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dan2see
Sep 28, 2010, 2:19 PM
Post #1 of 21
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I know that Rockclimbing.com gets its revenue from advertising, and usually I don't mind because the ads are restricted to the top or right-hand-side margins where I can ignore them.
But some of the ads are intrusive and annoying.
So I installed Adblock Plus. It's a filter that blocks selected images or frames on my browser. It is an add-on, or extension, to Firefox. It allows me to easily select ads that really annoy me, and hide them forever.
So far, I have disabled only 2 ads from rc.com, and 2 ads from other sites. I could say that I'm embarrassed because I don't even remember what those ads were -- but I won't.
And that's all I need -- I can live with all the remaining pictures and eye-candy. Best of all, it's now my choice!
What a relief!
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macherry
Sep 28, 2010, 2:45 PM
Post #2 of 21
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mod to suggestions and feedback. i thinks its more appropriate here.
always good to give management feedback regarding annoying ads
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traddad
Sep 28, 2010, 4:17 PM
Post #3 of 21
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Anything animated or requiring Java to run is annoying...Basically anything but straight up click throughs are annoying.
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dan2see
Sep 29, 2010, 5:05 AM
Post #4 of 21
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macherry wrote: mod to suggestions and feedback. i thinks its more appropriate here. always good to give management feedback regarding annoying ads
RC.com is only one of the thousands of different community websites that are available for free to its users. I recognize the value of the ones I subscribe to. And I recognize the need for revenue for those websites. So I expect either to pay for the service, or else the advertisers must pay.
Now, I subscribe RC.com (whoever that is!) -- but not to the advertisers.
So I would invite the advertisers to show their logos and banners and eye-candy. But at the same time, they must remain sensitive to the fact that I subscribe to RC.com, not to them!
Bug me, and I dump you! With AdBlock, I now have the power to simply and quickly neutralize the ads. One click (well actually two clicks) and I can forget forever who you were.
Don't mis-understand me. I have blocked only two advertisers from RC.com (and I really have forgotten who they were), and I don't feel the need to block any of the remaining ones.
The social contract is the same in any community: Play nice, or go home!
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sbaclimber
Sep 29, 2010, 9:07 AM
Post #5 of 21
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dan2see wrote: So I installed Adblock Plus. It's a filter that blocks selected images or frames on my browser. 
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dan2see
Sep 29, 2010, 1:45 PM
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sbaclimber wrote: dan2see wrote: So I installed Adblock Plus. It's a filter that blocks selected images or frames on my browser. Welcome in the 21st Century...
dan2see wrote: Technological innovations change the way we do things.
HTML browsers and filters are very definitely Twentieth Century technology. So are free website subscriptions, and ads on their pages.
It just takes a while before everybody figures things out.
Also, notice how I posted this thread, after I installed the filter, after I found the power to do something about it. That's not even 20th cent, it's medieval!
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sbaclimber
Sep 29, 2010, 1:51 PM
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dan2see wrote: sbaclimber wrote: dan2see wrote: So I installed Adblock Plus. It's a filter that blocks selected images or frames on my browser. Welcome in the 21st Century... dan2see wrote: Technological innovations change the way we do things. HTML browsers and filters are very definitely Twentieth Century technology.
I still only have ad-blockers activated on certain browsers/systems, so I am a bit behind the times as well...
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thenose
Sep 30, 2010, 2:27 PM
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dan2see
Sep 30, 2010, 2:36 PM
Post #9 of 21
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thenose wrote: ... So what are you saying? You downloaded ABP and you no longer see any ads and you wanted to let us know this? ABP has over 100,000,000 downloads, I think the general population already knows about it.
Cool! 
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dan2see
Oct 23, 2010, 4:21 PM
Post #10 of 21
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I was reviewing the ads I have blocked. Almost all of them belong to this website:
www.traveladvertising.com
The problem they give me is the moving text and images in the column, on the right-hand side of the page.
They might claim that the sedate and reserved style is not objectionable, but I don't like the distraction.
But now I have the power to block any ad, when I want to.
You have a lot of ads on rc.com. Most are easy to ignore, and I don't mind.
I think you should inform your advertisers that:
- ads are ok
- extraordinary techniques to attract my attention are NOT ok.
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dan2see
Oct 26, 2010, 7:41 PM
Post #11 of 21
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Looking again at my AdBlock service, I realize that I don't actually know who or what I'm blocking. So I deleted all the "filters" -- that is, I removed all the blocks.
So now I can be more responsible in how I manage the content on my browser's screen.
Then I added:
Air Canada has a large ad on the right-hand side of the "forum" pages, just below the "My Stuff:" box.
The Internet link is http://img-cdn.mediaplex.com/*
But first I looked at Mediaplex -- pretty abstract, pretty corporate-ready, not relevant to rock climbing. So I hid them.
Mwa-ha-ha-ha! O the power!
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dan2see
Nov 4, 2010, 2:54 PM
Post #13 of 21
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I tried installing Ad Muncher to block ads on Internet Explorer.
It seems to have a large installed base world-wide.
