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Original poster

MASSIVE ADS halfway down the thread page

140 replies

SinisterBumFacedCat · 10/06/2019 13:33

I don’t know if this is a new thing, i’m sure it’s been done before and wasn’t popular. There are massive ads halfway down the page of threads, it’s very disruptive to the flow and also makes me think it’s the end of the thread. On one thread there was a ad placed straight after the OPs first post, making it appear that there are no other posts on the thread. I am logged in.

OP posts:
New posts on this thread. Refresh page
ginghamstarfish · 24/06/2019 22:31

MNHQ, the giant ad following the OP is terrible, very off-putting, takes ages to load and no doubt uses tons of data. It's bad enough having the moving ads at the top and bottom as well ....moving and flashing ads ensure I will NOT be buying that product. I will also be using an adblocker.

Akire · 24/06/2019 19:47

Seems loads now. One big one after opening post,then as soon as scroll down the top banner starts moving then another one at the end. Never used to feel like was wading through spam

DameSquashalot · 24/06/2019 19:44

LittleMissNaice the square ads within the thread are new for me too. I've only ever had small ads within and a square and at the end which was fine.

Now I see no ads with my new app. 😊

Cakemadeoffruit · 24/06/2019 17:50

@JanineMumsnet that white square was mid way down the page and it covered the content, I'm not able to scroll the post from underneath it in order to read it. But I can scroll past it. I'm having this happen on quite a few threads and it's only been happening recently.

MNHQ
JanineMumsnet · 24/06/2019 09:08

@Cakemadeoffruit this is what is known as a 'sticky' leaderboard, which we've had for a couple of years. As you scroll it sticks at the top. You are still able to read content.

Cakemadeoffruit · 24/06/2019 06:36

That's on browser not app btw

Cakemadeoffruit · 24/06/2019 06:36

The square adds are not only not appearing (I just have huge blank spaces) but they are appearing over posts. See pic for how it covers an OP post so you can't read what they are trying to say.

MASSIVE ADS halfway down the thread page
DameSquashalot · 23/06/2019 07:18

I've installed adblocker now for MN. I could cope with the small rectangular ads, but a huge square and after the OP was becoming way too irritating.

I took much more notice of the ad at the end of the thread.

I work for a website and I find the ads on our website incredibly intrusive. They're much more prominent than the content.

MNHQ
JanineMumsnet · 18/06/2019 09:23

We agree wholeheartedly about being careful about what ads appear in sensitive topics/threads. We have an extensive list of sensitive topics which we are careful about adding new ads/widgets to these sections.

@InterchangeableEmma that is a really useful suggestion, and we will add this to our list of changes.

Regarding bookmarking - we actually did make it so that threads automatically got added to your TIW, but it was clear people use the feature in a different way, so we are reworking things. I agree a bookmarked list would be useful, and we will definitely look to have this in the future, but that requires a much bigger change at the moment, so it might take a number of months to get something like that. Best rest assured we are thinking about it and agree it's a good idea.

@LittleMissNaice That has definitely been the rule for the last 3 years - you've just been lucky if you haven't noticed them. At the moment you are likely to see what we call an 'inliner' in that slot, if there is one set to appear in that topic.

FeminismandWomensFights · 18/06/2019 07:24

Absolutely agree about the inappropriateness of an Ad directly after the OP.
I’m still not getting used to it. It’s very annoying not being able to really tell what a thread consists of because of the advertising. I still think to myself - eh- the link said there were loads of posts on here, yet there aren’t any..-because here’s the ad, the end of the thread.

Please can you look at this again?

Original poster
SinisterBumFacedCat · 17/06/2019 23:37

This new rule is the first time square ads have appeared within the thread for me too. There was thin ones, which I could cope with, because you could see posts before and after the ads as you scrolled but NOT square ones. If there had been, I really wouldn’t have started a thread about it.

I think ads especially after the first post are intrusive and insensitive, especially if the OP is posting about something upsetting and looking for advice.

OP posts:
Monty27 · 17/06/2019 21:14

Just grrr. It makes reading tiresome

LittleMissNaice · 17/06/2019 19:57

the rule previously was that a square ad would appear after the 12th post

I've never had a square ad anywhere within the thread before - only right at the bottom of the page.

