We’ve all seen it, we’ve all heard it, you mention Arcade Punks and someone always got to mention “its full of viruses” – when in fact this usually means “whoops i click an ad that said download now”… So its GONE, on this glorious day of the 29th November 2018, we have now OFFICIALLY REMOVED ADFLY from Arcade Punks – FOR GOOD!
In August the punks all met up on live conference to discuss the future of Arcade Punks, what could be improved and how we could move forward for a better user experience… We also had 100 random people get asked to fill in a survey (back in August) and then more recently we produced a public survey for everyone. One thing rings true, time and time again, we hear negative about Adfly pop up ads, and we do this for love, not negativity……
So, staying transparent, when we first started Arcade Punks, we noticed we needed a few seedboxes to assist with the sheer volume of images and releases dropping (Which seems to have never slowed down!) – so we purchased a few (from our own pockets) , realising that we could fund the seedboxes by getting paid for the links provided, using a url shortening service, such as AdFly, this seemed like an answer to the problem of paying for it out of our pockets – this worked, and to this day, had been the perfect solution (with us topping up from our own pockets every month when needed!). (NOTE: We currently have 8 Seedboxes on the go!).
More recently we have other advertisers on the site, which you’ll see in the headers, posts and down the sides of the site and we are now at a level of traffic whereby these friendlier, non-intrusive advertisers are now covering our outgoing costs (mostly!) – we have never intended to profit from Arcade Punks (and any profit we have made we have always thrown back in with increased temporary torrent/usenet servers – and/or giveaways and competitions).
TRANSPARENT INTENTIONS
During the August 2018 meeting, we made a list of things we would like to do with the site, we are pleased to share the list with you below, note you may have/have not already noticed some of the implementations.
- Removal of “Bounce” “Please like our page” window when about to leave site – IMPLEMENTED *
- Removal of “Social Locker” “like the page to unlock” Content protector – IMPLEMENTED *
- Removal of any like/sub for content protectors – IMPLEMENTED *
- Removal of Social Media Competitions for Likes/Shares/Subs – IMPLEMENTED
- Competitions to now be ON-SITE only not on social media – IMPLEMENTED
- Seek dedicated advertisers for the side bars with relevant content to our community – NOT YET IMPLEMENTED #
- Remove AdFly ads throughout the site and downloads section – IMPLEMENTED *
- Share advertising options for potential advertisers to fund raise for costs – NOT YET IMPLEMENTED #
- Re-create Help section with more “noob friendly” videos and How Tos – NOT YET IMPLEMENTED
- Add 1 more Private FTP To Members Section (bring total to 3) keep adding download tabs – NOT YET IMPLEMENTED
- Add Donation/Buy us a beer button to the site to fund raise costs –NOT YET IMPLEMENTED
* = part of the self-instigated “make site less spammy” campaign
# = part of a more solid, transparent, self controlled advertising campaign
WHAT THE FUTURE HOLDS
We still have LOADS of plans for Arcade Punks, and we truly hope your here along for the ride, some of the up and coming positive changes are (and not limited to)
- Live YouTube Streams
- New Improved Help Section with very Simple Noob Friendly How To Guides
- Bigger, Better Giveaways and Competitions
- More Downloads, More Front Ends
- Discounts and Vouchers
- A huge 8tb FULLY LOADED Hyperspin Drive to Share
- More Software Reviews
- Keeping this awesome scene alive and kicking!
Who knows, one of us may even end up speaking on a YouTube video yet!!
FEEDBACK FROM SURVEYS
Some of the feedback we received was a real eye opener – One thing, we seen time and time again was people’s request to categories images into sizes and/or developers (in the Pi Front End Downloads) , and we also noticed a few people were struggling with the archives (basically look at the top of any downloads page, you can sort by newest, oldest, 2016 releases, 2017 releases, and first part of 2018 releases) – we felt that we have enough feedback to re-look at the current downloads section and see how we can make it more simpler and easier for EVERYONE of all skill-sets to use.
Oddly enough, another result that echoed throughout the surveys was that almost 25% of the people who filled in the survey did NOT use FaceBook, we didn’t find out if they used alternative Social Media, but we shall ensure we make full use of our Twitter (currently echoing 90% of our FaceBook) and Instagram accounts as well as our FaceBook Page and YouTube channels. This has caused us to move Competitions and Giveaways OFF of the singular FaceBook platform and directly onto our website, so that EVERYONE can be involved, we will continue to use the Social Media platforms to promote the competitions/offers.
WHAT ABOUT MEMBERS?
When speaking to the majority of members, losing Adfly was only a SMALL part of why they signed up to become members, other reasons such as “to support the site” , “to be involved” , “to use the live chat” , “to get custom text in the forums” , and once they have become members the main reason seems to be “to leech this awesome FTPS and Servers!” – We have ALWAYS been transparent with membership there are still some HUGE benefits of being a member, which include (and is not limited to) :-
- A Huge reduction on ads on the site – increasing the speed and browsing of the site
- Members Only Side Bars – Which include “latest downloads lists” and different to guests or registered users
- Direct Download Files Section – In the members area we have LOADS of tabs with various direct download server links
- Direct Download Members Only FTP – In the members area we have multiple members only FTP sites with latest content on, as well as any content which we have had to remove from the site (upon creators request/DMCA)
- Enhanced Forum Access – Get your own signature on the forums!
- Request Fulfilment – Members can make requests which will be filled on the members only FTP site/Direct Download
- Early Invites – Members get early invites to any projects/offers/discounts that may come our way
WHAT CAN YOU DO
Your already doing it, your here, using our site, being part of the community, we could of course offer you the chance to become a member, or donate via the up and coming “buy us a beer” button, but if you really want to give us a quick help, how about share this post on Social Media and let all the haters know that we have removed AD Fly and are cleaning up the site, its image and user base!
x Thank You So Much For Reading & Being Part of Arcade Punks x
