inherit
More Than Meets The Eye
3241
0
May 1, 2024 23:37:18 GMT -8
Bones
40 years of the Transformers franchise.
8,002
March 2002
bones2
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Post by Bones on Dec 15, 2012 0:48:36 GMT -8
Shrike has a good point. If this is being forced on non ad-free users, are we still having the second ad in the footer? I too have never minded the banner ads displaying, but with this "Related Topics & Stories" section isn't it therefore reasonable to only need the one ad at the top at least? With stories from around the web being another way for PB to gain income, doesn't it make the second bamnner in the footer a bit pointless?
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inherit
126477
0
Apr 21, 2023 15:18:52 GMT -8
Shrike
Re-appeared briefly after 6 years only to no doubt disappear again.
1,569
June 2008
shrike
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Post by Shrike on Dec 15, 2012 1:02:32 GMT -8
Shrike has a good point. If this is being forced on non ad-free users, are we still having the second ad in the footer? I too have never minded the banner ads displaying, but with this "Related Topics & Stories" section isn't it therefore reasonable to only need the one ad at the top at least? With stories from around the web being another way for PB to gain income, doesn't it make the second bamnner in the footer a bit pointless? When the section isn't showing (ie. when you're not viewing a thread), the normal banner ad is shown in its place as before. I'm just wondering if we can have the option to make that banner show all the time instead of the new Gravity box.
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#e61919
1
0
1
Sept 28, 2023 13:31:20 GMT -8
VS Admin
20,147
January 2000
admin
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Post by VS Admin on Dec 17, 2012 10:36:59 GMT -8
Hi,
The bottom banner is very out of the way, and won't be removed on that page. When we actually introduced the bottom banners in the first place, no one commented on them for over two weeks. We believe they are very non-intrusive, and the new Gravity feature actually adds value to the forum (especially with the topics listed on the left).
We are working on improving the topics that are displayed in the list, to ensure they don't stay stagnant if a board has announcements/stickies on it.
Patrick
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inherit
153968
0
Nov 19, 2012 15:03:05 GMT -8
Thesealion
New Phone Who Dis?
4,124
April 2010
joemaggio
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Post by Thesealion on Dec 17, 2012 10:45:48 GMT -8
ProBoards is moving down the road towards a free program that no one wants to use because of the ad bombardment which is sad because they really have totally destroyed the competition when it comes to free forums.
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#e61919
1
0
1
Sept 28, 2023 13:31:20 GMT -8
VS Admin
20,147
January 2000
admin
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Post by VS Admin on Dec 17, 2012 10:57:05 GMT -8
Thesealion, I'm sorry but that seems a bit ridiculous to me. The ads that you are referring to are at the very bottom of the page. You see one single banner ad at the very top, after which you can see all of the main content of the page with no other interruptions until the very, very bottom. We are not overwhelming the page with ads. In fact, we removed ads from v5. For example, YouTube videos in posts no longer have banner ads displayed next to them.
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inherit
153968
0
Nov 19, 2012 15:03:05 GMT -8
Thesealion
New Phone Who Dis?
4,124
April 2010
joemaggio
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Post by Thesealion on Dec 17, 2012 11:00:30 GMT -8
It might not seem intrusive to you, but I notice it almost every time I post. I know the point of ads is to get people to notice, but some people don't like having a big box full of links that don't even link back to ProBoards. The topics from ProBoards is ok although really unneeded, but linking me to other "news" around the web that I go out of my way to avoid in the first place is shoving it it my face personally. I understand how you guys see it, but personally the way I see it it's a step in the wrong direction. Let me explain a bit how I use the web. Really the only websites i go to are ProBoards forums. On every other website I use adblockers (which i have disabled here) this is because I like to do my best to avoid inappropriate ads. ProBoards doesn't really have a huge problem with this right now, but I also do my best to avoid places like the Yahoo homepage where I am going to see random "news" which 90% of the time is something I am not interested with seeing. Now ProBoards seems to have this at the bottom of their forums. So yea, it feels like you're shoving things that I have gone out of my way to avoid in my face
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inherit
Dysfunctional Professional
137695
0
Nov 12, 2019 12:06:54 GMT -8
Søren
Totally zarjaz
6,334
February 2009
solicitudesilence
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Post by Søren on Dec 17, 2012 11:24:44 GMT -8
I dont really like the box but i can ignore it to keep having a free forum
Possible stupid questions now:
can things in it be reported if inappropriate like the other adds.
would they be like the other ads so we cant change at all with code to fit in the site better?
also i read the info on site but still not sure how it works. i dont use any social network sites to share stuff so how it know what i might want to read? apart from proboard sites and neopets i dont go on other sites lol
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Entris
Junior Member
Posts: 281
inherit
158702
0
Dec 31, 2014 9:05:29 GMT -8
Entris
281
September 2010
entris
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Post by Entris on Dec 17, 2012 11:31:00 GMT -8
The only thing I reacted on when i saw it was that the box seems to be Huge when you compare it to the Quick Reply box, so perhaps changing it to have the same size would make it look better?
If any alterations would be done the size and removing the pics would be prefered from my part but i don't really mind it much as it is now though..
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#e61919
1
0
1
Sept 28, 2023 13:31:20 GMT -8
VS Admin
20,147
January 2000
admin
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Post by VS Admin on Dec 17, 2012 11:32:05 GMT -8
There should not be any inappropriate ads coming through, we have been told that the ads that display are manually reviewed before going live. You can change the width, but you would not be able to remove the ads. As to how their technology works, I can only offer links to their site: www.gravity.com/technology#overviewThe only thing I reacted on when i saw it was that the box seems to be Huge when you compare it to the Quick Reply box, so perhaps changing it to have the same size would make it look better? If any alterations would be done the size and removing the pics would be prefered from my part but i don't really mind it much as it is now though.. It should be the same size (width) as the quick reply, it uses the same title bar / container code.
