These ads are hot garbage. These are the kind of ads you see on phishing, malware type sites.

For people reporting problematic adverts: I'll need the URL it leads to or the website name, so try and grab the link somehow so I can block it in adsense. Only so much I can do with a screenshot if it's not obvious where it leads to.

Again: if people need to use adblockers, go for it. You can also support via patreon, to ensure you never ever see an advert or sponsor and help fund a website you read regularly if you're able to do so.

Adverts for logged-out users are staying, they will not be removed, I need the funding. Plain and simple. And eventually they will be for all non-Patreon supporters. The adverts can be tweaked, and ridiculous adverts can be stopped if properly reported. I did say clearly in the OP I would be tweaking stuff.

Edit: I've been trying to restrict the size of those between the articles without luck, adsense kept overwriting my max-size and height css. So I've swapped them for a different type, which is much smaller. Should make it much nicer overall!

Last edited by Liam Dawe on 14 January 2024 at 11:53 am UTC

I get the need for ads but I'm not a fan of the bottom ad that needs to be actively hidden to get a good experience browsing the site, it's in the way and obstructive. The ads on the side and between articles are fine as ads go, they don't block content in the same way.

I think removing the ones on the bottom of the page would make it feel a lot less ad infested, feels a bit to much with them.

I checked the ads on mobile while logged out and at least on mobile it's not too bad. Ads are about the size of a content block, which is pretty standard and I didn't see any inappropriate ads, which is great.

The only ad that was a bit annoying is the one attached to the bottom of your screen. Yeah, it can be minimized, but it takes up permanent screen real estate.

Quoting: TevrenThe only ad that was a bit annoying is the one attached to the bottom of your screen. Yeah, it can be minimized, but it takes up permanent screen real estate.

That one I agree and should now be disabled.

Keep it clean and argument free in here please. Comments that look like they will cause arguments, or comments just overly complaining without providing any useful feedback will just be removed. Please keep this very specific to the adverts and read the OP.

Looks like the ads are square and the content blocks are square, which means one ad would have to be the same size as the content. An alternative could be to cut the height in half, make it a rectangle and stuff two ads in it. That would maintain the square shape of the ad and reduce the size. Not sure if that's doable with the code of the site and the way the add stuff works. Personally I'm not bothered as much by the bottom ad as it doesn't interfere with the content as much and it can actually be hidden. I'd be happier with only the side and bottom ads, leave the content for content.

Quoting: Liam DaweFor people reporting problematic adverts: I'll need the URL it leads to or the website name, so try and grab the link somehow so I can block it in adsense. Only so much I can do with a screenshot if it's not obvious where it leads to.

Again: if people need to use adblockers, go for it. You can also support via patreon, to ensure you never ever see an advert or sponsor and help fund a website you read regularly if you're able to do so.

Adverts for logged-out users are staying, they will not be removed, I need the funding. Plain and simple. And eventually they will be for all non-Patreon supporters. The adverts can be tweaked, and ridiculous adverts can be stopped if properly reported. I did say clearly in the OP I would be tweaking stuff.

Edit: I've been trying to restrict the size of those between the articles without luck, adsense kept overwriting my max-size and height css. So I've swapped them for a different type, which is much smaller. Should make it much nicer overall!

Last edited by m2mg2 on 14 January 2024 at 6:26 pm UTC

I guess the content blocks are different sizes on desktop and mobile. The ads on both for me are still the same size as the content blocks.

It may be that adsense tries to force ads to be the same size as the content for the same reason I don't like it.

Quoting: Liam DaweFor people reporting problematic adverts: I'll need the URL it leads to or the website name, so try and grab the link somehow so I can block it in adsense. Only so much I can do with a screenshot if it's not obvious where it leads to.

Again: if people need to use adblockers, go for it. You can also support via patreon, to ensure you never ever see an advert or sponsor and help fund a website you read regularly if you're able to do so.

Adverts for logged-out users are staying, they will not be removed, I need the funding. Plain and simple. And eventually they will be for all non-Patreon supporters. The adverts can be tweaked, and ridiculous adverts can be stopped if properly reported. I did say clearly in the OP I would be tweaking stuff.

Edit: I've been trying to restrict the size of those between the articles without luck, adsense kept overwriting my max-size and height css. So I've swapped them for a different type, which is much smaller. Should make it much nicer overall!

Last edited by m2mg2 on 14 January 2024 at 6:35 pm UTC

The current size is much smaller than it was earlier today, and personally I am happy with them now so they will be sticking for the rest of the month. Any smaller and they become a bit pointless for the test, and they need to run a while to see how they do before changing to any other format.

