Meta: Site has become unusable on mobile due to ads
It is a damn shame, as this has been one of my most trafficked mobile sites, but I won't be coming here anymore on my phone. The ads every 2-3 posts are too much. I know the site needs to make money, so I donate. I am not going to participate in a huge ad wall.
I might come back on my computer, but only with ad blocker.
This has been a known problem for a long time. It's a feature, not a bug.
Enough.
November 27th, 2018 at 11:06 AM ^
Commercials and ads are everywhere. It’s out of control. It doesn’t bother me much on MgoBlog, but the rest of my life feels like a cluster of ads.
November 27th, 2018 at 11:07 AM ^
It is your "feed." Read the book Feed by M.T. Anderson. It is about 20 years old and was truly visionary.
November 27th, 2018 at 11:20 AM ^
I googled it. Saw lots of ads in the process. Looks interesting, but not really my thing. Thanks for the thought.
November 27th, 2018 at 9:19 PM ^
Read that in high school 3 years ago, good read.
November 27th, 2018 at 11:08 AM ^
Sitting in bed with my wife at night, just listening to her watch those Instagram videos is just blatant ads being thrown at her from "influencers" for what seems like hours on end, we're living in an interesting time.
November 27th, 2018 at 11:20 AM ^
I have heard those influencers are moving on in droves as they've realized you can't live by getting paid in-kind with eye liner and kambucha.
November 28th, 2018 at 3:47 PM ^
Can you tell mine to go away? They're still out there...
November 27th, 2018 at 11:21 AM ^
Yeah it’s unreal. I honestly somehow have trained my brain to block out ads. I still know they are there, but I fly by them and don’t let it bother me anymore.
November 27th, 2018 at 11:50 AM ^
The worst ad imo, are the Human Element ones on the podcast.
November 27th, 2018 at 11:06 AM ^
Tombstone " well bye" gif.
November 27th, 2018 at 11:06 AM ^
I honestly don't mind the ones that are clearly embedded into articles, as I can just scroll past. The ones that bother me are the top & bottom banners that require precision thumbwork to hide just so I can try to get into the boards from the hamburger menu.
November 27th, 2018 at 11:10 AM ^
The collapsible ad on the bottom of the page is annoying as well. Especially since the updated mobile Google app put the features on the bottom of the screen.
November 27th, 2018 at 1:24 PM ^
^^^ this. Don't mind reading/scrolling past ads, but they shouldn't interfere with functionality -- you shouldn't have to interact with an ad in order to obtain access to the navigation menu. That has to be a web design error; or if it's intentional, it is a truly terrible user-interface design decision.
November 27th, 2018 at 1:47 PM ^
The top/bottom ones are most annoying to me because they block links and content.
The embedded ads are annoying because they take an extra second or two to load, so if I navigate to a page, the page leads, I get about a line into whatever I want to read, and then the ads load and I have to find my place again.
All of these have the annoyance of trying to get you to click on them by accident.
Ironically, I see an ad in the middle of this post.
November 27th, 2018 at 11:07 AM ^
That's wierd, I don't have ad blocker and I only see 1/page, and none so far here 6 posts down.
Every 2-3 posts is definitely not happening, but if it's your hill to die on, okay.
November 27th, 2018 at 11:09 AM ^
I made sure to confirm with others here before posting this. It isn't just me.
November 27th, 2018 at 11:25 AM ^
It is super annoying. Unusable is a bit strong, but definitely needs fixed. Just bring back the HD app and be done with it.
November 27th, 2018 at 11:40 AM ^
Where are you from? I would write "needs fixed" as "needs to be fixed".
Is it a regional thing, because your way sounds wrong in my head. Other posters write that way too, so I'm curious.
November 27th, 2018 at 12:07 PM ^
Pennsylvania. I also don’t strive for perfect grammar on a sports blog.
November 27th, 2018 at 12:19 PM ^
Neither do I. It's just not said that way around here.
November 27th, 2018 at 12:57 PM ^
I think it's a PA thing. I knew a guy from Pittsburgh who would say stuff like, "The lawn needs mowed" or "the carpet needs vacuumed."
November 27th, 2018 at 2:43 PM ^
or the wife needs _ _ _ _ _ _
November 27th, 2018 at 12:54 PM ^
Western PA? I grew up there, and can confirm that this usage is pretty common.
November 27th, 2018 at 2:47 PM ^
Yep an hour from Pittsburgh.
November 27th, 2018 at 3:23 PM ^
Same here (north of Pittsburgh)
November 27th, 2018 at 3:39 PM ^
I'm from the mitten state and i would use "needs to be fixed" instead of "needs fixed".
November 27th, 2018 at 11:09 AM ^
It’s not “unusable” per se, but it is pretty damn annoying.
