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John Lithgow on screen is good, John Lithgow on Stage is better. I got to see him in all My Sons with Diane Weist, Patrick Wilson, and shudder Katie Holmes.
Enough Theatre talk. One of the reasons why I stopped going to CNET was they went full in on some stuff, to the point there were CNET made videos about devices for pleasure. I dont expect that here on this site but I wanted to mention it that sometimes sites push boundaries.
For the love of god I do not want to see flying eyes, ruroc, and Cardo being pushed on the Autopian.
Diane Weist and John Lithgow! What a dream!
The goal is to not push boundaries. In an ideal world, we’d have so many members that ads would only appear for non-members. I’d love to get there at some point.
I don’t know about other people, but I’d pay more for an ad-free experience.
Don’t worry, we’ll shill only the best with RAID SHADOW LEGENDS and FACTOR!
(I’m kidding :D)
dont forget bluechews. It’s funny watching Mark Calloway try to sell Bluechews but not admitting he needs them.
Man, the scroll past ads are the worst.
Also, even at $80 a year I really would appreciate about 1/8 the ads I have.
Part of the problem is your login system. I seem to have to pick one device to stay logged in on, so I choose my phone. The ads are way more obnoxious on the small screen and then they can also crash the page. If I could log in on my work browser without getting logged out on my phone I would engage on desktop a lot more.
Is there any way you can set it to only be car/motorcycle and adjacent ads? It’s the most relevant and the most likely to get any real traction with the subset of population we have here.
Knowing the general savvy and intellectual slant of the readership, I gotta imagine intentional clicks on the insane bullshit ads are pretty low. Just put stuff in front of us we might actually be tempted by and it will be much more worthwhile.
Even with the current villany of the internet you can take back more control.
Interesting. I can stay logged in on my home PC, work PC, and phone simultaneously. Using Firefox in case that makes a difference.
Same with Chrome. The only real issue was getting my personal email open on my work PC.
Second hating the ads that take up the full screen on mobile and seem designed for accidental clicks being THE WORST.
Limiting to car-stuff-only ads is appealing, but I imagine that would be such a huge hit to profitability that it’s not feasible…
The scroll over ads have gotten better, the used to literally crash my tablet. Now they are just incredibly annoying because they cause the website to jump and it’s hard to linearly read the website. I have to scroll back and see if I missed a paragraph.
I use brave browser so I don’t see the ads. If my membership doesn’t cover the cost, please add an ad free tier and I’ll upgrade.
Seconded.
Same. Ran Vivaldi for a while with the same experience.
Honestly didn’t know that subscribers still got ads. Happy to upgrade as well if it’s technically feasible to have an ad-free tier.
I’m fine with the way you’re doing things now, except now I’m wondering if the Ukranian brides are into cars…
…or if the same guys who run it’ll ship old Zaporozhets. Jason doesn’t seem to have one…yet…
Honestly, I’d go further. Drugs & Supplements as well as Get Rich Quick don’t seem like lovely categories to me.
I think y’all are being prudent.
The only criticism I have for the ads is that occasionally I get a Jackery ad that is so wide it blocks the texts of the article, and that’s with my Velour membership. Usually I refresh until I get an ad that doesn’t block the text of the article.
I use a Jackery in my van. I mostly just do weekend/ quick trips so it’s well worth the compromises vs setting up an entire permanent electrical system.
Agreed, I like Jackery, however I also like being able to read Autopian Articles.
They don’t have to be mutually exclusively
Can you send me the URL next time you get that ad?
Will try to!
