I mean, appears that everything he promised us back when the site fused with Cnet won't be followed. Now, we even seem to get those large ads at the bottom of the each topic, what will be next? More pop up ads? Paid memberships to access the content of the site? Removing unknown/older systems? Taking weeks to check our contributions?


As a contributor this made me kinda sad, to see what this site is turning to... even illegal/"spywared" content can be found in these "sponsored links", and that can be also considered as a violation of the TOS itself.
Right now, I saw someone complaining about getting a virus from one of those ads, and... topic deleted, less than 2 minutes later.


So, I wanted to know... what is your opinion, as a contributor, to the changes occurring in the site?

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World's Top Captain Tsubasa fan !
Please visit my site on http://www.geocities.com/Mykas0/ff.htm !

I just ad-blocked the frame. I'm sick of seeing ads. I have every single ad on this entire site blocked.
---
Borrow money from pessimists -- they don't expect it back.

It hasn't changed that much from when I first started going here but I agree it's getting worse.

Older systems being removed isn't going to happen in my opinion. Heck, they added new ones not two months ago. As for contributions taking longer....well that might happen and sometimes it does. I wouldn't really mind but if it got to bad it could cause a problem with contributors not wanting to go through that much effort.


I doubt there will ever a fee to use this site though because all the guides were written for free. If they charged then they would have to pay us too.

This site is and has always been completely free for everyone, and it seems to me that a lot of people fail to realize we have the ads to thank for that.

Aside from GameFAQs not having legal claim to a lot of the content hosted here, it'd be suicide for the site to ever charge a fee for the standard guides, reviews, cheats, et cetera. Doing so would eliminate ninety percent (or more) of the site's traffic. Sure, they might recover some of their revenue through the paid accounts, but they'd lose so many contributors that they'd probably never recover.

While it's true that CJay didn't deny the possibility of "premium" accounts in the future, that doesn't mean everyone's going to have to pay just to view a guide or a review... it just means there might be other features later on that people could pay to use. Personally, I hope that happens some time. Things can get boring around here, it'd be nice to have something new to play with.

So anyway, I guess my stance is that a few ads on part of the page that I rarely have an excuse to see anyway is hardly a concern. At least the location of the new ads helps explain the true logic behind moving the topic search feature.

---
Hostis humani generis.
Boredom's not a burden anyone should bear.

Wallopin' websnappers! Thesearch correlaions does make a lot of sense.

The ads could be in a lot worse of places. At the top of the page, or in the middle of topics. At least it's not as bad as that stupid ad that always manifested itself when I went to my contributor page and tried clicking in a box...

---
585467 Centipede | Complete FAQS: 38
http://ccc.domaindlx.com/CoolZomb/ Zombies! (Warning: Blood, etc)

I absolutely agree with Defcon on this. They're not only a good thing (helping ensure that this site remains a viable business and therefore here), but they're relatively discreet and easy enough to ignore.

They don't appear on pages containing individual contributions and if they ever did, I'd be extremely disappointed. However, I honestly doubt that would ever happen (legal implications).

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You love it
It's not as if we're born fully clothed, you know...

There are probably more and more ads because people keep blocking them, thus decreasing the amount of hits.

>_>
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Borrow money from pessimists -- they don't expect it back.

I don't even care about the ads, to be honest. They're not that big a deal. I'll just ignore them as I always do.
---
Xboxlover2«33»-New York City's #1 GameFAQs User
It's like I'm having a barbecue in my pants!

And on a related note, the ads don't even work for me.
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Xboxlover2«33»-New York City's #1 GameFAQs User
It's like I'm having a barbecue in my pants!

I still remember CJayC initially started this site as a passion.. things change i guess.

If the adverts ever get to the point where there are some that I can't block, I'm gone. I'm just not willing to deal with a single advert. I don't see any of them, with my current setup, and as soon as they bring out an advert I can't block, I'm not going to put up with it anymore. If that happens before my first contribution is completed, I guess I'll find another way to publish my work.
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Soluzar

Just a small note, when I said "what will be next?", I was just giving out some examples... and my point was not the actual ads (yeah, we can block them, as I currently am), but what CjayC had told us before. First, we get some minor ads. Then, some random intrusive ads over the content, and now usually 2 ads per page... I don't surely like the path this site is taking...
As the other guy said, "I still remember CJayC initially started this site as a passion". Now, and sorry if he is reading this (which I doubt), maybe he started caring about the money more than considering this as a passion and thinking of us, contributors/members of the boards...

---
World's Top Captain Tsubasa fan !
Please visit my site on http://www.geocities.com/Mykas0/ff.htm !

