Appraisers' Free Forum

Jim Plante · by **Jim Plante** on Thu Apr 24, 2008 6:59 am

Oil up your wallets. I just posted this on the FreeForums support forum:

All right, banner ads are OK (Ad-Sense). But get rid of the damned voice ads. That's an intrusion I won't tolerate. I'm not going to leave FreeForums immediately, but I will do so if you can't filter the voice ads out.

Honestly, do these dumb-ass dweebs think I'm going to be more likely to buy their product if they annoy me?

Domain: http://appraisers.freeforums.org
_________________
Jim Plante

Jim Plante · by **Jim Plante** on Thu Apr 24, 2008 7:14 am

And this, in an e-mail to support@freeforums.org:

You can lose the voice ads or my forum. Your choice. The upside of the latter is that you make thirty bucks on a forum backup.

These things are too intrusive. Neither I nor my forum members will tolerate them. And it's annoying as hell to have some moron announce, "Congratulations, you've just won a free laptop computer" over and over as you visit various pages. In the second place, I seriously doubt that I've actually won a free laptop computer. There's surveys to be taken, or other work to be done, so it isn't free. So that's deceptive advertising.

These morons actually think I'll be more likely to buy their stuff if they annoy me.

One other aspect of this (I can't confirm it, though): These things appear to be messing with the board's timing. One of them hit just after I posted a reply, and the reply didn't show up. So these things might be blitzing posts. Again, I can't confirm it; may be coincidence. I'm on a Mac running Firefox 2

Jim Plante
Sys Admin
appraisers.freeforums.org

I'll get a reply right away, I'm sure. But we'll give'em a week or so to deal with it. I'm sure they're just as surprised as I was, and there may be no ready way to filter them out. But Google isn't about to lose the potential click volume that FF offers, so I think they'll work something out.

Edit:
Damn, there's not even a way to say "Fuck you very much" to these things without signing up.

Festus · by **Festus** on Thu Apr 24, 2008 8:01 am

This may or may not be the cure but I started browser blocking 'designbloxlive.com' due to the voice ads I was getting at other sites and haven't heard another once since. I haven't heard any from AFF.

Jim Plante · by **Jim Plante** on Thu Apr 24, 2008 8:08 am

There's probably a way I can block them using Grease Monkey in FireFox, too. But these things are too intrusive, and should be stopped at the source. FF will either cut it out, or we'll move.

The ad to which I refer states "Congratulations! You've just been selected to receive a free laptop computer." And when you read the fine print, surveys are required, and some required activities require a purchase in order to qualify. That damned ad has been aggravating me all morning, probably because I clicked on it to try to tell them what I thought of their ad.

Edit:
Don't know if FF did anything, or whether the ad is programmed to stop voice messaging after a certain number of repetitions. But it just came up again as text only--no voice. If it stays gone, that's some pretty good service.

Edit again:
Nope. It's back.

Joker · by **Joker** on Thu Apr 24, 2008 8:28 am

I just keep the sound off.

Jim Plante · by **Jim Plante** on Thu Apr 24, 2008 2:21 pm

As predicted:

Thank you, we will look into this matter for you.

Thank you,

-"Jackal"
Support
http://www.FreeForums.org

Nobody can call these guys unresponsive.

Jim Plante · by **Jim Plante** on Tue Apr 29, 2008 8:18 am

Well it seems to have worked. I'm not getting voice ads any more. Anybody else run across them in the last day or so?

Edd Gillespie · by **Edd Gillespie** on Tue Apr 29, 2008 8:23 am

I've not run across one on here, but the darned drop downs in the middle of reading a post are a nuisance.

Jim Plante · by **Jim Plante** on Tue Apr 29, 2008 8:26 am

Whoa, Edd. What kind of "drop-downs" are you talking about? Pop-up ads?

Edit:
If they're pop-ups, you can block them in your browser. I'll let somebody else provide instructions, because I'm on a Mac using FireFox and the procedures won't be the same as for a Windows box.

The only thing I'm getting here is the banner ads at the top of the page.

Edd Gillespie · by **Edd Gillespie** on Tue Apr 29, 2008 8:33 am

The pop ups are dropping down. Any way I don't get em anywhere but here.

Jim Plante · by **Jim Plante** on Tue Apr 29, 2008 8:39 am

Well, Edd, I don't know...haven't seen any on my box. They're supposed to appear only at the top and/or bottom of the page being viewed. Maybe FireFox is blocking them on my box or something. Ads should not be dropping down in the middle of the page or in a post.

Edd Gillespie · by **Edd Gillespie** on Tue Apr 29, 2008 8:42 am

OK. I'll tell 'em to stop it.

Edd Gillespie · by **Edd Gillespie** on Tue Apr 29, 2008 8:45 am

Maybe I'm like Joker and was getting the pre-talkie version.

Festus · by **Festus** on Tue Apr 29, 2008 10:41 am

I'm seeing some of AFF banner ads using Abode Flash Player to pop-up a 'you have new messages' bubble from (EDIT) "Crush Center". Bubble on / bubble off type stuff.

Edd Gillespie · by **Edd Gillespie** on Tue Apr 29, 2008 11:29 am

How are they to be controlled-like never show up again?

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