Beware: Dragoneer/FurAffinity Advertising

[kasuned.livejournal.com]

EDIT: As of today, April 5th, 2013, I saw that my ad file was fixed. I didn't get an email about it but I guess Dragoneer got my email asking him to change it. I suppose the situation's resolved but I'm still unhappy with the bad service and that it took this long to be remedied.

WHO: Dragoneer/FurAffinity Advertising

WHERE: http://furaffinity.net/user/dragoneer

http://help.furaffinity.net/article/AA-00210/7/Advertising.html

WHAT: Bad service/long wait times for advertising on FurAffinity.

WHEN: First ad was ordered late September. Second Mid-January, Third Mid-March. Dates are included in all emails provided.

PROOF: Payment for March 2013: http://dl.dropbox.com/u/90584973/Beware/paymentproof.png

See “explain” for all other proof, please, as I can link it with chronological information.

EXPLAIN:

SEPTEMBER 2012: I decided to purchase a Furaffinity ad to help get my name out, so I e-mailed the correct address. It can be seen here: http://dl.dropbox.com/u/90584973/Beware/sept1.png

Everything seemed to go smoothly. Payment was sent on September 26, 2012.
http://dl.dropbox.com/u/90584973/Beware/paymentproofseptember.png

I would like to draw your attention to Furaffinity’s ad policy; ads are promised to go up in 2 business days. http://dl.dropbox.com/u/90584973/Beware/2businessdaysproof.PNG

However, my ad did not go up. I waited one week, so I emailed Dragoneer again:
http://dl.dropbox.com/u/90584973/Beware/sept2.png

This situation was resolved, and my ad went up properly.

JANUARY 2013: I decided to get another ad, because I needed income and art was an additional source. I sent an email for another ad. Proof of payment: http://dl.dropbox.com/u/90584973/Beware/paymentproofjanuary.png

I inquired on January 9^th, and did not receive a response until January 15^th. I paid that same day.
Four days pass, and my ad has not gone up- so I email Dragoneer inquiring to what is going on. He apologizes.

Conversation here: http://dl.dropbox.com/u/90584973/Beware/january.png

That is resolved, and my ad is put up.

MARCH 2013: The most recent, and the longest wait for a response or ad to go up. Payment: http://dl.dropbox.com/u/90584973/Beware/paymentproof.png

I sent an ad inquiry on March 11, and didn’t receive a response until 10 days later, March 21. Again, I was punctual with payments and paid the very same day.

A week passes, and my ad still has not gone up. I send another email yesterday (March 27) asking what is going on. I’m impatient at this point, as this is the third time it has happened to me; but I remain cordial in my e-mails to avoid any confrontation. Dragoneer replies after 12 AM on March 28 saying that my ad has gone up.

E-mails: http://dl.dropbox.com/u/90584973/Beware/march.png

I go on FurAffinity to see if my ad is up, looking for the attached file. As you can see in the e-mail, it’s a different ad file- I like to change my ad every month so it is appealing to potential clients. However, I log onto Furaffinity after several minutes of refreshing and find this: http://dl.dropbox.com/u/90584973/Beware/wrongfile.png

Dragoneer not only did not put up my ad in the 2 business days as promised, but he uploaded the wrong file, when my ad was attached to the first e-mail. I was very upset at this point- I sent another calm email letting him know it was the wrong file and that I would appreciate it if it could be fixed.

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/90584973/Beware/wrongfileemail.PNG

I also re-attached the file. As of posting this beware, I have yet to receive a response.

IN SHORT: I am upset at the bad service provided by Dragoneer/FurAffinity advertising. They did not adhere to the promise of 2 business days, and I felt that I was being strung along and received no confirmation that I did pay unless I asked. If it happened only one time, I would be lenient- but it has happened three times now, and with art as my only source of income, I find that this has hindered the growth of my business. I just want my ad to be properly fixed and this poor service to be remedied.

Comments

[breakspire.livejournal.com]

I had the same long wait time issue when I took ads out. I think one time he did apologize and lengthen my ad slot. I'm thinking of getting another ad to promote a kickstarter project I'm launching soon, but I admit I'm hesitant because they take so long to go up and wouldn't be of any use if it went on the site late.

Hopefully he sees this and can improve on the ad system...

[mazz.livejournal.com]

Adspace seems popular enough now it seems he should be finding someone who wants to be the "ad admin" and just take care of adspace work.

