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Post by Gord on Oct 29, 2005 18:29:59 GMT -8
For your information, the ads you see on this site are not chosen by me. I have to guess, but I think the owner of Proboards chooses them for you. They must look at the site and choose 'appropriate' ads to place here. They must sell ad space to generate revenue. The reason Im bringing this is is incase someone wonders why there are ads for "Bird Repellent and Scaring Devices" and "Bird Taxedermy" and etc. Apparently their grouping of ads for the 'birds' section isnt all that appropriate!!  The only way to remove ads to this forum is to pay a yearly fee, and I think I can ignore the ads in light of that fact.  ;D Cheers! |
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Post by Gord on Apr 13, 2007 17:54:06 GMT -8
Alright, it's time to explore this matter further as a group. It was just brought to my attention a very unfortunate advertisement recently that makes the ads for taxidermy, bird scaring devices etc not so bad. I had grown to ignore the ads until they moved the ad's location AND starting putting up offensive ads. You might have noticed that Proboards has now made their ads show up under the first post in each thread which to me is more disruptive. I guess they caught on that the ads were easier to ignore previously. Just to clarify briefly on how this ad system works: Proboards groups all their forums in some manner. I assume a golf forum would go in the 'golf' group, car enthusiasts into the 'cars' group and our group in the birds group. The golfers will automatically get all the ads for the 'golf' group, the car people will get ads that pertain to vehicles and our site will get whatever ads that get placed in the group we are in. It is very clear that our 'group' is not very specific as we get ads for duck hunting, bird scaring and eating birdnests. The birdnest ad is the one that took this over the top as the site showed collecting nests with young inside of them.    So what can we do. We can pay to have an ad-free site, but Id rather not do that or give money to an organization that supports, in a round about way, nest collecting. I also do not wish to be at the whim of who knows what else as time goes on as right now, the only money they can get from us is through ads so since we dont own it, we're at their mercy. Happily, now that we have a website (sadly, hosted by someone else but currently without ads...) I can make a new forum hosted under the website. There will be no ads on it and Ill have more control of the forum. The drawback(s) will be: -I will not be able to transfer messages from here to there. I can move ones Ive made such as the bird alert archives, but anything else that has more than one person posting will be lost. This will be sad. -Having to learn a new forum (phpBB2 boards are user friendly) though) Anyway, let me know how you feel. I can make the new forum and give us all a chance to get on it and comfortable on it before we move over to it completely from here. I can keep this open for a while so we can refer to any posts and direct any members or non-members who monitor the site to our new location. |
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Post by Gord on Apr 14, 2007 10:59:24 GMT -8
An update. I looked into creating a forum under the main website, but it is not supported.  Another option is to buy some webspace (ie. http://www.fvbirding.com) where there's no ads or anything else. We can have the main site with the forum attached to it. I'd be ok with this, but Ive been hesitant to go that route which includes starting to campaign for funds among members. I'd prefer to keep it free for us all! Just want to have all options out there for our consideration. |
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Post by Gord on Oct 19, 2008 13:50:02 GMT -8
Grrrr, Im getting sick of seeing that ad for bird control products such as the spikes to stop birds from landing on a roof. If I had those, I wouldnt have had that Glaucous Gull sitting on my roof three years ago! |
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Post by tmanson on Oct 21, 2008 15:23:46 GMT -8
Gord: The only problem I have with this website is the fact that messages can quite quickly get buried; ( like this one ). It just takes one person to come up with a new message, ( justifiably ), and other important messages get bumped off the headline board. The only solution for this, is to have an option of receiving reports/,messages in the form of an e-mail, so that nothing is missed. This is what Yahoo, Tweeters, and others do, not that I am necessarily advocating going that route. Some of these listserves seem much more difficult to manage, and do not allow the posting of good quality pictures, like Proboards does.
I never notice the ads, unless they are brought to my attention, so, understand, and don't care, if all bird ads, including ways to get rid of them make it onto the board.
I will say, however, that, if the majority of users of this site want to pay to have a better service, I will chip in my share. I just wouldn't want anyone excluded because of having to pay a user fee. That's my 2 cents worth. Cheers, Thor
Thor Manson
Hope, B.C.
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Post by Gord on Oct 21, 2008 21:17:31 GMT -8
Thor, good thoughts. Some information that might be helpful. A new website is in the making. I hope the new design and data from the existing site will be transferred by the end of this year. The option for a new forum will be possible on this server and will not make it dependent on ads. I was considering bringing the option forward for a new forum once I had something for everyone to see and provide input. As to email notification. I can see where it is useful but with this forum it is sadly not possible. The Yahoo Groups have their benefits, but I too like the photo option plus that it is easier to follow discussion on a topic (so long as the topic is not lost like you point out). The 'type' of forum I would develop with the new site would, however, have the option of email notification that includes emailing the post to your email. You would not be able to reply via email but it might be easier to keep track of things and cause one to visit the forum when something of interest is read. It would be sort of a best of both worlds between groups and forums. I have the "view the most recent posts on this forum" set at 20. It is somewhat helpful as it shows the last 20 posts without having to open each sub-board (Ie Local Birding Reports) to see if there are more posts over the most recent one displayed from the 'headline view'. This function can be set to a higher number if requested. I pretty much ignore the ads too by now. |
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Post by Gord on Dec 5, 2009 21:19:11 GMT -8
I think Ive stared at that lady in the white bikini enough at the top of our forum. I know more than one other member has voiced their annoyance at it all as well. I always cringe at what could pop up there next or if they decide to plant ads in the middle of our threads again like they did a couple years ago.
