Nuisance Adverts

[JoBalls]

1 hour ago, mr gumby said:

I've been getting sent automatically to the App Store to Ladbrokes and William Hill apps this morning. 

iPhone 4 on Safari

ios7.1.2

on Wifi

I'll also try to see which ads are on the page, and let you know. 

I'm having the same problem... iPhone 6 on Safari, iOS 9.2.1 on wifi. It's coming up every single time I click on to a new page of the forums. There are no other ads on the page.

[stuartbert two hats]

Going gold gets rid of the adverts and all problems with them.

Also, going here: http://www.efestivals.co.uk/forums/clients/donations/ helps keep the site alive. I've done both.

Edited March 16, 2016 by stuartbert two hats

[eFestivals]

34 minutes ago, cdm22 said:

Snap unfortunately. If I don't have adblocker on my home laptop my computer slows to a complete crawl and makes the place unusable.

and if this site doesn't pay its way, your use of this site will crawl right away never to be seen again.

[eFestivals]

37 minutes ago, Wooderson said:

Soz to hear that Neil. Any reason things are precarious? Increase in costs or fall off in traffic?

too many people using adblockers.

The costs are about the same (actually, far less cos would you like to know how much I'm [not] earning?).

The traffic if 50%+ more than this time last year.

The revenues are half what they were this time last year.

Adblocker use by people who think the world gives them everything for free.

Edited March 16, 2016 by eFestivals

[Wooderson]

Just now, eFestivals said:

too many people using adblockers.

The costs are about the same (actually, far less cos would you like to know how much I'm [not] earning?).

The traffic if 50%+ more than this time last year.

The revenues are half what they were this time last year.

Adblocker use by people who think the world gives them everything for free.

People need to...

[Wooderson]

Thats a mess about adblockers Mr G. Soz mate.

[eFestivals]

Just now, Wooderson said:

Thats a mess about adblockers Mr G. Soz mate.

not your fault.

I'm doing what I can ... efests is only here today because I've taken out the biggest loan I've ever taken out to keep it going in the hope things turn around ... but its now at about the point where efests survival could only be via another loan, and that ain't going to happen.

I realise these hijacking ads don't help, but the only way to guarantee there's none of them is by no ads at all - which is impossible to do if efests is to still be here at the end of this month.

[Wooderson]

Thats a disaster.

[stuartbert two hats]

7 minutes ago, eFestivals said:

not your fault.

I'm doing what I can ... efests is only here today because I've taken out the biggest loan I've ever taken out to keep it going in the hope things turn around ... but its now at about the point where efests survival could only be via another loan, and that ain't going to happen.

I realise these hijacking ads don't help, but the only way to guarantee there's none of them is by no ads at all - which is impossible to do if efests is to still be here at the end of this month.

Is there any way of getting the costs down?  There may be resources other than financial that some of the readers on here can help with?  Lots of us have bits of webspace that may be able to help out.  I've noticed that it's now much easier to upload images directly when posting - is that an extra cost that makes much difference?

I know you've given this more thought than any of us already and this forum + site has obviously been able to survive longer than the competition, but it might be possible that there's something we can do?  Are your costs mainly hosting, or is it more Scottie's time?

I'm not talking about trying to come up with clever business models that you've already considered, but actual concrete help to mitigate the running costs.  I don't think any of us want a re-run of the MacKeeper thread from 2014!

Buy some mugs people!

[eFestivals]

1 minute ago, stuartbert two hats said:

Is there any way of getting the costs down?  There may be resources other than financial that some of the readers on here can help with?  Lots of us have bits of webspace that may be able to help out.  I've noticed that it's now much easier to upload images directly when posting - is that an extra cost that makes much difference?

I know you've given this more thought than any of us already and this forum + site has obviously been able to survive longer than the competition, but it might be possible that there's something we can do?  Are your costs mainly hosting, or is it more Scottie's time?

I'm not talking about trying to come up with clever business models that you've already considered, but actual concrete help to mitigate the running costs.  I don't think any of us want a re-run of the MacKeeper thread from 2014!

Buy some mugs people!

the biggest costs by a long long shot are wages - even when I'm paying myself the very minimum I need to survive (and can't survive on that minimum for much longer).

I doubt there's anyone giving away free hosting of the big capacity that's needed here, tho it would help if someone could. Hosting is around 15% of turnover.

[stuartbert two hats]

Just now, eFestivals said:

the biggest costs by a long long shot are wages - even when I'm paying myself the very minimum I need to survive (and can't survive on that minimum for much longer).

I doubt there's anyone giving away free hosting of the big capacity that's needed here, tho it would help if someone could. Hosting is around 15% of turnover.

Are you able to divulge the numbers you're talking about?  Or are they commercially sensitive/private for some other reason?

[bigfurbdogg]

2 hours ago, bethannny said:

It varies between three:

1. Loads something starting ads.glispa then c.glispa then rd.glispa then the offerwall.monetise link (which gives me the game app page  

2. Loads the same ad.glispa then c.glispa sequence then the rd.glispa link (which gives me the content not available in your area page)

3. Loads something with tracking in the url, then 8330.api-03 then opens the App Store prompt, which takes me to the William Hill app. 

