Shouldn't it be a banner then, instead of a direct link from the description. It's like fooling the user into thinking that they are going to see the list of movies about casino games, and they open that page...
Joined: 3/9/2004
Posts: 4588
Location: In his lab studying psychology to find new ways to torture TASers and forumers
Notice the icon next to the link telling you it navigates away from our site?
Warning: Opinions expressed by Nach or others in this post do not necessarily reflect the views, opinions, or position of Nach himself on the matter(s) being discussed therein.
Which is only a wikipedia standard... Why not put a banner instead of a misleading link ? Doesn't this cause confusion and gather click to a site that pays for each click on the link ?
I know it's not a big deal, but I find this mislead to receive a couple of cents for some clicks.
Joined: 3/9/2004
Posts: 4588
Location: In his lab studying psychology to find new ways to torture TASers and forumers
Its been a standard on our site since near its inception.
Because we're being paid a lot of money to have an inline link.
We don't get paid per click.
Warning: Opinions expressed by Nach or others in this post do not necessarily reflect the views, opinions, or position of Nach himself on the matter(s) being discussed therein.
It says "Ads by Google" right at the top.
The entire point of these ads is that they aren't anywhere near as annoying as normal banner ads. Banner ads are annoying enough that some people will actively avoid any product advertised with them, while they might actually give an AdWords ad the time of day.
(Normally this argument wouldn't hold all that much water, but TASVideos has a high geek quotient, and this argument in my experience is much stronger in that particular population)
EDIT: whoops, misunderstood. Inline links like that are pretty annoying, I'll grant. It'd be nice if the link was at least double-underlined, which is a standard "look, this is an ad" indicator I've seen before.
Pyrel - an open-source rewrite of the Angband roguelike game in Python.
I don't know much about the site or the community but for what it's worth when I saw the casino link the first time I thought it had to have been a malicious edit put in by the owner of the casino page, and tried to figure out how to edit it away. Then in the edit history I saw some comment like "stop removing this link" so I didn't do anything to it, but it seems pretty disingenuous and lame.
Then again I don't manage the site or pay for upkeep and maintenance.
Noticed the same thing. I think it's harmless. I clicked on it, realized it was a referral type site. It does have the icon, and it does take you to casino games, per sé.
I support free sites doing anything reasonable to stay online.
The only negative side effect is that I then tried browsing for a TAS of a casino type console game and can't find one.
I don't see any casino links in the Ads By Google on this site right now, but I think the ones on http://vgmaps.com/ are silly.
"If you enjoy playing video games, you may also be interested in playing online poker. If so, BestPokerSites.org offers independent reviews of several poker sites, and also offers custom poker toplists including the best poker sites for USA players."
"Online gaming has become increasingly popular in the last few years. Blackjack is a game of skill that is played online."
"We only deal with classics like Castlevania and Shinobi, but a great game we’ve found is online bingo; play games, chat and win prizes."
Wait, you only deal with those classics? But I thought VGMaps was aiming to keep expanding into newer games, even 3D ones! Man, don't let your advertisers misrepresent you!
put yourself in my rocketpack if that poochie is one outrageous dude
I don't know if inline links (even though they are clearly marked as external links) are "disingenuous" or not, but I think that complaining about them is looking a gift horse in the mouth. It's not like you need to pay to visit tasvideos.org and benefit from the resources it provides...
(Although a cynic person could argue that some people are, in fact, paying for the site, in the form of voluntary donations, and they are not doing so to see inline ad links...)
Joined: 3/9/2004
Posts: 4588
Location: In his lab studying psychology to find new ways to torture TASers and forumers
http://tasvideos.org/834M.html
And those users who are giving voluntary donations don't see inline ad links or non inline ads either.
Warning: Opinions expressed by Nach or others in this post do not necessarily reflect the views, opinions, or position of Nach himself on the matter(s) being discussed therein.
That's stupid the direct link to a casino site rght in the description. I am against that.
Casino IS NOT a game. Many people are having problems because of Casinos and other lotteries.
Think of that seriously because putting that in the description of the site is very moron. Casino IS NOT a game.
My opinion, which I have expressed to the admins:
I see. Well, you have done that voluntarily, but the casino sites also employ questionable marketing ethics (guestbook spamming, referrer spamming etc.) which puts them, collectively, firmly on my marketing blacklist.
To which, I was informed of the following reasoning (paraphrased): Server hosting is expensive.
Phil, are you willing to donate for TASVideos?
I am different. If I were in this situation and my only choice would be to put casino ads, I would have let the site die (and transfer it to lightweight readonly hosting). If the site were to live, sooner or later something would have turned out. Such as people beginning to donate.
Emulator Coder, Site Developer, Site Owner, Expert player
(3576)
Joined: 11/3/2004
Posts: 4754
Location: Tennessee
Bisqwit: Indeed we are different.
That link represents stable income for the server costs of TASVideos. That is a good thing for us as a community. To those who don't like it, Sorry but you will have to deal.
Many people are having problems because of video games. If you all think about it seriously, you will realize that adelikat should close this site. >_>
AzumaK wrote: I swear my 1 year old daughter's favorite TASVideo is your R4MI run :3
xxNKxx wrote: ok thanks handsome feos :D
Help improving TASVideos!
E: The fact this thread is here and yet it's still on the front page is depressing.
I'm with Bisqwit. Again.
How much can it possibly cost to host this site? There isn't even that much media here, it's all torrents, and a static web page (of which most of this is) ... ugh.
It makes no sense.
