Blue then Orange (now White) Side Bars

[Kristen]

I really didn't choose to join a gardening forum to have my computer skills challenged. Ad block and Adblock plus are great but they will slow some machines down on sites where they are not needed. Don't tell me the adverts are paying for this site to run. The mods all work for nothing. If the ads are really necessary I'd like to see the books to prove it. Then I might be prepared to look at them.

I 100% agree with you. I build large websties for a living so I have a fair idea of how banner ad revenue works / doesn't work. The Mods apart, the site has the, free, benefit of the goodwill of people like myself who try to provide useful information to people's questions.

By the by, I have investigated the time delay involved in AdBlock Plus blocking the sites, and as you say it is not "nothing" ... however, it is also preventing me downloading several MB of advertising images per page ... so it may be even stevens, or I may even be slightly ahead.

Perhaps I should just set up a website / forum of my own and offer a free answering service, advertising free, over there. I could then install some decent forum software ...

[marchogaeth]

Well actually I didn't want to mention anyone by name but there are people on here with active blogs, aren't there Kristen? In the past there was a very active member who had a really popular blog which welcomed posts and carried at least a few discrete adverts. That person was very good at keeping the two separate because, at the time they believed in the forum because it is so open access and is there for new comers. (That person eventually left in a huff (let's be honest)). If there was a list at the side of things I could check out - like the news on FB I wouldn't mind (Shopping Partners is fine) but I don't want the pictures - the visual bombardment.

All of us who post here regularly, want to share our knowledge and not be a clique but it's starting to look like as long as someone finds the site and clicks on an advert that will do.

I'm not going to threaten to leave if things don't change, I know how small a cog I am; I won't even buy the magazine cos I hate the free seeds and yet, I would but it at the same price without them! However, I will keep finding ways to block the ads but that is taking away from the time I have to read threads and contribute.

[Thelma Sanders]

I'm upstairs on the desktop rather than laptop and can see it now. Thank you v much.

but ........ my Adblock plus page is nothing like that *shakes head puzzled*

I wonder if it is different for other versions of microsoft or Ie.

[marchogaeth]

I'm upstairs on the desktop rather than laptop and can see it now. Thank you v much.

but ........ my Adblock plus page is nothing like that *shakes head puzzled*

I wonder if it is different for other versions of microsoft or Ie.

What you on? I'm using Chrome, which is linked to ad block. IE etc could be different but you will have the option to block the element somewhere.

[sparrow100]

Click on AdblockPlus
2nd row "Block element"
Follow instructions to block individual ads

Thanks VC, they are now gone.
For people using AdBlock, the option is 'Block an ad on this page', which is just under 'Pause AdBlock'

Am now back to no ads and 17 being blocked on this page.
I'd be up for your option Kristen, this is getting annoying. I have only had to install the adblock programme because of this site.

My partner has been running an audio site with some friends for the last 6 years. It's a simple machines site with about 10k members and a similar set-up to here with volunteer mods. I think it costs them a few quid a year to keep the site ad-free and they easily make that through occasional t-shirt sales. (I'd quite like a natty VSP t-shirt please!)

The point of that blather being it's not impossible to keep a site ad-free. The other allotment forum I am on only has banner ads at the very top and very bottom of the pages and that is fine by me.

[veggiechicken]

I use Adblockplus for Chrome in case that has anything to do with it?

[sparrow100]

I'm not going to threaten to leave if things don't change, I know how small a cog I am; I won't even buy the magazine cos I hate the free seeds and yet, I would but it at the same price without them! However, I will keep finding ways to block the ads but that is taking away from the time I have to read threads and contribute.

Likewise, though I do sometimes buy the magazine. I really like this site and how open it is to everyone. I just think that it's a shame it's being over-run with ads for stuff that, let's also be honest, very few of us are going to buy, if any. I'm certainly not shelling out for wood blocx!

[Thelma Sanders]

Yes, I agree, that 'other' site is much more user friendly.

As for ABP I am not on Chrome, it kept crashing, so just ordinary Google for me, on Ie11

[Martin H]

I don't mind the new sidebar ads, they aren't flashing or garish or too distracting, so I won't be going to the trouble of trying to block them.

The product isn't for me, though, I prefer growing directly in the ground and would need a specific, compelling reason to build any sort of raised bed.

[arpoet]

Yes, I agree, that 'other' site is much more user friendly.

As for ABP I am not on Chrome, it kept crashing, so just ordinary Google for me, on Ie11

What other site, Themla?

[Guest]

I think it costs them a few quid a year to keep the site ad-free and they easily make that through occasional t-shirt sales. (I'd quite like a natty VSP t-shirt please!)

That would be quite fun having the odd fundraising thread every so often. You could have a design competition and everything. I know there is a lot of work in regards to details and someone taking responsibility. It would be a lot nicer than the ads tho.

I really like this site and how open it is to everyone.

I do fear it isn't for newbies. I would hate to come on here now as a newbie. I certainly wouldn't go to the faff of looking how to install adblock and how to remove the bottom bar etc. etc. I would just write the forum off.

I use Adblockplus for Chrome in case that has anything to do with it?

Mine is with mozilla and looks nothing like Kristens piccie

[Thelma Sanders]

What other site, Themla?

A previous post said "The other allotment forum I am on only has banner ads at the very top and very bottom of the pages and that is fine by me."
It would be 'bad form' to actually name it .............

[Kristen]

but there are people on here with active blogs, aren't there Kristen?

Indeed, I do have a blog, and I sometimes link to it where I have more pictures / indepth comment relevant to a thread. Its ad-free so I don't gain anything, financially, by doing that. (I believe that Wordpress do sometimes put an ad alongside an article, but if they do that I don't get any benefit and if they started to do that routinely I would move my blog elsewhere. I just mention this for clarity)

I don't mind the new sidebar ads, they aren't flashing or garish or too distracting

As I have mentioned before I am dyslexic; assimilating information off a page is slower for me that normal folk Any additional clutter, most especially if it is moving, makes the page hard work for me to assimilate. I want to give something back to the Internet on a topic where I have some knowledge to share, so it is important to me that I can answer as many questions as possible in the time I have available, and thus I choose which forums to participate in based on that.

When I first saw the new side bar adverts I thought "They look OK" ... and then the moment I scrolled the text and the sidebars didn't move I was back to distracting images making my brain wander all over the page rather than being able to concentrate on the text. So I've disabled them. But the time may come when I weigh up the effort to keep fiddling like this, and also having to put up with the fact that the functionality here is so far below what I have come to expect on other forums.

[arpoet]

I do fear it isn't for newbies. I would hate to come on here now as a newbie. I certainly wouldn't go to the faff of looking how to install adblock and how to remove the bottom bar etc. etc. I would just write the forum off.

Well Said NG.

How many good buisnesses have gone under because they forgot to show the customer respect? Gerald Ratner was one man who screwed up big time. Even huge companies who take thier eye off the ball can come a cropper.
It would be a shame if this once great forum, and the super mods who do such a great job, falls by the wayside because of short sighted managment looking only at the bottom line.... which is more than anyone viewing this sight for the first time can do.
In my opinion the best ad on here is for ADBLOCKER PLUS.

[Bohobumble]

I only joined a few months ago and it wasn't too bad, but this bombardment is becoming a regular thing... is this the way it will be from now on?