[Only Topic] Why advertisement ????

First topic message reminder :

I have a great time with the other members but Why advertisement column reappear.

Made an Only Topic

Typlo wrote:Dear user,

I'm sorry for the inconvenience it may have caused, the ads are here to support our developers and the staff so we can offer you new features.

This is only a test for the moment.

Latest Update:

Typlo wrote:We have taken into consideration your complaints, and due to popular demand we will add back the option "guests" in your admin panel.

So everything will be back to normal on your forums, but if you want to support us please keep the option as it is.

We are sorry for the inconvenience, and will be studying new revenue ways for next year, the option Goldman26 mentioned on Page 10 seems a nice alternative.

Holyangel wrote:In reply to an earlier question yes i paid for them to be removed, as soon as i did they removed the ad's in an instant.

I will be very very upset if i have paid for these removing and then everyone has there's removed for free, I was told in one of the threads that if i want them gone then i had to pay for this.

Still unsure to whats going on here and looks like the staff know as much as us.

If we deleted the ads, you will get credits refund.

Holyangel wrote:
I will be very very upset if i have paid for these removing and then everyone has there's removed for free, I was told in one of the threads that if i want them gone then i had to pay for this.

I'm a afraid you were told this by a moderator who had not realised (or informed by Forumotion staff) the change had taken place and was basing his answer on the 'general' question of how to remove ads.

You have to take responsibility for your own actions and be careful with actions you take following things you read on here. This shouldn't have happened to you due to the poor customer service FM is providing.

Typlo wrote:Dear users,

We at Forumotion are deeply sorry that this decision has been hard to accept for you and your members.
It's necessary for us to find new ways to generate revenues, and like all other free forum hosts on the market (we were an exception until now) displaying ads seems like a vital solution.

This said, nothing is permanent, we are studying other ways to generate revenues and if you have any suggestions, we will be happy to listen.

Best,
Forumotion Team.

I am more than happy to pay a monthly hosting fee, but in return I want access to my database, my intellectual property.

If you want to make an income from us, thats fair and good, but treat us like customers and not saps please. Forcing us to pay for the removal of inappropriate ads is not a good business model for engendering loyalty and trust.

FM needs to be more aware that we are not all 15 yr old boys with gaming forums.

I'll be happy if we could move position of ads, and that ads appear only on portal (if forum has portal), if not, then on home page.

I agree with Homemeadelife.

Unfortnately for me, personally, this issue with the ads has led to me losing one of my moderators and a central member of my forum which makes me very very sad for myself, my forum and the member who felt he had to leave.

My forum and I have paid a very high price for this.

Typlo wrote:Please also send me a screenshot of the ads you consider offensive, and they will be deleted.

Well, youv'e answered one small argument amongst members here, you can control the type of ads being shown..

Edit...please remove the flashing banner ads and replace them with text ads until the situation or problem is solved, it will ease tensions some what for the time being anyway.

is anything going to be done to the fact these adverts are slowing down my forum?

the lastest posts sectionon the portal isnt working now either....

We have taken into consideration your complaints, and due to popular demand we will add back the option "guests" in your admin panel.

So everything will be back to normal on your forums, but if you want to support us please keep the option as it is.

We are sorry for the inconvenience, and will be studying new revenue ways for next year, the option Goldman26 mentioned on Page 10 seems a nice alternative.

Typlo wrote:We have taken into consideration your complaints, and due to popular demand we will add back the option "guests" in your admin panel.

So everything will be back to normal on your forums, but if you want to support us please keep the option as it is.

We are sorry for the inconvenience, and will be studying new revenue ways for next year, the option Goldman26 mentioned on Page 10 seems a nice alternative.

Cheers!

Hooray and thank you very much... this will make a lot of forum owners very happy.

Typlo wrote:Dear users,

We at Forumotion are deeply sorry that this decision has been hard to accept for you and your members.
It's necessary for us to find new ways to generate revenues, and like all other free forum hosts on the market (we were an exception until now) displaying ads seems like a vital solution.

