Author Topic: PLEASE Stop the Flash Adds- PGC Admins...  (Read 7963 times)

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Offline Shredder

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PLEASE Stop the Flash Adds- PGC Admins...
« on: June 12, 2003, 06:49:58 PM »
If there's at all possible way to do this, PLEASE weed out the adds that cover up the entire freakin' page.  The more you annoy people with base.com adds and these flash adds that won't even let you read the main paragraph news items, your traffic problems will vanish because people will find add free sites.

I had to ditch IGN because of their subscription service taking up all the good stories.  I'd hate to ditch PGC because of overabundance of annoying adds...

Thanks!

Offline Grey Ninja

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PLEASE Stop the Flash Adds- PGC Admins...
« Reply #1 on: June 12, 2003, 06:57:30 PM »
The ads pay for the server.  It takes you 2 seconds to find the exit button on the flash ads.  I fail to see the problem.  If they really bother you, try using a better browser.  Might I suggest Mozilla Firebird, which has a built in popup killer?
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Offline Bartman3010

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PLEASE Stop the Flash Adds- PGC Admins...
« Reply #2 on: June 13, 2003, 11:36:16 AM »
It doesnt help when the flash banner is on the page and doesnt have a close button. And when you think your fine and choose a news item, BOOM! You get information on Windows XP.

At least tell them to make the banners inside the banner thing and not explode it everywhere. If they want customers, they dont screw with the customer.
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Offline Shredder

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PLEASE Stop the Flash Adds- PGC Admins...
« Reply #3 on: June 13, 2003, 12:52:56 PM »
Unfortunatly, I don't think my popup blocker would work.   It's IN the main browser itself, not popping up in a seperate window, IIRC.  The program that I have only blocks the ones that popup in a seperate window, and I'm too acustomed to IE for the last 10 years to switch over to Netscape.

Besides, I've been told that these Flash adds leave something on your computer in order to tell it when to popup again next.    If this is true, who knows what other add monitoring software they load that AdAware might have to remove.     Just sticking with normal HTML adds incorporated into the page itself won't drive people away like BAse.com adds and Flash Page adds..

Offline Matt

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RE: PLEASE Stop the Flash Adds- PGC Admins...
« Reply #4 on: June 13, 2003, 01:22:58 PM »
I'm at the point where I don't read PGC much anymore because the ads are getting nearly as bad as IGN.

I can tolerate pop-up's, banners, vertical, even flash ads that are stationary... but moving, takeover, and sound flash ads I hate.
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Offline Grey Ninja

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PLEASE Stop the Flash Adds- PGC Admins...
« Reply #5 on: June 13, 2003, 03:28:31 PM »
Quote

Originally posted by: Shredder
Besides, I've been told that these Flash adds leave something on your computer in order to tell it when to popup again next.    If this is true, who knows what other add monitoring software they load that AdAware might have to remove.     Just sticking with normal HTML adds incorporated into the page itself won't drive people away like BAse.com adds and Flash Page adds..


This is known as a cookie.  AdAware won't kill it, as you get about 1000 of them a day from various different sites, and many of them serve useful purposes.  If you want, you can turn cookies off in your browser preferences and see if you like how your experience becomes.  

As for the flash ads, quit freaking whining.  They ALL have a close button, and it doesn't take a rocket scientist to find it.  You only usually see one of them a day, and that's not that much.  Popups are easily killed by using some common sense and ditching Internet Exploder.
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Offline Shredder

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RE: PLEASE Stop the Flash Adds- PGC Admins...
« Reply #6 on: June 13, 2003, 03:56:24 PM »
Who's Whining?  I'm just pointing out that if enough people get tired of these flash adds, no matter how easy they are to close, they'll leave to find a better site.  I like this site enough, that it's not something I'm ready to do yet.  But when you go to a main page, you want to be able to read the news stories on said page ASAP.  That's the reason you go there.  You don't want to be bothered by a flash add that covers up the page, no matter how easy it is to close.

As stated, I'm not against adds on the page.  Popup adds are easy to ignore or close.  HTML adds can actually be usefull as I've visited a few myself when it's something I'm interested in.  But Flash adds do nothing but annoy...Especially, as someone stated earlier, when they fly around on the screen, or require sound loading for those of us on dialup.


