New Amiga Site - Retro Game and Computer

[Mrs Beanbag]

I don't see any ads, incidentally. Do you need cookies turned on to see them?

[Oldsmobile_Mike]

Wow, that does seem like a lot of ads.  I clicked on your link and saw ads for everything from bass fishing to an online university to some kind of ad that had a picture of a nearly bare-breasted female, which some might find offensive, just on the very first page.  They were animated and flashing and too distracting from the content, which I gave up on trying to read.

There's plenty of places online where you can get hosting for like $14.95 a year, surely not too expensive?  Or maybe just try to limit site design to one banner ad at the top or bottom, instead of those large ads along the sides of the content?  Just my .02 cents.  Good luck with the site!  

[sdyates]

I forgot how critical this community can be. I have read many comments over the years blasting those that try to help the community and offer something up for free or at limited cost. What is it with the Amiga community here that has some so demanding but offer nothing up. I do not get this from the Atari crowd, or the nintendo crowd or even the commodore crowd.

I am offering tons of content for free and yet accepting that I need ads to cover the cost is not acceptable.

So let me make you an offer:

1) donate to the site to cover my costs
2) come up with a design that you like. Donate it to me and I will convert it. But be sure to circulate with all members so that everyone is happy. Perhaps we should have a committee to discuss colour patterns and mood boards. Then we can have UX design tests before we get into the migration.

I appreciate the useful comments from many of you. Someday I will redesign the site, but that's a lot of work but for now, the site is laid out in a simple manner. I know many of you appreciate the level of effort and the information and as I have said before, I welcome user contributions.

I spent the last two days adding 20 more pages on Amiga peripherals. I think I am going to focus on the Atari stuff for the next few months...

PS cheap hosting leads to reduced RAS and slower load times and lower PR. You get what you pay for after all.

[ChaosLord]

I don't see any ads, incidentally. Do you need cookies turned on to see them?

I didn't see the ads at first either... maybe it randomly showed me some flash ads and I run FlashBlock to keep that flash crap off my computer so I didn't see them.


But today I see 3 ads on the front page and 5 ads on the Amiga page.

I think they may be targeted ads since 2 of the ads are from NewEgg and WalMart and I buy stuff from those places a lot.  So I guess those 2 particular ads are the result of my cookies.

For those who don't like all the ads: you can and probably should, install AdBlock or AdBlocker or whatever its called.  It allegedly blocks all ads and makes the internet 5x faster to use.  I have never used it but I have read a lot of good things about it.

I definitely recommend FlashBlocker.  It draws a big box with an F so you can still click on flash content if you need to but in general all your webpages will load massively faster and your cpu usage will be massively lower and you don't need to see most flash thingies.  Plus your uptime will be a lot longer without flash crashing you every once in a while.

[Oldsmobile_Mike]

For those who don't like all the ads: you can and probably should, install AdBlock or AdBlocker or whatever its called.  It allegedly blocks all ads and makes the internet 5x faster to use.  I have never used it but I have read a lot of good things about it.

I intentionally looked at it without an adblocker because I wanted to see what all the commotion was about.  Glutton for punishment I suppose.  

Regardless, OP asked for advice, then seems a little butthurt that it was negative.  Since most people use (or should use) browsers that have ad-blocking capability (Opera, Firefox, Chrome), it shouldn't be a big issue.  But a redesign to use standard "banner" style ads would do a lot to promote readability.  Also one of the ads I got showed a large-busted female cleavage.  The ad itself was for some kind of video game, I don't believe these ads are targeted because I never play online video games, and I think it's reasonable to opine that this could be found offensive by some.  Of course me mentioning it is now probably going to drive up traffic to his site, from others hoping to see it!  

[ChaosLord]

Also one of the ads I got showed a large-busted female cleavage.  The ad itself was for some kind of video game, I don't believe these ads are targeted because I never play online video games, and I think it's reasonable to opine that this could be found offensive by some.  Of course me mentioning it is now probably going to drive up traffic to his site, from others hoping to see it!  

I got the same ad.  It says MALE GAMERS ONLY like maybe it is some kind of porno game.  I don't know what it is and no way in hell am I going to click on that.  I think Google knows we are male and therefore is targeting the ad at us.  Not because we ever played any porno gamez which of course we totally would never ever do

[sdyates]

I got the same ad.  It says MALE GAMERS ONLY like maybe it is some kind of porno game.  I don't know what it is and no way in hell am I going to click on that.  I think Google knows we are male and therefore is targeting the ad at us.  Not because we ever played any porno gamez which of course we totally would never ever do

Yeah, the ads are targeted based on what google knows about you and your searching habits. It's all part of their adsense program.

... I don't mind negative feedback, but just slamming the site design and ads does not help as these are not simple changes. And without the ads, there is no money for hosting and the site goes down again. But people keep beating on that drum instead on issues that are fixable. A redesign would take months to complete and migrate content. Amiga.org has people donating money to keep the site going so you can afford to not have ads, I cannot. Please accept that. After a few years I will do a redesign, but right now I need to focus on content and accuracy of content.

Comments like, I do not like ads, I won't use it are not helpful.

Being negative or trolling about everyone's ideas is not helpful. I have seen it here before and a lot of people just give up on their ideas. I am also a member of other sites and they are much more encouraging of others ideas and less accepting of trolls. So that makes me a butthead?

