Whats up with the Advertisements?

Feel free to get outside the box here.
AcousticAl
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Wed Nov 18, 2009 9:55 am

On a side note, I actually find it amusing where advertisers try to get their message across to 'Joe Public'. The last time I took a flight back from a job in the States, I ordered a coke. I dropped down the serving tray that's attached to the seat in front of me-- and there was the Verizon Guy staring at me!! I thought it was clever for them to think of putting an ad there, as you are truly a captive audience.

It didn't stop me from putting a mustache and beard on that annoying dude, though!!!

:evil:


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Music Junkie
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Wed Nov 18, 2009 10:48 am

Advertisement is everywhere these days. I get that it pays the bills, or at least helps to do so. Just hope it does not get overwhelming. Would be a shame.....

Hopefully it stays on the free side....


NKenny
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Wed Nov 18, 2009 11:09 am

I agree Al, I have no problem with advertising on the forum. That way non target members are in a way helping pay for the site if they use the advertisers. Maybe would feel different if it showed up on the Target members lessons to much.
Although I guess it already did , there is amazon to buy albums there. So I guess it doesn't bother me at all. Every one has the right to make money. No one is forcing anyone to stay if you do not want to. I have been here from the start and hope to be for a long time. Neil is the best teacher and TG and staff, I think want to make this the best guitar site possible.



Kenny


Catman
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Wed Nov 18, 2009 11:21 am

NKenny wrote:
I agree Al, I have no problem with advertising on the forum. That way non target members are in a way helping pay for the site if they use the advertisers. Would feel different if it showed up on the Target members lessons.

Kenny
I must say that I Totally Agree[sup]TM[/sup] :)
David


willem
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Wed Nov 18, 2009 11:50 am

heyjoe wrote:
We see adverts everywhere else is life, why should this site be any different?
Because we pay for the site directly with membership fees, and non-trivial ones at that. I consistently give money to TG and to my local public radio station for the same reasons: better content, no (need for) ads as it is membership supported.

To elaborate just a bit, I joined TG primarily for two reasons:

1) Clearly, the instruction is better than any other site I've found. I don't see any reason why this would change with the addition of ads to the site, esp if its just the forum that gets the ad space.

2) It is membership based, which insulates this site from becoming yet another site where real substance is marginalized by overflowing ad content everywhere. Whether or not this happens remains to be seen.

So, I'm not a fan of the addition of the ads. If its a fiscal requirement to keep the site afloat, so be it -- as long as the 2 reasons I joined don't suffer. But, to use the jargon of the ad biz (the company I work for, among other things, delivers on-line ad content -- luckily not my job directly), if its just monetizing a loyal membership base by selling targeted ad impressions -- boo hiss.

My 2 cents.


suziko
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Wed Nov 18, 2009 12:12 pm

Just want to say that I am in agreement with FJVDB. I am NOT in support of advertisements on TG and hope that, if they're here to stay, we could have an explanation from the Powers-That-Be as to why the ads are now here.


BigBear
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Wed Nov 18, 2009 12:21 pm

Folks, you could see this one coming from miles away. And I'll bet you a beer that Matt and crew know this move won't be well received and this thread is providing part of the feedback they want.

This is called leverage. The TG group has developed a successful product and now they want to leverage that success for increased profitability. I doubt any of us begrudge them that.

A couple of observations:

1. There is an implied agreement that the TARGET program should be ad-free. This is consistant with other websites where if you pay-to-play there are no ads. All TARGET-only areas should be ad free. If you are a free user you get the full force of non-stop ads. Life's about choices I tell my kids.

2. The ads, as formatted now, take up way too much space. They need to be much more subtle.

3. For anyone that is really angry about the ads I suggest that we all keep our eye on the quality of instruction. If what Neil provides in either quality or quantity suffers than we have a legitimate complaint. This forum, bulletin boards, PM system etc. are really just the gravy although we all enjoy these areas.

So, bottom line, none of us like the ads, but all of us can live with them if they don't get out of hand and start dominating the site. But for us paying members we have a legitimate right to continue to demand the same high quality we are used to. Who knows, the TG boys may use some of the additional revenue to provide even more quality content.

Let's give them some lattitude to see how this change shakes out.

Cheers! :cheer:


rcsnydley
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Wed Nov 18, 2009 12:23 pm

dennisg wrote:
Al, you're probably right about TG not putting up ads for competing sites. But Matt made the point that he considers anything that pulls eyes away from TG to be competition. Again, I don't mind the ads. In fact, the ads are part of the reason I buy guitar mags.

- Dennis (in Seattle)
I have to say that I'm a bit confused also as I was part of the thread in which Matt made these comments.

I think perhaps clarification is needed. Is it anything that pulls eyes away from TG or just members posted things that pull eyes away from TG. And why are we afraid of eyes looking elsewhere, also, isn't competition good and healthy? I would venture to surmise that the eyes will always return to TG because of the quality of the site.

Ric


TGNesh
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Wed Nov 18, 2009 12:49 pm

BigBear wrote:
1. There is an implied agreement that the TARGET program should be ad-free. This is consistant with other websites where if you pay-to-play there are no ads. All TARGET-only areas should be ad free. If you are a free user you get the full force of non-stop ads. Life's about choices I tell my kids.
This can be done one better, actually -- TARGET members when logged in wouldn't need to (shouldn't have to?) see any ads anywhere, including on the Forum or in the TARGET only areas. Being a software engineer that develops very high volume, user-context driven web applications for a living, I know well that web sites have an opportunity to customize content in a way that public radio can't. While radio is necessarily the same on every radio that receives it, this needn't be the case for web pages, and in fact already isn't the case on this site. Those that pay, once logged in, can have their content customized so that they get not only premium access to certain areas but also so that individual page elements are/aren't delivered/enabled. Ads really only need to be delivered to the free loaders.

I encourage the TG crew to explore this option.

Another 2 cents. ;)


aitch
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Wed Nov 18, 2009 1:00 pm

fjvdb wrote:
This can be done one better, actually -- TARGET members when logged in wouldn't need to (shouldn't have to?) see any ads anywhere, including on the Forum or in the TARGET only areas. [snip]

I encourage the TG crew to explore this option.

Another 2 cents. ;)
+1 on this. This is what I was implying earlier. As a paying member, I shouldn't have to see the ads. Let the non-paying members deal with 'em.


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