G*D D@MN the ads at this forum are the worst!

[Mbira]

The irony is I just had to go through a big full screen add to comment.  And when I read Bluebird's post above, this is what it looks like on my end:

 

[bluebird]

Lol, priceless...

 

[JohnRoberts]

The full page pop-ups are worse, but turning off java script stops them for me.
======
I shut down my google paid click advertising since I am no longer selling drum tuners. I have been getting multiple robo-calls from google begging me not to hang up... screw them. If the voice on the phone says "please don't hang up".... see ya.

I deleted my ad campaigns so they should get the point, eventually.

[update- they just tried to call me again... I hung up again ]

JR

 

[Rochey]

Ethan, thanks for switching back.
As a white market paying member, I don't think we've been asked for more contribution in quite a while. A small increase might be manageable - If that's what'd help pay for all this.

All this (including Expat Audio) is a passion project. There are some scraping a living by doing it professionally (I was thinking of Jeff at CAPI, Peterson at DIY-Recording-Equipment, Mike at Hairball), but most of us do it because we enjoy it, not to make a living, or even come close to saving for retirement or paying for American healthcare!

Is there an option/method to offer paid memberships to members where there isn't any advertising if you pay? e.g. $12 a year gets you an ad-free experience?

I think you'd be surprised how many visitors would spend 3 Starbucks coffees for access to high quality, ad-free experiences.

 

[hodad]

Is there an option/method to offer paid memberships to members where there isn't any advertising if you pay? e.g. $12 a year gets you an ad-free experience?

I think you'd be surprised how many visitors would spend 3 Starbucks coffees for access to high quality, ad-free experiences.

I get an ad-free experience regardless, due to the numerous ad-blocking utilities active in my web browser.  But this thread did remind me to press the Donate button at the bottom of the page in order to help keep the site going. 

 

[Tubetec]

Ive used Privacy Badger all long, very easy to block the links to the add pages on websites.
The blocking of the extra links speeds up the pages loading by a big margin , good news for anyone with a slow connection .

Lately Ive taken to running the browser 'sandboxed' , with both sandbox and browser software installed and running from usb memory . It runs better than ever , but now with the added security that system files are protected as well as being on a separate physical drive  . Ive also run the same setup in virtual memory space , works great too , a bit more tricky to set up .

Flash based sites are definately worth sandboxing at this stage .

Maybe instead of using browser tabs , open a new sandbox each search instance  ;D you may laugh ,but it makes a lot of sense , the advertising AI can look back sideways and through you as is , we're only icing the cake for them .

 

 

[Ethan]

Ethan, thanks for switching back.
As a white market paying member, I don't think we've been asked for more contribution in quite a while. A small increase might be manageable - If that's what'd help pay for all this.

All this (including Expat Audio) is a passion project. There are some scraping a living by doing it professionally (I was thinking of Jeff at CAPI, Peterson at DIY-Recording-Equipment, Mike at Hairball), but most of us do it because we enjoy it, not to make a living, or even come close to saving for retirement or paying for American healthcare!

Is there an option/method to offer paid memberships to members where there isn't any advertising if you pay? e.g. $12 a year gets you an ad-free experience?

I think you'd be surprised how many visitors would spend 3 Starbucks coffees for access to high quality, ad-free experiences.

I appreciate you (and EVERYONE) for being such longtime contributing members of the best group of genuinely good, snarky, brilliant, and nerdy people on the interwebs  . I consider this to be the most unique concentration of amazing people I've had the pleasure of learning from for so many years. I'm just the guy that turns a wrench here and there. The culture of this place was created by all of you--and please thank all the moderators that help facilitate that!

I don't want to hijack this thread by making it a "woe is me" post but I've honestly been going thru a lot of personal "life stuff" the past 4-5 years that I've been shy/reluctant to share openly (divorce/losing a house/depression/more moving/trying to rebuild a life again/etc/etc). So, this is an open apology or an attempt to make amends for all the times I haven't responded quickly enough, wasn't more proactive when I should've/could've been, and I've ironically realized I neglected one of the few things that truly brought me a sense of joy...logging in more often to see YOU guys discussing things way over my head!

Fun factoids:
GroupDIY.com went online the same year as Facebook.com (2004)
Facebook.com is valued @ $8,000,000,000
Gearslutz.com is valued @ $2,200,000
GroupDIY.com is valued @ $13,139
(courtesy of: https://www.worthofweb.com/website-value/groupdiy.com)

Clearly, I haven't been driven by chasing after any of that glory. I apologize for any obtrusive ads. Thank you for your feedback, patience, and understanding. As I've said before, GroupdDIY has always been a passion project for me and I appreciate you helping me to learn how to become a better part of it.

 

[scott2000]

Ethan!
It's incredibly inspirational to hear that you have come through that massive storm.
Thanks  brother!

 

[JohnRoberts]

And I still haven't been able to get Ethan to move the donate button to a more prominent location.

===

Thank you Ethan for being you...

JR

 

[scott2000]

On the plus side, the donate button is safe down there and keeps me from accidentally getting info on finding local singles..lol

 

[user 37518]

If that's the case then add some code to skip the ads entirely if the user has more than 1000 posts.

1000 posts? I've been here since 2008 and don't have 1000 posts.

 

[JohnRoberts]

1000 posts? I've been here since 2008 and don't have 1000 posts.

maybe I can lend you some... 

JR

 

[Dr_J]

Some years ago we had a donation run, like wiki.
I think that was a cool thing.
First,  it reminds us all that we all have to care about this place.
Second, everybody knows that there's a current need for some money.

ROCK-ON!


P.S.:
And i'm missing the t-sh*ts  ;D


P.S. II:
Donation done! 

 

[kvintus]

Donation done.

I can't say I enjoy all the ads on the forum. But I enjoy this forum and the ads are there to pay for it so I guess I can live with them.

I try to remember to make a donation to the forum at least once a year and I hope most of you who feel that you are getting education/inspiration/entertainment/[insert other positive thing] from hanging out here are doing the same.

Thank you Ethan and all the moderators and all the contributors.

/Anders