How Much Would You Pay Per Month To Remove Adverts From Ab?

[AB Editor]

Afternoon all!

We've been considering giving you the opportunity to remove adverts across the site with Google's new "contributor" option.

This would mean that if you wanted to remove ads, and continue to support the site in a small way, you could do so.

Obviously this wouldn't apply to everyone, but there's a few on here who might fancy removing adverts while still contributing to the continued existence of the site :)

Anyway, how much would you consider a reasonable price?

[sunny-dave]

I think £3 or £4 a month would be OK - as long as it was really, totally "ad free" - not just a nod in that direction whilst still serving some 'things that might interest you'.

I agree that (if that was done) AB would need to also block access from anyone using a third-party blocker.

Zacs has an interesting point about increased accountability to users if they are paying - a policy of "never explain, never apologise" for editorial actions is hard to justify when people are paying real money for a service.

Dave xx

[AB Editor]

Just to say - this would be a service mostly aimed at members, not those visitors who pop in and out from the Google results, so it would require general backing (in principal) from regulars like yourselves.

[Mamyalynne]

This is a question that crops up on many sites from time to time.


I agree with Pixie in that I probably wouldn't have joined in the first place had there been a fee, I also dislike the sites that won't let you even browse without registering first.


I am lucky that so far the adverts have caused me no technical problems but it is clear that for large numbers of members they have done. They do however cause me visual trouble but that is of course personal to me.

Sqad's point in equally valid there are some who give freely of their professional advice to others, to effectively charge them for doing so seems wrong.


To answer a straight question with a straight answer, if I had to choose a figure then maybe the earlier suggestion of £2-£3 a month would be a fair amount, but then I too am addicted.

[AB Editor]

I'd like to hear more opinions on SD and Zacs points - if you have them :)

[Mamyalynne]

ZM's point re suspensions/bannings are interesting too - although Site Rules are quite clear it is amazing how many people seem at an utter loss as to why their posts have been removed/censored or they themselves have been suspended etc.

So , yes if they were a paying member they would want to be told clearly why the incident had happened.

[AB Editor]

Again, this would only be a charge to remove the adverts, the site would be functionally the same. There'd be no barrier to use except for signing up as there is now.

There would be a new button somewhere which says "give us a couple of quid and we'll get rid of all these adverts". This would take you through a third party process (run by Google) which would process your payments and set a switch on our adslots to show as empty.

[gness]

Would I have paid to join to ask my first question?.....No, probably not so maybe a month or so free then decide whether or not to become a paid member?.....

For me it's like the beeb......I don't watch everything they offer....but I'm happy to pay for the bits I do use......

Folk like Barmaid, The Builder and Sqad do contribute far more than they probably get from the site.....all three have given me advice which has saved me hundreds of pounds......but that's perhaps just going to have to be how it is.......I think......unless Ed slips them the odd bottle on the side.....x

[retrocop]

Well if a fee was paid and a member was suspended, answer removed etc I feel it fair that an explanation be given and a right of appeal be entertained.
I know in the past we have been told the Ed staff are too busy but I have felt that sometimes my answer has often been misinterpreted and removed or a suspension ensues and a chance to explain is not allowed.

[retrocop]

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
I would pay up to £5 per month.

[mushroom25]

i use a company resource that runs internet explorer. i can't change this. the company policy is no adblocker, so i'm stuck with adverts. the adverts on AB are IN-YOUR-FACE. often they are badly written, they contain long running scripts, they keep crashing the page. in fact i've had to write this offline in word and cut 'n paste it, because the page seizes up before i can finish it and i cannot recover it. often i write a reply and several words get missed because the page temporarily freezes.

before you ask about ad-free subscriptions, is there no possibility of you trying to fix the site first? some days it can be utterly unusable.

[AB Editor]

Just to repeat, this would not be a fee to join the site. This would be an optional charge for removing the adverts.

:)

[AB Editor]

Which version of internet explorer Mushroom?

[jomifl]

When you consider what is available free on the web, I don't think a free AB is very good value, so I wouldn't pay for it.

[pixie374]

I can't see a problem if people are just paying to have adverts removed. Would they still be able to use free blockers instead though?

[cactusdriver]

As I've been reminded twice already, I've not been on here long - it's OK but if I were denied access for using an ad blocker or asked to pay I'd just abandon the site.

[mushroom25]

ie11

[AB Editor]

Thanks Mushroom, that should be supported and we've scheduled the time to improve performance for specifically.

[-SharonA-]

£2 to £3 a month, £24/£36 pounds per year, some may struggle to pay this.
If I had to pay this before I recently joined, I would not be here.

I would implore that this ongoing problem with the adverts be sorted if possible before taking money.

[Bazile]

Do people who use an Ad Blocker , do so because the ads cause problems for them OR because they just don't want to see the ads , even though they don't cause a problem

[AB Editor]

Bazile - could be either - or just habit.