There are some constructive, positive suggestions in these posts, such as a more palatable color for the ads,

However, those of you that can't frame your input in a positive manner, threaten ad-blockers and the end of your donations - grow up and stop throwing temper tantrums.

Things change and like almost all FREE content online, it needs to be supported by advertising dollars. Donations are nice, but I can't image they do more than keep the site barely afloat.

Give the founders of the site a break and if you have something constructive to say, do it, since they seem open to input. Yeah, I'm here for less than a year and haven't donated, but will gladly view ads and if there's a paid membership will pony up since Pinside is a tremendous resource that many hobbies don't have the luxury of enjoying.

My donation had lapsed, so I made a new one then turned off the ads. Not too difficult.

All changes to Pinside must be met with outrage!

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It cheapens Pinside.

better with ads only at bottom of thread.
color is better also.

Still dont think I should need to pay to remove these from my view.

If you want a membership fee then just say it. I feel nickel and dimed by a friend. That is not how I want to feel. Just my .02

The ads do not bother me at all, I have been on enough websites that do far worse. The new placement at the bottom and less bright pink are great changes. The ads focus is still off, I am just not in the market for $9k games but at least the ads are pinball related and not for male enhancements and such. There is room for improvement but for a beta feature a few days old it is looking good.

You are naive if you think Google has not already monetized your surfing habits. At least you can see it coming around here. "Don't be evil"!

I'm guessing a bad vendor selling bootleg or poor quality product through Pinside will be called out and crucified rather quickly.

Funny how some of the loudest complainers are those who did not donate in the first place...

Wow.....people are d**ks!

$35 a year and it all goes away. No biggie. I would hope if you can afford to be in this hobby you can afford $3.00 a month! No? Well then look at some related ads or leave..... That's my take.

No judging either way but the ads need to convey what is being sold better. Maybe I'm dense and it obvious to others; but in this picture, I don't have a clue what is being sold in two out of the three ads. The one I can identify is of course the one that says "shooter rod". I'm not clicking to play peekaboo to see if it's something I want to buy. IMG_0375 (resized).PNG

Also, why have the "shop item" wording. Why does that matter to me the buyer if I'm going to click the ad and it takes me to what is being sold. If an identifier is a must, why not a market place cart icon similar to the icon facebook uses.

It helps differentiate them from classified ads in the marketplace.

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As an end user, I don't see why that matters any to me. It's cluttered and busy. The ad is to sell a product, not its sales classification. An ad is an ad is an ad. Your example is worse. The classified ad is being taken over by text of "classified (which is obscured), featured (which is irrelevant in forced ad placement) and the price. On top of that, it's off balanced. Make the colored text banners run the whole width. Pinside is very elegant in its design. This, not so much.

Constructive criticism from someone with a lot of time doing this sort of thing:

The ads are so busy that it's distracting even when looking at them. All of the different colored ad-specific banners and sashes plus prices and icons are trying to convey - in my opinion - too much at once. Adding in the visual noise from the grey dotted line it's rather difficult to consume. There's a lot of visual noise.

I'm also unsure that as a buyer, I really care if it's in the shop / marketplace / classified. There are already icons at the bottom (the cart vs the location) that helps me differentiate that data point already. If it's important information, having it clear as day on the next page should do the trick, but I suspect that it isn't actually important to buyers.

I would also suggest changing the "featured" sash to a different colored background and removing the 'sash' from the image.

The ads are better for buyers and sellers, and should be good for Pinside. This how free sites stay in business and I applaud you for not simply going the Google Ads route with lots of other irrelevant ads. I hope this works out for you.

Here's another example of an abortion of an ad. This poor haunted house classified ad. Not only is it laden with banners, it's a color coded mash up of blues and reds. It looks terrible. IMG_0376 (resized).PNG. Not only that, it's such a conflicting message. It's not only featured but a classified ad. That's great, I want to buy it. Oh darn, down below it's a wanted ad, not a for sale ad. A jumbled mess.

In very faucet of my professional life, the paradigm, less is more always holds true. These ads are, "more is better."

I don't mind the adds at all and even though I donate won't be turning them off.
I do find it a bit difficult to see what is being sold because the adds are so small. It might be better if there were fewer side by side so they could be wider.
Also a lot of the adds don't apply to me because they are from people selling pinball machines in the USA and I live in Europe.

Let's all see how the adds develop and not start condemning them the first day.
Robin and Martijn have always been very open to criticism and I'm a bit shocked at the childish reactions of a few (regular) (non-donating) users.

Its not a big deal to me... Hardly noticed and was not stressed about it when I did. The ad placement could be far worse...

Thanks for the feedback and suggestions. We *are* listening and taking this feedback seriously. Robin will likely be making tweaks and adjustments over the next few days based on it.

That's a crap comment. Donating = right to voice opinions?

