Ads or no Ads on translation/novel sites?

[l8rose]

Waiting for class has got me thinking about translation sites and how a lot of them have ads. I know it's done to generate revenue for the site (whether this is to keep it hosted or to pay for translations and copies of the original works) but I've come to realize I have a mixed opinion on the ads.

I don't mind the ads that show up on the side of the screen (as seen on Novel Updates) but pop-ups and that "always present at the bottom of the screen" ad just makes it difficult to focus on reading. Generally, I won't even stay on a site that has either of those so I never finish the story (and also probably one of the reasons I cannot stand wattpad).

Same goes for ads on other sites and mobile games.

So what is your opinion on ads?

 

[Corty]

I dislike ads on the site.

I would prefer it if I need to get through an ad at the start of the chapter rather than constantly suffering the fact that ads slow down the reading experience or distract me while reading.

I am not unreasonable; I get why ads need to be there. I would just prefer it if it could be done once, so get through it and let me read without impacting the user experience. (many ads slow down many devices). So if I need to watch a short ad before reading a new chapter but then said chapter is totally ad-free, that would be perfectly fine in my books.

 

[Keene]

Everyone has their own tolerances for ads but for me these have caused me to specifically seek out a different site to read on:

- A site that opened an ad in a new window every single time I went to the next chapter.
- A site that constantly had ads popping up blocking the text of the chapter.
- A site that blocks right-click so I can't copy and past something or a word I find interesting. This is easily bypassed in the browser dev tools but is still very annoying.

The existence of ads are on principle fine, as they can often be the difference between the site being able to exist or not. They however should not interfere with the reading process!

The best ads for a translation or novel site are ads that advertise another novel on that same site!

 

[Tempokai]

I'm always use adblock. Here's why.

One day, in average reading day, I found one novel. You know the drill, masterpiece, worth reading, bla bla bla.

So, the translator 1 stopped, and translation group that starts with G and ends with Y continued the translation. I hopped on the second site, and see "please turn off ad block pretty please" uncloseable pop-up. "Sure", I'd said to myself, and turned it off.

It was a bad idea.

Scrollable ad on top. Embedded ad on the bottom. Embedded ads in the text. Pop-up ad with a 15 second timer and no X button. Ad pop-up after clicking "next chapter".

It was insufferable. So, I pressed the thing on the browser called "text only", and browsed to the next chapter by manually changing the number at hyperlink.

I'd better pay for extra chapters than looking at ads, thank you very much.

 

[2wordsperminute]

I never turn off my adblocker. Often I forget it's even there.

 

[RiaCorvidiva]

I also use adblocker, not because I am averse to ads specifically, but because every ad is loaded with seemingly infinite tracking cookies and data mining components, not to mention the fact that monthly bandwidth is limited and some of those ads push malware.

 

[Terrate]

I can tolerate ads if the translation is actually good, not just because the story is good, but the combination of both.

 

[Notadate]

They all are p*rn, viruses, or insulting me! (This is true, very hurtful)