Banner Adverts - Changes

[admin]

From your comments Chris - doesn’t appear that you believe this bottom advert is an issue?

My first step is to ensure the ads are quality ads that do not effect the functionality of the forum. From feedback so far we are not there yet.

After that I can make a judgement whether the extra income they bring in are worth the inconvenience to members who may be put off using the forum and whether there are other placements such as a sidebar. There are some improvements I'd like to do to fiso and this would help fund them.

You are right though that when I view the forum on my smartphone the bottom ad is least noticeable than on my other devices.

[Oxford NZ]

No adds at all on my laptop running Chrome and windows 10

on my phone the view latest, 1 day button does not work, I have to go to menu, fiso forums, latest (1 day) but the adds are not too bad so far.

[Yorkshire Exile]

From your comments Chris - doesn’t appear that you believe this bottom advert is an issue?

My first step is to ensure the ads are quality ads that do not effect the functionality of the forum. From feedback so far we are not there yet.

After that I can make a judgement whether the extra income they bring in are worth the inconvenience to members who may be put off using the forum and whether there are other placements such as a sidebar. There are some improvements I'd like to do to fiso and this would help fund them.

You are right though that when I view the forum on my smartphone the bottom ad is least noticeable than on my other devices.

A combination of the fiso banner the top embedded ad and then the bottom floating ad leaves 2 threads visible and takes up 80% of the screen. The bottom one is intrusive as it plays videos eg lion King and some of them place coloured borders around the whole screen

The bottom one is just too much and is intrusive because it affects other functionality

[blahblah]

Yep.

[admin]

No adds at all on my laptop running Chrome and windows 10

on my phone the view latest, 1 day button does not work, I have to go to menu, fiso forums, latest (1 day) but the adds are not too bad so far.

There is also a '1 Day latest' under the Quick Links (3 horizontal orange lines) on the top left of the forum.

[admin]

A combination of the fiso banner the top embedded ad and then the bottom floating ad leaves 2 threads visible and takes up 80% of the screen. The bottom one is intrusive as it plays videos eg lion King and some of them place coloured borders around the whole screen

The bottom one is just too much and is intrusive because it affects other functionality

By tomorrow hopefully the lower quality ads that have 'leaked' on to fiso should be gone.

If I look on my phone at the 1 Day latest topics page, when I scroll down so the heading 'Topics' is at the top of the screen (and thus the top banner ad no longer visible) I can see 7 topics/threads listed.

[Ashers]

This is what I'm seeing and this advert keep reappearing even when I X it.

It seems to stop me scrolling down until I have X it or click onto the screen again.

[admin]

It seems to stop me scrolling down until I have X it or click onto the screen again.

What device and browser is this happening on?

When you say it 'seems to stop you scrolling' please clarify specifically what you mean? All the browsers and devices I've tested it on show that it does what its meant to and sticks to the bottom of the screen and doesn't cover forum posts when I get to the end of a forum page. Your screenshot shows it stuck to the bottom of your screen and that as you've scrolled to the end of the forum topic it doesn't cover the content.

[Smurphy Paw]

I also continue to be unhappy with the bottom advert in particular and to steer us to the ‘1 day latest’ approach seems to be an admission that functionality is affected.
On my Mac the impact is lessened. It’s on the iPad, which is what I use 90% of the time for FPL/FISO, that it’s most off putting.
My wording is a bit stronger than the last couple of entries where I was seeking to help you resolve this, largely in response to the ‘worth the inconvenience to members who are put off using the forum’ post. Having to click the x on adverts to be able to use the functionality of an otherwise great site is too much for me. I know that my usage has tailed off and imagine an analysis of my contact time with FISO will bear this out

[admin]

I also continue to be unhappy with the bottom advert in particular and to steer us to the ‘1 day latest’ approach seems to be an admission that functionality is affected.
On my Mac the impact is lessened. It’s on the iPad, which is what I use 90% of the time for FPL/FISO, that it’s most off putting.
My wording is a bit stronger than the last couple of entries where I was seeking to help you resolve this, largely in response to the ‘worth the inconvenience to members who are put off using the forum’ post. Having to click the x on adverts to be able to use the functionality of an otherwise great site is too much for me. I know that my usage has tailed off and imagine an analysis of my contact time with FISO will bear this out

I thought you confirmed the bottom banner didn't keep covering content or links when you scrolled? When I tested using an iPad mini on Safari the banner moved to long past the bottom of the forum pages. Have you tried Portrait rather than Landscape view and does that help?

The comment about the 1 Day Latest link was just to add another such link as many use that as their main way to see new activity but if you use another way to browse and the banners are getting in the way despite scrolling please let me know.

[Spinynorman]

I have now got to the stage where one click removes the bottom ad and it then seems fairly clear and stable.

[Smurphy Paw]

I also continue to be unhappy with the bottom advert in particular and to steer us to the ‘1 day latest’ approach seems to be an admission that functionality is affected.
On my Mac the impact is lessened. It’s on the iPad, which is what I use 90% of the time for FPL/FISO, that it’s most off putting.
My wording is a bit stronger than the last couple of entries where I was seeking to help you resolve this, largely in response to the ‘worth the inconvenience to members who are put off using the forum’ post. Having to click the x on adverts to be able to use the functionality of an otherwise great site is too much for me. I know that my usage has tailed off and imagine an analysis of my contact time with FISO will bear this out

I thought you confirmed the bottom banner didn't keep covering content or links when you scrolled? When I tested using an iPad mini on Safari the banner moved to long past the bottom of the forum pages. Have you tried Portrait rather than Landscape view and does that help?