This said, nothing is permanent, we are studying other ways to generate revenues and if you have any suggestions, we will be happy to listen.

Best,
Forumotion Team.

At last someone talking to us wish you would have asked for our input sooner!
Anyway I have a possible solution that could keep us all happy.

Affiliation Programs: Using the Affiliates Widget we have links to Amazon products that we agree are suitable for our forums.
For example on my forum there are products that Amazon sell which I know my members use, so on my forum I have a link to that product my members buy from Amazon Forumotion gets revenue form the affiliate program.

The Puppy forum has a link to a book on Amazon on how to look after your puppy.
The Gaming forums have a link to Amazon to the latest game.
Etc Etc

We agree to have the affiliate widget on our forums with our choice of product or we pay for removal of the widget. Think what this could bring Forumotion in, a member on my forum has told me she does all her Christmas shopping with Amazon and she would happily follow the link from my forum as she would feel she is helping the forum and she would go there anyway.

Give it some thought guys lets work together over this.

Typlo wrote:We have taken into consideration your complaints, and due to popular demand we will add back the option "guests" in your admin panel.

So everything will be back to normal on your forums, but if you want to support us please keep the option as it is.

We are sorry for the inconvenience, and will be studying new revenue ways for next year, the option Goldman26 mentioned on Page 10 seems a nice alternative.

Yes it's a good idea, but Forumotion must state on the home page where you start to apply / create a forum that there are ads and fee's to remove adverts can be purchased for removal. That way you won't get any complaints from new members but if you do it's then easily sorted without arguments.

I still think that a lot members here will still not be happy with the flashing banner ads, but at least this is a start.

well with the reappearance of the guests only option and the ads for guests now returning to targetted google ads, things have returned to normal on my forum

Thank you Typlo for listening to us, I just now need to newsletter my members to get them to return to my forum...

As I am willing to support FM, I started a poll on my forum asking my users if they would mind if I left the ads visible to all. If they don't mind, I will keep the option as it is.

Right ... next step is to agree where they will place the adds ???
Submission again !!
Yes, be submissive and keep say nothing change in the government
(off topic)

well... unless now we have an answer from Typo and we have the option of show adds for guests only.

Voi la, is not two broken legs... its only one !

Thanks for that !

Kabbalien wrote:Right ... next step is to agree where they will place the adds ???
Submission again !!
Yes, be submissive and keep say nothing change in the government

Submission? I don't think so. I am exercising my choice, given the option to show some good will. Nothing different from what you do, so it's useless trying pushing me around in discontent that is now, or should be, in the past. You got your option back and it's up to you how you use it, so why keep tension up?

I think if people are really bothered then they should just pay for them removing, I know its not the point and we shouldn't have to but its better than having potential members not joining.

I do hope they sort it soon x

IM MISSED THAT...WELL THANKS A LOT, WILL I GET A REFUND OF MY CREDITS BOUGHT THEN !!!!!!!!!!!!!

Holyangel, You can PM Typlo & tell him the issue.

Typlo,

This entire uproar could've been avoided if Forumotion had proper public relation skills. If people understand WHY before-hand, they are much more inclined to go with the flow or be willing to compromise.

If you drop bombs like this out of the blue and make up stories about tests and accidents, then all it does is aggravate members and causes bad word of mouth. If you had explained things beforehand, I may have been willing to simply pay to remove the ads (I have no problem spending money to support my site). But the actions of Forumotion just aggravates me instead and makes me resist spending any money to support a company that doesn't respects its customers.

Since I have been a member, this is the third or fourth time that Forumotion has made drastic changes like this without telling members beforehand, and EVERY TIME it causes an uproar on this forum. This is not once-off behaviour, this is something I see Forumotion do consistently. And it's not until the members get angry and dozens of posts are created that Forumotion backs down and changes things back to normal.

And every time that happens, it's one more strike against Forumotion in the member's mind. They will remember every time Forumotion acted like this. They may not cancel their forum this time, but next time it happens may be the last straw for them and they will leave.

