Luminous Landscape Forum
Site & Board Matters => About This Site => Topic started by: datro on February 17, 2020, 12:18:39 pm
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Has there been a policy change regarding advertising displays on the forum web site?
Today (for the first time) I am seeing occasional advertising windows just appear out of nowhere at the top of the forum web page (using a "swipe down" transition). This is VERY annoying. Is this by design?
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Quick update: It looks like this may be Google-related...still investigating.
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Seeing these pop up when scrolling too. This kind of behavior will lead me to cancel my paid subscription.
Advertisers: I will never use your services promoted this way.
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Hi all,
Subscribers will not be seeing ad content on the site. The forum has always been free and only the marketplace is a payed feature which is a relatively small space on the forum
Ads have been on the site and forum before, in order to keep the lights on this will be a part of our business.
It’s still being worked out and the placing, content and quantity is being adjusted. Once again, this is (like %99 of the web) a reality for us in order to stay afloat for you
Josh
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Hi all,
Subscribers will not be seeing ad content on the site. The forum has always been free and only the marketplace is a payed feature which is a relatively small space on the forum
Ads have been on the site and forum before, in order to keep the lights on this will be a part of our business.
It’s still being worked out and the placing, content and quantity is being adjusted. Once again, this is (like %99 of the web) a reality for us in order to stay afloat for you
Josh
(http://)
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(http://)
I believe subscribers (payed) don’t see this.
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Seeing the same (new) oddity on Mac OS under Safari. Very ugly and needs to be fixed.
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I believe subscribers (payed) don’t see this.
Nope. But I should .... >:(
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Nope. But I should .... >:(
Or I believe you can click on it to make it disappear.
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No ad issues on my side (Europe).
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Or I believe you can click on it to make it disappear.
I can but shouldn’t have to, nor did such a message/ad ever show up in the past. If I go to another page, I get yet another ugly ad.
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It's one thing to see relevant, industry-related ads in an area integrated in the site design. This shows you have business partners who believe in supporting your site and the community that we contribute to. Random Google-like ads for air fresheners, tree services, etc. come across like you're looking to make a quick buck. Just my opinion as a subscriber.
(http://)
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I believe subscribers (payed) don’t see this.
My experience is a counterexample to what you're saying. It makes it hard to click on some menu items.
Jim
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I believe subscribers (payed) don’t see this.
Incorrect. I'm a paid subscriber and I am still seeing it. And to say "you can always click on it to get rid of it" is beyond missing the point. I would suggest you re-think this, especially given the discussion and decisions previously made when the main site started a subscription plan. The fact that these ads have NOTHING to do with photography is especially irritating. I can live with the "marketing" bar at the top with photography-related stuff, but these pop-up ads are not wanted in any shape or form.
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No ad issues on my side (Europe).
Ok, spoke too soon, just got my first ad:
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Yep! As a paying subscriber, I am also getting ads on each and every page I go to.
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Kinks being worked out with new ad script. Subscribers on both the forum and main site will not see ads after all is sorted.
Thanks
Josh
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Ok, spoke too soon, just got my first ad:
Perfect, you now can make your own tin foil hats ;D
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I've been a subscriber since it was first offered and I'm also seeing the ads - very disappointing. Hope you fix it soon.
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+1 to the list of subscribers seeing the new and annoying ad behavior. Prior versions, where they occurred, I didn't mind. This new version is intrusive.
Once upon a time, the idea of a subscription fee (if I recall right) was that even the older version of ads would go away permanently with enough participation. Perhaps I missed it, but was the outcome of that 'fundraising drive' ever published? I'm content with what we've had (and subscribed from the beginning to be supportive anyway), but don't want to see ad content go up.
Thanks!
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As a paid subscriber I am seeing banner ads on the main page and the forum. I'm sure it will get all worked out..... just updating for site info.
Victor
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Once in a while I disable my ad blocker, just for the fun of it...
Usually lasts less than a couple of minutes as the internet is insane. ::)
With ad blocker on I never see any ads, here neither.
If you want to "support" a perticular website, you tell your ad blocker to white-list it...
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Paid subscriber here as well, and I’m also seeing this. So sad to see the erosion of a once great web site into just another pop-up ad-ridden, irritating mess. If this is what it takes to keep the lights on . . . well . . . I find myself coming to LULA to see what the remaining experts like Andrew Rodney and others have to say regarding color management / printing matters - and little else.
Rand
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Remember, it can always be worse. As a non subscriber I get to see 3 ads at once, more than any other sites I don't subscribe to.
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It's getting worse than yesterday. Now I see three or more ads on a single web page popping up. Josh, may I suggest you nuke this completely for now until your web guys can get this fixed? Stuff like this needs to be implemented first on an offline development site, NOT the live site. If they can't fix it in short order, get some web people who can. Another day of this and I won't be coming back until it is gone.
