The new plague: Ads.

[HippieLizards]

Ok so I use this website almost purely on my phone, and usually there is very little ads on the site, like maybe one or two at the end of a topic or something... But lately I have been noticing that there is almost an unbearable amount of ads, huge ones too. Like When I'm logging on, posting, logging out, uploading images, checking posts, Posting, every time there's at least like one giant ad.

And don't get me started on the forum threads, there'll be like 10 huge ads in the middle of a post, and it's really really annoying when I accidentally click on one of the ads and it sends me to some shady site.

And then there's the banner ads at the top and bottom of the screen, which are really annoying when you already have limited screen space in the first place when typing.

I'm fine with the ads at the End of a thread, things like that ya know? Because they're not really in the way as much. But when it gets to this I've gotta say something about it.
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these are just a few, from looking through a single thread.

But like look, I'm not intending to bash anybody and I know ads help fund the site and all, but really, I would be extremely happy if it went back to what it was like a year or two ago, where there were no interruptions in your thread reading experience, and the ads were just hidden away at the bottom, and like there would be a few tiny little ads for like hornworms ONCE in a thread. I Don't mind that. But 10 huge ads that almost completely fill up your screen? Then yeah it gets annoying.

So sorry for the long post and if it was a little ranty, but I hope this is just a bug and gets fixed soon.

~HippieLizards.

[Claudiusx]

Hi there,

I agree. On mobile the ads have got quite annoying and intrusive. In fact, a couple times for me the ad that pops up in your whole screen that you have to close has logged me out.

Alex, the site admin, has been really busy lately but I will forward this to him to make sure hes aware that ads are appearing like this.

-Brandon

[HippieLizards]

Yeah, I've been logged out many times whilst trying to close a intrusive pop-up as well. But thank you, if anything could be done about that I'd really appreciate it.

[HippieLizards]

I'm now getting full screen literal pop-up ads that are very hard to close and continue browsing. This is ridiculous, I hope this is fixed soon.

[Claudiusx]

Hi there,

Yes I have been getting them since the beginning of this.

I have talked to alex and he is looking into it and will have it remedied soon. It's not something that he purposely had done, just a change that had automatically happened that he wasnt aware of. But he will take care of it just suffer through for a bit longer

-Brandon

[HippieLizards]

Alrighty, thank you. I'm glad it's getting fixed now.

[Claudiusx]

Hi Hippie

Alex has disabled the full screen ads. It's a recent google ads update that got put in place which made that option be turned on by default. He has turned it off. If you continue to have them or other problem ads, please let us know

-Brandon

[HippieLizards]

That's good but I'm still having problem with ones like the banner ads and such.

I'm very glad that the full screen ones are gone now. Those were getting annoying.

[HippieLizards]

Thankfully I'm not seeing them as much now.... but this was a few minutes ago browsing a post... [Click image to enlarge]


Thank you for all the help already though, I really appreciate it.

[Gormagon]

Yup the full screen ads have diminished but now there are ads showing up on the bottom of signatures in peoples posts. this is getting ridiculous.

Here is an example:
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[HippieLizards]

Yup the full screen ads have diminished but now there are ads showing up on the bottom of signatures in peoples posts. this is getting ridiculous.

Here is an example:
[Click image to enlarge]

Oof, yeah I've been noticing that too, it's not nearly as bad for a PC user, but it still takes up some space for mobile users, and I still have top and bottom banner ads, which is rather annoying.

[DragonPete]

I have to agree. I don't care about banner ads top and bottom but when you have those + inline ads, it's a bit much. I'm always on my phone so I get the banner ads and an inline ad and it fills the entire screen! 😆
Ads are absolutely necessary to help support the site. I'm guessing it makes a tiny bit on the click thru, which is why I DO check some out if it's interesting. Gives me a chance to contribute for a site I don't have to pay to use. But dang, gotta be a line somewhere. 😯
-Dee

[beardie]

Yeah... sorry about that. Google has tried to make things "easier" to manage, but at the same time, don't give the greatest options for controlling things more granularly. I think part of the issue is that there is a bunch of the original (explicitly placed) ads, and then these new "auto-placement" ads Google is doing. I did disable the "in between clicks" ads... those are truly annoying.

When I get to re-working the templates with a forum software upgrade (hopefully in the next few months), I'll try to make ads a little more sane again.

[HippieLizards]

That's good to hear that you're working on it, I Have noticed it's died down a slight bit but those banner and in between post ads are still really annoying when you're on mobile. Google can be really obnoxious sometimes.

Also Probably a stupid question but does Sponsoring the site help cut down on ads at all?

[beardie]

I was actually thinking of finding a way of having "sponsoring" be a way to disable ads for that member. Currently, the amount of money coming from sponsoring is pretty minimal (maybe $15/mo). But, it would be worth having it detect a person's login, see they're a sponsor, and just disable loading any ads.

Again... an idea in the works... it MIGHT be something I could start working on as I work on migrating to the newer software (where I have to work in the templates for the site anyway). No promises right away, but I think that would help people like you who don't mind pitching in a few bucks month in exchange for having ads disabled. Originally sponsoring was setup just because members really wanted a way to directly contribute. That's why I set it up with small amounts like that.