New ads? Not cool

now i get two ads IN A ROW every time i post...in addition to one every five clicks or so.

what's up with that?

not complaining, just seems like something is out of whack. i'd love to contribute, i like this board a lot, but i'm a starving artist...
 
shifting and others - reports of technical problems with the ads are appreciated. the idea isn't to make the site unusable. they should work like they are supposed to and any help making sure that is the case is a good thing.
 
Complaining about being a teenager and having no job or money just shows how lazy some are. Most mature, responsible teenagers have a part time job so they can have some money of their own. My son got his first part time job at 15 and always had a job through school. He liked the freedom it gave him, and he felt more independent. Teenagers, stop winning and go out and get a part time job.
 
Okay....

1) I have tried to apply a "skip" procedure on any pages that require posting, editing, logging in, new membership creation, etc. If you have any issues or find anything I missed, let me know.

2) Too has been changed to To.

3) A 10 SECOND auto-forward has been added, after 10 seconds the paged you linked to will automatically load.

As for getting dupes after posting, I am not sure about that, I can't replicate it.

Scott
 
Originally posted by bobw
Complaining about being a teenager and having no job or money just shows how lazy some are. Most mature, responsible teenagers have a part time job so they can have some money of their own. My son got his first part time job at 15 and always had a job through school. He liked the freedom it gave him, and he felt more independent. Teenagers, stop winning and go out and get a part time job.


Im a student (yr 11 GCSE) i have no time to get a job and any money i do get goes in to my uni account ( i have to raise £1000 - tuition fees) so as much as iwould like to donate i cant, however i do undernstand the finachal diffcutues of the board and wish i could but i cant.
 
I can understand putting ads in and all that... the thing I don't like is the implementation. They don't take up any space in history, yet they screw up navigation. When I click on the "Unread Post" buttons, and this ad pops up, either I have to go back and do it again or I click on "continue" and it goes to the top, f*cking up my navigation

I'd suggest putting in some sort of floating div, like they have at Amazon or the Midi Database. Just put a floating ad on top of each page, or every so many pages, with a spot to click to close off the ad. The current system is just too annoying.
 
See scott? the ads are causing problems. If we ever feel like donating, we'll click on the donate thingy at the top.
When we edit a post it messes us up. Sometimes after 2 clicks it shows the ads (at least for me).
The ads arent going to make us donate faster....... we KNO where that donations button is!
For those who are blind:
 

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Androo, I guess you just don't get it, do you. I find no reason to explain myself. When the rest of the internet explains why they have ads on their site, and why sites like yahoo, who also use these type of ads (like in yahoo groups) can explain why they use them, then maybe I would find a need too.

Whether or not you donate is not the issue, whether or not you click or purchase is not the issue, the fact they are displayed is. Hence, that is what advertising is.

Scott
 
But these NEW ads inbetween every few pages. IGN does that, and i dont go there anymore (only cuz i found a site that was better and didnt have ads between pages). On these new ad pages it tells you to donate. So, that must be the reason why they're there. It's like a second donation button on the website, but this one is more in your face and annoying. If something or someone annoys me, i ignore it, and go away from it..... or i punch it if it really angers me so badly. Luckily there are no holes in my computer.
 
Thats fantastic, Thanks for your input. It will be piled in with the 3 other complaints.

Thanks.

Scott
 
Androo, do you have the kind of parents who change their mind about something if you whine long enough? C'mon man, get over it! This is not the way to get what you want. I'm not trying to be mean, but let's move on with our lives.
 
know what? that's the most sense anyone made in about 5 minutes. I will take your advice and chew on it then swallow it then digest it. Then the nuetrients will travel to different parts of me.
 
^^^^
Classic Androo type post ;)

Anyhow, I don't mean to whine, I want to help make the ads less annoying. However, some people don't seem to read that part of my post and are intent on focusing on the parts which they think are 'complaining'.
Bob, I am 13, not 15. I don't have to job yet.
EDIT: (I had to go off pretty quick last time) I don't have a job, I live in a pretty remote area, so it isn't as simple as walking over to the neighborhood Burger King or something. In fact, to do anything, I would have to get one of my parents to drive me, something they flat out refuse to do (they already shuttle me all over to music lessons, choir rehearsals, etc.) This pretty much limits me to doing something with my computer.
Now, I am trying to do this, but I have a fairly erratic schedule, so trying to finished a job on time might be a bit difficult. Also, I need the right software to do this. Yeah, I supposed I can use a P2P, but I don't feel right about doing that. Therefore I must save all my $$$ to get this software. It is sort of a vicious circle, and the last thing I need is to have one of my favourite web sites institute a time-wasting ad system which means that much of the time I have available to answer questions on this forum is instead spent on clicking past unwanted ads.
I have offered to help make the ads less obtrusive, but my offer was completely ignored. What do I have to do to get you guys to stop treating me like dog ****? :(
 
Originally posted by ScottW
Androo, I guess you just don't get it, do you. I find no reason to explain myself. When the rest of the internet explains why they have ads on their site, and why sites like yahoo, who also use these type of ads (like in yahoo groups) can explain why they use them, then maybe I would find a need too.

