Advertising on Railroad.net

I understand and agree that ads are necessary, I dont object in principal, and I know that individuals can configure their computers to block ads just as we all have anti-virus software running all the time. but my objection to the the GumGum ads was prompted by what is clearly a degradation of the forum experience. my revulsion comes not from that I have to see the ads floating in the threads, but that any time I include a picture in a post I am inflicting those same ads on everyone who views my posts.
In the short term Ive decided not to include pictures in posts any more, but only external links to pictures I want to discuss.

And therein I think lies the solution; provide links without the image tags. As far as the ads go, I"m still waiting on an answer, but my initial blush is that the new owner made an investment in the site, and has a right to expect a return on his investment. There's plenty of software out there that can block this.

Jeff,

Just wanted to say "Thank You", for listening to our complaints and searching for answers for us......and also for doing a great job here. Despite my bitching, I have thoroughly enjoyed this site for well over 10 years. Thanks for listening to my belly-aching.........

Charlie

Now what is this guy doing? There are green under-line ads under certain keywords all over the place, and mousing over them, a little ad pops up!

Congrats, new owner.........you're chasing away members, including myself, who has worked hard for a long time moderating and trying to be a good contributor for many years. I am out of here and will just hang the other "railfan" site. Maybe even join "Trainorders." It's worth paying the fee to avoid these stupid flippin' ads!

It's now safe to say that I really miss having Mike, Otto and Jessy running this site because this site has gone to hell in a handbasket very quickly.

I won't let the door hit me on the way out...........please feel free to delete my account at any time.

See ya!

Remember that tipping point I was talking about?



I know this wasn't your idea, Jeff, and I don't blame you at all... and I understand the new owners' desire for this site to be a moneymaker... but inserting spam links into members' posts is over the line. The links are even being inserted into members' signatures, which I have a major problem with because it gives the impression that members are endorsing or promoting those links. It also now makes it much more difficult for me as a moderator to tell the difference between a legitimate member and a spammer.

If I had never heard of this site before and came across it today for the first time, I'd be very turned off by what has now become a truly excessive number of ads. Even at the top of the page where it says "RAILROAD.NET: The Railroad Network," the word "Railroad" is now underlined with a spam link. Quite frankly that is very unprofessional and makes the site look shady, for lack of a better word. I tend to avoid sites like that because they're usually of questionable quality and are little more than a front for spammers.

I complained about it in another forum:

http://www.snowblowerforum.com/forum/si ... ments.html

and the admin there said the feature can be deliberately turned on, or it can automatically be turned on during a forum software update,
and the admin might not be aware its "on" at first..until people complain!
they were able to turn it off in the other forum..

I just saw the first "regular word" turned into an ad here on rr.net this afternoon as well..not cool..
if it can be turned off, please do it..
people can tolerate a lot of advertising, but when your own typed words, or your signature line, are turned into ads against your will,
thats just WAY over the line..

Scot

Yeah, I don't mind the regular banner ads (though having experience in industry, I think they could be doing better) but the inline "double-underline" ads is very close to pushing me away from the site.

I object to them on two levels:

1) They can be damn annoying if you mouse over them accidentally.
2) They can at first blush appear to have the endorsement of the poster. Which is generally not the case. What if I use the word "investment" and the associated ad pops up with an ad for Bank of America, a company I would never do business with?

I can block banner ads showing up on my screen, but I suddenly lose control over what appears on others screens that are directly associated with my own words.

I'm going to give this some thought, but I may say saynora to Railroad.net if this continues. And that means one less revenue source.

The owner just emailed me to let me know about the words. I will point him to this forum.

I just emailed the owner with a link to this forum.

The owner has responded, extremely promptly in my opinion, and disabled the ads. Thanks all for your input.

Jeff Smith wrote:The owner has responded, extremely promptly in my opinion, and disabled the ads. Thanks all for your input.

Tell him THANK YOU.

It's prompt action like that that I can appreciate.

I can fully appreciate his (her?) desire to monetize the site. But also the user experience is important. Glad the owner recognized that.

Yes, thank you very much to the owner. Still, we shouldn't be freeloading. We should be useful somehow. For myself I try to look at a couple of the more well known banner ads each visit and log a couple of hits. Maybe there is a way to shoehorn more passive ads onto the site. I think its the popups like the gumgum stuff that are so intrusive and objectionable.

Thank you, mysterious new owner. And thank you, Jeff, for looking into it. Greatly appreciated.

I hope Charlie will come back.

Me too; good moderator and nice guy.

The gum gum ads may still be up. However, I was copied on an email requesting deactivation.

Thanks Jeff.........I just sent you a return PM.

I can appreciate the quick response by yourself and the owner for quickly disabling the ads. I do understand that bandwidth costs money and that it's good business to want returns on investments. I am all for advertising to offset the costs........and seriously, I don't want to freeload, either. I will hit a few ads myself and do what I can to help..........and yes, I will be happy to stick around.

Thanks Guys.........great people here!

Charlie