Please Help! - A Note About The Ads

[The Insider]

An example? I just paused my ad blocker and it till the site almost 30 seconds to load as the screen stayed white and it waited for ads to load I took a screen shot, but it was not just the ad shown that was loading it jumped through several ad servers.

With ad blocker off it takes almost 30-45 seconds for the content of the site to load. With it on it takes less then 5. Something really needs to be done about that difference before turning the ad blocker off is possible.

 

[thomasjk]

We do not run those types of ads. If you see them please report them so they can be removed.

We got rid of one of our ad networks a few weeks ago as that was the kind of JUNK they were serving (and we had those type of ads turned off with them) while we needed the money we did not want to serve our members those type of ads.

Scott, I consistently see this type of ad. When I click on you have (1) message Web of Trust thorws up a red flag.

 

[Scott Greczkowski]

Excellent, that will help me track them down since I know which ad agency runs in each area.

Insider I would check you computer as each ad is an iframe which prevents the issue you are speaking about.

I did notice last night however that Google Analytics was SLOW but it seems to be MUCH better today.

 

[Scott Greczkowski]

Ok I think I found those two annoying ads. They were being served from MTV TRIBES.

POOF Gone! (It will take a few hours for them to update)

 

[thomasjk]

Thanks, Scott.

 

[Bob2011]

The performance was decent after the upgrade but has fallen off in the past few days with ads loading from multiple sites and these relentless video ads on the right side of the screen. You really can't listen to anything else while looking at the forums as these videos play with volume constantly. You can't pause the first video and the pause button is partially hidden on the second video. Also as soon as you go to another page it starts all over again.

I really have never seen a legitimate web page hit so many other sites to pull or send ad data. It feels like I am on dialup again at times.

Also there are frequent timeouts where the page will sit there blank and you have to refresh to get it to load again.

 

[jporum]

Ok I think I found those two annoying ads. They were being served from MTV TRIBES.

POOF Gone! (It will take a few hours for them to update)

I'm still seeing them.

Clicking on this takes you to the webpage I previously mentioned with the offers of the 4 "free" items that you have 260 seconds to claim. Here is what that page looks like (URL is on the bottom).View attachment BadAd.pdf

On a side note, I also find the ads with audio to be annoying. They should default to audio off, not audio on. My wife gets upset with my when I am surfing SG and she is watching TV and the ad starts blaring from my laptop.

 

[thomasjk]

I'm still seeing these two tonight at 11:25PM.

 

[Tyralak]

There are a couple of ads that popped up that are a bit troubling........

 

[KimmiKat]

Have a happy period... That IS disturbing. http://www.snopes.com/humor/letters/always.asp

I view the site 2 ways, ad-block and off. When I shut it off, most the ads I saw were Sungetivy, Xfinity, eBay and an annoying Safecount ad "rolling" across the screen as shown in the screenie below.

 

[Scott Greczkowski]

Interesting on that safecount one.

Got to find where that bugger is and squish it.

 

[TG2]

First I will apologize, I am one of those who will not be turning off ad blocking nor URL blocking I have through my AntiVirus program.

I will donate to your site when I have the money to spare.

The main reason I will not turn off my ad blocking options... the ads come from uncontrolled sources. Its a minor iritant to have ads for that illegal X-whateverbox which suggests it decrypts the signals illegally ... or to be taunted with Xfinity when they don't offer it in all areas (even though they could) and just the simple fact they are more expensive than Dish ...

but its a majorly serious hit to security, when ads come from sites that do not adequately scan and protect users from malicous intent. And what's scanned well today may scan negatively tomorrow, and thats *if* my AV defs are up to date and even then Zero Day (zero hour) exploits show up ....

And *that* doesn't even touch on the whole "follow me everywhere" nature of the ad marketers.

I could make an exception, if the ads were served from your site, were personally and directly screened (every ad) by a trusted someone, but unfortunately it costs far to much on your behalf, to do so (bandwidth alone would probably tripple if not go by a power of 10) if not for the bandwidth, the reviews, the upload feed to get new ads into rotation, etc.. would be additional man hours spent, reducing the commission benefit.

I have been virus free for the better part of 12 years, use even more caution when (in the course of my job) I go to the sites of the evil doers, and must continue to remain virus/infection/worm/trojan free.

