So Now There Are Ads In With The Threads

[Greenside]

This has just appeared on the DIY Forum too and to my mind is the thin edge of the wedge. I can't count the number of forums and newsgroups that have been rendered unusable by ads that find their way into what should be the working part of the page. Please TV, think again.

[uptheos]

I'm not sure why it just gets blocked, it's still readable.

Why not delete it from the thread list?

[Mario2008]

Moved to forum support.

[Crossy]

Blatant spam advertising usually results in the thread being deleted rather than just closed although a closed thread will soon vanish from page 1 of the forum anyway.

If it's a member advertising his condo or the like for sale I usually tell him to post in classifieds and close the thread.

Got a link to an offending post ?

[Greenside]

Blatant spam advertising usually results in the thread being deleted rather than just closed although a closed thread will soon vanish from page 1 of the forum anyway.

If it's a member advertising his condo or the like for sale I usually tell him to post in classifieds and close the thread.

Got a link to an offending post ?

Crossy, the entry looked like an experimental ad placing with links in the title and subtitle but no actual post. Judging by the speed with which my post was removed from the CM forum without comment or explanation I'd guess that the ad department was doing just that and by the time I thought I'd better take a screen shot both had vanished. If so, please ask them to take note of my comment - ads that look like posts will irritate a whole lot of people.

[MJCM]

Blatant spam advertising usually results in the thread being deleted rather than just closed although a closed thread will soon vanish from page 1 of the forum anyway.

If it's a member advertising his condo or the like for sale I usually tell him to post in classifieds and close the thread.

Got a link to an offending post ?

Crossy, the entry looked like an experimental ad placing with links in the title and subtitle but no actual post. Judging by the speed with which my post was removed from the CM forum without comment or explanation I'd guess that the ad department was doing just that and by the time I thought I'd better take a screen shot both had vanished. If so, please ask them to take note of my comment - ads that look like posts will irritate a whole lot of people.

Was this the post by "visitor" ?

[Greenside]

Was this the post by "visitor" ?

Yes. It seemed to be a Google placement dressed up as a closed post. Clicking on any part of it took you to an ad.

I don't want to make a big deal out of this but anyone with experience will tell you that if ads or their delivery produce negative feelings in the minds of the audience they are counter productive. If the advertiser has a product I want to know about then I'll happily follow a link but forcing the viewer to sort through what could become loads of dross to use the forum certainly irritates me and, I'm willing to bet, many others. Look at the experiment with premium ads in the classifieds - after a while you just skipped the first few pages to find the new entries and although it might have worked to start with, I imagine the return started to diminish so they rightly canned it.

Edited November 28, 2011 by Greenside

[Tywais]

Moved to forum support.

Judging by the speed with which my post was removed from the CM forum without comment or explanation

None of your posts or topics have been removed. This topic was in the CM forum but moved to forum support and commented as such by a mod as shown in the above quote. Your 2nd, duplicate topic in the DIY forum was closed with comment directing to this topic.

[Greenside]

Moved to forum support.

Judging by the speed with which my post was removed from the CM forum without comment or explanation

None of your posts or topics have been removed. This topic was in the CM forum but moved to forum support and commented as such by a mod as shown in the above quote. Your 2nd, duplicate topic in the DIY forum was closed with comment directing to this topic.

Nothing was left in the CM forum (nothing there, I just checked) to show it had been moved so I simply assumed it had been deleted. For example, the current thread "Accessing a Hulu Website" clearly shows that it's been moved and to where - I believe this is the normal way it's done. I'm not complaining, I just thought I must have stepped on someone's toes and I only found this forum via the direction on the DIY thread.

Edited November 28, 2011 by Greenside

[Tywais]

I believe this is the normal way it's done. I'm not complaining, I just thought I must have stepped on someone's toes and I only found this forum via the direction on the DIY thread.

No toe stepping as far as I know. Looks like a slip up when it was moved and the check box for 'leaving link' when moving was unchecked.

[dantilley]

There have been a few ad experiments over the years, some of which have been canned and some kept. Obviously any increase in ads will provoke a negative reaction to some degree: after all, no-one actually wants more ads, but some will be tolerated by the more easy-going members. Any which receive a sufficiently negative reaction across the board will normally be ditched.