General Cycling Discussion - Kill the Ad-Bot!!!!!

Not only is this new feature incredibly annoying (giving all kinds of lousy links, etc.), but it also appears too d@mn wide, and makes it difficult to read the screen without sliding left to right!

What an annoying feature! Get rid of it!!

See what I mean???

Please make the ad-bot smaller.

There is a very easy and relatively painless way to get rid of the ad-bot. Become a donating member. I'm sure that the small monetary cost has already been more than made up for by what you have received from Joe. What do you say? ;)

You mean, if you donate, you don't see the ad-bot??

I don't. And you get a cool red star. :D

So, you pay, and don't get the ad-bot??

How much do you need to pay for this service?

NO AD BOTS on what I see even though they did not bother me.

What is the adbot? Is it a popup? My browser has a killer popup killer, so I wouldn't know.

IMHO, the site is expensive for one individual to maintain. If it is what Joe needs to do to keep the site up, then I am on his side.

Go to News and Announcements and look at "Donating Members".

I believe that $25 will kill the bot.
And yes it is intrusive and irritating.

Surely you get more than $25 worth of value from this site? (about 7 cents per day for one year).

Contribute and magically, no bot!!

A way to help Joe out is to click on the sponsors on the ad-bot. Joe probably gets rewarded by how many viewers go to the sponsors sites via bikeforums.com

click on each of them one or twice when you visit bikeforums.com and help Joe out.

Now the question is does Joe prefer donating members or members clicking on ads? Joe???????

Just make it a little more narrow. If that's all it takes to help fund the site who cares. Eventually the ad bot will have more posts than anyone. LOL

I'll change the coding so ads dont make your screen wide ASAP.

Please dont click on the ads just to make me a few cents. However, feel free to click on the ad if you are interested in the product / service.

George, If the said member enjoys the site, and can afford to show it with $25.00, I'll take a donation.

I guess that answers that question. Personally I know I've received more than $25 worth of education, entertainment and satisfaction from this site. What about everyone else?

I have too.
Thanks Joe!
I'll be adding my star in a few days.
I'll hook up with you to get a mailing address.

Thanks guys :)

How does that ad look now? You only see it between the first and second post, correct?

I just added my star. Joe - Thanks for putting the advertising on to kick me in the butt and get me to donate. :)

I would pay if we needed to go that way. This is by far the best cycling forum I have been on.

Is there a mailing address we can send our $25.00 donation to?

Is there a mailing address we can send our $25.00 donation to?
PM Joe to get that info. I'm going to do the same.

Just click on any red star for instructions. Mine for example.

PM Joe to get that info. I'm going to do the same.
Joe added it to the "donation info" page.. Thanks Joe!

Frankly, I resent being spammed while surfing this site. I use SpamNet on my e-mail program, set my hotmail acct to maximum spam prevention, and regularly check the latest at spamhaus.org. I think that asking to pay for the privilege of not being spammed is outrageous.

What is this, a cyber-protection racket??

Just curious - how do you suppose Joe pays for the server, software, and all other related expenses - not to mention his time?

As much as I detest advertising in all its forms, at least the ads here are reasonably unobtrusive, and advertise companies that cyclists might actually want to patronise. Besides, I've become quite practiced at ignoring most forms of advertising that try to force their way into my field of attention - I don't need robots to do it for me.

However, I do wonder if blackmailing members with advertising to become donating members is the most appropriate way to handle things.

Frankly, I resent being spammed while surfing this site. I use SpamNet on my e-mail program, set my hotmail acct to maximum spam prevention, and regularly check the latest at spamhaus.org. I think that asking to pay for the privilege of not being spammed is outrageous.

What is this, a cyber-protection racket??

I would love to keep the site ad-free. However, it has gotten to the point were I would need a part time job just to pay for the server costs. I didn't mind paying for the costs out of pocket for over 3 years, but I just moved from a shared $65 / month host to a $300 / month dedicated server. Honestly, I take home $1200 a month, I can live "comfortably" with $1K a month. A few months ago I had to make a decision. Ask members to donate and put up ads, or close the forum due to rising costs.


However, I do wonder if blackmailing members with advertising to become donating members is the most appropriate way to handle things.