[ChaosLord]

Being negative or trolling about everyone's ideas is not helpful. I have seen it here before and a lot of people just give up on their ideas. I am also a member of other sites and they are much more encouraging of others ideas and less accepting of trolls. So that makes me a butthead?

Dude, I never complained about your ads.  I don't care.  I was just making observations and having some fun.  I do hate flash ads because they bog down my computer and then crash it at some point but since I now run flashblocker I am immune and the flash no longer bothers me.

[som99]

I like the site to be honest, a nice read
Tho my Firefox plugins blocked any ads also Maxthon blocked em but I tried with plugins disabled and then I only got one ad from a Swedish ISP so nothing much for me so I wont complain, far less ads then many pages I freq~ visit

[yssing]

I told you why those adds are disturbing.
They take away focus of the content, and by doing so, you loose viewers.

I don't claim to know much about deisgn, I am a programmer, but I do know, that in order to keep attention to the content, then that content must be the only thing that are in focus.

I recognize your need for financing the hosting costs, but if you loose users, then how can the adds cover your costs.

You might want to look into the AIDA model a bit.

Personally I like the overall design and I see no need for changing it, except maybe for streamlining the code, to make updates and changes easier to do.

You might also want to revises your "for sale" section.

[som99]

I like the site to be honest, a nice read
Tho my Firefox plugins blocked any ads also Maxthon blocked em but I tried with plugins disabled and then I only got one ad from a Swedish ISP so nothing much for me so I wont complain, far less ads then many pages I freq~ visit

[sdyates]

Dude, I never complained about your ads.  I don't care.  I was just making observations and having some fun.  I do hate flash ads because they bog down my computer and then crash it at some point but since I now run flashblocker I am immune and the flash no longer bothers me.

Yeah... humour does not always translate well

[sdyates]

I told you why those adds are disturbing.
They take away focus of the content, and by doing so, you loose viewers.

...in order to keep attention to the content, then that content must be the only thing that are in focus...I recognize your need for financing the hosting costs, but if you loose users, then how can the adds cover your costs.

You might want to look into the AIDA model a bit.

Personally I like the overall design and I see no need for changing it, except maybe for streamlining the code, to make updates and changes easier to do.

You might also want to revises your "for sale" section.

Good points. I don't want to lose viewers and will look into AIDA. One of the reason I went with Google is they are supposed to be safe and are a recognized brand... and the ads are supposed to be PG/G. I have been removing some of the square ads on pages with little content as well as the side tower ads too.

The whole sale area is needing a scrub. Last night I uploaded another three hundred pages that were missed when I uplodaded this weekend - including pages for ZX Spectrum and Commodore under Peripherals.

I will take another look at the whole advertising model as well.

Just thought you were flaming... sorry

[Minuous]

Hello there, I had a look at your Arcadia section, being a subject matter expert. The screenshot for Alien Invader is wrong. The Jungler screenshot is from the coin-op version rather than the Arcadia version. Presumably it is still a work in progress as several games just have "NULL" descriptions. I would also suggest mentioning that Frogger and Tetris are recent homebrews rather than commercially published games. Some games have box scans and others have screenshots, seemingly at random. You could use the WinArcadia or AmiArcadia emulators to make some better screenshots, or I guess I don't mind if you want to use the ones at my page at http://amigan.1emu.net/agg/ There are also some box scans at my site at http://amigan.yatho.com/ if you need them.

[sdyates]

Hello there, I had a look at your Arcadia section, being a subject matter expert. The screenshot for Alien Invader is wrong. The Jungler screenshot is from the coin-op version rather than the Arcadia version. Presumably it is still a work in progress as several games just have "NULL" descriptions. I would also suggest mentioning that Frogger and Tetris are recent homebrews rather than commercially published games. Some games have box scans and others have screenshots, seemingly at random. You could use the WinArcadia or AmiArcadia emulators to make some better screenshots, or I guess I don't mind if you want to use the ones at my page at http://amigan.1emu.net/agg/ There are also some box scans at my site at http://amigan.yatho.com/ if you need them.

Thanks for letting me use your images. Yes, it is still a work in progress. I have a lot left to do. I have 925 pages already. You spotted some of the issues I need to fix over the next few days and I need to finish updating the Amiga hardware pages under peripherals.

I just added another 30 pages yesterday. It's a lot of work for one so I appreciate you taking time out to find my errors and omissions.

[sdyates]

Hello there, I had a look at your Arcadia section, being a subject matter expert. The screenshot for Alien Invader is wrong. The Jungler screenshot is from the coin-op version rather than the Arcadia version. Presumably it is still a work in progress as several games just have "NULL" descriptions. I would also suggest mentioning that Frogger and Tetris are recent homebrews rather than commercially published games. Some games have box scans and others have screenshots, seemingly at random. You could use the WinArcadia or AmiArcadia emulators to make some better screenshots, or I guess I don't mind if you want to use the ones at my page at http://amigan.1emu.net/agg/ There are also some box scans at my site at http://amigan.yatho.com/ if you need them.

Thanks. I have changed the pics and removed the box images as suggested. I also removed the NULL and replaced it with some facts you had for the games.

Much appreciated for letting me use your content.

Regards,
S