Why has this forum turned into ad world?

[VHRB2014]

Because it is the human condition to monetize every----- damn------ thing.

I use ABPro. Not so much for this site, but for all the rest really.
Kind miffs me that they beg for me to turn it off with every visit, yet another advert, LOL.

Signs, signs, everywhere a sign
Blockin' out the scenery, breakin' my mind.

 

[ScottP]

Because it is the human condition to monetize every----- damn------ thing.

I use ABPro. Not so much for this site, but for all the rest really.
Kind miffs me that they beg for me to turn it off with every visit, yet another advert, LOL.

It's not so much monetizing as it is reimbursement. Servers, other networking hardware, HUGE bandwidth internet connections, and backup solutions all cost money. Should the guy that started this site pay all that out of his own pocket and get nothing in return? If he did, it would have gotten too expensive and he would have shut it down.

They could be like some other sites on the internet and completely block all access to content if you are running ABP.

 

[bobwho77]

Don't know why people complain so much about advertising.
Television worked that way for generations (still does for the most part)
That's how I learned to make two peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, pour a glass of milk, and carry it all back to the living room in under two minutes.

 

[Burnie]

Don't know why people complain so much about advertising.
Television worked that way for generations (still does for the most part)
That's how I learned to make two peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, pour a glass of milk, and carry it all back to the living room in under two minutes.

We just record everything we want to watch on the DVR, then skip thru the commercials when we watch it.

 

[jfcooley]

What ads?

 

[MrStik]

People have been seeing ads their whole entire lives and now whine and complain about it when it is on webpages.

People revere Superbowl ads as much as the game itself. .
Time Square NYC is nothing but an endless billboard of sponsors and advertisement.
Sports arenas and stadiums now bare the names of corporations.
Auto Racing and Soccer wear numerous sponsors.
American professional sports teams are plastered with advertisements.

That is just a small sample. It is an ad, it is not being invasive. Get over it.

 

[jfcooley]

What ads?!

 

[DaveP]

I just let PayPal treat it as an ongoing annual payment. Each year they pay ECF $24 and send me an email advising me that they did so. Easy Peasy. No ads and no fuss.

 

[stols001]

When ads were "standard" people just dealt with it (I still kind of miss some of my funny cable ads, but this has been replaced by no cable and network TV, we use this odd thing called an ANTENNA) and Tucson Network TV is just EPIC when it comes to ads. I think some of my favorites are the turn your gold into cash by Old Tom. He's terrifying...

With that said, we have Netflics and Hulu, and they don't have ads, but they are also premium services that we PAY for.

If you don't want ads, you'll need a certain amount of dough, and that has become the norm, and I'm actually not sure that in many cases it is worth it. I particularly detest "level" systems where you pay less for sitting through ads vs. not having them.

With that said, everything has been monetized these days and if the ads bother you that much, you do have options, even though in an ideal, utopian society perhaps there would be no ads. They do serve a function and a purpose in our current society however.... The internet is NOT what it used to be (an esoteric, interesting place that was teeming with activity from the nerd base, but like, the idea of posting pictures, doing anything other than straight posting to a particular site and etc., back when Pirate Bay was actually legal, even....) Those days are long gone and they will not be coming back. Advertisers are going to find a way to ferret you out and annoy you.... Because advertising works, the internet becomes more expensive as it gets more complicated.... Just be glad freedom of speech is still somewhat tolerated, if you ask me.... Because the "utopian" interesting future that I can dream up in my head is a bit scary, frankly.

Anna

 

[puffon]

There was a time when the advantage to paying for cable TV was no ads, compared to over-the-air TV.
I miss those days.
Now we pay extra to have a DVR, so we can hit the fast forward button 10 times, to skip the ads.

 

[Asbestos4004]

Please take a break in this thread and enjoy this ad...

 

[jfcooley]

While I will eventually get around to paying for a membership thingy, I really see no ads. Blocker for other sites that is too much of a pain to turn on/off reliably.

I'm always mobile so I block to save a little bandwidth before being throttled to hell (unlimited my ...).

I can more or less live with the static ads. I hate flashing or auto playing gifs/commercials.

 

[VHRB2014]

It's not so much monetizing as it is reimbursement.

With all due respect, Iv been on the net since the beginning. 30 years? Back then it was enough to be sharing the information, making friends, sharing idea`s. NO ONE even thought about revenue. It was never even a concern, it was about information exchange. If ever there was a topic worthy of such free 411, it is vaping.

And without doubt, the truth concerning this topic is somewhere in the middle. Money is nice, cost of operation is not as high some might think. I do not fault Oliver for turning something out of it, but I am no longer a every day poster either.

 

[smacuser]

There's always Wikipedia...

 

[Fidola13]

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?

I decided to become a Supporting Member so no ads. The main reason tho wasn’t the ads but from my appreciation of this vape forum and community!

 

[Eskie]

I kinda like the ads. How else would I have heard of a cheap juice vendor calling themselves Broke Dick and beat out the language filter here.

 

[retired1]

With all due respect, Iv been on the net since the beginning. 30 years? Back then it was enough to be sharing the information, making friends, sharing idea`s. NO ONE even thought about revenue. It was never even a concern, it was about information exchange. If ever there was a topic worthy of such free 411, it is vaping.

And without doubt, the truth concerning this topic is somewhere in the middle. Money is nice, cost of operation is not as high some might think. I do not fault Oliver for turning something out of it, but I am no longer a every day poster either.

Not entirely true. Even in the early days, cost was a concern and the majority of sites were generally university servers that were funded/subsidized by the government. When sites like Geocities appeared to give you free websites, advertising was one of the ways they paid the bills to allow users to have that luxury.

Ads pay the bills here. And our costs not only include hardware, but also a programming team that allows us to provide the customization needed to give you this site. Oliver has had numerous generous offers for ECF. And each time he turned it down so he can continue to advocate vaping in today's world.