Why I block AdBlock.

Hello friends!

I have been slacking on my site updates, so if you enjoy these I encourage you to get at me about keeping this blog as current as possible @sc2links and @doomesports!

Recently I’ve been seeing some twitter messages about the site’s anti-adblock feature blocking people who don’t even use adblock or denying people who have the site whitelisted – while this definitely isn’t ideal, users who experience this should try using a different browser, which should more than likely resolve the issue. Yes it is an inconvenience, but it is the only solution I have beyond contacting your adblock service for a resolution.

As a whole, SC2Links ads are unobtrusive, placed out of frame from main content windows, and have a singular purpose of generating revenue for the site that can be re-invested in new features. The site has never been blacklisted by google for malware or malicious ads and has serviced the Starcraft 2 community for four years. We have only just become profitable this year and simply put, the only reason SC2Links has become profitable is because we blocked adblock.

Site revenues aren’t yet where they need to be in order to hire programmers to create new site features, but being that the general daily population seems to be happy with the spoiler-free VOD utility the site provides, I am OK with this. At the end of the day this is a business, and all profits are currently being used to pay back investors, which is a positive for the future of SC2Links. Paying back investors = higher chance that investors will re-invest.

Unfortunately, there seems to be a user base beyond these one-off issues that refuse to use the site because of our hard-block of adblock users. I now realize that if the site is going to grow to reach it’s full potential that we will need to bring these users into the fold and gain their trust.

Since I am also looking to expand the site into listing Overwatch VODs, I realize there will be a large user base flocking to the site that don’t know us, don’t trust us and will refuse to turn off adblock.

I’ve made my stance on adblock clear – it hurts the site – but in order to grow we will need to compromise. For the foreseeable future, the hard block of adblock users will be removed.

This is an experiment. Can we earn the trust of another gaming community? Can we increase our user base? Can we do this all while generating the same amount of revenue or more? Time will tell, and I’m willing to sacrifice potential future earnings for the sake of bringing spoiler-free VODs to each and every person who desires them.

At the end of the day I built this site in support of you, the viewer, and if you appreciate what we do I encourage you to support us too.

Furthermore, if you are interested in investing in or advertising on SC2Links feel free to reach out at sc2linksdotcom @ gmail.com – it’s halfway through 2016 and we are well on our way to 1 million unique pageviews (currently at 480,863 uniques, 590,932 total). We’ve already serviced 1 million AdSense units this year and would love to grant that exposure to a product or business that aligns with our customer base.

I will report back in early July with the results of this experiment – if you want to get in touch before then feel free to contact me @sc2links or @doomesports. Oh and if you haven’t watched SSL from yesterday or GSL from today what are you waiting for?!?! GET IN THERE NERDS!!

This entry was posted in News, Updates. Bookmark the permalink.