InterchangeableEmma · 17/06/2019 16:15

(Love the changes to bookmarking BTW. Much easier to use. It's Still a shame there's no list of bookmarked threads/bookmarked threads added to watched threads but I guess that's something that'll never happen)

InterchangeableEmma · 17/06/2019 16:10

I've spent 11 years avoiding using ad blockers on mn. Its been an effort each time the level of advertising upped but I appreciate the place and want to contribute to the running costs. I really don't know how much longer in can stand the new, actively intrusive, ads. They disturb to user experience way too much. I'm giving it another week then ad blocker it is :(

I'd happily pay directly for an advert free mn but this is something MNHQ have rejected again and again over the years

BaronessBomburst · 17/06/2019 14:57

I downloaded Opera to use with Mumsnet. It's a browser with a built-in AdBlocker. I've had it a week and it's brilliant. I can recommend it for Android.

InterchangeableEmma · 17/06/2019 14:52

If we must have adverts in-thread why isn't it possible to at least communicate that the content continues after? It's done that way on plenty of sites, the box that now says 'advertisement' could surely say 'advertisement. Content continues below' or some such?

One of the reasons that it's so irritating IS the placement directly after the OP. It looks like the wrong thread (of a single post) has loaded rather than the one I think I've clicked on. It the Active Convos page wasn't so keen on jumping about just after loading it'd be easier to know that I'd not opened the wrong thread

MASSIVE ADS halfway down the thread page
MNHQ
JanineMumsnet · 17/06/2019 10:42

Hi @StoorieHoose I'm afraid we do need to have an ad mid thread - we have had ads mid thread for a number of years now.

At the moment with online advertising advertisers often buy ads based on their 'viewability'. This means is that if the ad isn't viewable on the screen for more than a few seconds we don't get any money for that ad. Ads right at the bottom of the page have a low viewability score, as you'd expect. It would be rare to find a site that is primarily paid for by advertising without ads mid article/page. We do try to keep the number of ads a to a minimum for our logged in users - if you are logged out you will likely notice one more per page on mobile.

But to be clear, these new rules introduced last week are not to make the ads more viewable. But it's worth noting that from time to time we may have to switch around where ads appear on a page to keep up with the latest way buyers measure and pay for their ads.

It's a tricky balance that we don't always get perfect first time, so we are open to opinions and we take them on board.

StoorieHoose · 17/06/2019 09:54

Top of the page and at the end of the thread is more than enough adverts. To have them during the thread is overkill

MNHQ
JanineMumsnet · 17/06/2019 08:52

@WeShouldOpenABar I'm really sorry about this. This shouldn't be happening at all. As a logged in user you should not see more than 3 ads per page on a mobile device. Could you share a screen shot?

I can assure you we haven't increased the size of the ads, nor have we made them more interactive, so it shouldn't be the case that ads are eating up more of your data. I am sorry if this appears to be the case - it shouldn't be.

As I said, we have changed the rules of the ads in order to create more consistency - the rule previously was that a square ad would appear after the 12th post, but feedback has been that users thought this was jarring as they weren't aware the thread continued beyond and therefore it was disruptive to user experience. The rationale for after the OP is because we need to have an ad mid thread (as we had before) and typically a user knows how many posts are in a thread before they open a thread so after the OP would be less jarring to that experience.

It's clear though that some users don't agree, and nothing is set in stone and we are open to suggestions. We will also look at alternative rules for where these ads might appear.

StoorieHoose · 17/06/2019 08:15

I think 3 adverts on one page is v excessive MNHQ. It's like going back in time internet wise

DrinkReprehensibly · 17/06/2019 07:47

The rubbish new ads brought me to site stuff to see if anyone else was finding it annoying. I'm not liking it being second post on a page. Fourth or fifth would feel a bit fairer and less like one of those spammy websites that's all adverts. I think it makes the content feel less credible and more unreliable when adverts are prioritised to such an extent.

hobnobsaremyfavourite · 16/06/2019 09:06

Intrusive
Annoying
Distracting
No idea what they are trying to sell as I skim past as fast as I can, so utterly pointless
Get rid, please

Frusty · 15/06/2019 21:50

Yeah if it went back to how it was I would remove my ad blocker, I don’t want it using data either but it’s better than seeing the mega ads in the middle.

StoorieHoose · 15/06/2019 21:43

Your users have told you have it's eating into their data and people are installing ad blockers and think 'they aren't hitting the spot'!!! For goodness sake You can make them.less jarring by removing them from the middle of threads and be content with adverts and that top and bottom of every single thread

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