The non mobile ads are smaller because the content is smaller. But it is still better as now it looks like total ad space can only hit around 30ish percent of the screen as opposed to 80-90 percent. That is a big improvement.

It's still about 50 percent screen space can occupied by ads on mobile, at least that's what I'm seeing.

Quoting: Liam DaweThe current size is much smaller than it was earlier today, and personally I am happy with them now so they will be sticking for the rest of the month. Any smaller and they become a bit pointless for the test, and they need to run a while to see how they do before changing to any other format.

Last edited by m2mg2 on 14 January 2024 at 6:48 pm UTC

Quoting: emphyBlocking all those ads, but I've now added the gol's gog affiliate link in firefox and set it so that if I enter gog in the address bar it'll use that link by default.

As I understand such things, that should give a tidy contribution.

Firefox user and idiot here, how does one do this?
Would love to do that for Humble and Fanatical in particular. I always change humble to split most of the money between GOL and the charity, though have occasionally forgotten to use the affiliate links to do so.

Quoting: TurkeysteaksFirefox user and idiot here, how does one do this?
Would love to do that for Humble and Fanatical in particular. I always change humble to split most of the money between GOL and the charity, though have occasionally forgotten to use the affiliate links to do so.

I just bookmarked the links as found on the "Support Us" page, myself.

Quoting: Turkeysteaks

Quoting: emphyBlocking all those ads, but I've now added the gol's gog affiliate link in firefox and set it so that if I enter gog in the address bar it'll use that link by default.

As I understand such things, that should give a tidy contribution.

Firefox user and idiot here, how does one do this?
Would love to do that for Humble and Fanatical in particular. I always change humble to split most of the money between GOL and the charity, though have occasionally forgotten to use the affiliate links to do so.

First, one bookmarks the affiliate link from the Support us page.

Then, in bookmarks -> manage bookmarks

search for the just-created bookmark, set keyword of said bookmark to, for example, gog. From then on, if you enter gog in the address bar, it'll go to the affiliate link. Take care that if you type gog.com it'll go to the plain website without affiliate code.

Last edited by emphy on 16 January 2024 at 8:56 am UTC

Just added "Religion" to the entire category ban list on adverts, likely one of the biggest ones to have bad adverts in. Also added some padding to some of them at the bottom so they don't sit directly on top of content.

As an update on this: it will continue only for logged out users during February. I am aiming for March for all non-Patreon supporters. As I want a full month of seeing how the current positioning of the ad units does as they were tweaked so often during this month it’s difficult to gauge how they will do - so another month extra to keep an eye on it before the full rollout.

Last edited by Liam Dawe on 26 January 2024 at 8:30 pm UTC

The ads seem better overall now, in my opinion. I finally also found out how to enable them in my primary browser. Turns out, instead of just disabling ublock for the site, I also have to disable librewolf's (firefox) tracking protection feature.

Anyway, once enabled, it should certainly aid in me in becoming Mr. Muscles, like a proper nerd. Oh yeah!



Although, it's fashion choices are questionable at best.

(Thought I'd share, because I found that particular ad quite amusing.)

Quoting: BlackBloodRumAlthough, it's fashion choices are questionable at best.

(Thought I'd share, because I found that particular ad quite amusing.)

And how are you meant to wear those jackets after getting all those muscles, anyway?

Quoting: Liam DaweAs an update on this: it will continue only for logged out users during February. I am aiming for March for all non-Patreon supporters. As I want a full month of seeing how the current positioning of the ad units does as they were tweaked so often during this month it’s difficult to gauge how they will do - so another month extra to keep an eye on it before the full rollout.

I visited the web today from a work computer (macOS and Chrome browser), not being logged in and without any adblockers, etc and in the places where the adverts would be, only one would show, and in the other spaces only a blank space leaving a weird spacing between the articles.

Not sure if a bug, but wanted to flag :)

Last edited by Arehandoro on 7 February 2024 at 5:38 pm UTC

Quoting: Pengling

Quoting: BlackBloodRumAlthough, it's fashion choices are questionable at best.

(Thought I'd share, because I found that particular ad quite amusing.)

And how are you meant to wear those jackets after getting all those muscles, anyway?

Brute force fixes everything.
The extra muscles will be useful for it.

Quoting: LoudTechie

Quoting: Pengling

Quoting: BlackBloodRumAlthough, it's fashion choices are questionable at best.

(Thought I'd share, because I found that particular ad quite amusing.)

And how are you meant to wear those jackets after getting all those muscles, anyway?

Brute force fixes everything.
The extra muscles will be useful for it.

You might bruteforce your way into them, but then how do you get back out?

PS: I'm totally sticking a "kick me sign" on your back, between your shoulders when you nerds become Mr. Muscles, you won't be able to reach it to get it off