[only topic] Appearance of ads

by g7acu on April 20th 2008, 6:44 am

I'd appreciate response from Forumotion Team please.

There have been several posts regarding the sudden appearance of ad banners on users forums. I initially discovered these ads were visible by guests only and disappeared once you'd logged in, and the ads stayed hidden all the time I'm logged into site and again once I'd logged off.
They re-appear though, if I clear my cookies/history etc., despite the option in Admin to set Allow Banner Ads to Off.

I chose Forumotion because of the ad free option (I don't want inappropriate adverts as my forum is for mixed-age family use). I also read the recent Announcement here suggesting ads were to be removed.

Any comments from Staff or Tech please?

Post edited 21.04.08:
Exclamation

I've just noticed that the Announcement mentioned above has been moved to the Garbage file and deleted from the general Announcement & Update category. Is it possible that Forumotion have changed their view on going ad free?
Any information/feedback from the Tech team Question

by g7acu on April 20th 2008, 1:36 pm

Since my request for advice earlier, I've discovered a work-round that fixes the ad problem, but only if the usual settings don't help. It's been tried by many users and has worked for all of them.

First, make sure the basic settings been made as follows:

Access the Admin panel, then select General tab>Configuration>Configuration and scroll to "Allow Banner Ads"
Set the option's as shown to 'No', then save your settings.

This is the standard setting if you want ads disabled. If this doesn't fix your problem, continue with the following:

Go to the Admin homepage, scroll to the bottom of the main screen and click "Old Version" to select the original admin panel - your panel will temporarily change.
In the left navigation column, find the General tab and select "Credits Management". (If there's no list under General, click the small + sign to expand the list).
Locate "Current Situation" that relates to banner ads and click the 'No' option, then "Validate".
At the top of the left navigation column, click the 'Forum Index' link to return to your forum. Your usual newer style admin panel will reset when you next visit Admin.

Note: You must sign in with the original founders/admin login to view Credit Management - a moderator login won't see these features.
You can access "Credit Management" in the normal Admin panel, however it was discovered that the change had to be made in the "Old Version" to work fully.

Credit to Badger for this work-round - a thread relating to this can be found here.

by travis_cooper on April 21st 2008, 11:20 am

This seems to have worked for me. I don't see the ads, at least for now.

by nickcalv on April 21st 2008, 11:39 am

Thanks for the tip, but I don't have a Points Management section under the General section of the left-hand menu in the old version of admin... :-(

by travis_cooper on April 21st 2008, 11:40 am

Since this appears to have fixed the problem, for me at least, I\'m making this the only topic for the ads issue.

by g7acu on April 21st 2008, 11:46 am

nickcalv wrote:Thanks for the tip, but I don't have a Points Management section under the General section of the left-hand menu in the old version of admin... :-(

Then you haven't logged in as full Administrator then. I have two logins, x1 as Admin of my forum and x1 as member with Mod rights (I like to keep my admin position anonymous). If I access Admin with my member/mod login, the Points Management isn't listed, but does appear when logged in fully as original Administrator for the site.

by Data2link on April 21st 2008, 12:00 pm

The tip has worked for me so far- even though my popup blocker is still blocking popups- I don't think it's from this forum anymore. The Google ads are gone also. - I will see what my other members say later on tonight. Thanks!

by Piping Connections on April 21st 2008, 12:19 pm

Sorted , Thank you guys

by Hermoine on April 21st 2008, 1:27 pm

There are still ads on the forum and now they appear regardless of being logged in or not, but as I’ve said before my main concern is the content and size (the ones about drugs, public aid, low income housing are sometimes there, sometimes not). It seems as if it’s being manually manipulated and it only reflects poorly on the look of the forums in general and I think that as Forumotion needs the ads to generate income, then more neutral family-friendly all age (and classier) ads should be used such as those relating to computers, technology, health food, high-end beauty, green/eco-friendly issues, etc. as opposed to the more adult content ads like the ones we’ve been seeing such as prescription medication, homelessness, dating, etc.

I’m all for capitalism, but as the individual site administrators are the main persons who will be held responsible or liable for the content on the site, a certain ethical decorum needs to be maintained on the part of the group placing those ads (Forumotion) as it behooves them to do so, as some sites seem to have more neutral ads and others seem to have very oversized, junky looking ads, and it’s very stressful to those seriously trying to drive quality traffic to their sites.

As I said my site looks different every day because some of the ads are gigantic banner ads with 25pt font and others look more normal and then there are the ones for public housing and food stamps...It’s pretty hard not to get offended (hence the 'disclaimer/apology' that now appears on my forum).

I don’t have a problem with the ads or the idea of ads being there, I just want the quality of look, size and content to be consistent. I’m really tired of having it change from day to day (sometimes it looks okay, sometimes it looks like ads for felons or sex addicts) and that’s not right and it’s definitely not appropriate. Class and tact are a basic selling point of business, period (and those ads were just too tacky/ghetto for words).