EDIT: I should also make note ... you would be amazed at how much better a place as "innocent" as youtube gets, when you have a good combination of ad/url blocking setup. I remember this as soon as I go to a computer that isn't blocking as well as mine, and see the ad tick-marks in the video feeds, and the popup ads, and the banners, the side bars, the hovers, etc.. it actually makes me feel bad when I send people a link to YouTube and I know they aren't blocking URL's like I do..

 

[freezy]

Not a fan of this recent ad that follows me around covering up the screen telling me to take a survey. Another not so bad ad was residing just under the header telling me i had a personal message

thanks

Get a screenshot?

Sorry no. If I see it again, I will. The floating circle ad followed the cursor and blocked out the forum. Then it just went away.

 

[Scott Greczkowski]

Get a screenshot?

Sorry no. If I see it again, I will. The floating circle ad followed the cursor and blocked out the forum. Then it just went away.

Someone posted it above and believe I found it and got rid of it.

If you see any more like that please PM me with as much detail as you can so I can kill those as well.

 

[navychop]

Anybody got any ideas on an alternate revenue source for the site? Looks like the ads may soon be self-defeating.

 

[jayn_j]

Nothing good.

Some sites block content to non-subscribers. I guess the pub is that sort, but I would also guess that few join just to get pub access.
I suppose we could solicit a major sponsor, but then we would be beholdin' to them Re: the other guys and DTV, or AVSForums and AVS commercial site.

I always wonder about the sort of member who doesn't pay for support and then complains about the ads. It has always seemed to me to be a take your choice sort of thing, as somebody has to pay the (significant) bills. I don't use an ad blocker. Ever. If the site isn't worth a subscription, then I feel I owe it to the owner to at least provide that revenue.

 

[KimmiKat]

At least we help a little pointing out the ads that Scott don't served on this site like the follow-me ones and ones with sound that can wake up the dead. About screening ads, a volunteer forces could probably be put together, but keeping the group active is another things as I've seen moderators come and go on various mboards, although I noticed some mods have been here since when Howdy Dowdy was on the air!

And *that* doesn't even touch on the whole "follow me everywhere" nature of the ad marketers.

I could make an exception, if the ads were served from your site, were personally and directly screened (every ad) by a trusted someone, but unfortunately it costs far to much on your behalf, to do so (bandwidth alone would probably tripple if not go by a power of 10) if not for the bandwidth, the reviews, the upload feed to get new ads into rotation, etc.. would be additional man hours spent, reducing the commission benefit.

I have been virus free for the better part of 12 years, use even more caution when (in the course of my job) I go to the sites of the evil doers, and must continue to remain virus/infection/worm/trojan free.

Here we can at least talk about the ads/tools that bring revenue to the site. Some mboards it's taboo to mention the ads and some even use a vB plug-in to deter use of ad-blockers, although one board that did that ended up getting a large thread from users complaining. That board though has no option for subbing like here, a LOT less members and many more ads.

Nothing good.

Some sites block content to non-subscribers. I guess the pub is that sort, but I would also guess that few join just to get pub access.
I suppose we could solicit a major sponsor, but then we would be beholdin' to them Re: the other guys and DTV, or AVSForums and AVS commercial site.

I always wonder about the sort of member who doesn't pay for support and then complains about the ads. It has always seemed to me to be a take your choice sort of thing, as somebody has to pay the (significant) bills. I don't use an ad blocker. Ever. If the site isn't worth a subscription, then I feel I owe it to the owner to at least provide that revenue.

 

[Scott Greczkowski]

Speaking of ads with sounds I just found and killed the ads with sound. Those should be gone within the hour.

As far as number of ads go, we have LESS ads for registered members then other sites such as DBSTalk, AVSforum and other like sites that we frequent. Our positioning however is different based on the feedback from the ad agencies which is supposed to give us maximum earnings.

Please if you see a bad ad (because they do slip by... in fact the sound ads with Lysol, Air Wick etc... was one I myself actidently turned on, as I approve all ads served by Burst Media.) please PM me with as much detail so I can wipe them out. I want to pay the bills notdrive people away with annoying ads.

Thank you guys for your support.

 

[jporum]

I always wonder about the sort of member who doesn't pay for support and then complains about the ads.

Note that Scott specifically asked to let him know about certain ads. If you consider that "complaining", then so be it, but I would not have made any postings about the ads without the request from Scott.

 

[Frank7004]

I don't mind these ads, I understand the cost of running a massive site such as this. These ads that play audio are just plain annoying and will drive people away from the site.

Ive been pretty active on forums for the better part of 5 or 6 years. I have never paid to use one and wont.