Why has this forum turned into ad world?

[Jack H]

I am sorry to see ECF turn into nothing much more than an advertising space. Venders have really gone off the deep end and I am just about ready to move on. This should not be a place to promote, but should be a discussion and vape education forum.


Any thoughts?

 

[Asbestos4004]

Yep, I have a thought....It takes money to provide such a place. If you don't like it and it makes you mad enough to move on, either move on or make a gigantic donation so they don't need the advertising revenue. Or, you could do what I do, scroll past the ads.

 

[stols001]

I will merely state that I'm not a big fan of venders requiring "gleam" and the willingness to smear their product and advertising all over social media to enter a contest.... That is a trend I don't much appreciate although I guess I understand WHY they do it.

I will also admit that there are a few "approved" vendors on ECF that I don't understand why they are when looking at customer complaints and I do sometimes wish that there was more education and less just advertising. There is one vendor (forget who) who was publishing vaping "articles" and I thought that had some merit.

I still say the best reviewers of new products are ECF members actually using the equipment (JMO) and I will say that some vendors really do offer worthwhile sales and advertising them a bit is reasonable.... but can get excessive at times. I don't have to read it, though.... And sometimes I do, and get a great deal from a vendor, most certainly.

Again, just my thoughts I don't get ads all over the place, but that's why I'm a supporting member (among other reasons) but it's a nice side benefit, and YES this forum DOES take money to run and YES a certain amount of advertising (even in threads) is going to/needs to take place for the site to function.

Anna

 

[Letitia]

I came to the conclusion that 24.00 is a pittance to pay for a years worth of knowledge and entertainment ad free.
Worth every penny.

 

[ppeeble]

My biggest problem with the ads ?
I live in the UK so the the products and deals are (mainly) unavailable to me.
Ignoring them is second nature and not terribly hard to do.

 

[Eskie]

It's called revenue. Let's be honest, this site is to big and requires serious bandwidth and load balanced servers to run. That's not cheap, and hardly something I would expect a person to pay for on their own as a hobby. It's the same problem faced by essentially everyone online, how do you monetize your site to pay your bills, other than maybe a personal blog on something like blogspot.

 

[mattiem]

One must realize how big this forum is and then they will understand that it takes cash to keep it running. Maybe the ads wouldn't be as necessary if every member could be a supporting member. I am ashamed to admit that I personally enjoyed almost 5 years here before I became a supporting member. I am kinda ashamed of myself for that fact.

 

[rob33]

Come on, we got to keep the lights on.

 

[smacuser]

 

[sonicbomb]

Things cost money

 

[Doctorvapes]

The ads don't really bother me, I just scroll past them or sometimes check them out if they are intriguing. No big deal.

 

[r77r7r]

 

[HauntedMyst]

I go through the effort to come here every day and happily wade through a sea of ads to leave my pithy insights and witty imbecilisms for the hordes of people who follow me (Its actually just 2 or 3 people but I have dreams of that number growing). And I do it without complaining or making demands. If I can do it, so can anyone.

 

[mattiem]

I go through the effort to come here every day and happily wade through a sea of ads to leave my pithy insights and witty imbecilisms for the hordes of people who follow me (Its actually just 2 or 3 people but I have dreams of that number growing). And I do it without complaining or making demands. If I can do it, so can anyone.

We followers of yours keep following along hoping to get our daily dose of giggles.
A day without giggles is a dull day indeed.

 

[CMD-Ky]

Supporting member, no ads, $2 per month and staffed by volunteers. A bargain any way you look at it.

 

[Letitia]

I didn't subscribe for some months thinking what's in it for me...took me awhile to realize that I was already reaping my reward just by joining. Great community here that I am grateful to have found. Just have to decide to look at it from another angle.

 

[440BB]

I'm trying to think of a vaping discussion and education forum which doesn't rely on ad revenue or vendor sponsorship to keep running...

I'm drawing a blank. Good luck finding one.

 

[Baditude]

I've been a member here since 2012. It's the largest forum for e-cigarettes and vaping in the world. There is a lot of traffic and a lot of information here. A lot of genuinely helpful people.. It's free to join this private forum. I understand it costs money to keep such a website running, and that usually means the need for advertising.

I used to be a supporting member here until I came under hard financial times. $24 a year actually isn't too bad to get rid of the ads and support a cause that you can believe in.

If the ads bother you that much, find another forum. I've tried to use Reddit a number of times but I personally hate the format and the trolls. The other forums have much slower traffic, less helpful info, and more trolls because moderation is less strict. I like it here on ECF, ads or no ads.

 

[Burnie]

Ads, what Ads, I don't see no Ads. Oh wait, I'm a Supporting member.

 

[Coastal Cowboy]

Twenty four bucks is a reasonable rate. We spend a lot more than that on stuff that won't last nearly as long as the knowledge gained.