Not the Jackery ad but I got a converse ad that did the same thing:
https://cat.us5.us.criteo.com/delivery/ck.php?cppv=3&cpp=0WhM_eXd8KhyxkoX_jY5Ssb_aHB6KpPkN4JvSotv_7QW8Y7bdRukSEzDxbvvUNUtGLR_1i1KD-8b7Y_zZQH-5ueV5pwGbV1w5JtqFdgcSpT0DOX2Ovhf8kq_lrlZkH2bKOCn_OERBGguSWQTiQk36NLaznnPVX6m2tr0fIu9nJivbly3TgR2nBwmPjKm_WVdFCCrvd6as_55Ov3i9Xx7CfqsrOCQG1MszVxjoepy4_FzWtT6pPVeoYlqNM1gQX0aoerdiORrj7qHV8_KiFg8u652dgo1Z544UEXg8H-vu9AEmbjSwjcNSzbBrE6fbSxfz35wAUMcP920Sr2p0iThfVuXzXErcYgGTipdrCtUnvcPMyBwm_VcfEO8i2MqKOCn7jUFGFF9Np7f3KwPWN-wTdU2d7D16GAXQlK5EYzDcHMFmuFtS5DnRVJ1Eklpz8pS_G36EN6GEzGUdwfT3Iojnpxnjgv4PwLp5WZmY5F0dG8hYULXrKMrvi5oZJCUDRa583Thv01y6512AgLYrTRc-HV3YB7XaFYWc3V1BB2r07OaZ1shhhOrtM4eRhXVKs5I8CDO7IVg9JpU54dgp8R_bKOeClAIwoflGibJT3ZieCd0WadZ2HzfrTdy70r3lXVAMfqWlr4bm31bxElHOXadCQnSmDU_E6WgjALtom9gnhIf1YhCAOgIj86iF7QTCL5-Z_6tsQ&maxdest=https%3A%2F%2Fad.doubleclick.net%2Fddm%2Fclk%2F593778598%3B401778523%3Bh%3B%3Fhttp%3A%2F%2Fwww.converse.com%2F%3Fcp%3DDSP_PRF_RTG_NA_Criteo_DYNAMIC_EVERGREEN%26cto_pld%3D6W_wbi8qAAABVYnb_DgFnw
Weirdly, I’m seeing two “Chumba Casino” ads on this very story.
Same here oddly enough.
I just got “Chumba Casino” and “Moozi” slots back to back on this very article!
Is there an ad-free subscriber tier? I can’t quite tell based on the descriptions.
If there isn’t, I would be willing to pay for one.
Ads detract from the experience, period.
I just bought an Apple TV 4K because Roku started playing video ads on the Home Screen.
I will go to lengths to avoid ads.
This, 100%.
I have a discussion with our membership tech provider this week and I’m going to ask this. Right now, it’s both a technical and a financial issue.
Can’t help with the technical issue, but on the financial side, how about a no-ad add-on that charges us double what the current per-member ad revenue is?
Financially, you earn more from people who pay for an ad-free tier than from those who avoid ads the other two ways (through ad blockers, and—see my anecdote about Roku above—through straight avoidance).
We can call this level “Hyperscreen”
I’m just here for the drugs and porn.
I think all political ads would be welcome to stay away. I am sick of everyone, red or blue. But I would love to know the movers and shakers in the gambling buttplug utility world.
The real money is in selling batteries to those movers and shakers.
Reminds me of something a professor I had said. The good business isn’t in mining, but selling the equipment to the miners.
Said in a whisper…”_batteries_”
That’s how Levi Strauss got his start.
I am sometimes a mover and shaker.
When my dildo is set to “11”
“as many phone calls as the guy gets you think he’d turn his phone off vibrate, but whatever”
I’m an equal opportunity ad ignorer. Put whatever you want up there, my eyes will go right past it.
Same. Some do make me laugh, though.
Same same. I’m an equal opportunity mocker as well.
Did you guys change the settings? I just saw an ad for Chumba Casino.
No interest in gambling, but if you keep political ads off the site, that’s all I care about.
Also, there are some ads that require you to ‘scroll past’, and take up the whole page. I have to hit them with a “running start” or I get stuck on them for a while.
I bet Chumba Casino tries to sneak by as a game rather than gambling. I’ll notify Matt.
The scroll past ads that take up the whole screen on mobile have been a bit intrusive lately, if I’m being honest.
I appreciate the blocks you guys have but I should mention that more than once I’ve been reading an article and the page will suddenly redirect me to some spam site. I’m never sure which ad it is behaving badly though so I haven’t reported it.
I’ve been having this issue for about a week as well.
my page is constantly blocked by full page bullshit T mobile ads every damn day…not a good look guys.
You can still scroll past it. I had the same issue
Same here. It’s a fake “Verify you’re not a robot” thing.
Sorry about that! Do you have a URL? If you can snag the URL of that ad (you don’t have to click it) I can block it.
https://tnmc6xr71o.sbs/?es9es9kh=U2FsdGVkX1%2FYcTfPL32Cfk6beXJQkG7vn%2BkPiHVPCrFhZYUB2jp2RRG9kDMRdgcPRBJd8UTTQ91bPvhyIoXMQLh639veGcb1QCNLby3WoGiRctgatYsazDJFByBcRi5lUyL9Y745ux%2Bwuhh2m%2FVVTZ45S%2B1uPJjUMdOXBnAfsabU%2ByL3LOzqwjGn0TU82f9%2F9evgN0eh5X5fL3qoW03TKZ3UbFlvmV35R9%2BciYn4K9t4NxS9UbXHY5kZdcUnEHM6hbGYG3Zju%2BIrRUZ%2BCUpNlg%3D%3D
Here it is… just popped up. It’s a fake McAfee thing?