[eenyuwolf.livejournal.com]

I've had the same issues with long waits when trying to get an ad up on FurAffinity. I hope they find a way to streamline the process since I'd like to get an ad space again but it is can be a pain, especially if you are working with a deadline.

[gaaralover85.livejournal.com]

Agreed on the crazy wait-time. After submitting my ad it took a whole 10days to get approved, i paid a couple of days later and it took a full week to get the ad up from payment clearing. Also i had to contact Neer through TWITTER to get him to acknowledge receipt of payment and make sure the ad was going up. He compensated me for the extra days. But I was saddened that the process had not been sped up/streamlined since i first took out an ad a year or so ago, which took well over 2.5weeks the first time around! Agreed with Mazz that they need an Ad Admin to focus solely on advertising and nothing else.

[latiro.livejournal.com]

I had a similar issue (the waiting part) when trying to get my ad up. It took 14 days for 'Neer to respond after I sent him an email about it (but he did apologize for the wait)

agreeing with breakspire, I hope he can improve the ad system

[totschrei.livejournal.com]

I am a bit concerned now. My girlfriend had a small problem with this however it was cleared up within two or three weeks. It makes me a bit nervous to get an AD now. Thank you for the post. Hopefully this will help improve the system.

[armaina.livejournal.com]

it is absolutely absurd how often everyone has had to remind dragoneer to even post the advert in the first place. It makes me wonder if anyone has had it posted without having to ask, which is awful especially if someone doesn't have the time to check on that kind of thing and has been acting on good faith :/

[growly.livejournal.com]

I had no problems the first time I bought ad space, in July 2012. But in January, I faced delays too, until I had to "poke" him through email.

[cat-claw-fever.livejournal.com]

Yikes, an acquaintance of mine had the same problem but it took months and quite a few emails before the ad showed up. It was frustrating to say the very least.

[nightlinez.livejournal.com]

I also had long wait times and issues. Every time I put up ad (except my current one) I waited a week-2 weeks for a response. Then a another week after that for the ad to be up. I know Dragoneer must be busy...But it is still a long time to wait. They should have an admin just for advertising.

[celestinaketzia.livejournal.com]

I waited two weeks for mine as well on two occasions. I agree with Mazz that there really should be a dedicated admin to handle this. I know Dragoneer must be a busy man, so it's obvious they can't handle the estimated time frame they advertise.

[thaily.livejournal.com]

I was planning on getting an ad soon, this is kind of disappointing :(

[kasune.livejournal.com]

Honestly, the reason I kept putting up with this is that art is my job and I need the income/advertising.
Hopefully something is done about it.

[thaily.livejournal.com]

I hope so too, made a mock-up for my banner and everything. But I don't want buying some ad space to be a huge ordeal.

[lem0ntrees.livejournal.com]

There are lots of posts on the FA forums about this issue as well. I'm starting to think this is standard procedure for them. Strange since ads are the only income he gets from the site.

[canilupine.livejournal.com]

^ This.

[phoenixsrequiem.livejournal.com]

A friend of mine had the same issue! We were trying to advertise for an upcoming event and he mentioned it took quite a while for it to go up, potentially risking attendance #'s.

[growly.livejournal.com]

I bought ad space in January too and got the same apology with the new mail server explanation. I honestly didn't mind, and was happy to get extra ad time, but I can see how it would be frustrating for you, with the repeated lateness and wrong file confusion. It would have been especially bad if the ad had been time sensitive.

I suspect 'Neer is spread too thin with all his other projects, and would be well advised to have someone (a few someones?) co-moderate the ad banner requests with him.

[adzuki.livejournal.com]

I have had this same issue. It was very quick response and post time before and now it takes two weeks to get an ad approved. My other issue is they always link the ad to my profile page and never the link I specifically provide for the advert.

I would stop using the service if it wasnt so helpful to my business.

[cyiakanami.livejournal.com]

Echoing the long wait times. Last year I purchased an ad to promote a portfolio I was putting out. I got an e-mail about 4 or 5 days from my initial one sent. Sent payment promptly and then waited I believe 2 weeks or so. Finally got a response back and my ad was put up. He also gave me an additional week since it took so long.

I was a bit miffed through that though since I was paying for the file purchasing site I was using at the time and lost a week I could of been making payments in for the portfolio.