But I couldn't figure out how to make it block the ads I selected, and I was surprised to see it appearing on Firefox.
So I removed it.
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jt512
Nov 7, 2010, 3:14 AM
Post #14 of 21
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dan2see wrote: I tried installing Ad Muncher to block ads on Internet Explorer. But I couldn't figure out how to make it block the ads...
Try Privoxy.
Jay
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dan2see
Nov 13, 2010, 3:09 PM
Post #15 of 21
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There's a very "active" ad showing itself in the Forum pages, showing me flights to New Zealand. It's even more annoying than the Air Canada ads that I've already blocked:
http://ec.atdmt.com/
It looks like that URL is a redirect from http://www.atlassolutions.com/ "Atlas Solutions - Online Advertising". The bottom of their homepage says it's "Microsoft Advertising".
But it's OK now -- it's gone!
<phew> what a relief!
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dan2see
Nov 13, 2010, 3:12 PM
Post #16 of 21
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I downloaded Privoxy OK, but when I tried installing it in IE, nothing happened. I tried a couple of options, but I must have missed something in the installation.
So I removed it. This is not a issue for me, because I always use Firefox.
Thanks for the tip anyway, jt.
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jt512
Nov 13, 2010, 5:58 PM
Post #17 of 21
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dan2see wrote: I downloaded Privoxy OK, but when I tried installing it in IE, nothing happened. I tried a couple of options, but I must have missed something in the installation.
Did you configure IE to use Privoxy?
http://www.privoxy.org/...-manual/startup.html
Jay
(This post was edited by jt512 on Nov 13, 2010, 6:03 PM)
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dan2see
Feb 22, 2011, 3:49 PM
Post #18 of 21
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Me again.
I like this adblock.
I shows a little red stop-sign button in one little corner of my browser. I can review the URL's of ads to filter out. So, once a month, I look through my slowly-growing list of blocked ads, and remove filters that are no longer relevant. I block about 10 ads, mostly from rc.com.
I enjoy my power to limit the annoying ads on my screen.
-----------------------------------------------------
What is annoying?
Size does not matter, color is cool. RC.com places the ads to the side, or over the top, so location on my screen is not an issue, either.
A couple of ads came with a soundtrack. Music might be OK (maybe) but these had voices telling me something. Boy! did they get the cut in a hurry! I didn't even know what they were. My only response was to get rid of them.
Gone! <Phew>
Also just about anything with moving pictures. You know that the sides of your visual field are more sensitive to movement, and that's where they are.
In ancient times of older Internet technology, like about 2005, most moving images were created with JIF layers. They were programmed to stop when I hit the ESC key, and I didn't mind that. At least I had control.
But the newer ones are FLASH or something else, and are immune to user moderation. So I block those.
Here's my Top 6 Motion-Offenders list on rc.com:
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- All Posters (I've seen there site elsewhere and decided I didn't want to deal with them)
- Fido (their kiosk guys are annoying at my shopping centre, too)
- New Zealand
- Choice Hotels (Triple Your Points)
- bcaa.com
- Ads by Google (very professional, kinda invasive, and GONE!)
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(Edit because I always hit the POST button before I hit the PREVIEW) 
(This post was edited by dan2see on Feb 22, 2011, 3:52 PM)
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dan2see
Apr 6, 2011, 5:25 PM
Post #19 of 21
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I took my computer in to Stables (Easy Tech) to remove a virus, and asked the tech to upgrade from Vista to Windows 7.
Now, every application I've looked at works just like it did before. This is the most boring upgrade I've ever done.
Even Firefox, with the added Adblock, works perfectly. That is, Firefox's cookies survived, as did the Adblock blocks. There's a white box on the right side of my screen (in rockclimbing.com) just like before.
Of course, I learned how to catch a virus, and so now I have the proper safeguards in place (I hope).
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jt512
Apr 6, 2011, 6:34 PM
Post #20 of 21
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dan2see wrote: I took my computer in to Stables (Easy Tech) to remove a virus, and asked the tech to upgrade from Vista to Windows 7. Now, every application I've looked at works just like it did before. This is the most boring upgrade I've ever done. Even Firefox, with the added Adblock, works perfectly. That is, Firefox's cookies survived, as did the Adblock blocks. There's a white box on the right side of my screen (in rockclimbing.com) just like before. Of course, I learned how to catch a virus, and so now I have the proper safeguards in place (I hope).
Windows is inherently vulnerable to viruses and malware; indeed, arguably, Windows is malware. Trade up to Linux or Mac.
Jay
(This post was edited by jt512 on Apr 6, 2011, 7:21 PM)
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dan2see
Apr 6, 2011, 7:40 PM
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jt512 wrote: ... Windows is inherently vulnerable to viruses and malware; indeed, arguably, Windows is malware. Trade up to Linux or Mac. Jay
Microsoft should not be in the Windows business: they don't know how.
Last year I installed the Adobe Suite for digital art. I could switch-over to Mac. In fact, if I had only one more reason to, I think I would.
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hehe, as they say... "knowledge is power"
