also the kind of advert you get on domain parking sites. I don't use adblock and hate it - its the equivalent of buying a newspaper where someone has cut the adverts out for you.
The only way to earn money from websites besides subscriptions and tie ins is advertising. But if they could be better targeted that would be better, like google ads or gamer ad networks.
Post by
424660
This post was from a user who has deleted their account.
Post by
132715
This post was from a user who has deleted their account.
Post by
521666
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Post by
Verudandi
By Malgayne on 02/06/2009 at 18:03 (Patch 3.0.8) Very shortly we have planned to release a small donation/subscription system, which will remove all the ads for users who are signed up (as well as including a few bonus perks).
So. Year passed. Where is donation system?
Post by
Skyfire
By Malgayne on 02/06/2009 at 18:03 (Patch 3.0.8) Very shortly we have planned to release a small donation/subscription system, which will remove all the ads for users who are signed up (as well as including a few bonus perks).
So. Year passed. Where is donation system?
http://www.wowhead.com/?premium
, which should conveniently be colored in gold text somewhere on one's screen.
Post by
tenaka
I realise this is an old topic but not sure if it warrents yet another thread on it.
Running the Xfire ingame system, using the in game browser, wowwiki and wowhead are the only two sites i ever use. Up until a month or so ago a visit to the wowhead site would see add free for a few seconds but as soon as I start a seach the pop up would create a new window in the xfire browser for the poker ad. S'ok. no problem there, although in honesty something other than poker every single time must be better for you.
Close that window and return to the previous window to see a sort of insert over the previous add with exactly the same add, and a close window link in the upper right. ok ok, might be an issue with the xfire browser but I click the link and I now have access to wowhead poker add free for the rest of that session. simples, and I'm happy.
That was until a month ago. Now I cannot do anything. On reaching the link click of the second add the first add respawns and the looping begins. That's it, that's all I'm going to get from wowhead.
Thing is I don't know if that's an issue with the browser specifically, the add or a combination of both.
Any ideas?
Post by
Malgayne
That's a weird one. Do you ever experience any behavior like this in a regular (non-overlay) browser, or is it just Xfire that causes this problem?
I don't think there have been any changes in that ad code recently, so I'm thinking maybe it's an Xfire issue...?
Post by
5200
This post was from a user who has deleted their account.
Post by
tenaka
That's a weird one. Do you ever experience any behavior like this in a regular (non-overlay) browser, or is it just Xfire that causes this problem?
I don't think there have been any changes in that ad code recently, so I'm thinking maybe it's an Xfire issue...?
I agree but unfortunately having posted on both wowhead and xfire your reply is the most I have got :(
I've found it doesn't matter what I do on the site, if i click anywhere on the page the ad will open up on another page.
I don't have any problems under firefox. I get the ad, I close it and that's it for the session. I can always alt tab so it's not like I can't get to wowhead easily though.
Post by
Mazra
I'm sorry if I'm bumping an old thread that shouldn't have been bumped. I'm not really familiar with the customs and rules of this site.
I see that Wowhead has been getting a lot of flak over the last year due to the PartyPoker advert. I was extremely pessimistic when I first learned of it, because like so many others, I absolutely hate pop-ups and even more so pop-unders. After a year, though, I've come to a rather mind-blowing conclusion:
1. The pop-under can be closed quite easily without even having to use my mouse (alt-tab + ctrl-w).
2. The pop-under helps keep this site up, a site I visit regularly (and may I just, purely off-topic, send out a massive thank you to whoever designed this site - it's amazing).
3. This site is worth the "trouble" of having to close a window every couple of hours.
For those who are still experiencing the pop-under occurring multiple times per visit, I had that same issue, but guesstimated that more wouldn't appear if one was already active, so I simply leave it and only close it once I'm done browsing here. So far it's done the trick.
Furthermore, I'm a long-time poster on one of Wowhead's sister-sites through ZAM: Allakhazam, and we've had the same discussion there about advertisement and how they obstruct the users. Allakhazam, much like Wowhead now, runs a premium subscriber function that, for an affordable charge ($3 a month) disables adverts and gives out certain perks - like avatars, smilies, image hosting, character stuff and more. It's the way it's going to be if these sites are to be kept alive and if people are willing to use them, they should be willing to help them stay afloat as well. Not to say that people
have
to pay for them, but if they're regular users, they should already be doing it.
On that matter, though, I'd like to ask why so many sites out there are running on red numbers. When this site started, was it already then intended to become this popular? Was it created with advertisement income in mind, or was it merely a "hobby"? I'm asking because Allakhazam started out as a hobby and ended up becoming a full-time job, which then became an economic pain in the ass until ZAM swooped in and bought it (though I don't believe ZAM was the name back then).
I understand how growing popularity forces forces more traffic onto you which again costs money to keep up with, but what would happen if you put a limit to it? Like said, this is what we can afford, this is the traffic we can handle. Would we be facing massive "Server is busy, try again later" pages, or is that not how the internet works? I'm asking because I have no clue.
Anyway, this was just as much as sign of support than anything constructive, really. I tried masking it under some advice and witty comments, but in reality, I just wanted to say thank you to all those who keep Wowhead up and running. And thank you to Malgayne for being one of the most understanding and down to earth site administrators I've come across.
Like you guessed, customers prefer it when the companies lay it all out in the open. Saves us the trouble of having to Google it, heh.
Ps. Signing up for premium, but I'm afraid my home will always be that other site. On that note, thanks for all the fresh meat you guys sent us last week. Contests are fun, aren't they? ;D
Post by
Malgayne
Honored, Mazra. I work with the AKZ team enough to know your name. Incidentally, I hope you didn't sign up for a separate premium account, since the premium service is shared across both sites!
I don't think any of us in this industry really started with the goal of making a living off of it. I know Wowhead didn't, and neither did Allakhazam. It was just a matter of "I bet I could do something other players would find really useful." Wowhead didn't even add advertisements until it moved off of IGN's hosted fansite program and onto its own servers, and required a redesign when it did.
And just to put any fears to rest, we're not operating in the red. We're not taking home huge seven-figure paychecks, to be sure, but we're doing well enough. But more premium subscribers let us hire more people, which let us do cooler things faster. :D
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