For the love of the wee man please do something about the ads

[mychilddoesntlookdisabled]

HQ. Please. Make a decision about the ads. Either make them less intrusive or give us an option to pay a sub and get rid of them.

I'm on laptop, mobile on phone and sometimes Ipad. They make the site unusable and I'm going to be investigating an adblock today.

I am sure that is not what you want - I understand the need for ads to generate revenue, but when they are so intrusive that they interfere with the ability to use the site then you've gone a bit too far in the wrong direction.

Also, I wouldn't buy anything that is advertised like that, in an intrusive ad that pisses me off, because instead of thinking fluffy warm thoughts about the product being advertised, I'm thinking "FUCK THE FUCK OFF YOU ANNOYING TWAT" which I am sure is not the intention of the advertiser.

Out of interest, what level of complaint do you have to receive to act?
I suspect each person who writes a complaint equals 100's if not 1000s who are pissed off - so this thread alone could easily represent 250,000 very pissed off users.

Since yesterday 9am ish.

This is why the mobile site went tits up last week, isn't it?

I remember that the adverts were blaring away, even when the shortcut buttons stopped working and the bottom tool bar disappeared, and no-one could post for 24 hours via the mobile site. It was as though the main architecture of the mobile site was now the coded advertising space, and everything else was being bolted back on.

The ones that annoy me the most are right in the middle of the thread, and as others have said can be insensitive to the topic. Also when there are so many adds the site keeps crashing, and I have to re load it.

I intermittently get half the vertical screen taken with ads and then they're scattered horizontal too.
Vertical is the killer. The others take a bit longer for me to give up. I can cope with top & bottom of the screen but I'd rather pay a little to be ad free.

The vertical ones are so irritating. I just click straight off the thread now, often if I go back in its not there. Also hate the ones in middle of threads, on a mobile device sometimes it's impossible to scroll past without clicking on the bloody thing which irritates me further and turns me right off whatever is being advertised. I too would happily pay a small amount for an ad-free site. It just doesn't seem at all user friendly anymore. I don't like the app so stuck to mobile site, looks like desktop site is much worse too with the horrible scrolling ads.

I'm not entirely sure how it works with AdChoices but I administer the AdWords account for my company, and the red flags go up when I see ads with a high number of impressions and a low click-through rate, meaning that lots of people are seeing them (and that costs us) but they're not clicking on them.

I wonder how many people actually click on these ads as opposed to muttering "fuck off" and scrolling past / pondering AdBlock?

Lots of people will be accidentally clicking on them as they are so fucking huge. Cost per click advertising for UK people is on average 20p a click. That's thousands a week they must make from them.

Chat is really quiet this morning, I'm betting it'll be in part to the ads putting people off.

Ive installed AdBlock now - I dislike doing it but its now a readable site again.

Me too. The site was just getting unusable.

Yes this all explains alot.

I've had so much trouble posting. I'm constantly having to delete my text because it lags behind when I type and doesn't catch up properly. Every time I try and use the tool bar at the bottom or intact navigate the page at all I end up clicking on adverts. Especially the moving ones which suddenly just appear in what was a blank space and wasn't even there a second ago.

Please for the love of god sort it outs it's a joke

It's killing my battery too. Just writing the last posts and loading this page has made it drop 3 %

Oh my goodness, I wondered why the last few months I have been running out of mobile data a week or so before it renews where before that never used to happen. That is really annoying Mumsnet and impacts on me because I need to be able to check my email for work when out and about, and I can't if I have run out of data, or else I have to buy more. I shall not be looking at Mumsnet on my mobile again.

Lots of people will be accidentally clicking on them as they are so fucking huge. Cost per click advertising for UK people is on average 20p a click. That's thousands a week they must make from them.

That's true, but accidental clicking is going to lead to crap conversion rates and would still raise red flags for me.