Now, and sorry if he is reading this (which I doubt), maybe he started caring about the money more than considering this as a passion and thinking of us, contributors/members of the boards...

A lot of people seem to fail to realize that CJay probably had little or no say in these ads... Selling the site to CNet was a necessary step to keep the site alive. If he didn't care about the site or its users, he could've just let it die. The ads keep the place running, so adding more of them is really in the best interest of everyone that wants the site to continue operating in its current (or close to its current) condition. For all we know, the choice was either add a few more ads or shut the place down and concentrate on GameSpot. I obviously can't speak for everyone, but I much prefer the former.

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Hostis humani generis.
Boredom's not a burden anyone should bear.

The older ads could be explained like that, but what the new ones? The site suddenly needed more money? And why weren't we, people "down here", told about anything? Don't we deserve to know what's happening?

---
World's Top Captain Tsubasa fan !
Please visit my site on http://www.geocities.com/Mykas0/ff.htm !

I doubt the site will become a pay to use site, bar special accounts.
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32/48 Full Circle | Y.T.W.S.R. |
The FAQer Profiles and History - http://homepages.tesco.net/vicky.reynolds1

The older ads could be explained like that, but what the new ones? The site suddenly needed more money?

I don't know if this trend is still active, but only a couple of years back, ad revenue was dropping steadily for any site simply because corporations discovered that internet advertizing doesn't draw quite as many new purchases as expected.

When server costs rise annually and ad income drops, more ads are needed to compensate. This is a development you'll see everywhere, not just on GameFAQs.

In the case of GameFAQs, we don't have to worry about the site ever charging for its content. Even if it wasn't effectively suicide to do so, it's still only legally possible with content that GameFAQs owns, and GameFAQs doesn't own the one thing that draws in 90% of its visitors, the FAQs.

I'd sooner worry about having a free video game FAQ archive of this size becoming economically infeasible at some point in the future, because this wouldn't be the first site to ever disappear because it could no longer earn back its cost.

---
Post may contain traces of common sense.
http://www.mastagus.com/sash/collection/collection.html

I mean, appears that everything he promised us back when the site fused with Cnet won't be followed. Now, we even seem to get those large ads at the bottom of the each topic, what will be next? More pop up ads? Paid memberships to access the content of the site? Removing unknown/older systems? Taking weeks to check our contributions?

DOn't mind the ads down the page. It's the Flash ads on the homepage that annoy me, since u gotta wait for them to go away bef u can click on stuff underneath it.

---
So, you suggest we drop metaphor and Ling-Ling dip crispy noodle in your duck sauce.
Sure. [hrmph!!]

Funny enough I know someone IRL who works for Gamespot in the ad department and she said that talking to CjayC about ads is like cutting yourself with a rusty spoon, twice, and then some.

Apart from that Defcon posted some wise words and I couldn't agree more.

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Bring Site Statistics back up and add nr. of user levels:
boards.gamefaqs.com/gfaqs/genmessage.php?board=7&topic=24462938

If I'm any good at judging the character of people I've never met and rarely talked to online, I imagine CJayC to be stubborn as a mutt when it comes to changes to his website, and I certainly cannot blame him.

---
Post may contain traces of common sense.
http://www.mastagus.com/sash/collection/collection.html

Ohhh! Can I speculate also!

Umm, I speculate that CJay brought the ads down upon us to weaken us before the final, killing, blow to the neck with a pikmin made of deuterium!
---
The killer, karmic©, charismatic, cryptastic©, clever Kirby!
FAQs: 24 (2003KB) | CRP: 43180 | Images: 6

And after these ads are defeated, they'll morph into their TRUE form, with 9999 HP!!!
---
Borrow money from pessimists -- they don't expect it back.

*Forms cult following ImmortalLynx and kirbyrok's predictions*
---
"And don't go having sex with your PS2 either." -shadowed_fire

Those 9999 HP types always end up dead thanks to the combined might of Holy, Ultima, Flare and Meteor with the "1 MP cost" ability.

---
Divorce! Divorce!
I'm going mad.

... now, the ads in the right seem to be mostly about Gamespot. When not being logged in, we seem to get a "Gamespot Gamefaqs" screen before entering the site. My guess on what's next?
We will fully become Gamespot, and that will be the day I will leave this site forever.

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World's Top Captain Tsubasa fan !
Please visit my site on http://www.geocities.com/Mykas0/ff.htm !

CJ responds to this in today's Daily Grind:

http://boards.gamefaqs.com/gfaqs/genmessage.php?board=11&topic=26969144
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www.papagamer.com
Own the game

Yeah, I've seen that, but it is still a pity.

