Google Adverts appeared ....???

Today Google Adverts have suddenly appeared at the top of my Forum, these Ads are normally only seen by either visitors or if Members are not logged in.....this happened a year or so ago and if I remember rightly Forumotion gave us the option to remove them.

How come they have just appeared today...?

Can anyone assist me in getting rid of them please, Thank you.

Hello,

Did you pay using credits to remove them? Or did you simply have it set for guests only?

-Brandon

I had it set just for Visitors to see, Members could not see them.......ive had my Forum for over 6 years and I had the option in Admin to remove them, now I cant see that option and the Adverts have suddenly appeared yesterday.

I remember a year or so ago all forumotion Forums had the Google adverts placed at the top of the page, members wernt too happy about it and forumotion removed them or gave Forum owners the option to remove them, now they have suddenly appeared again on my Forum.

Any help would be appretiated as I would like to remove them..

Yes same here.  I'm getting complaints from members already.

I had the ads set to Guests only - which I am happy about - but not members and admin.

Can someone shed some light?

davidl wrote:I had it set just for Visitors to see, Members could not see them.......ive had my Forum for over 6 years and I had the option in Admin to remove them, now I cant see that option and the Adverts have suddenly appeared yesterday.

I remember a year or so ago all forumotion Forums had the Google adverts placed at the top of the page, members wernt too happy about it and forumotion removed them or gave Forum owners the option to remove them, now they have suddenly appeared again on my Forum.

Any help would be appretiated as I would like to remove them..

Yes they give you the option to totally get rid of all goggle adverts for 1 year using credits.

Now why members might see the ads if you have them set to guest only I do not know... you could try un ticking the option (click save) and re tick it and hit save. This may reset the optional in the database.

-Brandon

I have the same problem, I have my options also set on guests, but I still get the adverts at the top of the page.
I tried your suggestion but it didn't work.

Think my credits had expired to stop ad activation.  I've bought a new set.  Ads have gone away. 

I never paid for credits last time to remove them, after complaints from forumotion members we were given the option to remove them for members, but show them to visitors/guests, also as far as im aware members who had owned/run a forum for a number of years were allowed to remove them, but any new forums which were set up automatically had the Google adverts which couldn't be removed, I could be wrong but this is what I thought was the situation....

You're right.  I've never paid for ads to be removed either, just disable the copyrights thing.  I've just checked this in my History part of the Misc section.

However, Forumotion are a business at the end of the day and need to make cash.  To remove the ads for 12 months was relatively inexpensive.  It would have been nice to get some kind of notification of intent to charge beforehand though, rather than bother members on my site and me then have to deduce what had happened.

Yes I agree TimV, I would have thought members would have been notified of this happening beforehand, and that they need to pay for the adverts to be removed if this is the case......

Have you tried going to AP -> General -> Configuration - > Activate Ads: set to Guest
I went to see and indeed it was set to Members and guests, even though I earlier have set it to Guests only, but I could set it again to Guests only.

Have checked this [AP -> General -> Configuration - > ]  but it seems Activate Ads: set to Guests has disappeared ....I don't have this option any more for some strange reason,  it gives ;

Reduce the number of displays for image advertisments : yes or no,

and also;

Text ads activation for guests(underlined)  yes or no


But no option for Members or Guests .........

Would really like to get rid of these google Ads again as my Members don't like them......

EndlessDream wrote:Have you tried going to AP -> General -> Configuration - > Activate Ads: set to Guest
I went to see and indeed it was set to Members and guests, even though I earlier have set it to Guests only, but I could set it again to Guests only.

the reset happened on my forum aswell.

My option has disappeared altogether .......I had it before the Google Ads re appeared

My guess is the reset was done by FM then... maybe they are doing away with that option.

My Forum is lighting up like a Christmas Tree, flashing adverts along the top of the page....got to get something sorted to remove them or it 6 years building my site down the drain, as Members don't like it..........



Do any Admin/Members of Staff have any suggestions or information.........?

christien wrote:I have the same problem, I have my options also set on guests, but I still get the adverts at the top of the page.
I tried your suggestion but it didn't work.

everything seems to be oke for now
Thanks!

Your welcome anytime!

Everything was oke but now the option for guest is not available anymore
Can it please go back to the way it was before now I have advertisement on my forum and I don't like that

Yes, mine are also now appeared and option for guests disappeared, so my guess is that Forumotion removed it and from now we will need to pay them to remove them.
I can only recommend you to install plugin for your browser called Adblock Plus and you won't see ads on any site.

Well you are using a free service... if you use a free service expect ads... I know when I use a free service I always expect them, in fact if I didn't find any I would be shocked. Those ads pay for the hosting of your site... if you don't want them, the option is there to buy credits. I am sorry, it is what is... and forumotion wants to make money... who can blame them?

-Brandon

True enough, we are having the benefit of a free Forum, but wouldn't it have been nice to have been told this was going to happen, instead of doing it and saying nothing......especially when it happened a year or so ago which caused a lot of complaints from Forum owners,  so much so that the powers that be reversed the decision and gave long standing Forums the option to remove the adverts.

As for Google Ads paying for the hosting of the site, well the Ads are still being shown to visitors or guests, just not being shown to members......which for regular users of the Forum might get a bit distracting flashing constantly across the screen, and may encourage them to find a different Forum to use......





The absence of any posts on this topic by any Amin, Staff or Management tends to lead me to think they knew what the problem was, that we need to pay to remove them...........

I think you need to log in with your founder admin account rather than a standard admin account, I did this and could see more options, one of which was for guests only

Good idea Brooksy, ill give it a try and see what happens.....

davidl wrote:Good idea Brooksy, ill give it a try and see what happens.....

Hope it does the trick for you!

Hello @davidl and all,

i am not part of the team of this support forum, but i am informed about the situation and i can explain it to you

yesterday the Company removed this old privilege from forums.
This decision is because ads are the only way for forumotion to get paid.. however, normally as other members you can use credits to remove advertisement for Your members

I know that this decision can not be Good for you, but I think that this is necessary to have our forums for Free... we should choose: pay for the entire forum or pay for ads, and i think the second option is better for everyone

Thanks for Your attention
ps @Buttercup please correct me if I am wrong

Thanks for the information Niko, yes although im not happy with the Google Ads, I do accept this is necessary to enable us to run a Free Forum.......and Paying for credits to remove them is probably less expensive than paying to run a Forum.

At least other Members and Myself who have been experiencing this problem now know what the situation is regarding Advertisements, Thanks Niko.


Brooksy, I logged into the original Admin account and did see more options, but sadly it made no difference, but as you will see we now have an explanation for the Ads on our Forums......

Thanks for your comprehension @davidl

The options you have now can make you choose if:

• Displaying ads to members and guests but not to administrator
  
• Displaying ads to everybody, including admins
  
• Paying with credits to remove Google ads

Have a nice day!

Thanks for the info Niko, how do I find out the cost of removing the Adverts and how many credits it would take.....also for how long they would be removed for before the need to buy more credits....

Thanks.

Hello @davidl,

You could take a look at this tutorial: https://help.forumotion.com/t1219-credits-management#6394