Sponsored: Toshiba Field Tests - Highly Impractical Practicality

[martyrdrebel27]

Didn't watch the videos yet, but still had to home in about the community response here. Look at everything around you (on this site). It isn't free to make or maintain, and sponsorships and advertisements are a necessary neutral (not inherently evil).

besides, if you wanna rage at something, rage at the continues use of captcha. When it was implemented there was some line about curbing spam bots, but I had never seen one spambot attack, let alone enough to warrant such an intrusive measure. Plus, I'm betting that using that system isn't free, ot maybe they use the free version which is why we get sponsored captchas, and they hurt my soul.

rally against the captcha, not funny videos that happened to be corporate sponsored. And big kudos to the staff for their handling of the situation as well.

 

[CriticalMiss]

Why in the hell can I get suspended for god damn advertising when the fucking staff does it? I tried to share decline of video gaming on here and got suspended, but this article outright sponsors and endorses toshiba and they get away with it because they're staff?

Bullshit!

The code of conduct doesn't apply to staff, even if it says that it does nothing ever comes of reporting their posts. It's just one of those things we just have to live with.

 

[Alpha Maeko]

I have to admit that the idea of everything that's ever been posted on the Escapist as a news article being potentially sponsored, in an attempt to control perception or media attention, is a bit iffy.

But I've come to terms with a world where ads are necessary, so my response to this whole thing is more along the lines of... "meh".

Don't really have an opinion on Toshiba to share.

*Edit, badly worded first paragraph.

 

[Yopaz]

Like, see how fast it's internet is

Internet isn't built into a computer, it's provided by an ISP. Buying a better computer generally won't increase your internet speeds.

Actually, yes and no to that one. Your maximum speed is provided to you by your ISP, but the quality of the network's card does matter in the equation. My new laptop is better than my old laptop at everything but battery life and network speed and stability. My new laptop is generally a little shaky on taking in signals and I have to struggle to get in on the internet at the university in places where my old laptop was far better at it. Also the new 802.11ac standard which can be found on newer networks cards will be better than the older models. So internet speeds do depend on your computer to some degree.

 

[Padwolf]

Well I don't like ads much myself, but I don't really mind this. The Escapist isn't made of money, afterall. Besides, these sponsored articles don't seem to pop up that often. But hey, I'm all for more cool sciency things being added!

 

[uchytjes]

I'm fine with these kinds of things under one condition: Clearly being marked in both the article AND the title. Money is good and can lead to good things (better servers, more employees, more videos, etc.), so taking a sponsor on every so often is fine, but only if it is actually clearly marked as such. Oh, also: bonus if you can get sponsored articles for things that are actually interesting, not just some random laptop.

Also, the captcha is nest egg. I find that quite applicable here.

 

[rofltehcat]

I think it is completely ok if quickly visible disclaimers are added and if it doesn't get out of hand.
When the disclaimer is near the top of the article or in the title and when we don't get too many of those (maybe 1-2 max per week) then it is fine.

At least the Escapist post disclaimers unlike other websites that simply go "here is some funny videos that you should watch!".