# Advertisements in the middle of a thread?



## swift

Hello Mike,

Torrebruno, a Spanish forero reported this morning what looks like a suspicious advertisement in a thread. In fact, that ad became visible when he logged out. Interestingly enough, similar ads appear in every single thread, as a second post, even if you are using an ad-blocker (my ad-blocker is disabled on WR  but I wanted to investigate how invasive they were). Apparently, they only appear when using Firefox (I tried IE and Rockmelt and they won't show there).

Has anybody else detected this kind of advertisements in the middle of a thread? They're visible to FF users only, and they're ad-blockers immune.

Best,


José


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## mkellogg

This is something that we are testing now for people not logged in.  We'll probably remove the ads on Saturday.


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## Sarasaki

I came here to report this problem and see that it is already been talked about. 
José: I use IE and experience the same problem. I have never used an Ad Blocker and never experienced this problem before. I dont know what you mean by 'suspicious ads'. I see airline ads, translation ads and such.


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## DearPrudence

Hello Sarasaki 

This has nothing to do with your browser (I see them with google chrome & IE). Please read the reply by the Administrator Mike Kellogg above yours


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## Agró

Same _problem _here. I'm using Firefox and those ads are visible only when I'm logged out. As soon as I log in, they disappear... funny, and creepy.


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## WyomingSue

Only when not logged in--aha!  Like the lodging taxes--only collected on tourists.  However, I often read the responses in my threads directly from my e-mail without logging in.  I think these ads inserted into the flow of the threads are extremely obnoxious.  (However, I do understand your desire to investigate financial opportunities.  Just didn't like this one.)


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## mkellogg

We've long shown ads to "guests" and people not logged in.  There is no sense bothering you all with hundreds of ads a day.


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## ohstevo

i would just like to object to the ads that have appeared within the forums, disguised as forum entries. it is distracting and interferes with the usefulness of this website.

do other users not agree?


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## jann

ohstevo said:


> i would just like to object to the ads that have appeared within the forums, disguised as forum entries. it is distracting and interferes with the usefulness of this website.
> 
> do other users not agree?


Ohstevo, I've moved your comment to an existing thread about this topic.  You may be interested to read back through the previous posts.  Please note that the advertisements displayed between thread posts only show when you browse the forums without being logged in.  Certainly there is no intent to "disguise" these text-only ads as actual posts; the yellow background is supposed to set them apart from the thread content.

best,
Jann
Moderator


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## ohstevo

okay, 
i see people are talking about this at least. the ads i'm seeing embedded in the forum threads are identical to posts in color, frame, etc. i hope these intrusions are removed.

thanks!


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## LeaM

I really hope they are removed, too!


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## zinnia2000

Running a website takes time and money, and I for one don't mind if the owner decides to place advertisements to generate revenue. This is such a terrific resource, and he's made it available for free.


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## Sarasaki

I dont think anyone minds ads, Zinnia . Its just that their location - their appearance as the second thread that is a bother . I used to browse through WR without logging in, now I log in and browse!


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## Cagey

ohstevo said:


> okay,
> i see people are talking about this at least. the ads i'm seeing embedded in the forum threads are identical to posts in color, frame, etc. i hope these intrusions are removed.
> 
> thanks!


The ads should be yellow now, I believe.  The idea is to make them distinct from the posts.


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## turnagain

Hello,

I notice that one of the changes to the site is the placing of a Google ad in second position of each thread. Is that obligatory? Do we have to stare at ads? If yes, well then that's that. It was very nice without!

Thanks,
Juliet


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## LeaM

turnagain said:


> Hello,
> 
> I notice that one of the changes to the site is the placing of a Google ad in second position of each thread. Is that obligatory? Do we have to stare at ads? If yes, well then that's that. It was very nice without!
> 
> Thanks,
> Juliet


Well put!  That's exactly what I was referring to, also.


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## Paulfromitaly

turnagain said:


> Hello,
> 
> I notice that one of the changes to the site is the placing of a Google ad in second position of each thread. Is that obligatory? Do we have to stare at ads? If yes, well then that's that. It was very nice without!
> 
> Thanks,
> Juliet





LeaM said:


> Well put!  That's exactly what I was referring to, also.




You won't see any advs if you log in.



mkellogg said:


> We've long shown ads to "guests" and people not  logged in.  There is no sense bothering you all with hundreds of ads a  day.


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## turnagain

Paulfromitaly said:


> You won't see any advs if you log in.



True. But as you can see from my number of posts, I rarely log in, but use WR daily as a tool for translation work. Oh well, the march of progress and so on.

Best wishes


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## Cagey

turnagain said:


> Hello,
> 
> I notice that one of the changes to the site is the placing of a Google ad in second position of each thread. Is that obligatory? Do we have to stare at ads? If yes, well then that's that. It was very nice without!
> 
> Thanks,
> Juliet


You can now make the Google ads disappear even when you aren't logged on.

In the bar above the ad 'post' there is this link [^].
If you click the link, it will collapse the ad. 
Not only will that ad disappear, but the ad in every thread in every forum will be gone. 

(This feature was added by our kindly administrator.   )


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## Sarasaki

Cagey said:


> You can now make the Google ads disappear even when you aren't logged on.
> 
> In the bar above the ad 'post' there is this link [^].
> If you click the link, it will collapse the ad.
> Not only will that ad disappear, but the ad in every thread in every forum will be gone.
> 
> (This feature was added by our kindly administrator. )



Thanks a lot, Mike! Its really nice to not have ads as part of a thread!


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## swift

When I opened this thread, I wasn't complaining about those ads. I wanted to know if they were legitimate and not a virus on my computer. Is it really that time-consuming to skip the second post and read the next one? 

I just hope the funding of the forums will not suffer as a result of this decision.


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## Cagey

swift said:


> [....]
> 
> I just hope the funding of the forums will not suffer as a result of this decision.


I am certain that Mike took all that into account when he decided to install that option.


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## Don Joaquin Escriche

zinnia2000 said:


> Running a website takes time and money, and I for one don't mind if the owner decides to place advertisements to generate revenue. This is such a terrific resource, and he's made it available for free.



I agree, but at the same time we are also providing our expertise for free in the forums. Therefore, I believe that academic contributors should not be subjected to commercials in appreciation for their free contributions to the forums.


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## jann

Don Joaquin Escriche said:


> I agree, but at the same time we are also providing our expertise for free in the forums. Therefore, I believe that academic contributors should not be subjected to commercials in appreciation for their free contributions to the forums.



Please remember: if you are signed in to the forums, then you do not see advertisements on forum pages.  All these contributors who provide their help out of the goodness of their hearts have accounts here from which to post their helpful messages.  They need only sign in if they don't wish to see advertisements on forum pages.


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## Egmont

Don Joaquin Escriche said:


> I agree, but at the same time we are also providing our expertise for free in the forums. Therefore, I believe that academic contributors should not be subjected to commercials in appreciation for their free contributions to the forums.


In order to answer a question you must be logged in. Anyone who has ever contributed anything is a registered member, can log in, and knows that logging in is not painful. Anyone who is logged in doesn't see ads.

I understand that a registered member could browse threads to see if there are any to which he or she can usefully reply, logging in only if one or more appear, but I still don't see logging in as a major hassle. If people are willing to send WR money in exchange for ads that only guests see, I don't see any reason why WR shouldn't accept it.


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