Over the top ads in homepage newsfeed

[nsx]

nsx last edited by

Ads are necessary, I get it, but lately I see three topics, an almost full page ad, three more topics, then another almost full page ad.

50% of the real estate taken up by ads is a bit excessive wouldn't you agree? Sync stopped working quite a while back, please don't give people another reason to jump ship.

[jbrandon]

jbrandon last edited by

Thanks for the post @nsx . Hearing from our users is hopefully what will change our current ad practices, so I really appreciate your time in posting this. I've forwarded it to our discussion groups.

Jaron E. Brandon
Content Manager
Opera Software AS
Em: jbrandon@opera.com
Site: linkedin.com/in/jaronbrandon

[A Former User]

A Former User last edited by

I also started a thread on ads in the newsfeed. It is simply terrible, especially as Opera is advertised with its ad-blocker as feature.

I really love all the Opera products and am a constant user since the early 90s - but this is really a no go. It finally made me disable the newsfeed in order to no longer be bothered by those humongeous ads.

If you need money, you could offer a paid version, but please revert this "through the back door funding". I prefer to have control over what I allow and disallow, what I see and what not - and being offended by ads in the newsfeed and the reading mode is all except that.

Sorry for being so straight, but I am really disappointed and recently had to recommend other browsers to my friends and colleagues, which I quite disliked.

Opera has always been spearheading everything: speed, W3C conformity, usability, new concepts - but nowadays, when I look at the profile management, some productivity shortcuts and recently the ad flood, it really made me sad and kinda upset. You are better than this.

[jbrandon]

jbrandon @Guest last edited by

@vince42 I hear you and thanks for the feedback. I tend to agree about ads, but there are some things I might be able to help with. If you see some offensive or otherwise just uncomfortable ads in you feed, I may be able to get them removed if you send me a screenshot.

For getting content you want to see, it should improve after selecting 10-15 articles you like. You can also select from the news card options to manually edit it.

We really hope to keep you in the Opera family, especially as we continue working on our news service so comments like yours are appreciated. Thanks!

Jaron E. Brandon
Content Manager
Opera Software AS
Em: jbrandon@opera.com
Site: linkedin.com/in/jaronbrandon

[A Former User]

A Former User @jbrandon last edited by

@jbrandon the size of the ads is offending enough by itself. I am only using software / apps that do not bother me with ads, as I really from the bottom of my heart hate ads. If there is an ad-free version, I buy it, if there is no option to escape the ads, I delete the app. If I could root my phone, I would use AdAway from FDroid - unfortunately I can't.

Be assured, that I will continue to use Opera under all operating systems. The day you will add ads there as well and I cannot escape them, I will switch to another browser for good.

Ads are not a "little thing" - people are harassed by ads everywhere, they get tracked, profiled etc. This is nothing that a professional security- and privacy-aware person would like. never. ever. under any circumstances.

I will turn on the news feed in a year's time in order to see whether something changed.

Please excuse me for being so strict on this, but every company thinks that it is okay to flood people with ads - it is not, it is intrusion in privacy. Therefore many companies offer a free version with ads and a paid version without ads. Offering just one ad-blown version is a bad idea.

And always keep in mind, that Opera used to be "top notch" when it came to state of the art web browsing. This ad disaster is everything but "top notch".

Yes, my opinion might seem personal and singular, but be assured that many of my "pro friends" see it the same way, but gave up on speaking up a long time ago and silently moved over to alternatives - and that is certainly not, what you want.

[jbrandon]

jbrandon @Guest last edited by

@vince42 Definitely agree. A paid ad-free version is something I'd like to see (at least minus the non-publisher ads in the feed) and the worst thing for us is to lose our active and loyal users like you. As more users comment on this thread, it will help build the case that this monetization strategy is not good in the long term.

Jaron E. Brandon
Content Manager
Opera Software AS
Em: jbrandon@opera.com
Site: linkedin.com/in/jaronbrandon

[A Former User]

A Former User @jbrandon last edited by

@jbrandon I am really glad that I made my point clear and I highly appreciate your understanding and the effort you take in answering. I feel heard and understood - thank you for that!

I also hope that more users will add to this thread or somehow contribute to the "opinion building" about monetarizing your business model.

Good luck for all of us!