YOU ARE NOT ALONE SNOOCHAROO!
This is absolutely crazy!
Edited to add: The sound pop-ups are REALLY annoying! AND that I currently have 12 (yes! TWELVE) pop-up ads which opened when I posted and then came back to edit.
I am having wicked problems with SB today because of pop up ads. Everytime I try to access forum I get so bombed with pop up ads it vapor locks my entire connection. I understand that ads are needed to fund the site but I literally have 9 ad windows open right now and I must have already closed 6 or 7. Is there anything I can do to stop or minimize these annoying ads??????? Please help!! I spend more time closing windows then I do reading the message boards and it kinda sucks. (closing ads that is, not you Webby you're dreamy!)Thanks!!
Snoocharoo
"a hard-on doesn't qualify as personal growth"
LAST EDITED ON 06-07-02 AT 04:52 PM (EST)YOU ARE NOT ALONE SNOOCHAROO!
This is absolutely crazy!
Edited to add: The sound pop-ups are REALLY annoying! AND that I currently have 12 (yes! TWELVE) pop-up ads which opened when I posted and then came back to edit.
Glad to hear it's not just me. I thought maybe I screwed something up again. Maybe evil Bert is behind all of this....Damn you evil Bert, Damn you!
It's happening to me too!!
I was going to start a thread myself until I saw yours.Webby, I wanted to ask you about this too. I thought I was going crazy today when all the ad windows started popping up. I also had to restart my computer a couple times because it couldn't handle that many windows opening at once. I understand though, that we need something to support this wonderful site.
My question is...what if we gave some kind of donation that kept the ads from appearing on our computers? I know that I suggested something like this before and was shot down, but I think it could really help. I know ezboard does something like this (don't worry, I am certainly no fan of the ezboards). Like if we donated like $10-$15 a year or something like that, then ads would not appear on our computer. There would be no pressure to donate, since the only one who would know whether or not you donated would be the person donating the money, because the pop up ads would no longer appear on his/her computer.
I know I would do it!
I don't know when Webby will be online to address this issue, but there's something that you can do immediately.Click on as many posts, threads, etc. as you can.
The ad company only pays a certain # of times per user per day for viewing ads. Once you have viewed the maximum number of ads in a single day, the ad on your screen should automatically change to the white and purple "focus in" ad on every forum. This ad does not have embedded pop-ups, and you should be fine for the rest of the day.
Unfortunately, the advertising company that RTW.com contracts with embeds the pop-up ads within the banner ads, seen at the top and bottom of your screen. They do this without explicit warning, so if there's suddenly an ad with a large number of pop-ups embedded, Webby has to manually "ban" the ad from appearing on the site (which I assume he'll do as soon as he reads all of this).
To answer Jeff's question, the threads that you view are static. That is, they are not generated on a person-by-person basis. As such, it is impossible to remove an ad from one person's page without removing them from everyone's page. Doing what you suggest would mean that every page on the site would load 2-4 times as slow as it does now (is that really worth it to avoid the ads??), and the increased server load would likely raise the server costs drastically (probably would mean that Webby would lose more money than he'd make from the people willing to give a donation).
There are a few other sites out there that follow Jeff's proposed plan... All of those sites suffer from decreased performance, and very high costs (not offset by the people donating money).
Thanks so much for the information sleeeve, I had no idea the trouble it would cause to "remove an ad from one person's page without removing it from the others." I just hope you and everyone knows when I suggested the idea I did not mean that these other sites who did that were better.I 100% believe that Sblows is by far the best site out there. Nothing even stands close. Just to show how devoted I am, I actully bought SBlows merchandise ("The Top Ten Signs You Are a Survivor Addict" t-shirt).
I don't say it enough, but I absolutely love this site. And I appreciate everything that you, SB, IceCat,
Ayak, and everyone else does to keep it running as smoothly as it does. Thanks for everything.
--jeff
LAST EDITED ON 06-07-02 AT 07:40 PM (EST)Sleeeve, I have a really good solution, but--not as good as Webby's;
I haven't been having any problems,
because I downloaded a free software product called Pop-Up Stopper--there are other similar types of free software, to be found on the net.
The one drawback is that you have to press eiter the Shift key, or much perferrably--the Ctrl key in order to access links.
The Shift key works on most links; the Ctrl key works on all links.
Whlile this doesn't stop all of the ads; I have seen one or two slippery ones sneak across my screen
--these type of adds, unfortunatly aren't affected by these products,but--they do stop MOST of them!!
I downloaded this product, and there are others like it, a few months ago; because my moniter was turning in to Pop-Up Hell.I know that it, and--closely related software programs--have worked extremely well for me.
I hope this helps
.
*Note: edited because of Webby's response.
LAST EDITED ON 06-07-02 AT 06:21 PM (EST)My apologies folks, this avalache of ads was not intended folks, I just learned of the problem and all I can say is apparently one of our advertising networks has gone insane.
I've disabled all banner ads in the forums until I can talk to them and figure out the problem. Given that there are multiple ad networks, I don't know which one is the problem, and it's currently 6PM EST on a Friday, that probably won't be until Monday (yes, I know you are all SO UPSET about that!
Sorry,
SB
Webby,THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU!
I'm down to my normal pop-up ad amounts which is certainly tolerable.
Thanks Webby for the prompt response and checking into it further.
Webby, I had 15 ads pop up at me in like two minutes. They were popping up so fast I am amazed my computer didn't crash. Plus an ad wanting me to download some security system. I had four of those. Is it just me?
I think that errant adserver may have blown a gasket again, I'm popping so many ads this morning, I can't close them fast enough.