Yahoo! Newsgroups have ads at the end of the messages, not in the middle or as a result of the sending process :rolleyes:

Disclaimer: I'm not complaining about the ads, I was just noting the comparison with Yahoo! Groups is not of the most pertinent.
 
Disclaimer: Toast has obviously not used Yahoo Groups using the web interface to browse multiple message postings.
 
Kinda strange, but I think that every time I have tried to view this thread, I have got one of those ads :)
 
scott... i say instead of people having avatars the space taken up by avatars is sold as an ad!
it's a genieus idea really... how many ad's are there now on those page? three max, i don't think i have seen more then that. so take everyone with 500-600+ posts (the people who post in almost every thread, all the time...), put a little ad as their avatar with a link i could click if it looks interesting, and wham! peoples ad's go up in 500-600 different places, and the form users won't even get mad about obtrusive, in your face advertising!
:)
well, some might get mad and want to have their avatars back, but i think that system would be much better :) take avatars away from the average and just let mods have them - it could be like a badge, a medal of honor...
i myself am not a fan of the individual pages, niether am i a fan of donations :- but much like dllyod i would be happy to help in almost any other way.

can anyone say car wash?
 
Originally posted by ebolag4
Seriously though, I have no problem with the ads. I am more annoyed by the people who complain about stuff than the ads ever could. Some people seem like they're taking the whole thing personally. What happens to these people when a commercial comes on the TV ever ten to fifteen minutes while they're watching one of the broadcast (free) networks? Do they call up the network and complain about how the ads keep interfering with their entertainment?

I know that some of the complainers are people who have spent HOURS (if not days) of their time helping others on the board. We all appreciate you! (At least I do.) But that doesn't pay the bills. To make it fair for everyone, everyone has to see the ads unless they've donated some moolah.

These are some good, if flawed, points. With TV, there is no input from the viewer. The viewer does not add to the value of the show (content), so it's very much a provider->consumer arrangement. The folks that spend the time helping others do contribute to the site through their efforts, while at the same time providing a means of attracting advertisers.

Put another way - there are two extremes here. Remember, these are extremes only to illustrate my point, not a reflection on any particular individuals, nor is the world this black and white. But consider these two examples of folks that might frequent the forums:

1 - The person who posts helpful/useful/interesting information on a regular basis. Often posts answers to obscure, difficult questions, and even is occasionally found in IRC/iChat answering questions.

2 - The person that never posts, but has contributed $20 to avoid seeing ads.

I ask, which one of these is adding more value to the forums? Which one is treating the forums as a pay-tv channel (to riff on the analogy)?

As for interstitial ads... I can't stand them. My visits to the site have fallen way off since the bruhahah over the temporary closure (and no, I'm not trying to start that whole argument up again), and this might just be the end of my visits here... I'm very saddened by the way the whole web has evolved into a kind of parody of TV with the numerous advert schemes, and offended by the lengths at which some are willing to go to generate impressions. Interstitials aren't the worst, but they're pretty close. A mention was made earlier about Yahoo groups use of them, and that's exactly why I don't frequent Yahoo at all any more.

As an alternative, might I suggest looking at the way Google does adverts? They're all text-only (low bandwidth), unobtrusive, and generally relevant. Could something like that work here?
 
I have to go with Scott on this one. He took a lot of the advice/criticism given after the temp shut down. He informed the board about the action before it happened, then is listening to complaints about it while it is being enacted. Kudos on that.

I can understand being a little tight for money, and I'd be pissed if I had to donate to every site I visit regularly.

That said, I donated because I get good information. Hell, for the cost of a couple of Mac(insert your title here) magazines, you can donate and get far more information and in a timely manner.

And it irks me to see people saying they have no money to donate but their sig says stuff like30 gb external hard drives, 800 mhz Macs, their own websites, their band's websites. Oh, and I can't contribute because I'm low on money because I just bought plane tickets to Greece AND the Reading festival.

It's not like you're having to sign up and pay a huge amount every month. The cost of a couple of magazines, a super-sized lunch or two and you have no ad pop-ups.

If you are living at home, ask your parents. If you spend more time on this board in a month than the length of 1 movie, contribute the cost of a movie ticket, popcorn and coke. It's simple. Think of it as shareware.

Macosx.com is shareware. If you pay a little, you get some benefits. If you don't, then you have to live with some limitations if you use the service. Or you can choose and not use the service.
 
Androo: Online advertisements are a fact of the cyber life. Almost every site that's worth anything has some sort of advertising, whether annoying or not. So complaining about having ads at all isn't going to get you anywhere. Either put up, or shut up.

Scott: I'd like some sort of feedback on whether you can or will change the way the ads are presented. As they are, they are too intrusive and they mess up the proper browsing of this site. If necessary, I will start a thread about ideas to change the current ad scheme, and at some point I will probably send you $5 or $10 (cash) in an envelope. What was the address again?
 
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