Here are our options (I see two at the moment):
Attach a new forum to our website space.
Pros - This forum would be ours with no threat of modifications being made at a press of a button.
- I can back up all our messages. It's nice to have them to look back at. In the 4 years this site has been up, we've accumulated a nice little data base of sightings. Proboards (who hosts this forum) backs up their stuff as well I should note.
- There is a great deal of increased flexibility in member's options in a PHP forum (personal photo galleries, email notification on threads that interest you etc).
- It is free to download the software
Cons - It will take a little work to create a forum from scratch. I dont really have a plethora of time at the moment and it will realistically be a bit of time before it would be ready to be launched although I do have the ability to do it.
- We'll have to learn a new forum (they are pretty user friendly though)
- The transition stage probably wont be too bad at all, but it will be experienced as regular visitors move to the new site and more casual visitors learn about it later (this forum would be left running until we are certain full use of the new forum is being utilized and we are not leaving anyone behind)
Pay to get this forum 'ad free'
Pros - Keep what we have and are familiar with
- Fairly simple to pay proboards (they have to make money somehow and if they're losing out on ad space, they need to make up for it!)
Cons - It costs money and my Scottish-Mennonite sensibilities recoils at the thought. ;D For one free month of no more than 50,000 hits per month (we average about 2,000 views a month from about 250 unique visitors per month) it will cost $7.00. A year will cost $84.00. Depending on the interest in going this route, it may cost only a few dollars a person a year. Before I am possibly misunderstood, I hope I dont sound casual in my 'only a few dollars' comment. Every dollar counts and the last thing I want to do is start campaigning for money when I prefer to see things remain free and not turn into a monetary burden from the online aspects of our interests. The little birds at our feeders cost us enough and that is before a flock of Evening Grosbeaks appear and go through the sunflowers seemingly a pound by the hour.
I welcome your thoughts and input.
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Post by bandj on Dec 5, 2009 23:39:09 GMT -8
I don't get any ads! I use firefox (not internet explorer) and I run an add-on programme with it called Adblock plus. Very simple and effective. Might this be a solution most people could use?  This is such a good site - I'd hate to see it spoiled in anyway. Bryan |
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Post by deb&tony on Dec 6, 2009 1:07:47 GMT -8
Hi I followed Bryan's suggestion and it works! No ads  Thanks, Deb |
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Post by JeffOver on Dec 7, 2009 8:30:56 GMT -8
Thanks Bryan!!
Looks like this might be the way to go. No payments, and Gord doesn't have to spend extra time on another forum.
For those of you unfamiliar with Firefox, it is an alternate browser to Internet Explorer. It's free, and so is Adblock Plus--it works great!
All you have to do is download Firefox and then the add-on.
Unless people have other opinions, this seems to be a workable solution.
Although it still might not be so nice for first-time visitors using Internet Explorer.
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Post by Gord on Dec 9, 2009 21:16:03 GMT -8
Bryan, thanks for an excellent solution! Glad to hear it is working for others. Ive used Firefox for quite some time and like it a lot. Have not been up to date on recent additions so was not aware of this handy little add-on! I have it too now and it works very very nicely. ;D Thanks again. If anyone is experiencing difficulty in updating firefox or maybe considering using it, dont hesitate to ask for help. |
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Post by davidandkaren on Dec 7, 2010 17:48:14 GMT -8
I've been using Firefox/Adblock for years now - I forget how many annoying ads are out there. Another bonus of this setup is that it it also blocks ads on a lot of the Flash video websites (like Youtube and the the Comedy Network)
BTW - Another forum I frequent pays the annual fees by selling calenders made from member's photos.
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Post by Janne on Dec 7, 2010 18:50:31 GMT -8
I just set that ad-block up on Firefox that I have used for years. Glad it was mentioned on this site as I did not know such a program existed. Good bye ads! Thanks to you computer smart birders.
Janne Perrin
Harrison Hot Springs
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Post by theanimal on Apr 27, 2011 19:40:33 GMT -8
I dunno, I just get Warcraft RPG game ads. I dunno why. I never play WoW. My computer is mainly for photo-editing and internet surfing. ;D But to me, the ads are easily ignored. The board post content is what draws me to FVB Board. ;D
update: Dec. 11, 2013 - Now I'm getting Olympus camera ads on the forum. Still debatable as to how offensive that is... I'm a Nikon shooter. ;D
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;D
