Lately while browsing through the portal workshop forums I've become increasingly frustrated and disheartened by the excess of advertisement forums. They're certainly not a new concept. They have been polluting the whole workshop for as long as its existed. Recently, in the past month there has been an alarming resurgence in the idea, to the point that now the discussion area is practically drowning in them. As you might have figured I'm not exactly a big fan of the concept and my dislike has only escalated with their increased popularity. So I'm going to list the problems I have with advertisement forums,

Reason One
This is an extremely ineffectual way to advertise maps. The most bloated advertisement forums can have nearly 500 posts on them. If your post is somewhere in the middle of that then the chances of someone finding it much less playing it are zilch. Not to mention the frequency of posts makes sure that tests are quickly buried before they can be properly examined and played.

Reason Two
Another reason why advertisement forums are terrible at well, advertising is because of how the workshop is organized. Allow me to elaborate, the workshop is made so that the items and discussions are in separate categories. When I'm looking for a test chamber to play I go to the items section which is already the default setting. When I got to the discussion section I am not looking for maps to play. The reason I go to the discussion forums is to discuss! If I wanted to be playing a map I would not be in the discussion section I would be in the items section! This creates an issue to people who want to use the forum to discuss and have to wade through mounds of irritating ads. They really remind me of Youtube ads, pointless distractions and deviations from the reason why you're there, at best resulting in apathy at worst inciting genuine rage.

Reason Three.
I'll admit this is more of a personal gripe but I think it's still a big issue. The whole advertisement forum thing is selfish. I'm willing to bet good money that at the top of every ad forum the authors maps are featured prominently. The creator of the forum has no real desire to advertise maps. They are just making an offensively obvious attempt to garner attention to their own creations. Also the tissue thin facade of caring that some advertisers use to sucker people in is sickening. I've seen many ad forums start with something like... I just want to help unplayed maps get the attention they deserve. That is complete and utter bull excrement, and the fact that they prey on users desire for attention and feedback is vile.

In conclusion, when I see an advertisement forum with 485 posts, I realize that the author of that forum is shamelessly advertising without the least bit of dignity and restraint and 485 users are going to end up disappointed because of it. That ladies and gentlemen makes me not only disgusted but seething with anger.

Well this running a bit long so I'm going to cut it here. If you think I missed something or disagree with the points I made. I am happy to discuss it in the comments. I'm curious to what the community thinks of the issue.