Top bar advertising

[TalkinBoutWhat]

MN, PLEASE fix this advertising bar at the top of the computer screen.

It is so large, that I can't actually click on any of the MN links that are at the top of the page. (eg, active, I'm on, etc).

Right now, on Site Stuff, I can't even click 'Site Stuff' to get other threads in this section. It's hidden by the ad, which is NOT scrolling up and away the way I've seen others do. It's just sitting there. The ONLY threads I can get onto are the active ones on the right hand side of the screen, and only the ones lower down the list as the top ones are hidden by the Ad. (Experian and Marks and Spencers, are the two so far....)

You did this before, we all complained, you apologised and said it shouldn't have been loaded on as you were testing something new. I really hope this was a mistake, because it is IMPOSSIBLE to navigate the site.

if my friendship group is anything to go by, MN do actually need to take note. I am the only one left on MN of about 30.

Members of friendship group mutually agree to move to different site: hardly a novelty, and hardly an indicator that the rest of MN's users are planning to follow suit. It's pretty clear that MN is not going to collapse for the loss of 29 users, nor does Reddit realistically offer a decent alternative because it's a user-unfriendly platform.

Still happening. Getting annoyed now.

Hi everyone,

Thanks for all your feedback on this, we've passed all your concerns onto our tech team and they are doing all they can to help the situation. We totally get that you are horribly frustrated and it's really not what we like to hear.

We have an ongoing program looking at our accessibility which reviews and highlights where we can improve. We do hope you will bear with us.

I have been directed here from another thread. This is what I wrote there:

It's driving me crazy. Time for an ad blocker.

Thing is - I did occasionally click on an advert before, You know, before they annoyed the absolute fuck out of me by coming halfway down the page.

Fuck the fuck off. Mumsnet - seriously! This is counter productive. I am way less likely to be swayed by these adverts.

mumsnet has made a nice fat profit by extracting value from the interactions of those attracted to the site because it was busy and popular
but things change, the money spinning business model doesn't last for ever
vast swathes of the internet using public use adblockers because people hate adverts and now there's a way to block them
even if I had half a mind to whitelist this site I wouldnt because I cant be arsed, and after being accused of free riding and seeing the stupid keep the lights on pleading poverty message there's no way I'd ever whitelist mn
I'd black list them if I could because I'd like to punish them for taking the fucking piss

nor does Reddit realistically offer a decent alternative because it's a user-unfriendly platform

userfriendly is partly in the eye of the beholder. I now find this site unusable without an ad blocker having previously whitelisted. The accessibility issue is worsened by the ad implementation.

Reddit has had different incarnations over years some better than others but is (currently) much better on both ad management and access.

That said, technically Reddit is not really a fair comparison. Its much bigger and has been through many scaling up pains. Its a platform for a gazillion different use cases rather than focused around one theme.

There is a point in the growth of every community/cottage industry when processes and technology (and sometimes people) don’t scale and need radical change.

My guess is that is part of the current problems but you need to take your user base with you and avoid alienating it.

People will come and go over time - that is normal. This is my third incarnation here with biggish gaps. However if you lose the USP built in the original idea you risk losing the whole value case.

Ceto, I am hardly bigging myself up as the chief of some breakaway faction! But its not like my mates moved en masse, they just all drifted off to similar places, mainly random subfora on reddit.

MNs offering isnt new or particularly original anymore and the humour and irreverent side of it has been swallowed of by hordes of glittery huns trolls and all the rest. It's really lost its way. People ARE leaving and you bet Justine know it.

I just think its a pity, really. i used to love this site so much. The attitude over the advertising has REALLY summed it up for me. Justine is no bettter than that RyanAir clown O'Leary....You can't treat people with contempt forever.

I haven't had an ad blocker for about 2 years. Kept checking on MN site over the last few days, and the continuing problems with the banner advert had not been fixed and have been annoying me more and more. Just installed an ad blocker, and it has made MN usable again.
And I never cared about the adverts on the right hand side, but the banner one was just awful.
If it gets fixed, I will remove my adblocker, but before installing it I was very close to deregistering

And the site is loading much faster now

I dunno about O'leary, I think Justine is channeling Gerald Ratner

oh for christ's sake, this is a free site and millions of us use and and have gained loads from it, so there's a few advertising problems, so bloody what? give them a chance to fix it and stop being so bloody pompous, comparing Justone to the Ryanair boss...do you know what, if its that bad here bugger off and get your kicks elsewhere.

What about my point re hacking and the points made that if you start to charge you’ll really need staff on duty 24/7?

I wonder what this premium membership will look like?

ssd Most commercial services would kill for free user feedback like this.

Premium membership = Heathers

I just cant be bothered any more. I typed a long post then thought fuck it. Mumsnet don't care about us so why should I help them.

Been on mumsnet for years.

Mnhq is like the honeybadger. Honeybadger making millions and don't give a shit!

SandyMumsnet (MNHQ)
Thanks for all your feedback on this, we've passed all your concerns onto our tech team and they are doing all they can to help the situation. We totally get that you are horribly frustrated and it's really not what we like to hear.

We have an ongoing program looking at our accessibility which reviews and highlights where we can improve. We do hope you will bear with us.

But according to Justine's post on 2nd page, at 16.01.50: www.mumsnet.com/Talk/site_stuff/3067667-Top-bar-advertising?pg=2 it's working as intended as 'the advertisers are insisting that the ads stay on screen for at least 5 seconds even when you scroll.'

Dear MNHQ - do you need to employ a better Dev Team or maybe buy some devices so you can test your code before you deploy it? If we are using Chrome which is the current version it isn't us. I could understand if it was an old device running on a elderly version of IE

With this level of complaints surely the issue has to be your set up or is this jut a ploy to get more revenue out of the advertisers.

I rarely use the desktop site now as the adverts are so bad. On my ipad the side banners swamp the forums.

What with this and the fact that you encourage the Daily Fail to use our posts to fill their rag, it may well be time to move on.

I've been here since 2004. MN hasn't changed, times have changed. MNHQ still care about the site users but they have a job to do and an income to earn, just like the rest of us. There's always been grumps and people getting pissed off, that's always been the case. All I can say is if you feel its time to move on, then move on. If you arent feeling like you get the same support and advice from this site, move on and hopefully get it from somewhere else. I still enjoy it here and I pop in regularly, sometimes the site is close, sometimes the adverts are all over the place, but amongst all that I usually find something to read and hopefully engage in. If you don't feel this is happening anymore, move on.

I just think its a bit rich using a free site for as long as posters have been using it then complain you dont feel cared for. Mn aren't here to care for you, they are here to provide a site you can use freely if you want. If you post something and it appears in a paper the next day, dont be surprised as papers will employ people to lift stories, so dont be naive in thinking it shows the site isn't protecting you, thats your responsibility, not theirs.

thats my take on it all, use it or fuck off, yours and my choice.

The site users are the product, they're the ones providing the content that MN can then monetise. So the users are more than entitled to complain if they want as far as I'm concerned.

The intrusive banner ads are irritating as fuck.

The site users are the product
No no get it right now!
the freeriding shoplifters are the product
You're not users on here, we are free riding shoplifters

I expect you feel grateful to Facebook don't you SSD for letting you use the free site?

god no I get nothing at all from facebook, but I don't go on fb and complain about it and slag off Mark Zuckerberg, I just don't use it.

ssd

Personally im not slagging mumsnet off

I dont care about the adverts

But the adverts were making the site unusable for me

Not in an 'ooooh annoying advert...so unusable' way...in a literal i cannot read or post anything way

It was about the 3/4th time it had happened and adblocker was the only thing that worked