Allister, I have had a "Like this forum? Please donate" link up for 2 years. Over those two years I had just over 100 people donate to the forums. From $1 to $200. The avg donation was under $15.00. Everyone who donated in the past two years now sees an ad free version. Yes, even the guy who donated $1. Even then, donations did not pay for the cost of the site. It sure did help, but never did it pay for itself. You do get a few extra features as a donating member. I'll continue to ad to the feature list as time goes on.

Joe you forgot to add the costs of the vbulletin software alone is quite expensive and you paid for that when forum was 100% free, Honestly I don't know how you could make it on $1000 a month, I could not.

Allister, I have had a "Like this forum? Please donate" link up for 2 years. Over those two years I had just over 100 people donate to the forums. From $1 to $200. The avg donation was under $15.00. Everyone who donated in the past two years now sees an ad free version. Yes, even the guy who donated $1. Even then, donations did not pay for the cost of the site. It sure did help, but never did it pay for itself. You do get a few extra features as a donating member. I'll continue to ad to the feature list as time goes on.

I hope you don't think I disagree with you asking for donations. Quite the opposite. The thing with the ads is very minor, and in any case is only a recent addition. Ultimately it's your choice how to handle advertising, I'm just saying I probably would do it differently were it up to me.

In the two years you've been asking for donations this is the first time I've posted on the subject, so take that as an indication of my level of concern. I have my own reasons for not donating yet, and to be honest it hasn't been in the forefront of my mind. This thread has got me thinking about it again - expect a PM soon.

Dave, When I first read your comments I at first just said let it go. After thinking about it I figured that you needed to be answered. This is a free site which was bought and paid for by Joe. The fact that Joe "carried" it for three years is a testament to his devotion. Right after you joined the forum there was a major upgrade. These upgrades were not manna from heaven. They had to be paid for. Now if the owner/operator of this site asks for a donation to help defray his costs whats the big deal. Instead of requiring payment he has placed embedded ads (not spam or pop-ups). He has also reduced the size of those ads because of complaints. I personally don't see what the problem is. No one "forces" you to come here, you obviously do it because you enjoy this site. To put up with the minor inconvenience/annoyance of the ads is to me trivial. Or you can do the right thing, support the forum, and make a donation.

It is curious, to me, that whenever someone gets something for free, they start complaining that it is not just exactly what they wanted and demand it be changed. They never seem to think, or care about what the donor may have sacrificed to give them that freebie.

We don't know what sacrifices Joe has made to keep these forums viable for so many years. He asks for a one time donation. It's not like a magazine that you have to constantly renew and pay for --and the forums have a hell of a lot more comaraderie and information than you'll ever get from a magazine.

From my point of view, the yea sayers to kill Ads should either pay up, shut up or go elsewhere

Joe if you like members who click on ads then ill click 5 a day!

oops didn't see the other pages! my bad. lol

Frankly, I resent being spammed while surfing this site. I use SpamNet on my e-mail program, set my hotmail acct to maximum spam prevention, and regularly check the latest at spamhaus.org. I think that asking to pay for the privilege of not being spammed is outrageous.

What is this, a cyber-protection racket??

You wouldn't be paying for the privilege of not being spammed. You would be paying for the privilege of not being advertised to. There is a difference between spam and advertising. The fact that a piece of advertising happens to occur over the internet does NOT make it spam.

Please take a few deep breaths and tone down the rhetoric.

Frankly, I resent being spammed while surfing this site. I use SpamNet on my e-mail program, set my hotmail acct to maximum spam prevention, and regularly check the latest at spamhaus.org. I think that asking to pay for the privilege of not being spammed is outrageous.

What is this, a cyber-protection racket??

It's not spam it is advertising a way for Joe to raise revenue so people like you can use it. If you don't like the ads do what I did, contribute. And why do you think that it should be free? It obviously cost money to keep a site like this going.

I sent in my $ today, I'm so excited to get my little star!

What can i say the little things in life excite me. :D :D

Hey really, anywhere I can go and B#t@h about stuff and ask questions of total strangers and get good answers (and humerous ones) to me that is worth $25. The Underware Nazi alone is worth at least a couple of bucks.

Hey don't forget A.Troll she gets jealous. :beer:

Hey don't forget A.Troll she gets jealous. :beer:

Now she's worth more than $25 ;)