[shariea.livejournal.com]

I had a similar problem. There was a wait time and I had a new ad which was ignored and the old one was used instead. When it was brought up, Dragoneer quickly fixed it for me and gave me a month free so I was more than pleased. Im sorry to hear this is happening to people so frequently though.

[kayla-la.livejournal.com]

Well, yes, this will be screened. Not because we want to protect that kind of thing, but mostly because all we have is your word here and no proof, plus I'm not sure it's particularly relevant. Please don't do stuff like this, especially when you know it's going to cause trouble. This is your only warning.

[sableantelope.livejournal.com]

I can dig up the server traces and etc. They were post some time ago on another site.
I personally would want to know what I'm supporting by buying an ad, and therefore would seem relevant to me; but if you say it's not relevant then that's the official opinion and has to be respected.

[haruko-san13.livejournal.com]

Had a similar wait time, but I wasn't really too bothered by it. My only gripe is that there's no page with info on all the ads currently running? I would love to see them put something like that up, as it'd be easier to check than waiting on e-mails, and people who might have accidentally clicked away from a page would be able to find an ad they might have missed out on looking at.

[growly.livejournal.com]

I agree with this idea! I know when I was waiting for my ad to go live, I just kept refreshing over and over waiting to see my banner ad. Woulda saved me some time to just see on a master list that it wasn't uploaded yet.

[been2hellnback.livejournal.com]

This^

[pekoeko.livejournal.com]

Aw man. That's super disappointing. My friend had no issue getting an ad, but I didn't realize THIS was the more common experience. o Ao;;

That sucks, I was thinking of investing in a long-term ad too since everyone says it generates a lot of business.

[ljmydayaway.livejournal.com]

I had to wait for two weeks, and then another 3 days after I sent an email asking if he had received my previous email.

He offered to extend the adtime for free, but I just decided not to do it. :x

[bladespark.livejournal.com]

I tried to get an ad there once, but when my first attempt to submit one got no response whatsoever, I decided I'd rather advertise elsewhere.

[kasune.livejournal.com]

I agree with you... I don't think I will be buying an ad in the future. As helpful as they are, I can find other ways to advertise. It's just not worth the trouble.

[pandacat-magic.livejournal.com]

Most def agreed


It shouldn't take us mulitiple times to send him an email to get our PAID ads up and running in a timely manner.
If its too much for him, appoint one of the new admins to take control over the ads.


I had the same problem everyone else had with getting their ads up, he claimed he didn't see my payment, which feels like a lie, since I paid RIGHT AFTER I got the okay.

It took a very passive aggressive email about how unhappy I was about it. For him to realize oh, ooops, here have a free week.

[kasune.livejournal.com]

I notice that the more ads you purchase and the more he screws up, the less compensation time you get. :1

For me it was an extra month, then two weeks, then only a couple of days. I mean, I should probably be grateful, but if you keep screwing up... something needs to change.

[pandacat-magic.livejournal.com]

Mmhm. It's very unprofessional, specially if ads are the only supposed income source for the site. You would think he would be balls to the walls about getting them up on a timely manner.

I would honestly like to get another month, but now I'm kind of if-y about it. ;c $20 isn't something you can simply forget about.

Hopefully he sees this and either does what everyone suggests about having an admin take care of the ads or stop being so forgetful about them.

[kasune.livejournal.com]

Yeah, you're right. I definitely won't be buying another ad.

[ranlur.livejournal.com]

This is a far cry from the experience I have had both times I've taken out an ad.

[kasune.livejournal.com]

I'm really sorry to hear that. :(

[draekaar draconigenae (from livejournal.com)]

I'd like to point out the other major issues that cropped up over the past couple months on FA... Remember that huge issue with an /offsite/ harassment case that people gave 'neer a bunch of angry FA users? 'Neer didn't do anything wrong then, but it probably took up a LOT of the time he had for administration at the time.

This isn't exactly a one off situation, and yes, I totally agree that he should get an admin solely for updating advertisements (probably a pretty cushy position). However, there have been a lot of changes in the past few months on FA, more than the past couple years (new admins hired in that timeframe, major stinkfests from users, DDOS attacks, major server maintenance and upgrading, and a couple of major cons)... IMHO, the fact that they're trying to improve FA on the scale that they seem to be doing more recently should be taken into consideration.