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It's getting worse than yesterday. Now I see three or more ads on a single web page popping up. Josh, may I suggest you nuke this completely for now until your web guys can get this fixed? Stuff like this needs to be implemented first on an offline development site, NOT the live site. If they can't fix it in short order, get some web people who can. Another day of this and I won't be coming back until it is gone.
+1
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Remember, it can always be worse. As a non subscriber I get to see 3 ads at once, more than any other sites I don't subscribe to.
Doesn't make any difference, I see the same thing (3 banners) as a logged on subscriber
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It’ll be fixed soon.
Non subscribers will see ads, subscribers will not.
Thanks for the patience.
Josh
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FWIW
I am seeing the scrolling/floating adverts on the sub fora and also (yet to re-check) on the main page of sub fora list they were breaking into the page structure :(
As others have said.................being a paid up subscriber these extra (non header simple ads) are unwelcome & intrusive :o >:( :-X
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The behavior is far more intrusive than necessary. I'm a paid subscriber and I'm presumably seeing what non-subscribers see (multiple floating ads for non-relevant items like Febreze or car rentals, etc). I'm assuming that the web developer is rabbiting away getting this straightened out but I'd recommend that this shouldn't be the experience for non-subscribers either. If you want the site to be a class act, and I believe you do, the experience should be positive for both subscribers and non-subscribers.
I echo the comments about testing this on development or test environment first.
PS: It's getting really silly. Can you shut if off until this gets resolved and proved to be working in a lower environment?
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It’ll be fixed soon.
Non subscribers will see ads, subscribers will not.
Subscribers to what, Josh? The main site or the forums?
Jeremy
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Subscribers to what, Josh? The main site or the forums?
Jeremy
Subscribers to the site will not see it on the main site or forum. Non subscribers will. The amount and placement of ads are also being worked out.
Not sure how to put this, without implementing ads we will not survive.
Thanks.
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Not sure how to put this, without implementing ads we will not survive.
Thanks.
I don't mind ads, but these were too intrusive
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I don't mind ads, but these were too intrusive
Tomorrow our new dev/webmaster partner Paul will request the script be changed to have no mid page float etc. I’ve actually had a hard time seeing the ads my self.
In any event - it’ll be sorted shortly for non subscribers and subscribers need not worry about the intrusion for much longer. Apologies . Thanks again.
Josh
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Not sure how to put this, without implementing ads we will not survive.
Thanks.
Makes sense. Really put thought, though, into how they get placed and how intrusive they are. Though you can’t seem to see them for whatever reason, you’ve had plenty of examples from those who have. A poor user experience will drive users away, which isn’t the goal here, obviously.
I should add that I no longer see any, so thank you!
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Makes sense. Really put thought, though, into how they get placed and how intrusive they are. Though you can’t seem to see them for whatever reason, you’ve had plenty of examples from those who have. A poor user experience will drive users away, which isn’t the goal here, obviously.
I should add that I no longer see any, so thank you!
Agree. Working out ad placement (requires multiple parties). And yes, Paul our new Webmaster solved the ads being seen by subscribers relatively quickly. Also, many thanks to Chris Batt our outgoing webmaster! My buddy, who did so much behind the scenes work for everyone here btw, many will never know just how much.
Paul’s turning out to be more than competent too! Let’s give em a minute to catch his breath and settle in.
J
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I don’t see the new (ugly) ad’s so maybe it’s all fixed.
I do see ads at the top (below the menu’s for Home, Help, etc). Always have, don’t really mind although last time I checked, I was a subscriber to the site.
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I don’t see the new (ugly) ad’s so maybe it’s all fixed.
I do see ads at the top (below the menu’s for Home, Help, etc). Always have, don’t really mind although last time I checked, I was a subscriber to the site.
I don't mind a small ad at the top and I am a paid subscriber also.
Sharon
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Looks back to normal now - thanks for the fix!
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Are we back with ads!?
They are now huuuuge and numerous (six on one page). It took me three screenshots to capture them all.
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Not sure what's happening but with Safari and no content blocker, things are excruciatingly slow. I can see empty adds with a green circle running forever…
If I use Firefox with blocking then things are back to normal (loading speed).
By the way I'm also a paid subscriber :-(
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... things are excruciatingly slow. I can see empty adds with a green circle running forever…
Yes, in addition to sheer annoyance, there is a significant loss of speed when loading pages.
This is what it looks like when I click on "Show new replies to your posts"
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I am a member. I stopped seeing the new ads for a while, as of this morning, I'm now seeing them again.
I'm assuming this is a programming error. If so, please fix it.
Jim
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Josh,
Can you enlighten us as to why the ads are back for paying members?
It's even worse this time, with some very ill-behaved scripting going on which is causing significant performance problems for browsers.
