Advertising on Railroad.net

[GOLDEN-ARM]

I don't know why, but someone has decided to flood the pages of the place, with ridiculous advertising. Is this what the [plans were, when the place was sold? My adblock plus is working overtime, to remove the garbage from the forums. along with the silly subway car banner, it seems the writing is on the wall. goodbye rr.net, and hello, bloated advertising forum. (commuter,net maybe) >:C

[Jeff Smith]

I don't notice any more than what there was. The new owner added a few things; he has to pay the bills, after all.

[MEC407]

Nobody likes ads, but I'd rather deal with those than have to pay a membership fee, as is the case with some other rail-related web sites.

I can live with the banner ads. Just don't start inserting advertisements into members' posts; I've seen this on a few other forums and it's a huge turn-off.

[charlie6017]

Just don't start inserting advertisements into members' posts; I've seen this on a few other forums and it's a huge turn-off.

Now that's happening, too. Not very happy about it.........

Charlie

[Jeff Smith]

Just don't start inserting advertisements into members' posts; I've seen this on a few other forums and it's a huge turn-off.

Now that's happening, too. Not very happy about it.........

Charlie

I'm going to ask about this. Not sure what it is; I've seen it on ocassion on a different lap-top. Wonder if it's a later version of IE doing it?

[Patrick Boylan]

Jeff,
the embedded ads are not just in Internet Explorer. I'm using Firefox.

Is it unpredictably intermittent, or did you turn it off? I'll try to pay attention after I post this. The last post I made
http://www.railroad.net/forums/viewtopi ... &start=600 NJT Nonsense (was NJT 7277 Sideswipe?) about 2am has an embedded ad, but subsequent ones, for example yours and charlie6017's here, and DutchRailnut 's http://www.railroad.net/forums/viewtopi ... 7&start=45 Re: Empire Corridor Lease-Poughkeepsie-Schenectady 5:47am do not.

Even though they cover up part of the thread content, at least they have an X button we can click to close them for that iteration.

And thanks for giving me an excuse to advertise here that I want folks to look at my post http://www.railroad.net/forums/viewtopi ... &start=600

[MEC407]

I've started seeing ads in people's posts as well, but so far I've only seen it when people have attached photos to their posts. The ad is displayed across the bottom of the photo.

Example: in this post, the member attached a photo, and there is an ad that pops up at the bottom of the photo.

I know the site has to make money, and I'm sure we all want that to happen, but there is a tipping point where too many ads becomes disruptive and drives people away (and/or forces them to employ multiple different types of ad-blocking software, which results in the site not making as much money).

[umtrr-author]

I tried that post and I was wondering whether it is RR.net that is serving the ad in the photo, or the photo hosting site itself, Flickr, that is serving that ad.

On the other hand, the post describing the Ontario and Eastern sectional layout...

http://www.railroad.net/forums/viewtopi ... 32&t=87262

...has a Photobucket photo and it also contained an ad.

So let's try one of the photos from my own website, which I can personally guarantee doesn't serve any ads, and see what happens...



And lo and behold, there is an ad attached. So we know the answer...

Not that I have ever posted many photos here... but the above is my final one. Text only from now on.

[MEC407]

It also happens if you attach an image directly to your post (rather than embedding an image from an image hosting site):

[Eliphaz]

I had no problem with the Google ads sprinkled around, but
ads by GumGum is extremely obnoxious.

[Adirondacker]

I had no problem with the Google ads sprinkled around, but
ads by GumGum is extremely obnoxious.

Something has to keep the lights on. If you don't like them, don't click on them. If you don't even want to see them install a hosts file.

http://winhelp2002.mvps.org/hosts.htm

[Patrick Boylan]

What happened to viewtopic.php?f=69&t=55120&start=600 NJT Nonsense (was NJT 7277 Sideswipe?) ?
I had put it into my prior post as an example of a post with an ad, now the thread seems to be forbidden, when I click on it without having logged in I get a login prompt, when I log in I get a 'forbidden' message. Is this related to the advertisement?

[MEC407]

I had no problem with the Google ads sprinkled around, but
ads by GumGum is extremely obnoxious.

Something has to keep the lights on. If you don't like them, don't click on them. If you don't even want to see them install a hosts file.

http://winhelp2002.mvps.org/hosts.htm

Sure, something has to keep the lights on, but where does it end? Will there come a time when every single message has an ad in it? Like I said before, there's a tipping point where the ads become too numerous and too obnoxious and it drives people away from the site, thus reducing the site's money-making potential. Plus, the solution you're advocating would not help the site keep the lights on.

This site has had ads for a very long time (long before the ownership change) -- but the number of ads has increased dramatically since the changeover, and I think that's what concerns people. Now that the ads are being attached to people's photos, I think we're coming dangerously close to that tipping point I talked about. I hope the site owners will give this careful consideration, especially if they're thinking about deploying even more ads.

[charlie6017]

This site has had ads for a very long time (long before the ownership change) -- but the number of ads has increased dramatically since the changeover, and I think that's what concerns people. Now that the ads are being attached to people's photos, I think we're coming dangerously close to that tipping point I talked about. I hope the site owners will give this careful consideration, especially if they're thinking about deploying even more ads.

Well put and I totally agree. That is exactly what is bothering me, and from a personal perspective, I am starting to get to the point where I am considering reducing my time here or just saying "to hell with it."

My .02 cents,
Charlie

[Jeff Smith]

I'll get a definitive answer.

Patrick, the topic was placed in the "vault". I had restored it only temporarily.