I was a regular donor. I didn't/don't like some of the changes implemented by the site so I elected to not donate. I speak with my dollars; and that is louder than any rant post here. I'm sure some of those regular posters you alluded to have similiar sentiments.

not being able to hide the ads at the bottom without being a plus member is lame. everywhere you go on the internet you get bombarded with ads from algorithms of your searches, i come here to read threads and wind down, learn a few things, not see more ads for stuff i'm not gonna buy.

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i have donated in the past, not since the new donation crap came around.... move along.

Yes I certainly have. For some reason it doesnt show that I have but I whatever, I dont need an internet badge to make me feel good so I never reported it.

It sucks, but Robin's site, Robin's rules. You have options, so it's not the end of the world.

Option 1: Pay extra and disable the ads through the site.
Option 2: Use a Firefox / Chrome plugin to disable the html element from getting rendered on your browser. This is pretty simple.
Option 3: Stop coming to pinside.
Option 4: Deal with the ads.

I personally chose option 2. I will still donate when I'm feeling charitable, I do every year, but I don't like being prodded into it.

I am glad I found this thread. When I first saw these, I thought the person right above the ads was pasting a screen shot for some unrelated "douche" reason.

I am happy now that I know the purpose.

Since I am happy I am sure that many of you are now relieved to hear this.

They are at the bottom of the freaking page....you don't even have to look at them. I'm a plus member but have not turned them off becasue frankly I barely see them. Not to mention (as has been mentioned many times) These are PINBALL adds!! Not shit based on your browsing history.

The new shops seems cool so I looked at the 3 that are open to see if I "needed" anything. Found an item that was under $20 so I added it to my cart and went to checkout. Shipping was $13.95! which, as an Amazon Prime member, I'm just not used to anymore. So, I went to this shop's website and added that same part to cart, shipping came up with a couple of options, the lowest being $3.22.

I support the changes. I typically browse on a mobile device and the ads are not intrusive.

Maybe there was a typo and shipping was supposed to be 3.95 instead of 13.95? Can you share which item it was?

Well it was fun while it lasted and thanks to all for your wonderful support.

I'm a pinside plus member and I do not see how/where I can turn these off in my settings section

Click the gear icon for forum settings and scroll down until you see the "Promotion box" section.

I don't have a gear icon, but there is also no "promotion box" section in my settings page

edit:
nevermind, I found it. thank you

WoZ sling shot plastic protectors.

You don't have this gear icon at the top of your page?

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Because some of us are already spending nearly every dime we have on the hobby already. Hobby is great if you have deep pockets and can afford to be a nib stern every year, but most of us are not in that position.

The ads are fine and easily ignored. I do seek out things in the marketplace on here, but not when I am reading a thread. Can just skip over them and when I am in the market for something I will go seek it out, no harm no foul.

Can't help thinking it would now be simpler to scrap the donate and just go to membership.

And if paid membership whereby only members can post, a ton of troll posts vanish.

I was just about to donate again but waiting until I want to, like others.

There is nothing really on the pinside plus option that interests me as it happens.

It's not the end of the world (or Pinside). Every change--and I mean *every* change is met with resistance on this site.

Robin is very receptive to feedback being posting in the announcement thread. There have been some good and specific suggestions that have been made so far. A few changes have been implemented already based on that feedback. A couple more will likely be implemented fairly quickly. A few others will likely be discussed a bit more to figure out what the best approach might be. So, I imagine we will see changes in the next few days based on the feedback everyone is providing.

For you specifically, the shop might be a good way to list your ramps for sale. They would then also show up in the ad strip, especially for threads where the relevant games are linked.

I to would rather a 1 time membership fee. or yearly fee

Allow non-members to post to marketplace, make market place ads free (nobody wants to miss out on possible games for sale), allow non-members to view other areas but not post, maybe allow a 1 week free membership for people to check out the site and get hooked and then hope they pay to stay.

The nickel and dime crap has gotte out of control.

I don't even know where to start with that....but let me try.

1)Spending every dime you have on a hobby?
2)Even if you can't afford NIB pins you're still spending hundreds even on old EM's......so you can't afford $3.00 a month to support a site that makes a lot of this even possible? Give me a break. $3.00 isn't even a drink at the movies....maybe a water.

I agree that a one time (Lifetime) membership fee should be an option.

But bitching about $3.00 a month....really?

you have to understand that for many it is not about the cost per month...

It is about the fact that this site is 100% built on the content of the users. Many people contribute to the forum content, game reviews, gameroom blogs, etc... These people already give to the site and without the content, Pinside does not exist.

Pinside has been born on the backs of the cummunity! Robin has done a great job with the interface and functionality, but the content is owned by all of us that contribute. Having your hand forced to pay or see more junk is a slap in the face to many (as it should be) from someone that opted to already take our content and turn it into a business.

Having the bar at the bottom of the page is better but I think it is a bit much and will probably never look at it. I have had things in the marketplace and don't think I have ever sold anything through it probably because of the design and got lost in the noise of other sale adds.

Maybe get rid of the market place tab at the main menu and put Shop there but when people enter it they can go into either one of the following categories:
Pinballs
Mods
Spares Used
Spares New

Then when you go into that category you can search by Brand and / or Game or a quick link to search by games in your collection.