Offline PIAC

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RE: PLEASE Stop the Flash Adds- PGC Admins...
« Reply #7 on: June 13, 2003, 07:11:43 PM »
but PGC cant controll what adds they are given, its not actually upto them

that and there isn't a better nintendo site anywhere ^_^

Offline Jonnyboy117

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PLEASE Stop the Flash Adds- PGC Admins...
« Reply #8 on: June 14, 2003, 09:56:17 AM »
"I had to ditch IGN because of their subscription service taking up all the good stories. "

If you don't want PGC to become the same way, we have to use ads.  I'm sorry.  Nobody likes them, but it's a fact of life.  We understand that some ads are more annoying than others, and I do appreciate the feedback on the Flash ones.  We may look into getting rid of them at some point, but as you might guess, they are the ones that pay the most money, so it's not an easy decision.  This is just not something that can be fixed overnight.
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Offline Matt

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PLEASE Stop the Flash Adds- PGC Admins...
« Reply #9 on: June 14, 2003, 12:28:27 PM »
Quote

Originally posted by: PIAC
but PGC cant controll what adds they are given, its not actually upto them

that and there isn't a better nintendo site anywhere ^_^


That's not exactly 100% true... it's quite debatable these days.


As for the ads, having annoying ads vs. having to pay for the site is an easy question... the annoying ads are better.  And anyway, in the case of IGN, they started a pay service and they still had annoying ads, so the user didn't win there at all.
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Offline Jonnyboy117

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PLEASE Stop the Flash Adds- PGC Admins...
« Reply #10 on: June 14, 2003, 03:00:30 PM »
Okay, there's something weird going on here.  I realize that not everyone sees the same ads on every visit, but I just perused through the site on my 56K connection (which is actually more like 33K) and without logging in (so I see the same thing as everyone else).

I got a Windows XP Flash ad on the main page.  It took up about 80% of the browser viewing area on my 800x600 resolution.  Pretty bad, BUT it closed automatically after five seconds.  From then on, the only ads I got were the banners embedded into each page.  I checked out several pages of various types and got nothing.  No more Flash, no pop-ups, no pop-unders, no ads with sound.  And the interstitial ad ("Continue to Planet GameCube") uses a cookie so that it should never occur more than once in a 24 hour period.

For those of you who see a Flash ad or pop-up/under on seemingly every page of PGC, consider the possibility that it isn't our site at all.  There is such a thing as "adware", which is installed on your computer by a variety of applications, most of them free and seemingly benign.  (Gator is the most famous example.)

Whether you have ad problems on PGC or not, I VERY HIGHLY recommend that everyone get a program that removes adware.  The best one I've used is LavaSoft's Ad-Aware, and it's totally free.  You can download it from http://www.lavasoftusa.com or http://www.download.com.  The program is easy to use and will rid your PC of adware, spyware, and all other sorts of nasty stuff that you don't want on there.  Just realize that if you continue to use programs like Gator, the adware may be re-installed on your computer even after the cleaning.  The best way to check is to run Ad-Aware, then run it again a couple of days later.  If the scan shows some of the same stuff both times, you're using at least one program that is installing that crap on your computer without your knowledge.  From there, you should be able to keep scanning and narrow it down to figure out which programs are doing it.

Sounds like a lot of trouble, but having a clean PC is so worth it.  And if adware is the cause of your browsing frustration, the difference will be amazing.

(Edit: Fixed URL.  Thanks Dan!)
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Offline nitsu niflheim

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PLEASE Stop the Flash Adds- PGC Admins...
« Reply #11 on: June 14, 2003, 04:00:26 PM »
I couldn't find anything about ad-ware at the lavasoft.com website and the second one doesn't give me anything at all, I get a webpage can't be opened screen.  I did a search for ad-ware, I think the site I used was at download.com, but the link you provided wouldn't work for me.
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Offline Bloodworth

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Offline Matt

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RE: PLEASE Stop the Flash Adds- PGC Admins...
« Reply #13 on: June 17, 2003, 04:44:21 PM »
Another good program is Search and Destroy Spybot

It worked okay for me on another PC that got some crap adware thing on it.

Why you should remove adware:
1) Free up disk space - now, on a big hard disk, or even a 20 GB one, this isn't going to be much, but it's still good.
2) Free up RAM - If you have Windows XP, or if you have under 256 MB of RAM, this is very important.
3) GET RID OF THE ADS - This is the best part :-)
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Offline Lukens

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PLEASE Stop the Flash Adds- PGC Admins...
« Reply #14 on: June 18, 2003, 04:10:45 AM »
Well, I just signed up to this forum for the sole purpose of comlaining about all the bloody ads.

There are pop-ups, pop-overs, and animated ads all over the place.  They are annoying and they make the site look an untidy mess.

For me they pop-up/over every time I navigate to a different page.  They used to always pop-up in a new window too, but that seems to be a little better now.

I come to the site less and less now as the adverts become more and more intrusive.  It's like visiting a bloody pron site.

Yesterday there was one of those pop-over type ads that covers the current screen (for 28 Days Later) that was bigger than my viewing window, whenever I scrolled down the ad scrolled down, in the end I had to resize my window in order to click on the close button for the ad.

They really are just so annoying.  I used to really love the site until things got so out of hand.


I have a suggestion however:

Pay a subscription = See no more ads.

You don't have to pay, the content is the same for members and non-members, the only difference is the ads.