I mean, seriously.

http://www.onlinecliniqueforum.forumotion.com/index.htm

by travis_cooper on April 21st 2008, 1:31 pm

Did you try the suggestions in the second post? That took the ads away for me.

by Hermoine on April 21st 2008, 1:40 pm

As per Typlo, the ads are supposed to reflect the site content, obviously there are no Yoga, Pilates, Fitness, Vegetarian, Academic, Parenting, Spa-- etc. ads on my site, but oddly enough I do see a lot of ads for employment and surgery, personal loans and diet scams… Let's not forget the drugs and public housing/aid ads...

I am just trying to figure out where anyone got such negative inferences from my ‘beauty and natural wellness’ forum Evil or Very Mad

when I know very well that google allows you to select the category of ads you would like to use. It smacks a bit of a scam.

by g7acu on April 21st 2008, 1:52 pm

Hermoine.

The advert information is generated automatically by Google (or whomever) running periodic sweeps and picking adverts based on the word content within posts and topics - this is the same for any forum, regardless of whose you use.

I started this thread as a means of posting a solution to a recent advert issue and all the feedback I'm getting via PM's, is it's working; could I kindly suggest you check what I've suggested.

Please, do not use this thread to rant about your frustrations.

by Sneshka on April 21st 2008, 1:56 pm

For me thats work too!
Thanks! Smile

by Hermoine on April 21st 2008, 2:07 pm

g7acu wrote:Hermoine.

The advert information is generated automatically by Google (or whomever) running periodic sweeps and picking adverts based on the word content within posts and topics - this is the same for any forum, regardless of whose you use.

I started this thread as a means of posting a solution to a recent advert issue and all the feedback I'm getting via PM's, is it's working; could I kindly suggest you check what I've suggested.

Please, do not use this thread to rant about your frustrations.

Sir, Forumotion has been very helpful.

First, my response had nothing to do with the technique, it has to do with the look of the ads placed on a TECHNICAL level (something they might need to know for future reference, because if the fault is with Google admin, then it would need to be corrected there or whatever).

Second, The point of this support site is to bring attention to problems they may not be aware of. How is it that you have not chased any (male??? or other) posters who voiced their upset yesterday all over the boards…?

Just because you offer someone help. It’s not okay to spit on them. Most people don't respond to negative/aggressive comments for a reason.

I did not respond to your PM for a REASON and have asked you, TWICE now, to please leave me alone. Else-wise you leave me no option but to file a formal complaint with typlo or one of the other Moderators, here.

Life Blessings, but leave me alone.

by nickcalv on April 21st 2008, 2:12 pm

g7acu wrote:
nickcalv wrote:Thanks for the tip, but I don't have a Points Management section under the General section of the left-hand menu in the old version of admin... :-(

Then you haven't logged in as full Administrator then. I have two logins, x1 as Admin of my forum and x1 as member with Mod rights (I like to keep my admin position anonymous). If I access Admin with my member/mod login, the Points Management isn't listed, but does appear when logged in fully as original Administrator for the site.

Yeah, chill out, Hermione.

Thanks dude, that worked. All sorted. Dawa

by travis_cooper on April 21st 2008, 2:17 pm

I really don't want to lock this thread, as it has proven to be helpful so far in getting the ads removed from peoples' forums. However, if I see any more attacks directed towards members, or any other rants I will lock this thread.

by nickcalv on April 21st 2008, 2:32 pm

Whatever, dude. Take a chill pill too.

by g7acu on April 21st 2008, 2:36 pm

Hey Travis, could I kindly suggest you do lock this thread?

I posted this originally as a query regarding the adverts, then subsequently ammended as I found a solution (or rather resurrected one from Badger). As all the information contained in this thread has been proven to assist users with this issue, I see no benefit in it having additional posts.

Kind regards - G7ACU

by travis_cooper on April 21st 2008, 2:46 pm

nickcalv don't attack members of the staff. Next time you do you will receive an official warning. Locking this thread.

by travis_cooper on May 9th 2008, 12:55 pm

Unlocking this thread so g7acu can make changes to the instructions to fit with the new admin panel.

by Evince00 on June 14th 2008, 3:53 am

can i visible the ads for guests only ? i have allowed ad banners , but still its not showing ads to guests

can any body help me plz

thanks

by Cloudia on January 19th 2009, 12:22 pm

I have tried to get rid of some really annoying ads (they are everywhere) but nothing will work. I tried the first part of the guide. Nothing happened. I bought "ad-free-time" for about half a year for users, and 2 months for guests. Still, nothing has happened. Am i doing something wrong?

The ads are in the category row, in most posts, at both sides of the page, and everywhere else I look. How do I get rid of them?