Just think people can go to the Shop to buy not glaring at you on each page of each thread - just feels you are loosing the quality and class of the Pinside design especially when you write a post and it is there staring at you.

I'd rather see an annual Pinside Premium membership (Pinside LE if you will) that includes many features, not just ad removal, to offset costs. It's been stated that this is a business so it's good to start running it like one with clear descriptions of the product benefits being offered for a subscription fee.

I could care less about the ads and understand why they're needed if you aren't charging a sub fee to offset costs. However, if you are then please provide benefits to merit it. It's not a donation anymore

Then why have an option to disable it? You wouldn't add that unless you knew it would bother people.

I would agree that the community plays a big part but would also add what your saying doesn't factor into how much is possible in no small part to the time, money, and resources Robin has put into making the site accessible, easy to use, well moderated, etc.

I think the size of the site presented two paths, let go of it entirely and close it down, as unchanged and without some financial support, its not sustainable due to its size, a product of its success. Or second, transition to a monetized site. There are a number of paths to do that, and so far would say the direction favors us as the users more than it would the owner.

Until some big money sugar daddy steps up to the plate to bankroll Pinside, this is our best path to a strong and growing community.

I think the add format is unobtrusive and optional under fair conditions. That in mind, I'm glad to see pinball adds and not banners from outside parties. For the vendor's it adds exposure they can leverage into more products and better prices, so that too is a boon to the community not yet mentioned. Supporting 'local' this way is no different than buying at the farmers market.

The thing is, this site is not just user-driven or developer-driven. It's both. Neither can exist without the other.

Pinside is a platform where folks can communicate, and in turn, the platform is constantly improved, developed, new features added, etc. That takes a considerable amount of time and effort.

RGP and Klov are other sites can be used to communicate, but those platforms are limited and fairly static. But some folks like it that way, which is fine.

Personally for me, I was originally drawn to Pinside because it had a good user interface and features, as well as good information from other members, and it was a very active place.

You're really selling yourself short here making huge world-ending complaints about minor features--features which have received changes and updates already in the past few hours as the result of calm, constructive feedback. Day 1 releases are always challenging, and I for one appreciate all the efforts that go into bringing new features to the site, as well as everyone who has taken the time to offer constructive feedback.

My primary browsing experience hasn't actually changed too much. A few new things have been added--that's all. Speaking for myself, I thought the ad strip would have been a great idea and well received when I first saw it. The ads are community driven--they're based on other members adding things to the site.

I'm always interested to see what other people are creating--adapters, mods, fixes, parts, ramps, replacement boards, etc. There is now so much of it out there and hidden away in various threads and scattered around on isolated stand-alone websites that they don't get a lot of exposure. This was to help folks to gain some more exposure and make it easier for them to sell and others to buy.

Two perfect examples that I've been following are barakandl's special solenoid fuse board for system 3-7 games, and acebathound's LED display board to replace the bad glass on bally/stern displays. Not everyone may have seen them in discussion threads. But stuff like that is what I would hope to see appear in the shop and in the ad strip. Whether or not they add their products to the shop is entirely up to them, but it's stuff from dedicated hobbyists like them that I would be glad to see.

Love the logic. Its only insert small amount. Except its not only that.

Its only 15 dollars to get into the pinball tournament that happened last weekend. Plus another 10 for food. Its only coin drop every week to play in either of two weekly leagues. Its only 10 dollars + coin drop to enter into either of those leagues monthly tournaments.

Its death by a thousand cuts. You say 35 dollars a year isn't much, great for you. I'd rather spend that 35 bucks on parts to improve my collection. You know what costs 35 bucks? 4 Bally ribbed flipper bats. I know, just had to order some for the radical I am keeping. Or how about 4 translucent spot targets that are commonly broken and yet nla? Game needs 8, but 4 of them are not to be found.

Going through and shopping my entire collection right now. Hundreds and hundreds of dollars going out. Mystery castle I am at 160 and that is just leds and spot targets. Need to figure out how to make parts to rebuild the flippers. Still need to get rubber. Still trying to track down a source for any of the broken plastics, cracked ramps, or other misc parts.

So yeah, every spare dime I have and several hours a day after work get poured into this hobby; but hey go tell me how to spend my money more why don't you. As for making it possible? My game came from RGP. Pinsiders wanted 4500 for an unshopped one with a bad sound board or 6k for one that is claimed to be huo. The people who have been helping me with parts are on facebook and rgp. The information on what i can substitute comes from rgp. So aside from another place to chat, pinside is not making any of this possible.

For anyone who doesn't read the whole thread I am 100 percent fine with the ads. They aren't hurting anyone.

But you chose to follow those topics. I didn't choose to see an ad for a WOZ Ruby Red Shooter Housing, which is what's above this text box right now. I've never owned a WOZ, I never will own one, and most of the mods are super tacky in general.

I think most of the reaction is that we are now forced to look at these ads. And apparently I didn't donate enough to qualify for an ad-free experience.