I've attached the screenshots I can get but they're speedy little buggers. 

I was getting exactly this about 12-1 last night.

[The Placid Casual]

How is revenue brought in from ads? From clickthroughs or?

[eFestivals]

Just now, stuartbert two hats said:

Are you able to divulge the numbers you're talking about?  Or are they commercially sensitive/private for some other reason?

I'm reluctant to go into too much detail because as a small company with low turnover and few costs it'd be too revealing about stuff such as Scottie's wages - which I'm not sure he'd want in the public domain.

However, last year his wages accounted for more than 50% of company turnover ... which i'm sure gives some idea of how other things which need paying sit.

[eFestivals]

12 minutes ago, The Placid Casual said:

How is revenue brought in from ads? From clickthroughs or?

it's a combination of pay-to-display and pay-for-clicks.

Please take notice of the ads, and click on any that might be of interest.

[stuartbert two hats]

1 minute ago, eFestivals said:

I'm reluctant to go into too much detail because as a small company with low turnover and few costs it'd be too revealing about stuff such as Scottie's wages - which I'm not sure he'd want in the public domain.

However, last year his wages accounted for more than 50% of company turnover ... which i'm sure gives some idea of how other things which need paying sit.

Oh of course, you wouldn't want to reveal that.  I meant in terms of bandwidth, storage + compute requirements.  That kind of thing.

[eFestivals]

3 minutes ago, stuartbert two hats said:

Oh of course, you wouldn't want to reveal that.  I meant in terms of bandwidth, storage + compute requirements.  That kind of thing.

I currently have 2 servers that are a better spec than the DS-4000's on this page, but also need extra capacity so am also using Amazon's s3 service (tho they keep mailing to say I need one of their better packages given the traffic). After June I'll be able to drop the s3 service for 6-ish months because of the lower load and save myself around £1k because of not using that.

It's not storage space which is the server issue, it's the ability to properly service the requests with server speed/ability. Ideally I need more powerful servers (probably 3 of the DS-8000's would do it) but they just can't be afforded.

[stuartbert two hats]

3 minutes ago, eFestivals said:

I currently have 2 servers that are a better spec than the DS-4000's on this page, but also need extra capacity so am also using Amazon's s3 service (tho they keep mailing to say I need one of their better packages given the traffic). After June I'll be able to drop the s3 service for 6-ish months because of the lower load and save myself around £1k because of not using that.

It's not storage space which is the server issue, it's the ability to properly service the requests with server speed/ability. Ideally I need more powerful servers (probably 3 of the DS-8000's would do it) but they just can't be afforded.

Ok, thanks.  Not low numbers. :-|

[eFestivals]

17 minutes ago, stuartbert two hats said:

Ok, thanks.  Not low numbers. :-|

definitely not ... well over 1M hits a day just on the main server.

[SwedgeAntilles]

Do the gold memberships help? 

[eFestivals]

1 minute ago, SwedgeAntilles said:

Do the gold memberships help? 

yep, they do, as they're a guaranteed income (because many of the ads are pay-per-click, the ad revenue isn't guaranteed).

 

[SwedgeAntilles]

4 minutes ago, eFestivals said:

yep, they do, as they're a guaranteed income (because many of the ads are pay-per-click, the ad revenue isn't guaranteed).

 

I'll look into it on payday. Given how much I'm on these days it's only fair! 

[A Guy Called Matt]

I have no idea if this is any help at all but this company is very cheap for hosting and their customer service is superb.

https://www.freevirtualservers.com/unlimited-web-hosting

[admscott]

16 minutes ago, eFestivals said:

yep, they do, as they're a guaranteed income (because many of the ads are pay-per-click, the ad revenue isn't guaranteed).

 

Just tried to subscribe but just got a spinning wheel after going through PayPal...

[eFestivals]

2 minutes ago, A Guy Called Matt said:

I have no idea if this is any help at all but this company is very cheap for hosting and their customer service is superb.

https://www.freevirtualservers.com/unlimited-web-hosting

their best spec'd server is lower spec than my servers, and they're clearly aiming at the low-end market too - which means stuff like their data-pipes and support is likely to be low-end too. And that aside, they're not particularly cheap either (tho are a little cheaper than the peeps I use).

The geezers I use I've been using for all of the time efests has existed, and while they're not the very cheapest their prices are reasonable and their infrastructure is excellent. They regularly 'win' (I'm not sure how the 'win' is awarded) 'UK top host'.

And I've seen them grow from a 2 man company where I used to get the boss out of bed at 4am on a Sunday morning cos I'd crashed my server, to a company that employs tens of staff that I can get good service from (tho do sometimes have to shout at them &/or phone the boss whose personal number I still have) ... and all of this plus the big hassle in server moves gives me a deal I'm happy with.