Ad Free WRT

[Mark]

Hi all,

I did ad the Google Adsense program to this site quite some time ago in order to attempt to reduce some of the costs of this site - which it did. 
I never did enjoy the look of the site clustered with ads and all sorts of tricks Google plays in order to garner clicks. In fact I hated it. 
 

Yesterday I decided to ditch Google Adsense and remove all ads from the site with immediate effect. 
 

I hope this will help to make the site more enjoyable and, hopefully, even faster loading. 
 

[Knebo]

Wow, thanks @Mark! 

[JohnR725]

Thank you Mark it definitely makes the site looked much nicer. Although I didn't mind the ads as long as it helped to pay for the messageboard but sometimes when you had the feeling that there were more ads than message board yes it was a little annoying. Thank you

[Mark]

My pleasure. I would rather pay more than have those annoying ads ruin this site. They were a terrible idea and something I never even saw much, but I was on my iPad yesterday testing a security update for the forum software and it was impossible. I decided then - they had to go!!!

Also, co-incided with this, for those who are paying for pattern in order to help fund this site - I’ve just disabled patreon. Future monthly payments will not be taken. 
PayPal is a little more complicated. I will try to work out how to cancel the few subscriptions but if you are a PayPal donator then please feel free to cancel the monthly sub. 

I will, however thank you all from the bottom of my heart for helping to contribute to this site financially - it means a lot. But going forward, I’m funding it personally from my pocket and that’s the end of it

[Neverenoughwatches]

Thanks Mark, but can we still discuss the other important matter please and not be distracted from it. Thank you.

[mikepilk]

1 hour ago, Mark said:

I never did enjoy the look of the site clustered with ads

Thanks Mark

I have uBlock Origin Lite add-on for my Windows Chrome browser, so I've never seen a single ad on this site !

It also removes all adds from Youtube - I couldn't bear to watch it without uBlock

[Mark]

1 hour ago, Neverenoughwatches said:

Thanks Mark, but can we still discuss the other important matter please and not be distracted from it. Thank you.

No mate. Sorry if that offends you! Also please don’t take threads off-topic. I thank you sir. 

[watchweasol]

Hello Mark,  thank you for the ad removal , like JohnR725 , I appreciate any revenue from such would be helpful.  This is the one forum which encourages conversation and social interaction and in that sense it is unique  All the others I frequent can be a little intimidating and answers some what terse some quite rude. I think on here we try to do justice to your site in keeping with your principals. In my opinion it is like no other. The contributors  behave and act like gentlemen and ladies. And long may it continue to be so.

[RichardHarris123]

This is indeed a unique site and members including myself genuinely care about it.  All we want is the site to continue. 

[Mark]

2 hours ago, RichardHarris123 said:

This is indeed a unique site and members including myself genuinely care about it.  All we want is the site to continue. 

Of course it will continue Richard.

[mbwatch]

Thank you @Mark. I only became a Patreon subscriber 5 or 6 months ago, but I draw so much value here. If you come up with future contribution or support opportunities, I will be on board.

[mcoulton]

Hi Mark.

Thank you for all the you do for the community. I do have a question about my Patron support over the past several years and how will that effect Level 4 of the Watch Repair Course? As with other lessons, my monthly Patron contributions went towards the purchase of the next level. I believe Level 5 came out in 2022. I'm assuming that my contributions to Level 4 will have accumulated since that time and I wouldn't be charged for it when it comes out? Could you please comment on this and update us on a release date. Thank you. 

[Mark]

12 hours ago, mcoulton said:

Hi Mark.

Thank you for all the you do for the community. I do have a question about my Patron support over the past several years and how will that affect Level 4 of the Watch Repair Course? As with other lessons, my monthly Patron contributions went towards the purchase of the next level. I believe Level 5 came out in 2022. I'm assuming that my contributions to Level 4 will have accumulated since that time and I wouldn't be charged for it when it comes out? Could you please comment on this and update us on a release date. Thank you. 

Thanks for the question. Absolutely nothing has changed in that regard. As you know, I have a points system set-up on the watchfix site and points accrued will never be removed unless used by the user who owns them.

[JohnR725]

18 hours ago, mbwatch said:

I only became a Patreon subscriber 5 or 6 months ago, but I draw so much value here. If you come up with future contribution or support opportunities, I will be on board.

@Mark as you pointed out in the past even with advertising the message board operated at a financial loss sort of. If the message board wasn't a profit to you it wouldn't be here but on a financial basis it was not profiting. So removing all the financial support is going to decrease Financial profitability.

Thinking about the quote above? Maybe a no obligation no requirement for those people would like to make a contribution to the financial support of the message board some way of doing it. Like basically a tip jar if you feel so inclined. 

 

 

 

[VWatchie]

WRT feels like a second home to me, and I’m sure I’m not the only one. That’s why we care so much about making sure it’s seen as something bigger than just Mark and us users.

Companies don’t rely on one person, no matter how great they are, because life happens. You know — don’t put all your eggs in one basket.

When I started my own business, I lost a lot of gigs because clients worried what would happen if I got sick. Teaming up with a competitor to cover for each other made a huge difference.