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World's Top Captain Tsubasa fan !
Please visit my site on http://www.geocities.com/Mykas0/ff.htm !

What's the pity about it? You know full well that no business is going to operate out of the fluffy goodness of its heart. No ads means no site. Every business on this planet operates to make profit so that its owners can actually buy food. Money doesn't just appear, you know.

---
Divorce! Divorce!
I'm going mad.

What's a pity, you ask? We seem to be turning into just a small part of Gamespot, and that makes me wonder when we will be just Gamespot, which "Gamefaqs" being nothing more than a shadow of the past.

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World's Top Captain Tsubasa fan !
Please visit my site on http://www.geocities.com/Mykas0/ff.htm !

Now is a good time for people to start removing contributions. CNET is never going to get the message if we continue to bend over for them over and over. They WILL get the message if their multi-million dollar investment suddenly vanishes into thin air.
---
"MAYBE A GILMORE GIRLS SCRIPT? LOL!!!!" ~me o_0
The Ohio State University: We are so much better than m*ch!g@n.

Fat lot of good that will do unless you can convince a major block of the top contributors to join you. And I seriously doubt that's going to happen.
---
www.papagamer.com
Own the game

Not going to happen. This is a free site and a few adds that can easily be avoided aren't enough to call for a revolution.

The point is... this thing is getting worse and worse as the time passes. Today, I was in my university and decided to check the site for a bit, when I was confronted with a gamespot-like loading screen, that allowed (or so it seemed) to login with a premium account. Wanna bet that we will be getting such feature soon?
And what will be next? Premium accounts have access to LUE? EVEN more ads? Becoming just a small part of the awful Gamespot site?

Sorry if I have to disagree with most you, but as time passes, and even more since I've opened this discussion, I am afraid of what the future may have in store for us, contributors and mostly fans of this site. I wonder what promises will CjayC actually keep...

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World's Top Captain Tsubasa fan !
Please visit my site on http://www.geocities.com/Mykas0/ff.htm !

The problem with the premium accounts idea is GameFAQs really has nothing they can sell. PM service? AIM is free. Access to restricted boards? Heck, we can give you that. They can't sell access to the guides because they aren't theirs to sell. Premium accounts will never happen I think and if they do I don't see them being successful.

Don't get me wrong, I don't like the ads and all these changes. I just don't let them bother me.

Now is a good time for people to start removing contributions.

I notice you haven't, Rock, despite what you're saying. If you feel so strongly about that then maybe you should be the one to do it?

---
Divorce! Divorce!
I'm going mad.

Rock is a contributor?!?!?

Well, what do you know?

I checked especially.

---
Divorce! Divorce!
I'm going mad.

Yep, he sure is. A decent guide but you need to do more!

Well, once CJay makes Game Data appear on a CRP it'll be bigger. :)

RockMFR 5 is right guys, it’s like you’re taking it with a smile on your faces. You’ll be defending those ads till GameFAQs is another IGN; ads with every other click, the home page covered in crap that has nothing to do with video games, having to go through 9 or 10 links to get anywhere at all. You’ve got to get away from the “it’s not so bad crowd”. If you don’t you’ll be saying it’s not so bad right up until the day there are flashing ads crammed on every side of your guide and when you demand your stuff be taken down CJ says he’ll get to it eventually.

Finally remember that the guides you make are used by everyone and just because you’re a grand master at dodging and blocking ads doesn’t mean they are. It may sound chessy but the point of the site is to help people and those that come here shouldn’t have to tolerate solicitation in order to find the help they need.

Is this why you've pulled your stuff? You did great work.


Anyway, I just don't see how it's our place to complain about something we are getting for free. Sure, it's our work that brings in the revenue so to speak but still, it's a free site that will likely remain so. Ads will never show up on actual guides though, you can bet on that.

The point of this site is not to help people. It's owned by a private business and businesses have to pay running costs. Basically it's either profit or website death.

While that doesn't mean I particularly like ads, it doesn't mean I'm about to get all paranoid and assuming that just because there's a new ad on the homepage, before we know it there'll be thousands of them everywhere. That's just irrational. If there were ads all over the site like you're describing, then all the pages would look ugly and people would gradually stop coming here. If there's less people visiting a site, less people will be clicking on ads and the whole operation will no longer be viable. THAT is when it'd become some tiny addition to Gamespot as people seem to be assuming it will be.

Quite simply, this isn't a rational reason to start panicking and worrying about what will probably never happen.

---
Divorce! Divorce!
I'm going mad.

