cruisersforum advertising taking up entire screen

[Pete7]

Originally Posted by alctel

Honestly I wouldn't have bothered but as mentioned the site was literally unusable with the full screen ads - nowhere to close them and even refreshing doesn't get rid of them

I use Google Chrome so have adblock which keeps the adverts in check on the laptop. I don't do the internet on the phone because I try to be "app free" Its my answer to someone when they ask if I want to install their business app, like the Vets recently

Pete

[flightlead404]

Originally Posted by capt jgw

That said, if everyone started using ad blockers, the Internet as we know it would cease to exist.

Strangely, I'm OK with that!

At least, I'd love to go back to the Internet of the mid 90's or before.

and I'm someone who made my living helping protect companies and UHNWI's from the horrors of the 'net

[GordMay]

Originally Posted by Mike OReilly

...
It’s certainly true that there is a cost to running websites and forums, but there was a time when the Internet was operated as a public trust, and ALL advertising was banned (except in a few narrow zones).

The Internet of those days wasn’t as glitzy as it is today, but it was no less functional. There were sailing forums, lists and discussion groups before CF. But commercial entities have taken over the previous public space, in the pursuit of private profit.

There was also a time, between February 2003 and January 2006, when the CruisersForum was completely ad-free.

Gisle founded the CruisersForum, on December 17, 2002, and went “public” on February 24, 2003.
From it’s founding, until it’s sale, Gisle fully funded CF (ad free), from his private resources.
The birth of twins, building a home in Norway, and a promotion to a very responsible job, all led to Gisle’s declining participation in his Forum; finally resulting in it’s sale, to Andy R (Social Knowledge LLC), in December of 2005.

➥ https://www.cruisersforum.com/forums...html#post18639

[Mike OReilly]

Originally Posted by GordMay

There was also a time, between February 2003 and January 2006, when the CruisersForum was completely ad-free.

Gisle founded the CruisersForum, on December 17, 2002, and went “public” on February 24, 2003.
From it’s founding, until it’s sale, Gisle fully funded CF (ad free), from his private resources.
The birth of twins, building a home in Norway, and a promotion to a very responsible job, all led to Gisle’s declining participation in his Forum; finally resulting in it’s sale, to Andy R (Social Knowledge LLC), in December of 2005.

➥ https://www.cruisersforum.com/forums...html#post18639

Thanks for the background info Gord. You’re one of the founding fathers of this place. It’s good to know how it once was.

This place is run to make money, hence all the ads and trackers. It also houses a wonderful community, which is a great value to the participants. It’s a trade off.

[sv_isara]

I don't mind whoever making money off of something that gives us value.

However putting a roadblock in the way like this motivates many of us to look for value elsewhere, and certainly is a shot in the foot to the value proposition of this website.

or in other words, it's really stupid - for the webmaster's carbon sail dreams, and for the users. glad most of us agree and thanks for the tips; i will write them down before the posts disappear

[Janet H]

If you want to view the board on mobile, consider using the mobile view and then using a browser on your phone.

You can change to the mobile view by scrolling to the bottom of the page and clicking here - select "mobile" in the view options.



Regarding the app - we have no ability to control the advertising display on that app. As always, on the browser view, you will see fewer ads when you are logged in.

[GordMay]

As a wise man once said:

Originally Posted by Mike OReilly

I already support CF by producing content for free.

[ben2go]

Originally Posted by sv_sharky

Does anyone else browse this forum with a mobile and reliably get ads that take up the entire screen with no way to close it (without closing the web page and reloading the entire page...only for it to happen again)?

at the very top of the screen you can see a white line with a handful of pixels worth of forum thread visible; not enough to click on.

It's the number one reason I navigate away from this unusable website. On the pc it's fine. I am on android using the mobile version of the website. This behavior is not new at least within the past half a year+

I can't use a phone. I use my Windows 10 PC with Mozillia Firefox browser and ABP addon with no issues.

[tkalfaoglu]

If you are on a phone or a PC, try Browsing the site with Firefox.. you can install Adblocker Ultimate which currently blocked 13 things on this page for me!


Next up would be to install a pi-hole DNS server that automatically blocks all advertising sites..

[shmorrell]

Can confirm that the Brave browser app makes the forum usable again. No popups, and no general slowdown of page loading due to buffering all that unwanted video.

I, for one, would pay a fee to have access to an ad free version.

[HeinSdL]

I have two individuals (Bob and John, see screenshot) discussing something about camping. Now I don't actually know what they say because I never listened. But this same ad has been served for 5 years+ now! What a shabby way for CF to earn money! Those guys must be paying A LOT to CF!

In the meantime l scroll over ads all day (again, see screenshot, that is a screen full of ads I see on CF), click away popups (sometimes i even feel sorry for my two camping friends), all in the process of learning new stuff on CF. Positives on CF still outweigh the negatives....

...but my what a cheap online global community (referring to the internet in general) we have allowed ourselves to morph into.

[Ballsnall]

Originally Posted by sv_isara

Does anyone else browse this forum with a mobile and reliably get ads that take up the entire screen with no way to close it (without closing the web page and reloading the entire page...only for it to happen again)?

It's a problem with your browser and all those trackers and things they want you to download just to view the webpage. Try clearing your browser history including the biscuits and cookies, that should fix it. Or try the F5 button, that will refresh it or blow something up.