The ads on Mumsnet are a problem, not just because they are annoying and using data but they cause genuine accessibility issues for people with disabilities, potentially excluding them from the website.
Fixing the ads is both a usability and accessibility issue.
1 - People with some cognitive disabilities struggle with moving objects on a page. The ads scrolling down as you scroll down, the videos and sound starting if the focus drifts to the side.
2 - Assistive technology like screen readers are very expensive, mobile devices have these built in in the form of TalkBack and VoiceOver as well as nagnification this is great because it means people can get online affordably, something that wasn't true 10 years ago when I started working in the accessibility field, but it means more people with disabilities are on touch screen devices and these ads and preventing them from viewing the site.
3 - The video ads auto starting also causes issues with grabbing focus as well as eating peoples data.

I don't come on here to advertise my services but if MNHQ want to send me a message I am happy to provide them with more information, alternatively I implore you to check out the WCAG 2.0 guidelines and the BBC mobile guidelines. Last week was Global Accessibility Awareness Day and there are some great YouTube videos getting promoted via twitter and the #GAAD that will give you an idea of what to look for

I've got adblocker for the sake of my sanity, so I just get blank pages instead

I'm rural and often work in remote places. I need my data in case of emergencies when out and about, so I had no choice but to download an adblocker for safety.

AmIAWeed, it's not my area but would accessibility problems also be a potential legal issue?

I just installed an ad blocker app.

Which apparently contains ads and in app purchases

How do I activate it on the mobile site?

Ive just downloaded adblock plus for android and its killed the ads on the mobile site

Hi Everyone,

Many thanks for all your comments, we do take them very seriously. We're sorry to hear that some of you are finding the ads we run intrusive and annoying.

Mumsnet is a free site so we do rely on revenue from advertising to keep the site up and running. Although a tricky path, we try our best to meet the needs of our ad partners while keeping our users' experience in mind. We aim to strike a balance to have ads that flow with the site, rather than allowing popups and ads which take up the whole page.

Some of you have mentioned the vertical ad on the mobile site is a particular issue, we have that capped at 1 per day, so by refreshing the page the ad will not re-appear for the next 24 hours. The most effective way to deal with the ad in the middle of the threads its to scroll past it.

We hope this helps

EmpressOfTheSpartacusOceans The short answer is yes, not making your website accessible goes against The Equality Act and does leave a company open to someone taking a case against them.
In reality, the UK doesn't have a test case - no individual has taken a company all the way to court, most prefer to settle. The RNIB did get close to taking a certain flight provider to court, but the company dissolved prior to court action - for multiple reasons not just the impending court case! Disabled employees have succeeded in taking employers to court for inaccessible software systems that prevent them doing their job - but that comes under employment law so can't be used as a test case.
In the states it's a very different story and suing companies for being inaccessible is much more common.
For me though it isn't just about the risk of legal action, there are 12 million disabled people in the UK, a recent study by the Clickawaypound showed just 10% of people complain about inaccessible websites, so that's 90% of people who find they can't use a website and go elsewhere, because they don't complain many businesses assume without checking that there are no issues. The same study believes the spending power of these click away people is £12 billion. (There are 12 million disabled people within the uk, so averages out £1,000 per person) From a business point of view it's bonkers to ignore this group of customers, you're essentially saying their money and value is worth less than none disabled people and any company with that attitude is not one I want to use. Lets face it, none of us knows when we may be injured and either become permanently or temporarily disabled so this is an issue for everyone.
So yes, whilst technically a company must make reasonable adjustments and ensure disabled people are not excluded this is very much a 'stick' option and doesn't necessarily get the best out of people, we have some amazing customers who implement accessibility because they genuinely believe in it, then others who 'have' to do it and the difference is clear - they look for reasons as to why something isn't a 'reasonable adjustment' and can be really obstructive.
I prefer the 'carrot' and show people what they could gain by making changes, which is increased usability, increase in potential customers and quicker cleaner pages - many accessibility features also support SEO so the benefits are far reaching

Thanks Weed, that makes a lot of sense.