You’ll be defending those ads till GameFAQs is another IGN

Err...yeah. I post my FAQs on IGN too. Not to mention 1UP, GamerHelp, the-site-that-shall-not-be-named, etc. etc. As a contributor, I don't care what GameFAQs or any other site does around the display of my FAQ. They're hosting my FAQs, providing me with publicity, for free.

I'm not sure why I would fuss and complain about the ads they show to users trying to read my FAQs. If users want to read my FAQs without ads, they can do so on my personal site.

:looks at hit stats, compares to GF's hits:

Looks like users still prefer GameFAQs.

As a user, I might get turned off by the ads, but that just means somebody else will co-op the "clean" look of GF and start a competing site.

Such a site might be successful, it might not. But it will have my FAQs and so will GF, and IGN, and GamerHelp, and...
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www.papagamer.com
Own the game

Nah, there is no reason to "panic". But as I've argued with many other people- we have just as much advertising as GameSpot now. Yet I need only to point out that they probably have 15 times as many paid staff members as we do. And don't think that subscriber fees pay for all of that. CNET is viewing this site as an easy way to make money- we're the beaten stepchild, so to speak.

Nobody's going to pull their guides after any single new advertisement campaign, but as Tropicon has said, all this crap is going to add up eventually.

People like me used to be a majority on the site. 99% of the vocal members of this site left after the debacle in 2004. Nobody here speaks up anymore. You all assume that this is the way it has to be and nothing can be changed. This site doesn't need prestitials or Google ads on the bottom in order to survive. CNET needs money to pad its other failing brands. I will not sit here and listen to the gibberish that is fed to us.

I really am in complete shock that I came on the site this afternoon, noticed the prestitials, and saw little to no complaints whatsoever from the userbase. Christ, people whined and moaned back when CJayC ran this site by himself with no help, yet now they don't whine when a huge cooperation lords over us? Seriously. WTF.
---
"MAYBE A GILMORE GIRLS SCRIPT? LOL!!!!" ~me o_0
The Ohio State University: We are so much better than m*ch!g@n.

I really am in complete shock that I came on the site this afternoon, noticed the prestitials, and saw little to no complaints whatsoever from the userbase.

That's because most of us keep ourselves logged in and so we don't see the prestitials. Or didn't you read that part of the announcement?
---
www.papagamer.com
Own the game

*shrugs* Hadn't really noticed. I block most internet advertizing I come across and what remains, I block out mentally. Been on this net for about eight years now, you don't really notice ads anymore by then. (Which is, incidentally, precisely why ads become bigger and more intrusive over time.)

I see no reason to pull contributions since my motivation for posting them to begin with still applies. I provide GameFAQs with content that allows it to exits, and GameFAQs provides me with coverage my material wouldn't get on a free Geocities site I'd cook up myself. Who owns GameFAQs and how it is run hasn't changed this.

---
Post may contain traces of common sense.
http://www.mastagus.com/sash/collection/collection.html

That's because most of us keep ourselves logged in and so we don't see the prestitials. Or didn't you read that part of the announcement?

Actually, I did. And ironically enough, the problems with the login system today will show exactly how many people really do stay logged in.
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"MAYBE A GILMORE GIRLS SCRIPT? LOL!!!!" ~me o_0
The Ohio State University: We are so much better than m*ch!g@n.

That's because most of us keep ourselves logged in and so we don't see the prestitials. Or didn't you read that part of the announcement?

So, when you acess the site from a public computer, will you be logged in, too? Or when a friend of yours wanna see it?

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World's Top Captain Tsubasa fan !
Please visit my site on http://www.geocities.com/Mykas0/ff.htm !

It always makes me curious when people defend big business. You realize that any large corporation wants nothing more then to make as much money as possible regardless of how they do it. CNET just sees GameFAQs as a business venture. It doesn’t matter what it is or who owns it their going to treat it with the same abuse that they would any other operation; milk, milk, milk until its one giant ad.

And the ads are progressively getting worse. First there were the ads on the home page, then the ones now at the bottom of every page, then the invasive flash ads that suddenly appear while you’re surfing, reading reviews, or checking out codes, and now the prestitials. It should be obvious to everyone that CJ is starting to break and that this will continue until he’s completely run down and the FAQs appear inside ad boxes.

You can put your fingers in your ears but your ignorance won’t be bliss forever. The day will come, and then it will be to late.

Too late for...what, exactly?

Of course businesses want to make a profit. It's what they exist for. I'd say that's hardly a shocking revelation to anybody...nor is it a new CNet thing, the same thing applied to CJayC back when he owned the site.

---
Post may contain traces of common sense.
http://www.mastagus.com/sash/collection/collection.html

What do you mean "the day will come"?!

---
Divorce! Divorce!
I'm going mad.