You need to be very careful because bad word of mouth spreads very fast on the internet and remains FOREVER on websites, blogs, etc. If you upset people like me enough that we leave Forumotion, I can assure you that I will post on every webhosting forum on the internet telling people not to use Forumotion because of their bad service.

I have already set up other web hosting for my site, so that when Forumotion screws me over for the last time, I will cancel my forum and move to the new site. I hope I can continue with Forumotion, but it all depends on the customer service.

I payed credits to remove all ads from the forum, but i still got this one

Spoiler:

Typlo wrote:We have taken into consideration your complaints, and due to popular demand we will add back the option "guests" in your admin panel.

So everything will be back to normal on your forums, but if you want to support us please keep the option as it is.

We are sorry for the inconvenience, and will be studying new revenue ways for next year, the option Goldman26 mentioned on Page 10 seems a nice alternative.

Thank you, Typlo! It was a great relief to find the guest option back on my ACP. The idea of applying the decision for new users going forward was a good compromise.

Like others mentioned, I would be willing to install the FM ads if (1) we have the option to place it where we want (sidebar widget, footer, etc.) and (2) if we have some way of selecting the content (kid-friendly, etc.) and the delivery (flash, text only, etc.).

Thank you again for hearing us and acting in the best interests of your members.

Well said Prizm.

Another idea might be to make the ads appear on a cyclic nature ie. once every 7 days or on a day of the week specified by the Admins. It's a give and take situation.

Thank you for the reversion Forumotion.

Yeah, I would actually be willing to have ads on my site if I could place them at the bottom and keep them as text ads.

Also, I think someone mentioned activity points. No it doesn't generate revenue per se, but it might inspire some forums to become more active, therefor having more traffic, therefor more people seeing ads until the forum generates enough points to have them removed or removed to this cyclic nature as mentioned above by somebody

Sanket wrote:Well its your personal choice to deduce that inference from his statement, i however would like to know more on the issue.

Well, I can already see that and looks like everything went according to my post,

Doctor Inferno wrote:Letting us buy over our database would be a good way to generate revenue.

Nice try,

Well I agree, I too would be prepared to buy my database. I'm not averse to spending money on my forum - its extortion that I get annoyed about.

Thanks! I don't have a problem supporting Forumotion, but having some control over where ad's go would be preferred and maybe an announcement the next time you plan on doing this.

Sanket wrote:

Made wrote:

Sanket wrote:Guys, please everyone needs to calm down. I can understand the problems & anger you feel, however there is nothing that could be done until we hear more on this issue. Discussing, bickering on about the issue & other random things related to database transfer etc is not helping at all.

Sanket, I'm really sorry if there are people who have gone overboard about this but most of us just want an explanation and to know exactly what to expect in the future. IMO, the lack of communication and mixed messages we've received from FM is what has caused this chaotic situation. Is it a glitch, is it a test, is it here to stay? Well, then just say so!

Exactly my thoughts as well. I accept there has been a lack of communication. I personally regret this & would never like anyone in such a situation. You see, i have been getting negative reputation for my replies in this thread. However, i still would keep on replying. All of you all need to just relax & wait for an official reply. I have been doing everything in my hands to get information related to this.

Thanks so much for admitting this situation was handled horribly and totally disrespecting FM's members and forum owners, Sanket. Also, thanks for being the only mod to reply to our questions, although even you weren't aware of behind-the-scenes of the situation

And Typlo, thanks for putting things the way they were before this ads-gate, lol.

As I said before, I totally understand FM has to pay its staff and costs and maybe if you find a way for the forums you host to contribute, that's great, but pretty please, be straightforward and consult things with us first. On the other hand, I assume many of us has offered to buy our databases and were refused this possibility. Don't you think this would be a nice source of income, better yet than the ads? I find Forumotion a wonderful place to start an online community as it provides easy to handle, customizable forums but honestly, there comes a time in a forum's life when you need to have more control and well, just to own what's yours. I wouldn't have any problem at all to put a link from my forum to Forumotion.

I hope that when reviewing the sources of income and future plans for next year, this is taken into consideration. Thanks.