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I guess they are trying to monetize the site as members stop paying dues. This current blizzard of ads will keep me away.
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Now we've got the same ad twice! Or has my computer been drinking?
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FYI...I just logged out of LuLa and logged back in and this seems to to fix things, at least for now. So I'm guessing that the web team's new javascript cannot properly deal with a user already logged in; logging out and logging back in must reset something that allows the script to work properly. Just guessing on this...
Anyway, Josh PLEASE setup a test offline site where this stuff can be tested first. I'm starting to lose interest here with this kind of poor site maintenance.
Dave
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Confirming that logging out and in again resolves the issue.
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I'm getting them as well. Not only that but on a well spec'd PC desktop they are taking a VERY long time to load.
I'm cutting bait until they are gone
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Confirming that logging out and in again resolves the issue.
Not for me. And the ads take so long to come up, while they are keeping the actual content from loading.
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Mine have gone now.
I really don't understand the logic though. "Let's put ads on the pages for those that don't subscribe so that the experience will be so miserable that they will pay to make it go away" ???
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I really don't understand the logic though. "Let's put ads on the pages for those that don't subscribe so that the experience will be so miserable that they will pay to make it go away" ???
That's very widespread behaviour. I assume it works.
Jeremy
(I have nothing to do with the management of the site other than as forum moderator, by the way, and have had no involvement in decisions on advertising.)
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Speed is back to normal as of today…
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Not for me. And the ads take so long to come up, while they are keeping the actual content from loading.
My experience is the same as Jim's. I get better performance on my Android tablet than my PC. I've tried logging off and on several times.
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Hello Everyone,
I want to apologize to all our subscribers that are now seeing ads. We have a new provider that is currently not checking for subscriptions. I am going to turn off those ads entirely until we fix this issue. I also believe they may be causing the website slow down. Let me know if you continue to see ads, or if the website remains slow. Thank you for your patience.
Paul Azevedo,
Webmaster
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That's very widespread behaviour. I assume it works.
Jeremy
(I have nothing to do with the management of the site other than as forum moderator, by the way, and have had no involvement in decisions on advertising.)
Perhaps in some cases, but it also has a huge annoyance quotient that may overcome anything else.
Earlier, I saw an ad for a 3D printer at over 100 grand: just what I needed! There is also one to do with Heidelberg printing... as if I was about to get back into the calendar publishing industry by opening a printing factory! Had I ever had those squillions, the last thing I'd have done was sweat blood and tears getting stuff through print and/or being nice to clients.
;-)
P.S.
I have learned to avoid ads by looking at the screen but focussing beyond, and scrolling until the usual parts of LuLa appear. You can do that even with an OOF vision choice enabled. There's often a way to avoid things without resorting to sunglasses. (I was going to write Ray-Bans instead of sunglasses, but realised that would be hypocritical of me.)
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Perhaps in some cases, but it also has a huge annoyance quotient that may overcome anything else.
Earlier, I saw an ad for a 3D printer at over 100 grand: just what I needed! There is also one to do with Heidelberg printing... as if I was about to get back into the calendar publishing industry by opening a printing factory! Had I ever had those squillions, the last thing I'd have done was sweat blood and tears getting stuff through print and/or being nice to clients.
;-)
P.S.
I have learned to avoid ads by looking at the screen but focussing beyond, and scrolling until the usual parts of LuLa appear. You can do that even with an OOF vision choice enabled. There's often a way to avoid things without resorting to sunglasses. (I was going to write Ray-Bans instead of sunglasses, but realised that would be hypocritical of me.)
I just logged in and seeing drop down banner ads on the forum pages right away. I'm sorry it's so difficult to remove those ads but you can't expect people to keep paying and still get ads. I know cost to subscribe is tiny but it's very distracting to see the ads.
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+1 to the list of subscribers seeing the new and annoying ad behavior. Prior versions, where they occurred, I didn't mind. This new version is intrusive.
Once upon a time, the idea of a subscription fee (if I recall right) was that even the older version of ads would go away permanently with enough participation. Perhaps I missed it, but was the outcome of that 'fundraising drive' ever published? I'm content with what we've had (and subscribed from the beginning to be supportive anyway), but don't want to see ad content go up.
Thanks!
There should never be and never will be ads for subscribers. Just a glitch in installing new ad script.
Apology.
For people wondering why the introduction of a new ad script would be anything but seamless - the answer is that even setting them up on a staging server is not sufficient to completely and perfectly trouble shoot on a giant 20 year old site with forum software in need of updating.
We have uber competent partners - but minor inconveniences such as these are seeming unavoidable. Good news is that for the time being, we are done.
Thanks again to all members, subscribers regulars and visiting folks. I wanna make the experience enjoyable, I too dislike ads (a lot) , but we gotta get the site running financially.
Josh