November 27th, 2018 at 11:10 AM ^
If you don't get the drop down for mgoboard right away, an ad blocks it.
November 27th, 2018 at 11:29 AM ^
Yeah you can still get to MGoBoard by scrolling to the bottom, but the ads are literally covering up site functionality.
I'd mind the ads less if they weren't designed to get me to click on them by accident.
November 27th, 2018 at 11:43 AM ^
That's annoying. But, 3.0 in general isn't nearly as user friendly as 2.0, so I'm assuming they want it this way.
I'd also be willing to pay a small subscription fee each month instead of having to deal with ads, but only if they make the board function like it used to.
November 27th, 2018 at 11:10 AM ^
I've taken to telling my phone to "request desktop site" on mgoblog. I don't like having to hit a couple buttons and loading a new page just to see if there any message board posts that I want to check out. Plus the UFR play-by-play charts never seemed to size to my screen right on the mobile site.
November 27th, 2018 at 11:13 AM ^
I miss the mgoblog app!
November 27th, 2018 at 11:15 AM ^
Yeah, I think this could solve a lot of the issues.
November 27th, 2018 at 11:40 AM ^
I still don’t understand why they didn’t work out a deal with the people who made the HD app to keep it running.
November 27th, 2018 at 11:13 AM ^
Use Brave browser for mobile. No ads.
Sorry MGoBlog
November 27th, 2018 at 11:59 AM ^
Came to say this. I'm always late to the party.
November 27th, 2018 at 12:03 PM ^
As always, Peggy gave you good advice.
November 27th, 2018 at 11:13 AM ^
For the record I've got an ad below my initial comment, above ijohnb's comment, and above night King's comment.
This is with 12 comments.
November 27th, 2018 at 11:14 AM ^
Adblock browser.
Feel bad for the site not making money? They shouldn't be so intrusive with that junk. I don't mind an ad-article for hummus or an ambulance chaser here and there, but those are the only ads I see.
November 27th, 2018 at 11:17 AM ^
In all the time I've been a regular here (nearly 8 years), I've accessed the site on my phone browser (Chrome, as I use Android) maybe 4-5 times, but I did use the app on occasion. 98% of the access has been on desktops / laptops. Although it is awesome that I can surf the web from my phone, I generally hate using the phone browser...also extensive typing on a phone bugs the shit out of me.
November 27th, 2018 at 11:30 AM ^
I agree... I cannot understand how people use their phones for everything - including watching TV and movies. Or even a tablet like an iPad! Yes, I have these technologies at home, but I prefer my 60" flat screen to some 5.5" phone screen.
But I'm 52, so you kids enjoy yourselves... And let me know how it goes when you're older and your eyeballs begin to rebel!
November 27th, 2018 at 12:18 PM ^
I could've written that post. I feel the same way. Don't get me started on kids who have earbud headphones with the volume high enough for me to hear their lousy music several feet away.
November 27th, 2018 at 12:17 PM ^
I don't use the phone as I have a hard timing reading it now that I'm in my upper 40's. I am strictly a laptop user. Getting old sucks.
November 27th, 2018 at 11:26 AM ^
Deal with it. This is what being in Hell is like. Didn't you read Brian's game summary?
November 27th, 2018 at 11:31 AM ^
Do you switch your browser to desktop site? I never use the mobile version, I only go on my phone browser using desktop mode and I don't have any problems.
November 27th, 2018 at 11:31 AM ^
I can't find the link/post anymore, but I followed the instructions someone posted a month of so after the new site came out on how to essentially make your own MGoBlog App. I don't get many invasive ads through that...
November 27th, 2018 at 11:34 AM ^
My finger is hurting since I have to scroll through all these ads :(.
Why are there ads?!?! MGoBlog doesn't need money to provide quality content! /s
November 27th, 2018 at 11:35 AM ^
Use Firefox Focus for iOS/Android - https://www.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/mobile/
Use uBlock Origin for Chrome desktop - https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/ublock-origin/cjpalhdlnbpafiamejdnhcphjbkeiagm?hl=en
I setup recurring $2 monthly donations via Paypal to MGoBlog to make up for the lost ad revenue.
November 27th, 2018 at 11:41 AM ^
I also use Firefox for mobile and use an adblocker.
I get that they need money to live and keep the site running but ads are more than just annoying. They are also a potential portal for viruses and malware and in an age of data caps on everything, a waste of data
November 27th, 2018 at 2:28 PM ^
I think if more people knew about adblockers, not just that they exist and where to get them (surprisingly, in my experience lots of people do not know this), but that they actually improve the experience immeasurably by speeding up downloads as well, that the internet economy would collapse