Jeez enough with all the Ads

[Beppe123]

fantastic ! I also was really annoyed by all the ads. Now tried AdBlock as advised here and voila they are all gone !! Thank you all !

[Dave Lochner]

Remember, running a website and maintaining it costs money. Companies who run them, like CF and others have 2 primary ways of covering the costs, charge a membership fee or run ads.

Blocking ads reduces income for the site owner who must then raise more money from subscription fees.


And yes, some ads are not intrusive while others, like pop-ups are annoying.

[skipgundlach]

Coupla observations:

Brave (browser) has AdBlock embedded.

getadblock.com will take you to the free-or-pay-whatever-you-want site which will end ads on virtually every platform, including phones.

Disclosure: it's the most widely used ad blocker in the world, and my son wrote it ☺

(I don't see any ads, though I COULD whitelist vendors I wanted to follow/see ads from)

[CaptTom]

One thing I find interesting is that, back in the days of print and TV, ads were either tolerable, or downright useful. Local papers advertised local businesses and were actually helpful in learning what goods and services were available. Even TV ads were OK when they were relevant and didn't consume as much of the viewing time. If we wanted titillating BS we'd look in the back pages of the lower-quality magazines.

What's changed? Virtually no-one cares about 90% of the ads these days. They're almost all scams or things we don't want. Even the "targeted" ads often try to sell us whatever it was we just purchased - and therefore don't need any more of. Ads today are loud, obnoxious and consume way too much screen real estate and bandwidth. I won't buy anything from someone who is screaming at me.

Again, I'll gladly turn off my ad blocker for small, respectful, static, silent ads which I can choose to read, or not, at my leisure.

For the record, site owners don't always have much say over how and which ads get displayed. It's often the forum software and hardware providers who make those decisions. As I said before, the way things are today, nobody wins.

[Dave Lochner]

Originally Posted by CaptTom

For the record, site owners don't always have much say over how and which ads get displayed. It's often the forum software and hardware providers who make those decisions. As I said before, the way things are today, nobody wins.

Specific ads are based on the tracking cookies embedded in your computer and an algorithm. These cookies are placed on your computer from the sites you visit and most notoriously Google searches. Some software block tracking cookies, Safari is one that does. DuckDuckGo.com is a search engine that does not track your searches. It is based on the Bing search engine.

All websites collect at least 2 bits of information, your IP address and the browser engine. Using a VPN hides your IP, however, many VPNs track the websites you visit and your searches. This information is then sold to one of the ad serving companies.

The ad servers then sell ad space on subscribing websites, like CF. The ad buyer can specify a target audience based on what ever parameters the ad server has in their data base.

When you visit a website, a small piece of code provided by the ad server collects the IP address, sends it back to the home office, and the home office then sends ads based on your past browsing history and the company's algorithm.

Websites get paid per impression or per ad clicks. The cost to the advertiser is pretty small, in many cases measured in pennies. At a nickel per impression, an advertiser can reach 1000 people who might be interested in their product for $50. The website gets about half or less of that amount. Last I heard, ad revenue on YouTube is split 60/40 with Google getting the 60%.

In short that is the business model for Internet ads. There are no doubt some nuances and variations, this is the essence. The website only has control over where the ads are placed on the page and which ad company they use.

[billdomb]

Does Brave automatically transfer all my saved passwords from Chrome?

Incidentally: what makes a company OFFER a new browser? Do they make $$ when you go to certain sites?

[Shaneesprit]

No issues for me - sometimes a video pops up. Nothing too intrusive.
Ads pay for the forum - I wouldn’t call it greedy.

Some APPs on my phone have been over powered with Ads but I deleted them.

[Mike OReilly]

Originally Posted by Dave Lochner

Remember, running a website and maintaining it costs money. Companies who run them, like CF and others have 2 primary ways of covering the costs, charge a membership fee or run ads.

Blocking ads reduces income for the site owner who must then raise more money from subscription fees.

And yes, some ads are not intrusive while others, like pop-ups are annoying.

I pay my way here by providing free content. If the owners of CF want me to view their ads, then they should pay me for my words. I'd be happy to turn off adblock when that happens.

[billreilly]

Originally Posted by Time Theory

My comment may get me booted off this forum but what the heck. I will roll the dice. Enough with all the advertisements. When I first joined this forum, it was pretty much laid back. Now it is over the top with all the ads. I know the powers at be need to make money but being greedy never wins. Then again maybe it does. Anyway, take care everyone.

Looking at the number of ads on this website I can guarantee that the owners are not being greedy, they are merely trying to keep the website working. I doubt they are making any money from it, and if they are it's not very much.


Do you work for free? Or do you work to make money?

If you work to make money then are you also being greedy?

[billreilly]

Originally Posted by Beppe123

fantastic ! I also was really annoyed by all the ads. Now tried AdBlock as advised here and voila they are all gone !! Thank you all !

Would you rather pay a subscription fee to use this forum?

[billreilly]

Originally Posted by SailingHarmonie

First (second and thrid) rule of the internet. If you are getting soemthing for free, you are NOT the customer, you are the PRODUCT.

Everybody wants somebody else to pay for what they want.

I use safari, there are a row of ads down the right side of the page. That's how I pay for access to CF. I ignore them, almost all the time. Every once in a while there is a useful contact there.

I am not at all sure what the big deal is.

Exactly!... I laugh at all these people who complain about a product that they get for free, especially when it's something so trivial like ads... just ignore them if you don't like them!

[Wilyum]

Originally Posted by billreilly

Exactly!... I laugh at all these people who complain about a product that they get for free, especially when it's something so trivial like ads... just ignore them if you don't like them!

Im ok with ads, but with this website its too much, every video that pops up moves me to the top of the page and this happens every 10-15 secs.

[wholybee]

Originally Posted by billreilly

Exactly!... I laugh at all these people who complain about a product that they get for free, especially when it's something so trivial like ads... just ignore them if you don't like them!

This site doesn't allow you to ignore them, and at times becomes unusable because they are so disruptive. I know there is a way to report ads that interfere with the usage of the site, and I have done that, but after doing it enough times, I moved to a browser that make the issue irrelevant.

[Mike OReilly]

Originally Posted by billreilly

Exactly!... I laugh at all these people who complain about a product that they get for free, especially when it's something so trivial like ads... just ignore them if you don't like them!

Funny... I laugh at people who think they aren't influenced by ads. Especially whey they are supporting the concept of ads making money. You can't have it both ways Bill.

Originally Posted by billreilly

Do you work for free? Or do you work to make money?

Exactly . That's why I say I'm happy to open the ad blockers when CF starts paying me for my work. Until that time, it's a trade of services; my words for access, sans ads.

[CarinaPDX]

Adblock Plus and other ad-blockers in the Acceptable Ads program take money from some advertisers and allow their ads to be displayed provided that they meet certain standards. You can look at this as a way to have minimally intrusive ads, or simply as a defeat of the blocking. Not for me...

I have used many ad-blockers. I find uBlock Origin to be very good, and it will identify which links are undesirable. The big problem is to block the ad and tracking links while not breaking the website. NoScript has comprehensive protections for other nasties but does not provide guidance as to which links are ads or trackers, and thus takes a lot of effort and training. These two blockers are very informative: there can be literally dozens of trackers on a website. I find the broadcast TV websites to be some of the worst - I only open them in Private Browsing mode.

I totally agree with Mike O'eilly: we create the content that gives the site value so why should we have to pay (by seeing ads and allowing trackers)? But the great number of guests that never contribute are a different matter...

Greg