Yes, they failed to provide service as advertised. Yes, there was ad confusion (considering it's been several ads you've sent...). Yes, they should hire at least one ad-space admin for forums and proper site.

Suggest it to them. Also, remember that being primary administrator of any corporation/organisation, especially on this scale, is an extremely daunting task. It wasn't always this huge, and they definitely need to update. They just can't update things that they don't necessarily realise are an issue... you need to TELL THEM it's an issue. If enough people bring it up, they'll prioritise it. Right now, they've prioritised site speed, and updated site environment (look and feel). People should make them aware about the issue, but I think that going to A_B is a bit extreme to have not tried petitioning a specific resolution to them first, or at least tell them you think they need extra people directly...

Though, on the good side of things, he's very polite and accommodating for fixing mistakes. Just... needs more helpers.

[kayla-la.livejournal.com]

It's been suggested several times. Several. There's a new thread about it on the FA forums usually a couple times a month. Dragoneer is aware this is an issue but for some reason, seems stubborn about the idea of letting someone else handle ads.

There's only so much the users can do, and it's perfectly acceptable to warn others of poor business practices, so I disagree with it not being appropriate for AB.

Mind, I definitely understand that he must be busy. The issue is that he knows he's going to continue to be busy, but insists on handling it himself and not taking steps to correct the issue. That's entirely his fault, not anybody else's for 'not being understanding/patient enough'. He has an out. He's choosing not to take it.

[kasune.livejournal.com]

I'm more than aware of all the past issues and changes on FA, as I am a regular user. The "offsite harassment" issue is of no relevance to this one. The administration is notorious for not following user suggestions, sometimes at all. As Kayla-La said, the issue is frequent enough so that multiple people in this article alone have spoken up about their experiences and it's been suggested more than once to the admin himself.

If they failed to provide service as advertised, then they should A) fix that promise and set it to something more reasonable or to a time frame they can actually stick to, or B) follow the one that's advertised.

There also shouldn't have been ad confusion, seeing as there was no issue transitioning from the first to the second ad. I was clear as possible in saying that the ad file that I wanted to be posted was attached to the e-mails that I sent. While I see it could have been an honest mistake, that plus multiple instances of a wait time that was not as promised was what made me post this article. I even asked the mods for their opinions before making this. What happened here was bad service and poor business practice and that's pretty much what A_B is for: alerting people of these practices to avoid headaches or having their money yanked. I disagree with you in saying that it's "extreme" to post my instance to A_B.

If being the admin is so daunting, Dragoneer should stop being stubborn, take up suggestions, and actually try to do something to level out the workload. We get that he's busy. But it seems like he just flat-out refuses to fix problems in an efficient and timely manner despite being offered suggestions and a helping hand.

[kayfox.livejournal.com]

I want to point out that at some point "Im too busy" stops being an excuse. If things are constantly going to crop up to delay things, you cant keep using that excuse, since its gone from exceptional to routine. You then have to make changes to deal with the new routine lack of time to get stuff done. This may be hard for someone who trusts very few people, but that begs the question if this person really should be a leader, as being a leader means being able to establish trust of underlings and delegate them appropriate tasks. Some of the greatest leaders got where they were not because of brilliant ideas but because of brilliant selection of their underlings and appropriate delegation.

Than again, you can probably dismiss what Im saying because Ive only ever made it to being co-vice chair of a furry con.

[murasadramon.livejournal.com]

Kasune,

I did double-check, and verified that we did updated you with the correct advertisement when you emailed on March 28th. I apologize that the updated file was not initially updated. I have both issued you a refund and extended your advertising to Jun 6, 2013.

Yes, I was not prompt in the response to the advertising email and for that I apologize. I have been working to improve response times all around, and I apologize that this got overlooked. While mistakes were made on my half, I always try to make right by our advertisers and ensure they're taken care of.

- Neer

[teekchan.livejournal.com]

I sent my ad application in on the 7th, got a response today at a little before 6pm, and promptly paid about half an hour later. My ad was live within 45 minutes of that.

Hopefully this keeps up, as I did have to push on the forums for the first ad I bought in late 2010, or 2011.

[mottenfest.livejournal.com]

I had the same wait issue when I bought one a year or so back. It does seem like an ad admin would remedy this issue or at least reduce the hiccups in the ad process.