Right now, WRT is the company, and Mark is our brilliant, irreplaceable consultant. It would feel a lot safer if there was someone who could step in if needed.

That’s my only little wish. Otherwise? Nothing but love for WRT and everyone here.

[Neverenoughwatches]

On 4/20/2025 at 8:45 AM, Mark said:

No mate. Sorry if that offends you! Also please don’t take threads off-topic. I thank you sir. 

No Mark it does not offend me. I think I have already started another thread on the matter before you replied. But since you are unwilling to discuss it with us, I will discontinue posting there.  Thank you for considering it though.

1 hour ago, VWatchie said:

Companies don’t rely on one person, no matter how great they are, because life happens. You know — don’t put all your eggs in one basket.

That's a good policy to have H , you should always safeguard yourself. Knowing who you can trust and who you can't is not a permanent thing. People's values change, people change and adapt to their situations,thats just nature stepping in and running the show. Not everyone is as genuine as you are H.

The new no advertising looks much better, it never bothered me much, but it still feels cleaner.  I'm pleased that your thread regarding the missing images was also returned, so thats good news as well.

It appears a lot of mine have also been removed ...oh well...

Edited 18 hours ago by Neverenoughwatches

[Mark]

This is not a business. If it was I would be interested in profit which I’m not. I have money and I’m happy to pay for it. I set this up for the reason you enjoy it. 

but I’m going to be honest - it’s getting on my nerves now the moaning and complaining. 
in particular, @Neverenoughwatches we both agreed in a PM that you would back off from pressuring me. In fact I can quote you - you said “ ‘bough said “

it seems that you cannot let this go and it seems you are absolutely hell bent on antagonizing me. 
 

if you remember, I asked you to back off and calm down, get an Easter egg - have a beer - whatever relaxes you. Because life is too short. 
 

you go through life and every now and then you get a person who can’t let things go for whatever reason. I don’t know if you’re just trying to show power or maybe you simply enjoy pressing my button. But it stops now - or I will have to find a way to forget you. 
 

sorry, I tried being nice and tempered, I very rarely lose it on social media (go and check - I prefer the kind to be kind approach in most all situations) but I’m now getting extremely frustrated and I don’t need it mate. I tried to ask you in private - you agreed and have now broken that agreement. 

now. Let me address the running of this site - I run it. And what I mean by that is that I do all the stuff that you guys don’t see or notice. I do security patches, I make sure the email system is kept running and spam free dealing with that side of things. I fix things when the backups stop working. I fixed an issue a couple weeks ago where all the template css files got corrupted - within 10 minutes!!! And tons of other stuff.

So I don’t post very often! So what? I do other things. Why complain. 
honestly - this is totally unreal at this stage. 
you’re stressing me out for crying out loud.

 

[Neverenoughwatches]

Fine, I try to stick up for people and I'm made to feel like the bad guy. If I'm so bad then just ban me.

[Mark]

17 hours ago, JohnR725 said:

@Mark as you pointed out in the past even with advertising the message board operated at a financial loss sort of. If the message board wasn't a profit to you it wouldn't be here but on a financial basis it was not profiting. So removing all the financial support is going to decrease Financial profitability.

Thinking about the quote above? Maybe a no obligation no requirement for those people would like to make a contribution to the financial support of the message board some way of doing it. Like basically a tip jar if you feel so inclined. 

 

 

 

That’s a nice idea, But i’m committed to providing this site as a gift to the watch repair community as my thank you for my incredible life i’ve had in this business. Ive done well and unless my financial circumstances change then i’m more than happy to foot the bill. If circumstances do change then be assured that I will make an appeal. For now, I’m comfortable with the way things are and I am extremely delighted to remove Google Ads from this site and to stop Patreon, it feels like a major step forward

14 hours ago, VWatchie said:

WRT feels like a second home to me, and I’m sure I’m not the only one. That’s why we care so much about making sure it’s seen as something bigger than just Mark and us users.

Companies don’t rely on one person, no matter how great they are, because life happens. You know — don’t put all your eggs in one basket.

When I started my own business, I lost a lot of gigs because clients worried what would happen if I got sick. Teaming up with a competitor to cover for each other made a huge difference.

Right now, WRT is the company, and Mark is our brilliant, irreplaceable consultant. It would feel a lot safer if there was someone who could step in if needed.

That’s my only little wish. Otherwise? Nothing but love for WRT and everyone here.

Sorry, I missed your reply, I got blinded by another poster in this thread. Yes - I can confirm that I have always seen WRT as a not-for-profit website, and therefore - not a business as such. I’m lucky and have done well in my life due to a decision made in my teens to start a watch repairing apprenticeship which has sustained myself and my family for many years now. Consider this my small way of paying it forward. Ive been committed to keeping the site alive on a technical and financial level for over 10 years now and I have zero plans to change that.

Thank you for your kind words by the way. And as for your wish - nobody can control what happens in life, if something happens to me I have things in place with my family but I’m just not comfortable talking about my personal business - I wish a certain person would respect that, but i’ve calmed down now - i’m only human

 

[HectorLooi]

Bless you, Mark.

May you live long and prosper!

[Mark]

26 minutes ago, HectorLooi said:

Bless you, Mark.

May you live long and prosper!

Thank you Hector. You too matey