Is anyone else having problems using this site because of ads?

I don't mind ads because I know they support the website, but I've contributed,

so I think I have some minimal rights in the matter. I woudln't even mind ads

that cover the site material if I could easily get rid of them, but that is

getting increasingly difficult. The only thing that seems to work is reloading

the current page and sometimes I have to do that two or three times. It is

getting frustrating enough that I am not sure I want to use the site.

 

If no one else is having this problem, it may be something special about my

browser, but I can't imagine what. I use Firefox and I don't have the problem

with other websites, even those replete with ads.

Instead of wasting money on the site membership I have purchased the AdsCleaner software. I think I've got a beter return.

"Instead of wasting money on the site membership I have purchased the AdsCleaner software. I think I've got a beter return."

 

If everyone felt that way, the problem -- and the site -- would disappear. That would be a real loss, I fear. Nothing worthwhile, especially those things that someone else is providing, can be free. Get a good grasp on reality and live with it.

I had an awful problem with my browsers eating up RAM and processor time. It turned out to be malformed FLASH code. I disabled FLASH and all is well.

 

I do not know if the site elves found the particular ad that was doing it.

 

But regarding rights - well, Leonard, you are an academic and in your heart you know there's no such thing as rights beyond ordinary legal issues on a privately owned sight.

I don't think I have the problem you mentioned. The Ads don't get in the way of the site material. I use Windows XP Explorer, MAC Safari and MAC Firefox 2.0.

"If everyone felt that way, the problem -- and the site -- would disappear"

 

Actually www.largeformatphotography.info is at least as good a site as this and it has no ads. But I don't mind the ads here all that much except when they blink and flash and can't be turned off. Then I just close the site and move on.

"If everyone felt that way, the problem -- and the site -- would disappear"

 

I doubt it. You should realise that companies do not have an inaliable right to force crap down customers' or users' throats. Advertising is not the only means of making money.

 

I use some standard sets of filters with firefox on a platform without Flash support; if a site really annoys me ("intellitext", excessive animation, sliding popups/unders, etc) then variously the offending page-object and/or entire site will get blocked.

 

The consumer is always right.

Unless a site is subscription only, I think advertising IS just about the only way of making enough money to keep the site running (unless you have some sort of corporate or academic sponsor with very deep pockets).

 

If you take the view that a site should be open to access by all, whether or not they can afford to pay for the content, then advertising (or a fairy godmother) is the only option I can think of.

 

Blocking ads is all well and good, but if everyone did it many sites would close. Why should they pay for bandwidth, hosting, equipment and spend money on developing software and content just to give it away for free to visitors?

 

Are there any free print photo magazines that don't run any advertising?

 

That's not to say all advertising (no matter how obnoxious) is OK of course. That's the customer's choice. However blocking all advertising on a site isn't the best solution either.

Than, it's up to the site keepers is to keep the advertising unobtrusive enough so visitors wouldn't mind seeing them, and keep the site appealing enough so the visitors would like to pay for the membership. IMHO this site failed on both accounts. The only thing I see going for this site is that a lot of interesting people like the forum of this site, which is free.

Just my 2c.

Leonard, do you have the latest Firefox? I get no advertising with <a href="http://www.mozilla.com/en-US/firefox/">Firefox 2 & Ad Blocker Plus</a>

On a more constructive note, I can think about two ways of improving the ad system: a. offering an option to pay a higher subscription fee for those who don't want to see any ads; b. providing more E.U. buyers friendly ads.