New Ads coming up for Premium Subscribers

Hi, I am a Thurrott Premium subscriber since early on and I enjoy the content on the site. However, lately I have noticed the appearance of an ad at the bottom of the first image of some articles and at the bottom of the screen. You need to click on both ads (on the x at the top-right corner) to make them go away. Those ads come back whenever you get back (even on the same session!).

After years of hearing you justify the premium content with reduced ads and hearing you complain about “cheapening of Windows” with ads, I am disappointed to see you do the same with the site. I don’t mind paying for content and an annual increase in the subscription fees would be OK for me. Please remove those floating ads for premium users… they cheapen the site.

(I am hoping this may be an oversight for users consuming the content from iPad, is this possible?)

Conversation 19 comments

  • Plumbobby

    Premium Member
    30 July, 2019 - 9:20 pm

    <p>I'm also a premium member and was disappointed to see this site charge for "premium" and still have floating and invasive ads at the bottom of the main page. Using Edge browser on my Galaxy Note 9.</p><p><br></p><p>Please tell us this is an error, Paul? Some kind of glitch?</p><p><br></p><p>Respectfully, </p><p><br></p><p>Bob</p>

    • Brad Sams

      Premium Member
      31 July, 2019 - 9:32 am

      <p>Can you please post a screenshot of the ad, they are not supposed to show.</p>

      • Plumbobby

        Premium Member
        31 July, 2019 - 9:58 am

        <blockquote><em><a href="#446270">In reply to brad-sams:</a></em></blockquote><p>Thanks Brad, logged in this morning and the floating ad at the bottom of the screen is no longer here. If it comes back I'll promptly post a screenshot and share with you! </p><p><br></p><p>Appreciate your diligence and response on this, have a great day! </p>

        • Plumbobby

          Premium Member
          31 July, 2019 - 10:31 am

          <blockquote><em><a href="#446306">In reply to Plumbobby:</a></em></blockquote><p>Looks like the ad is back today. Can you give me an email address you'd prefer I send it to? <img src="">I'm not totally sure how to post a photo in the comments sorry lol. </p>

          • Brad Sams

            Premium Member
            31 July, 2019 - 11:17 am

            <blockquote><em><a href="#446312">In reply to Plumbobby:</a></em></blockquote><p>can you send it to [email protected] please…thanks!</p>

            • Plumbobby

              Premium Member
              31 July, 2019 - 1:38 pm

              <blockquote><em><a href="#446331">In reply to brad-sams:</a></em></blockquote><p>Done thanks! </p>

  • Paul Thurrott

    Premium Member
    31 July, 2019 - 2:38 am

    <p>I've not seen the ads you're referring to and have asked the team to look into this. (I'm on vacation at the moment.)</p><p><br></p><p>I suspect this was a coding mistake, but whatever. I wasn't aware of anything like this. </p><p><br></p><p>But more important, you're comparing a tiny, single-digit member team to Microsoft, a company that just generated $33.7 billion in the most recent quarter. That's not fair. We're trying to make a living here, that's all. We're always honest about that … and about everything else, really.</p><p><br></p><p>And on that note, our intent is to provide an ad-free experience on the site to Premium members:</p><p><br></p><p><a href="https://www.thurrott.com/thurrott-premium-faq&quot; target="_blank">https://www.thurrott.com/thurrott-premium-faq</a></p><p><br></p><p>"<span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">traditional ad-banners will all be gone, pop-ups and overlays will not be used but we retain the right to find sponsorships for forums, podcasts and other content mediums that may be shown to premium members in a non-obtrusive way."</span></p><p><br></p><p><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">This doesn't sound like that type of thing. So I'm guessing it's an error. But we'll find out.</span></p><p><br></p>

  • navarac

    31 July, 2019 - 3:17 am

    <p>Not seen</p>

  • jrswarr

    Premium Member
    31 July, 2019 - 5:47 am

    <p>I'm not seeing any ads.</p>

  • Brad Sams

    Premium Member
    31 July, 2019 - 7:14 am

    <p>Ads are not supposed to be shown, can you please post a screen shot of the ad. </p>

  • Vladimir Carli

    Premium Member
    31 July, 2019 - 7:31 am

    <p>never seen an ad when I am logged in as a premium subscriber. Sometimes I do see them because the site logs me out pretty often and I have to relog. After I do that all ads always go away. Might be this the case, that you have been logged out?</p>

  • lwetzel

    Premium Member
    31 July, 2019 - 9:40 am

    <p>I have never seen an ad when I was logged in as Premium.</p><p><br></p><p>Same thing on mobile. </p><p><br></p>

  • yoshi

    Premium Member
    31 July, 2019 - 10:17 am

    <p><img src="">I also noticed this last night for the first time. It's only happening on mobile. I've tried using Chrome and Samsung Internet, both showing ads.</p><p><br></p>

  • Paul Thurrott

    Premium Member
    31 July, 2019 - 2:23 pm

    <p>As I expected, this was just a mistake. I'm told it's fixed.</p>

    • yoshi

      Premium Member
      31 July, 2019 - 3:00 pm

      <blockquote><em><a href="#446434">In reply to paul-thurrott:</a></em></blockquote><p>Thanks, Paul! Indeed, this is fixed for me. I'm no longer seeing the ads.</p>

  • infloop

    Premium Member
    31 July, 2019 - 6:12 pm

    <p>I think one thing people don't realize is that it's a small team running the site, and when things like this happen I've learned to give them more slack.</p><p><br></p><p>Another recent example was the cookie policy notification that would pop up. It could be closed when viewed on the desktop, but it was kind of just there on the bottom when viewed on Safari on iOS. I just let it slide, and later it was removed.</p><p><br></p><p>Still happy to keep my sub going.</p>

  • colmob

    Premium Member
    31 July, 2019 - 9:37 pm

    <p>Didn't see these ads, but thanks to Brad and Paul for model clarity and transparency on this one. Pleasant and rare to see a quick, honest, clear response.</p>

  • evox81

    Premium Member
    01 August, 2019 - 4:26 pm

    <p>In honor of Paul's excellent Programming Windows series, here's a summary of this post written in C:</p><p><br></p><p><span style="color: rgb(153, 0, 85);">#include </span><span style="color: rgb(102, 153, 0);">&lt;stdio.h&gt;</span></p><p><br></p><p><span style="color: rgb(0, 119, 170);">int</span><span style="color: black; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"> </span><span style="color: rgb(221, 74, 104);">main</span><span style="color: rgb(153, 153, 153);">()</span></p><p><span style="color: rgb(153, 153, 153);">{</span></p><p><span style="color: black; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">&nbsp; </span><span style="color: rgb(221, 74, 104);">printf</span><span style="color: rgb(153, 153, 153);">(</span><span style="color: rgb(102, 153, 0);">"THE SKY IS FALLING"</span><span style="color: rgb(153, 153, 153);">);</span></p><p><span style="color: black; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">&nbsp; </span><span style="color: rgb(0, 119, 170);">return</span><span style="color: black; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"> </span><span style="color: rgb(153, 0, 85);">0</span><span style="color: rgb(153, 153, 153);">;</span></p><p><span style="color: rgb(153, 153, 153);">}</span></p>

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