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Forum ads and drop downs
Posted: Wed Oct 02, 2019 5:43 pm
by Big Block Power
Ok one never had this tool today and it's really annoying. I get a Google drop down on top. I get ads now in each thread between posts. Just started today in the afternoon sometime. I only get this one this site. But sure what changed. I cleaned my cache and history memory yesterday. The site worked fine last night and this morning.
Re: Forum ads and drop downs
Posted: Wed Oct 02, 2019 5:51 pm
by tgrace98
It’s doing the same for me. On my computer and phone
Re: Forum ads and drop downs
Posted: Wed Oct 02, 2019 8:11 pm
by jhnmdahl
Let me see what's up...
Edit: I think I found it - should be gone within a few hours (of 8pm Wednesday night). Let me know if it isn't
Re: Forum ads and drop downs
Posted: Wed Oct 02, 2019 8:17 pm
by Big Block Power
jhnmdahl wrote: Wed Oct 02, 2019 8:11 pm
Let me see what's up...
Edit: I think I found it - should be gone within a few hours (of 8pm Wednesday night). Let me know if it isn't
Thanks John.
Re: Forum ads and drop downs
Posted: Wed Oct 02, 2019 9:00 pm
by AsLan7
Big Block Power wrote: Wed Oct 02, 2019 8:17 pm
jhnmdahl wrote: Wed Oct 02, 2019 8:11 pm
Let me see what's up...
Edit: I think I found it - should be gone within a few hours (of 8pm Wednesday night). Let me know if it isn't
Thanks John.
.
I never saw this on my end.
Maybe it only affects flip phones or ealier? Are you using a Qualcomm possibly BBP?
.
Re: Forum ads and drop downs
Posted: Wed Oct 02, 2019 9:21 pm
by cmattj
AsLan7 wrote: Wed Oct 02, 2019 9:00 pm
I never saw this on my end.
Maybe it only affects flip phones or ealier? Are you using a Qualcomm possibly BBP?
Geeze now you did it.
He may move your saved analog number up to the ten spot. I’m hovering in the 6 slot over a Atari pong” question .
Re: Forum ads and drop downs
Posted: Wed Oct 02, 2019 9:29 pm
by Big Block Power
I'm still a Nokia guy. Best flip phone out there A10 and #6
Re: Forum ads and drop downs
Posted: Thu Oct 03, 2019 8:18 am
by jhnmdahl
Google does things on occasion to try to improve ad revenue (they call them "experiments" and show you how making various tweaks can improve revenue to your site by testing various changes). It does improve revenue, but the results are often a bit heavy-handed. It's hard to strike a balance between making a few bucks to keep the site healthy and being obtrusive, especially with people running ad blockers these days.
john
Re: Forum ads and drop downs
Posted: Thu Oct 03, 2019 7:53 pm
by Big Block Power
Yea that was bad. I would not deal with that.
Thanks for fixing it.
Re: Forum ads and drop downs
Posted: Fri Oct 04, 2019 9:11 am
by Krob1114
I do most of my posting on public computer in the break room at the casino where I work.
When a woman walks by and sees the adds for bikini's on the screen, she looks at me like I'm a dirty old man.
LOL.
Re: Forum ads and drop downs
Posted: Fri Oct 04, 2019 10:27 am
by jhnmdahl
Ads are based in part on the profile of the person (or people) using the computer, so perhaps somebody's been shopping island wear on the shared computer when nobody's looking. Basically, whoever is willing to pay the most to have their ad shown gets the ad spot, so sometimes it can be unpredictable too. But, we have blocked certain "objectionable" categories from even being able to bid for ad space here.
That said, the ads pay to keep the server running and connected to the Internet, and I appreciate people tolerating them and not blocking them (and especially clicking one every once in a while)
John
Re: Forum ads and drop downs
Posted: Thu Oct 10, 2019 6:34 am
by Krob1114
I had colbaltchat.com open on this public computer at work.
I opened a separate browser, looked for an oil filter housing for a 2013 Mercedes Benz ML 350 BlueTec.
When I came back to this forum, guess what was on the top ad?
Re: Forum ads and drop downs
Posted: Mon Oct 28, 2019 7:57 am
by jhnmdahl
Google unilaterally changed our ads again to try to "improve" our (i.e. their) revenue. I've got a busy morning, but I'll work on softening up the impact of their new ad placement system,
John
Re: Forum ads and drop downs
Posted: Mon Oct 28, 2019 8:50 am
by Big Block Power
Yea it wasn't there before I came to work. Go get those dirty dogs.
Re: Forum ads and drop downs
Posted: Mon Oct 28, 2019 12:07 pm
by jhnmdahl
Apparently they're not happy that I'm not "mobile friendly" with my old ad code, and they're going to keep pushing new ad formats (partly because that's what advertisers are paying to buy). Thankfully they emailed me letting me know they were doing it this time.
We obviously rely on ads to pay for the site, but I think more than 2-3 things per page gets to be distracting. It looks like I can dial it back quite a bit from their automated settings though, so even though there are new ad types they should be less intrusive than they were this morning. My preference is to minimize ads embedded in the content (e.g., between posts), so I've focused on dialing those out.
PS - I had that exact Qualcomm Airtouch phone pictured up above, maybe 1999? It was DIGITAL! So cool for the time.