Wow that’s terrible! I was musing in an earlier comment about how these kinds of ads pretty much guarantee malware will be served to your users over a long enough timescale. Sounds like it’s already happened!
I find it funny you allow ads for politics but not for sex. Either way we are getting screwed.
I think you guys do a good job managing the ads. I would prefer seeing more different ones than the same ones 3 times in a story. I mean I look at them and if needed would buy one. If you are going to do the Ukraine brides can we get the pictures before we enter all our information? Asking for a friend of course.
I don’t think you guys are prudes.
Why, just earlier today you featured a topshot that said something about Peeland. Not my thing but it seems you were pretty open-minded about it.
These “programmatic” ads are, of course, one of the top justifications for ad blockers.
It’s only a matter of time until a site that uses this technique serves up malware since even the site owners don’t know what’s being shown. It happened to Forbes famously.
Yes, please enable the ads with references to sex. I still haven’t found a penis enlargement pill that works and I need more suggestions. If I don’t find one soon, I may have to buy a Corvette, and I hate white shoes and plaid shorts.
And white belt
Belt and shoes gotta match, bruh
Can we trade sex for politics?
I’ll take “Sex over Politics” for $1000, Alex.
I mean, either way you’re still getting screwed.
You have it correct.
I’m with Torch at the end their, they need husbands! You’re denying them a valuable resource!
Yeah they need husbands, but from this crowd? Haven’t they suffered enough?
Get a free Trabant with every Russian bride!
This deal gets better every minute!
“I came to the US to get _away_ from obscure broken-down Eastern European cars!”
Wow, what an embarassing typo from this guy. It’s THERE, not THEIR.
I’d neither withdraw my support based on ad content nor increase my contribution to stave off the smut. I appreciate that you asked.
Username semi-checks out?
Jason, no-one wants a ‘pop-up’ butt-plug.Nevermind, forget I said anything.Wouldn’t be the first time a picture of a butt plug showed up on this site.
Introducing the new Butt Plug – by Toyota!
Oh what a feeling!
It’s a better name than bz4x
But think about it. On this site switching from metal butt plug to rubber butt plug is a good thing.
Not being an expert on butt plugs myself, I have to think that’s a good thing no matter what site you’re on.
Okay Steely Dan…
I’m imagining something like the button thing when you cook a turkey.
I don’t pay much attention to the ads, though I did notice a bunch of ads for Corvettes at Carmax after I was there looking at what a used C8 costs. Otherwise, the ad content doesn’t really matter to me. If I’m not interested in something, I just don’t click. I almost never click. I don’t know how many children frequent this site. Dildo ads could be an issue if there are any young ones, but I don’t think adults really care. Same with references to sex and dating. I have moral issues with casinos, but it wouldn’t make me feel negative toward the site. Advertising for all these things seems to be everywhere, so why not get your cut?
The gambling ads are something I struggle with all the time.
Part of me wants to set up a website for addicts, liberally slather it with those ads, and then use the revenue to pay for folks’ treatment. I’m not sure whether you’d have a net-positive or net-negative impact, but the saturation of that industry is absolutely insane.
Sounds like we both watched John Oliver this week.
Really good podcast I was listening to for the past few weeks: https://www.wgbh.org/podcasts/scratch-win
I too think the pop up virus ads are worse than dildos, but I prefer neither!
Two things. First is that Footloose does not hold up, but it is peak 80’s. Second, as a neighbor in my work complex is Ukrainian I can say the women don’t ever look like what is displayed in those ads. I think the ads would be OK if they had the disclaimer of “your results may vary”.
It’d be nice if the filter was more granular, like are social casinos like Harrah’s blocked? Or more like gaming apps that ruin families? Not that Harrah’s can’t also ruin families. Even if it’s all of that still should be fine, every other youtube ad I get is for stupid pay to win games anyways.
I will say some of those if not all may get the site blocked from corporate filters for people perusing at work so may actually cost traffic.
I hadn’t thought of the filters since I never use my work computer for personal things, but a lot of people do, so that’s a good point.
Yeah if they open things up I might never be able to be on here.
What I meant to say was, of course I’m not on Autopian at work.
If I can’t read TMD while I eat my lunch I will be very upset. This has been my routine for years now.