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Entris
Junior Member
Posts: 281
inherit
158702
0
Dec 31, 2014 9:05:29 GMT -8
Entris
281
September 2010
entris
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Post by Entris on Dec 17, 2012 11:35:14 GMT -8
There should not be any inappropriate ads coming through, we have been told that the ads that display are manually reviewed before going live. You can change the width, but you would not be able to remove the ads. As to how their technology works, I can only offer links to their site: www.gravity.com/technology#overviewThe only thing I reacted on when i saw it was that the box seems to be Huge when you compare it to the Quick Reply box, so perhaps changing it to have the same size would make it look better? If any alterations would be done the size and removing the pics would be prefered from my part but i don't really mind it much as it is now though.. It should be the same size (width) as the quick reply, it uses the same title bar / container code. Sorry should have been more clearer, it has the same width but not the same hight - which was what i ment with changing the size make it have the same hight as the quick reply and ppl might not react as much on it when they see it.
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inherit
153968
0
Nov 19, 2012 15:03:05 GMT -8
Thesealion
New Phone Who Dis?
4,124
April 2010
joemaggio
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Post by Thesealion on Dec 17, 2012 11:42:40 GMT -8
There should not be any inappropriate ads coming through, we have been told that the ads that display are manually reviewed before going live. Appropriate changes very much by opinion. What is appropriate to those deciding what is appropriate or not may not be appropriate to me or the hundreds of kids on my school's forum. Or their parents for that matter. I don't find most of the ads on here bad, but often on my school forum people complain about the inappropriate nature of certain things they believe shouldn't be shown to 13 year olds... For instance this ad has been showing on my page all day now: mashable.com/2012/12/13/screen-names-illustrated/?Sadly now that I have clicked it many more like it will follow. I find that inappropriate even though you guys might not and I know for a fact many of the parents of kids on my school's forum will be reluctant to allow their kids on the forum with ads like that displaying...
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inherit
163839
0
May 25, 2017 20:48:34 GMT -8
Maiden
1,020
February 2011
dreamaiden
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Post by Maiden on Jan 7, 2013 4:01:15 GMT -8
Like Shrike, I don't mind the banners, no one on our forum seems to. We understand that's how it works and we even click and vote for Proboards and such things when the banners suggest we do. The Proboards 'Ads' often make me chuckle and it's nice to see at the top of the forum sometimes the 'No Ad. Bought to you by Proboards'. I don't use ad-blockers.
Personally I don't tend to scroll down past Quick Reply here on support so it took me ages to work out the box was even there. And on our V5 I'm hoping to remove our sidebars so there should be no need to scroll down there either. (I honestly have no idea of that detail of my members browsing habits though as an RP forum I guess we spend less time than normal hanging at the bottom deciding where to go next; and anything from around the web is more likely to take people away from the site than to drive traffic.)
However as Shrike says it is rather large. Reduce it to be two by three rather than five by three? So it looks more like an ad box? Or yes the option to have a second banner ad there instead?
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inherit
178825
0
May 4, 2024 7:37:21 GMT -8
spiceelicious
Not a blond bimbo
1,063
April 2012
spiceelicious
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Post by spiceelicious on Jan 7, 2013 12:41:30 GMT -8
Depending on the width your forum is they seem to go on forever. It's not so bad here but I know some that have quite narrow forum widths and for those it seems that you just scroll and scroll and it never ends...lol!
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Former Member
inherit
guest@proboards.com
185676
0
May 4, 2024 15:40:40 GMT -8
Former Member
0
January 1970
Former Member
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Post by Former Member on Jan 7, 2013 17:16:07 GMT -8
Well I have told all my members to not to click on any of the Ads to promote them and I do not see how they could generate more traffic to our sites unless like mine and the ads have nothing whatsoever to do with Paint Shop Pro or Graphics. The only thing I see if about Panasonic TV's, An Ad about Obama. I don't mind ads but does it have to be SO HUGE? Why couldn't you have had it as a small banner like you do above the banner? I think site owners wouldn't mind it so much.
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JJ
New Member
Posts: 32
inherit
186122
0
Jun 18, 2013 15:04:58 GMT -8
JJ
32
November 2012
jjagain
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Post by JJ on Jan 7, 2013 17:58:52 GMT -8
I agree with everyone's post here that it is intrusive and really large. But I have another concern. How safe are these links? Are there going to be cookies, bot trackers and so forth. This just doesn't sit right with me. I don't want one of my members getting angry at me because they picked up some sort of virus or malware because of clicking on those links. I feel that is a legitimate concern because we have been told it can be personalized. Don't we have enough intrusion, enough capturing of our web experience. I don't even use Facebook because they capture everything they can for their purposes.
I love Proboards and have been a member for many years. But this shakes my faith in the integrity of the purpose, "to provide a free message board." Is that no longer the purpose. I have seen that you can get rid of this humongous nuisance if you pay for ad free. Hello? That makes this new feature sound more like a money making project. I admit I have no idea how much it cost to run this site. I know that I have had the Google ads on my site for years and sometimes I click on them and sometimes I don't. I suppose that wasn't lucrative enough and now this is a means for more revenue.
It is sounding more and more to me like this is a nudge to make us pay for the use of Proboards forums, by going ad free. In which case, why not just call it what it is, a paid for hosting site and not a free forum... unless you want to click on a link about Traffic Signals Inspired by Bugs. Really? That is one of the links I am seeing. Who picks these things, a thirteen year old?
It seems to me that to have a sleek Proboards forum, well decorated and tasteful, we have to pay for it... just my opinion.
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