I'd happily pay $30-$50 a year to see no more ads on your site, and I'm sure that $30 must be more than you'd get from the ad companies for me having them pop-up on my screen.  I've never even bloody clicked on one anyway.

So - any chance of that happening.


Unfortunately I can't install any ad-blocking software at work, so don't bother suggesting that.

Offline thecubedcanuck

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« Reply #15 on: June 18, 2003, 05:01:37 AM »
I just had a page change while going from one forum to another, it was a full screen for 28 days.

The pop ups here are the worst on any site I visit regularly.

I would rather pay $5 a month that see the ads.
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Offline aoi tsuki

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PLEASE Stop the Flash Adds- PGC Admins...
« Reply #16 on: June 18, 2003, 06:16:36 AM »
Is complaining about ads a bannable offense yet? This is tired.

Get Mozilla, or Firebird. i've used Mozilla for some time now and since they've included popup blocking, i've seen no unwanted popups. None. Zero. Both Mozilla and Fireball are free, and available for download on many platforms at http://www.mozilla.org.

i've do get the interstitial "Click to continue to PGC" ad, but it's once a day and not a problem for me. The rest of the ads are on the page and don't bother me.

i also recommend download BOTH Ad-Aware (http://www.lavasoftusa.com/software/adaware/)) and Spybot S&D (http://security.kolla.de/).). Spybot usually catches more spyware components than Ad-Aware, but i use both just to be sure.  
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Offline Grey Ninja

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PLEASE Stop the Flash Adds- PGC Admins...
« Reply #17 on: June 18, 2003, 01:54:14 PM »
This whining is getting right out of hand.  (Although I have come to expect it from the cubed canuck).

I will agree with Jonny on this one.  The most likely problem is that you are spyware infested, and paying all the money in the world to PGC won't stop the popups.  I use Internet Explorer on public computers, and I never get more than one or two popups.  Go clean out your computers.

Now, as it's been said before:

USE MOZILLA FIREBIRD

It's faster than IE, more secure, and you don't get any popups.  It's really not rocket science.  Christ people.
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Offline Matt

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PLEASE Stop the Flash Adds- PGC Admins...
« Reply #18 on: June 18, 2003, 02:52:34 PM »
Here's what I get when I go to PGC...

INTERNET EXPLORER 6.0
1) Intersital before loading site.
2) Popup.

MOZILLA 1.3 (I'm upgrading to 1.4 Final when it's ready)
1) Intersital before loading site.


Mozilla's advantage is blocking popup windows... I wish Microsoft would add this to IE, it would make a lot more people like it.
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Offline PIAC

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RE: PLEASE Stop the Flash Adds- PGC Admins...
« Reply #19 on: June 18, 2003, 05:30:41 PM »
nah a popup blocker will never be added to IE, notice alot of Xp/MS product popups? yeah me too

Offline Bloodworth

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RE: PLEASE Stop the Flash Adds- PGC Admins...
« Reply #20 on: June 18, 2003, 05:50:50 PM »
Actually, I've been looking into it myself, and it appears that there may be some problems that are causing the ads to show up more often than intended.  We're trying to identify and address any problems now.  Thanks for continuing to speak up.
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Offline RickPowers

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RE: PLEASE Stop the Flash Adds- PGC Admins...
« Reply #21 on: June 18, 2003, 07:08:55 PM »
For what it's worth, many of you might be well served to check out Avant Browser.  http://www.avantbrowser.com
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Offline thecubedcanuck

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PLEASE Stop the Flash Adds- PGC Admins...
« Reply #22 on: June 19, 2003, 02:17:11 AM »
from ninja
Quote

This whining is getting right out of hand. (Although I have come to expect it from the cubed canuck).


now is this really nessasary?
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Offline Lukens

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« Reply #23 on: June 19, 2003, 03:13:48 AM »
Quote

Originally posted by: Grey NinjaThe most likely problem is that you are spyware infested, and paying all the money in the world to PGC won't stop the popups.


Umm, I don't get pop-ups on sites that don't have pop-ups.  It's as simple as that.  If people could subscribe to planetgamecube in order to be able to view an advert free site, then there would be no pop-ups.  I seriously doubt I am "spyware infested" whatever that may mean and whatever that would do.

Also, recommending that I install a different browser or some pop-up stopping software, is no help as I'm accessing the site from work and cannot install software on my machine.




Offline RickPowers

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RE: PLEASE Stop the Flash Adds- PGC Admins...
« Reply #24 on: June 19, 2003, 09:10:02 AM »
Well, unfortuntely, the issue isn't as simple as you all make it out to be.  Overhauling the site to allow people to login to it, setting up the recurring billing infrastructure, dealing with the advertisers who will undoubtedly be unhappy about their reduced reach ... there are a lot more facets to the problem than many of you understand.  It's not going to happen any time in the near future.
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