Request about ad placement

[Cinnamin Draconna]

I know we have to have ads.. but do they have to be on every page of the site?

 

My computer is old and slow, and some cave pages are time sensitive; specifically the biome pages and the abandoned page. Would/Could it be possible to NOT place ads on those 7 pages?

 

I'm already at a disadvantage when trying to catch eggs.. sometimes I don't even get to see the eggs on the 5 min refreshes, because my computer gets stuck loading the subscription ad. And by the time the page finishes loading, whatever eggs were there are gone already. This is especially problematical during a new release.. there are so many players trying to catch new eggs all at once, that any little delay (like the subscription ad trying to load) makes it impossible for me to catch the new egg unless I wait to the top of the hour drop and hope I get lucky.

 

And yes, I'm using an ad blocker and flash blocker, because most ads these days use flash.. but maybe not for the reasons that most folk use them. I MUST use the flash blocker because of my operating system.. I can no longer update my flash version because the newer versions are no longer compatible with my operating system, which is also no longer updateable or supported by MS. I can not afford a new computer because I'm disabled and unable to work.. so until my friend decides that he is willing to pay for a new computer, I'm stuck with what I have.. and what I have is slowly dying (multiple blue screens on a daily basis). So I ask.. Please make it easier on my antique system and stop putting ads on the biome pages and the abandoned page.

[Fuzzbucket]

I feel for you - but one tiny suggestion, if your browser allows it - when hunting, go for view > no page style. It's very easy on Firefox, at least.

[HeatherMarie]

Hmm. I'd love for TJ to weigh in on this because I remember him saying multiple times in the past that the ads don't load until after the egg images. I wonder if that changed. `I completely understand how difficult it can be to play on DC with a crappy computer... Mine is currently taking a good 2-plus minutes to load anything. But the biomes and AP are where the majority of users spend the majority of their time, which means it's also where the majority of the ad revenue comes from. So... I'm a bit concerned it would take too much away from the site if those places were ad-free.

[Fuzzbucket]

In the days when I allowed ads, if you clicked on an egg, nothing happened till the ads were all loaded.

[TJ09]

https://youtu.be/Cs83z-KuLKU

 

I just tested on a dial-up-speed connection and the page loaded in a reasonable amount of time but the ads took forever. They did not block the page. This was on FF.

 

As for the main post, given that a. the above video shows that ads shouldn't affect page loading and b. there's already a solution for removing ads, I don't think this is particularly necessary.

[Cinnamin Draconna]

I'm using FF 50.1.0.. I don't think that's the latest version tho.. pretty sure I had to stop updating that too. My system is pretty much crippled because all my software is out of date. And I'm sorry, but I can NOT do anything about it, because I have no income. I'm lucky to still be online at all and able to play some things. There are some sites which I can't even load anymore. For the most part I can still use sites that I can block the flash on them.. pretty sure I won't be able to use YouTube for much longer and the sites where I watch TV are already tempremental.

 

I don't know enough about coding to make my explanation any clearer.. so all I know is that my computer doesn't like the subscription ads and trying to refresh is a PITA because of them.

[Alrexwolf]

There is honestly only so much TJ - or any site owner - can do in situations where someone admits their hardware is grossly out of date.

 

Unfortunately, technology is increasing so quickly these days, which makes it even harder... we are very fortunate there are so few ads and that they are non-invasive. We are very fortunate that there isn't an entire set of pay-only dragons. That Dragcave runs on paying to remove ads, ads, and donations.

 

Most people spend time hunting - can you imagine the drop in ad revenue that would result from removing them from the pages where people are most active? Other than the forums, of course...

 

I am fortunate to have a decent computer and fast internet - perhaps that skews my perspective. But from my POV, unless it is impacting a serious number of users, something that will cause a hit to revenue for a site that has no pay walls for content is a bad idea.

 

I mean... basically to take the ads off the most visited pages, something would have to make up for it. What could be put in its place...? Pay only dragons? Potions of some sort that cost real life money? Then that means adding extra security, more accounting, possibly more money but still.

 

Most users who play dragcave, from what I've seen, are against any sort of paid content. To turn off such a large portion of the userbase for a handful of people just wouldn't be a sound business decision.

[Fuzzbucket]

Cinn - if you are on FF of any vintage, the view > no page style solution WILL make it possible for you to hunt. (I'm using XP on one machine, and it works great.)