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GOL On Advert Blocking, I Don't Hate You, But Please Don't Do It

By - | Views: 31,272
Now and then I do a little post to request that you don't block our adverts, or if you do then we offer you the option to support us without seeing any adverts and gain extra perks in the process!

To get this out the way: I don't hate you if you do.

Adverts pay for our hosting, pay for me to pick up games to video (or to buy Samsai to cast for you) and review for you when a developer won't give out a copy, and for me to generally get-by in day to day life. Time is money after-all and having a family time is short.

We also have GOL Premium, for $25 USD (£14.84 GBP/18.24EUR) a year or $15 (£8.90/10.93EUR) every 6 months.
In future I will also be implementing an ability for GOL Premium users to get a handy email when a game they want goes on Sale, it's half-done right now and I expect to finish it by the end of the month, GOL Premium users can already add it to their wishlist and track them that way, emails are to come soon!

Without adverts & GOL premium I wouldn't have been able to do this for as long as I have. I would never want to hide our content behind a forced "pay-wall" (as in you have to pay to see 2/3rds of every article or something like that) and never plan to. I don't see that as a way of getting rid of adverts and donations alone don't cut it sadly.

We are still to the best of my knowledge the most active Linux-focused gaming site around. It's not just that though, any developer has the ability to write about their own game and have it published here or to publish their thoughts on something related to Linux gaming, or even for regular gamers to write about games they are interested in to have it published here. We are an open platform and always will be which is why I think we work so well.

We never have and never will use popup adverts of any kind, we don't use noisy video adverts, we don't put an advert in the way of any content either. I spoke to another major Linux-focused website about the pop-over ads they use and that person told me the revenue from those is many multiples that of our adsense, but I still won't use it as they annoy even me. I've been approached many times for pop-under tab adverts and I show them where the door is as well to not annoy our readers.

If too many people block our adverts in future and the amount of people subscribing to GOL Premium stops/slows (currently we are doing o-k) then in future I may have to re-consider how much time I spend researching games for the site and maybe one day stop the site altogether, but currently that won't happen anytime soon don't worry!

I feel the same way as this guy: http://www.escapistmagazine.com/videos/view/jimquisition/8854-The-Adblock-Episode, if you do block our adverts, don't be a dick about it.

In our tests over May 2014 58% of people blocked our adverts, that's a bit upsettingly high, but I will have to find a way to ignore it or else I will get annoyed and not post as much news and I don't want that to happen.

I still have a lot to learn about "internet life" and I make mistakes here and there, but I am always working for you to make Linux gaming better for everyone. I do it because I do enjoy it, not because I feel I have to and don't want to ever give it up.

Now give me all of your monies.

Finally: Thank you to everyone who has supported me, GOL and a big thank you to the many contributors we have. Article taken from GamingOnLinux.com.
Tags: Editorial
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About the author -
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I am the owner of GamingOnLinux. After discovering Linux back in the days of Mandrake in 2003, I constantly came back to check on the progress of Linux until Ubuntu appeared on the scene and it helped me to really love it. You can reach me easily by emailing GamingOnLinux directly. Find me on Mastodon.
See more from me
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72 comments
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n30p1r4t3 Jun 3, 2014
Quoting: liamdawehosting, food, rum, food, games + everything else.

This is what I'm saying. No where on your donate page does it say where this money goes. "Staying afloat" isn't enough IMHO.
Liam Dawe Jun 3, 2014
I see no problem stating that, so it has been added to the donate/premium page under its own section.
n30p1r4t3 Jun 3, 2014
Just please, whatever you do put in place a popup that urges you to disable adblock and won't allow you to view the site until a timer expires. Niresh does that, and it's annoying as hell.
Hamish Jun 3, 2014
For me I just nicely side-step this by being on the Editorial team which gives me Premium privileges (which is still an option for everyone, so start writing/contributing!) but I still do not have an Ad blocker on largely due to being too lazy to get one. :|
Liam Dawe Jun 3, 2014
Anyone who pays for GOL Premium Stan has their end-date on their control panel for easy tracking.

As for providing a "gauge" I cannot do that, since as stated many times it is income for me, not just to pay GOL's server bills, there is no gauge on my life.
minj Jun 3, 2014
Apparently Disconnect and Ghostery block those ads as well. I've had AdBlock disabled for a long time and kept wondering where those ads you are talking about are :D

So yeah, I suggest adding those to the list alongside AdBlock...
Anonymous Jun 3, 2014
I don't have abp enabled here, because the advertisement is (still) pretty decent.
tiger Jun 3, 2014
Blocking ads will do nothing, since there are an infinite amount of them. As other guy said before, those ads are shown based on your "interests". You should think why google is showing you such adverts before blaming GOL!
DoctorX Jun 3, 2014
I have whitelisted for now... but please steer away from any popups and racy adverts like some other sites run. I would like to read this at work.
tmtvl Jun 3, 2014
I never run AdBlock, why would I? I make advertisers pay the sites I love despite their getting absolutely 0 benefit. Now I hope the advertisers never find out.
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