Any way to kill the audio on ads?

[patchick]

I do that. And then I turn them back on to listen to things I actually want to hear. And sometimes I will have two browsers open. Both the forum and a link off of the forum of a BB press conference. And I can't hear the video I want to listen to because the ad is screaming.


If Patsfans.com unlike most forums can't support itself through normal ads and must resort to the obscenely obnoxious ones I will simply choose another forum to visit. It is out of control here.

I have nothing to do with the ad server here, but as a website operator myself I believe you're HUGELY overestimating the control that the site owner has over the specific ads that run.

As a rule, an individual company doesn't approach an individual website asking to place a specific ad. The ads are sold to an ad network which then farms them out to hundreds or thousands of websites. And 10 different users may see 10 different sets of ads. That means the site owner -- whom you accused in another post of purposely choosing the most horrible possible ads in order to make your life as a free user unbearable -- probably doesn't even know that the ads you're talking about exist.

 

[TheGodInAGreyHoodie]

> I am painfully aware that the internet doesn't run on hugs.

That is why I don't want to resort to a complete ad blocker. An internet message board can run on non-blocked visual ads or ones that cover up the page at random times.

 

[ctpatsfan77]

Become a paying member

:agree: :agree:

 

[TheGodInAGreyHoodie]

As a rule, an individual company doesn't approach an individual website asking to place a specific ad. The ads are sold to an ad network which then farms them out to hundreds or thousands of websites. And 10 different users may see 10 different sets of ads. That means the site owner -- whom you accused in another post of purposely choosing the most horrible possible ads in order to make your life as a free user unbearable -- probably doesn't even know that the ads you're talking about exist.

Then why don't I have this problem at any other site I visit that have ads? Maybe this site contracts with an ad company that permits more abusive ads than most others.

 

[Born_a_Patriot]

Become a paying member

:agree: :agree:

:ditto::agree::yeahthat:

 

[patchick]

Then why don't I have this problem at any other site I visit that have ads?

No clue! I'm just saying that it's very easy to jump to the conclusion that something you see happening is the product of deliberate strategy when it's really nothing of the kind.

Have you tried dropping Ian a line with info on the specific abusive ads and advertisers, just in case he has some way to block them? Most website operators would want to know about problems that might chase users from their site.

 

[apple strudel]

Then why don't I have this problem at any other site I visit that have ads? Maybe this site contracts with an ad company that permits more abusive ads than most others.

The ad provider I believe has had problems before with spyware, even. I also believe that ad rates are such that the more obnoxious the ad, the more money it pays typically. I've seen this site once or twice with ads turned on and it is a truly horrible experience, even when they are not shouting at you.

 

[Pujo]

If you have Windows 7 or Windows Vista, you can control the volume on a per-application basis. Once the audio starts, open up your volume control and mute Internet Explorer.

 

[Ian]

I've sent off e-mails on this because it happened to me when I was at work today - very annoying. I'll get that fixed, and that seems to be the new avenue that one of these networks is running - I just don't know which one.

So hang with me on this over the next week or so until it's resolved and we eliminate the noise

And also, a PM or an e-mail is a great way to let me know about these things, you can always contact me directly. And for the record the goal is to not a "paid" model at all. I've moved the ads out of the way as much as possible, including removing an ad spot recently. Regarding the ad network that had the spyware issue was a net-wide phenomenon, where they all had that problem - and that was a year ago. We haven't had any issues since.

So I'll get it taken care of. I'll be away with my family for a few days, but the emails have been sent to get all "audio intrusive ads turned off", so hopefully they'll go away shortly.

Ian

 

[Ian]

I have nothing to do with the ad server here, but as a website operator myself I believe you're HUGELY overestimating the control that the site owner has over the specific ads that run.

As a rule, an individual company doesn't approach an individual website asking to place a specific ad. The ads are sold to an ad network which then farms them out to hundreds or thousands of websites. And 10 different users may see 10 different sets of ads. That means the site owner -- whom you accused in another post of purposely choosing the most horrible possible ads in order to make your life as a free user unbearable -- probably doesn't even know that the ads you're talking about exist.

Exactly. My goal isn't to make $$ and make everyone miserable. The goal is to just cover the costs as much as possible and make sure that everything works the way it should and that we have no issues when the place is full of people so it doesn't freeze, crash, etc. - all things we battled with until I spent $$ to upgrade the configuration to a stable state, which we've had now for quite a while (thankfully). I don't have control over the ads that come through - it's controlled by the ad network. All I can do is make requests to turn off certain ones that are coming through that are irritating people - myself included.

As I said - please - anytime there's an issue, please click the contact link, PM me, etc. so I can be made aware of it. Had work not been crazy this week I may have seen this sooner and I could have gotten them taken care by now, and I apologize for the fact that all of you had to endure it

 

[Ian]

Emails were sent last night to both providers and I've requested "all audio intrusives" be disabled, so hopefully they'll go away. Again, it's the weekend, so it may take a day or two to get rid of them.

Sorry for the inconvenience and thanks to those who did pm me to let me know of one other ad to get rid of also.