Also, I was fooled by the link as well, thinking it was going to link to a TAS. So while it may be worth it to you, it still feels incredibly scamish and overall just a really, really sad choice.
Then again, welcome to the new age of tasvideos.
Not only does it look sloppy and unfinished, but it is driving away visitors from the site. Pro-tip: You want people to stay on your page.
If the first thing a new person to the site sees is that nice deceptive block of text, they will click it. Then, they will see a gambling site, leave and possibly not come back.
But yes, I'm sure that deceptive advertising is a great way to make money. I mean, it's not like there is another great ad host out there. Not at all.
Joined: 3/9/2004
Posts: 4588
Location: In his lab studying psychology to find new ways to torture TASers and forumers
If only...
Be happy that we're breaking even.
If we really wanted to make money, I'd have you on my operating table, cutting out one of your kidneys.
Warning: Opinions expressed by Nach or others in this post do not necessarily reflect the views, opinions, or position of Nach himself on the matter(s) being discussed therein.
I'll be honest in that I have a really hard time seeing how this site can possibly be that expensive to run.
Done right it would be mostly static (the main pages) + the forum, which any shared hosting provider can handle competently enough.
The majority of this site's bandwidth is really done by torrenting.
So I'm honestly not seeing the reason why this site is that expensive to run.
So I'm honestly not seeing the reason why this site is that expensive to run.
Hosting providers are usually very stingy re: prospects of PHP configuration and database content. The exact requirements are listed on the page I posted once.
To put it bluntly, it is all too easy to say "you're all idiots" when you do not need to be the one who does the things.
TASVideos, the site, has been developed in the environment that worked well with my server and setup. If redesigned, you could perhaps make it work on a much cheaper hosting than it currently runs on. While probably sacrificing some existing functionality. But are you volunteering to be the one to redesign & reimplement it from scratch? It can not be that hard, considering that I have set my self to do it a few times too. Never had time, though! Plenty of great ideas, never enough time.
And now I no longer care. Why? Because these are the times of Elijah, Moses, Ezekiel and David. (Look up the song!) These are the times when the wheat and the tears are being separated. Wheat, quit acting like the tears. This is a biblical metaphor for YHWH's people and pagans respectively.
Gears of change are moving at so many affronts simultaneously, driven by the same spirit of deception, and these changes will bring in events described in Bible prophecies.
Ongoing signs of these changes include ※the political battle regarding the division of Jerusalem (to which I like to refer to this map: http://ivarfjeld.wordpress.com/2010/09/29/palestinian-statehood-deadly-trap-set-up-for-israel/); ※muslim schemes of world conquering (did you know that there are Sharia courts in Britain? If a British woman is married to a muslim husband, and she is battered and beaten, and she goes to the police, she can end up in the Sharia court because she is registered as a muslim, where they judge her according to Islam's laws, that the husband is all within his rights to beat her wife, and that the wife was disobedient when she went to the police and must therefore be punished? Did you know that there are areas in Malmö, Sweden where Jews cannot walk safely? That there are areas in France where even the police cannot go because Muslims are praying there on streets? That Christians can be persecuted and arrested with false charges in Dearborn, Michigan, and even the mayor can make false accusations of them despite video evidence? Did you know that the Qur'an does not have the concept of "peace"; it only defines armistice? That Muslims are not allowed to make pacts with non-believers; and if they appear to do, it can only be done for the purpose of advancing the goals of Islam (which is to subjugate the entire world under Sharia law, under which Allah is proclaimed greater than any other god), and any such pact with a non-believer must be single-sidedly broken in 10 years or less? It is called a hudna. Look these up.); ※ and schemes aiming for a single world government (artificially induced financial depressions; the global warming hoax that simply is one of the devices by which wealth is sifted away from people (who can own land today? In Finland, if you are one of the few people who actually own land, you are in a very miserable position due to absolutely mad EU legislations concerning what you can grow and how exactly and where you should report on everything you grow); the H1N1 flu; legislation that seeks to strip people of any independence or self-sufficiency (farmers are only allowed to grow such types of wheat that they must always purchase new seeds every year; seeds produced by that wheat does not grow a new harvest, and they cannot use multiyear varieties); roadmap towards a global currency to replace all current currencies; increasing surveillance and tracking) ※ for instance.
I believe that these are the times when YHWH is working to expose everything that can not last, and to contrast righteousness with wickedness, to make it obvious to anyone, who has eyes to see and ears to hear, what is in his truth ― Torah and Prophets ― and what is not.
Which is why so many pedophile bishops are being exposed today, and which is why Israeli media is recognizing day by day more who are the friends of Israel and who are the enemies of Israel, and which is why a growing proportion of Christian believers stop going to churches, because what their heart tells them that they should have, they cannot find in the churches today, for those churches are filled with legacy from Rome and Babylon. God is calling Ephraim to come home, and hearts are being awakened.
And which is why sinners become more sinful and righteous become more righteous, as the Bible predicts. As was in the days of Lot, will be the day when the Messiah comes back, said Yeshua.
These are just some of the things that preoccupy me these days. Again I recommend you to tune regularly to God's Learning Channel, http://www.godslearningchannel.com/ , if you want to know what is happening in the world without the information being filtered through money-mandated motives. (You know how investors can tell you what kind of content you can publish and what kind of content you cannot? When said investors are the Saudi oil kings… Depressingly, this goes for elementary school and university curriculae in USA, too.)
If it came to the point where I had to go the route of using scammy ads because of it, I likely would. (And am, actually, moving a site of mine to a VPS because of resource usage.)