Reduction in site income, due to changes in GDPR and the sharing of personal data

Guys and gals,

Due to a substantial loss in revenue recently from Skimlinks (up until now one of our main sources of income for maintaining the site running costs), as a result of changes to GDPR and the sharing of personal data, we've had to address that shortfall by increasing the ad content on the site, which is why more have appeared recently.

Initially, ads will pop up in some unusual places, but this will settle down once the software 'learns' where they're best put (based on which boxes are being clicked most often), so the placement of ads will become less intrusive in a short while.

It's unfortunate that this has had to happen, but the substantial loss in revenue from Skimlinks simply wasn't sustainable, particularly in conjunction with the site's ever-increasing running costs, which I trust folks will appreciate. The other way round this would be for regular members to make donations, as happens on other sites, but I'm reluctant to do that, as I'd rather that the site was self-funding.

If the revenue we receive from Skimlinks improves again to an acceptable level, then I'll review our usage of Google Adsense.

Until then, I would ask members to be patient until the new system stabilises, and if necessary implement the use of an effective Ad Blocker on their browser (this is one I'd recommend for Chrome: https://adblockplus.org/), or if using mobile phones, access the site via Tapatalk. Please accept our apologies for any inconvenience caused.

Anyone wishing to discuss the matter should contribute to the thread in Critics Corner: https://theartofsound.net/forum/show...Popup-and-adds

Cheers!:cool:

Marco.