[valtam]

A note on advertising on the website

We've had some feedback recently about the number of ads on the Linux Lite website, and it's fair — so I want to address it openly rather than quietly.

First, the honest part: Linux Lite is free, and always will be. But the servers, the download mirrors, the forum, and the time that goes into the OS aren't free, and advertising is one of the ways we keep the lights on without putting the distro itself behind a paywall or a mandatory donation. That's the trade-off, and we don't pretend otherwise.

That said, “we need revenue” is not a licence to make the site unpleasant to use, and if the ads are burying the thing you actually came for — the ISO download — then they've stopped doing their job and started getting in the way. That's on us to fix, and we're going to.

A couple of things worth knowing in the meantime:

• Those flashing “Download”, “Free Account”, and “Click here!” banners are not ours. They're third-party ads served by the ad network, and some advertisers deliberately design them to look like download buttons to trick you into clicking. The real download link is the plain one in the middle of the page — never a blinking banner. Please don't click the flashy ones; they don't lead to Linux Lite.
• We're reviewing ad placement and density across the site, trimming the worst offenders, and making sure the genuine Download button is unmistakable and near the top of the page.
• We're also able to block certain categories of misleading ads at the network level, and we'll be tightening those filters.

If you've hit a page where the layout is especially bad, reply here with the page and, if you can, a screenshot — that helps us target the cleanup rather than guessing.

Thanks to everyone who raised this. Feedback like it is exactly how the site gets better, and it's taken seriously.

— The Linux Lite Team

[Şerban S.]

A note on advertising on the website

We've had some feedback recently about the number of ads on the Linux Lite website, and it's fair — so I want to address it openly rather than quietly.

First, the honest part: Linux Lite is free, and always will be. But the servers, the download mirrors, the forum, and the time that goes into the OS aren't free, and advertising is one of the ways we keep the lights on without putting the distro itself behind a paywall or a mandatory donation. That's the trade-off, and we don't pretend otherwise.

That said, “we need revenue” is not a licence to make the site unpleasant to use, and if the ads are burying the thing you actually came for — the ISO download — then they've stopped doing their job and started getting in the way. That's on us to fix, and we're going to.

A couple of things worth knowing in the meantime:

• Those flashing “Download”, “Free Account”, and “Click here!” banners are not ours. They're third-party ads served by the ad network, and some advertisers deliberately design them to look like download buttons to trick you into clicking. The real download link is the plain one in the middle of the page — never a blinking banner. Please don't click the flashy ones; they don't lead to Linux Lite.
• We're reviewing ad placement and density across the site, trimming the worst offenders, and making sure the genuine Download button is unmistakable and near the top of the page.
• We're also able to block certain categories of misleading ads at the network level, and we'll be tightening those filters.

If you've hit a page where the layout is especially bad, reply here with the page and, if you can, a screenshot — that helps us target the cleanup rather than guessing.

Thanks to everyone who raised this. Feedback like it is exactly how the site gets better, and it's taken seriously.

— The Linux Lite Team

Thanks for the detailed arguments.
I admit, there are too many ads that literally are popping out everywhere.
For some time, i wanted myself to rise this question. Still, I had to ponder this with my own experience.
For someone who never had a forum, it's easy to fall into the story "it's easy". After working as an Admin, or Global Moderator, you start to change your thinking, and that happens dramatically.
Most people believe that if the script is free, everything else is free. Nothing farther from the TRUTH!
The hosting, the domain, means that some features (CloudFlare, for one) are paid goods. So, where vanished the "everything else is free" paradigm?

It's a bad thing to talk without really knowing "what's what", so I will say about what I lived:

Donations.

While this may seem the way out, reality shows a different picture.
The figures are irrelevant due to the fact of "growth factor" so I'll stick to the level of principle.

Say, the amount of expenses is 150 USD/ year.
At this level, you need at least 15 members to donate 10 USD/ year. Sounds good? Looks like yes.
What if the brute reality says that in fact you get 10 people that donate 1 USD/ year (one dollar!)?
Maths are simple = Balance is - 140 USD. Currency, is obviously irrelevant.
But... We ignored the scaling factor.
For a new Forum, this might be true.
Time passes. Traffic grows. New members subscribe.
This means that expenses grow accordingly. Takes too much to enter the details. Speed, new security features, new hosting plan, paid backup solutions, to name the most relevant. At some point, even the most relevant members need to be rewarded, at least a symbolic "something". Say, once a year. A mug, a T-shirt, a "Lite Stick". that's not much, yet, there are expenses. They drain your pockets.

I hope that who reads that, will change the perspective.
What I said here, doesn't mean I like the ads. I hate them. But between giving up a project and compromising for the sake of keeping it alive, I go for compromising.
I hope that the true believers in Linux Lite, will agree with me.
I'm not here for the sake of ads. See above.
I'm here because Linux Lite is what it says it is: A fast and yet fully featured OS.

Wise man say:
"Never judge a book by its cover."



Best Regards!

[valtam]

Thank you for your comments. I've locked the thread as it was supposed to be informational