For 4+ years, this site has been maybe one of the very few sites on the internet that has been running completely ad-free. Also, IRI Express is the Only mobile Rail app which is completely ad-free. In fact, seeing the ad-free nature of this site, some intermediary ISPs and other parties seem to be illegitimately inserting ads in this site. At this juncture, with sharply escalating costs and large accumulated losses, there is a need to defray some of the additional costs of operation. For this reason, some ads may be tested out to see if it helps with the situation.
But there will be a difference.
1....
more... The ads will be discreet. NO popups,
2. If you do not like them, users will have the choice to completely TURN THEM OFF, with no hassles.
3. Once turned off, you will see nothing. You may turn them on, when you want, and turn them off at will. Also, after getting turned off, it will turn on ONLY if you voluntarily make a choice of doing so.
4. When you do see the ads, you may send feedback if you find the content objectionable.
So, once again, users will be in total control of their own experience. You will be free to turn on ads to support the site, or turn them completely off with a single click - no further hassles.
How this may help.
1. If it partially helps offsetting the mounting current and back-costs, then it may lead to better maintenance of the site, without the recently experienced technical glitches and outages.
2. If there is something left over, we may look at properly organizing the much-demanded Admin and Member melas, and other rail-oriented social events.
If the experiment fails, the entire thing will be rolled back, and we'll continue as we are.
Thanks.