The comment about the 1 Day Latest link was just to add another such link as many use that as their main way to see new activity but if you use another way to browse and the banners are getting in the way despite scrolling please let me know.

No, the bottom banner doesn’t disappear when scrolling. In any case, I don’t know about others but I start my FISO session by scrolling up not down
I appreciate your rationale for wanting to increase revenue, but again, having to change orientation of my iPad just for FISO? Really? Very practically, I have large hands and eyes that these days like the larger font size and for both reasons prefer landscape

I don’t want to be one of those moany types, it’s a great site that I benefit from - and from time to time add value to. I’m usually happy being part of the silent majority on changes and tweaks that you make. On this occasion, my experience is that this change is in conflict with its usability and functionality which is why I’m putting my head above the parapet.

Spiny, is that one click for every new page you click through or on to though, not just at the start of a session?

[Smurphy Paw]

I thought I’d try the One Day link thingy - I usually just go in to FPL and potter around there. The irony is that the top banner advert cover the one day link

A9E0A0FA-C46B-476D-A39D-3B3E084AC8FF.png

[Spinynorman]

Spiny, is that one click for every new page you click through or on to though, not just at the start of a session?

It's a click for every new page.

[murf]

Spiny, is that one click for every new page you click through or on to though, not just at the start of a session?

It's a click for every new page.

Except the ads which don't have an 'X'.....

[admin]

No, the bottom banner doesn’t disappear when scrolling. In any case, I don’t know about others but I start my FISO session by scrolling up not down
I appreciate your rationale for wanting to increase revenue, but again, having to change orientation of my iPad just for FISO? Really? Very practically, I have large hands and eyes that these days like the larger font size and for both reasons prefer landscape

The bottom banner isn't meant to disappear when you scroll but as far as I'm aware it won't cover any content if you scroll to the end of the page. Trying it in Portrait was just a suggestion to see if helped you.

[admin]

I thought I’d try the One Day link thingy - I usually just go in to FPL and potter around there. The irony is that the top banner advert cover the one day link

That's why an extra 1 Day Latest link was added to the forum quick links above the top banner on the LHS as per your screenshot. It seems to be mainly Ipads where the banner encroaches over some of the links.

[Dennisthemenace]

I thought I’d try the One Day link thingy - I usually just go in to FPL and potter around there. The irony is that the top banner advert cover the one day link
A9E0A0FA-C46B-476D-A39D-3B3E084AC8FF.png

That's exactly the same as mine. There is another latest topics 'above' latest topics, next to quick links and FAQ that we can use.

[Ruth_NZ]

The bottom banner is an annoyance but the worst thing is that my internet security program seriously objects to some of the links on FISO pages and keeps jerking me out of what I am reading to inform me that something insecure is going on.

As far as I know, this can be a problem when an advertising firm gets to put anything it likes up.

I do understand that advertising is necessary but if it makes FISO an insecure environment then I will cease to come here.

[admin]

Which internet security program? Got a note or copy of any specific report? Is this happening on forum pages?

Anyone else getting the same message? This is the first report I've heard of.

[Ruth_NZ]

Which internet security program? Got a note or copy of any specific report? Is this happening on forum pages?

Eset. Next time it happens I'll make a record.

[admin]

Thanks.

The banners come from major ad exchange platforms (top banner is via Google Ad Manager).

[zipnolan]

I'm also getting regular blocks from Malwarebytes, owing to a variety of sites that I'm assuming the ads want to take me to.

[morganb]

AARRGGHH!!! I'm now getting an invisible ad at the foot of the page so that when you go to click on anything at the bottom of the screen (i.e. a button like Post Reply) nothing happens - you only realise what is going on when you spot the cross on the right of the screen. Firefox on Windows laptop (but a work machine so perhaps one of their built-in security checkers is removing the ad but not the transparent background?)

[murf]

I need a better malware detector, had to just reboot computer to lose some "your computer is about to self destruct and wipe the files" type messages while surfing FISO.

PLEASE STOP THESE ****ING ADS NOW - nothing but trouble and putting people off using FISO

[Ruth_NZ]

Which internet security program? Got a note or copy of any specific report? Is this happening on forum pages?

Eset. Next time it happens I'll make a record.

The site you tried to visit does not look safe: http://real-prizes-zone1.com/?u=gg4p605&o=5ffwrnh
We have found that this website contains potentially harmful content. This means it may contain a virus or be a phishing site designed to steal your personal details.

Note: I did not try to visit any such site so it can only be that something on FISO tried to take me there.

URL blocked: http://nextopim.com/favicon/ico

Note: eseT really objects to this one, I have had more than 50 such messages about it.

There really seems to be quite some cr@p on here now.

[raoul]

I need a better malware detector, had to just reboot computer to lose some "your computer is about to self destruct and wipe the files" type messages while surfing FISO.

PLEASE STOP THESE ****ING ADS NOW - nothing but trouble and putting people off using FISO

Using a relatively old laptop and security needs renewing. But have used it for years no problem. In last couple of days have had same as Smurf and been booted out after trying to close the threat message.

No problem on my phone at all.

[zipnolan]

The strangest thing for me is that some ads seem to operate even when I'm not there - I switch to another tab on Google Chrome and when I try to find my FISO tab it's been replaced by a Malwarebytes warning. Never had that happen before on any site.

[Spinynorman]

I'm also getting regular blocks from Malwarebytes, owing to a variety of sites that I'm assuming the ads want to take me to.

I'm getting a similar problem. Bit Defender and Virgin security keep closing FISO down for me.

[murf]

If the display issues can't be resolved by Wednesday then I'll put the ad code on our test site instead and work on it from there.

3 weeks later and they are still here, despite ongoing display issues and repeatedly infecting us with malware......