Seriously Annoying Advertisements

I appreciate that the site is free to the user and I understand that it must be funded by ads, fair enough. But I cannot stand intrusive adverts disrupting and blocking my browsing until I have either waited it out or taken some extra action to get it out of the way. I get a wholly negative response to both the product being advertised and the host site. Surely a large proportion of the click-throughs are a mistake by the user? Please abandon this aggressive, irritating, and cynical hard-sell marketing.

If you are talking about the popup ads, there is a button to close them in the upper right corner.

Yeah, I gotta admit, they just recently started and they are annoying... but if they help to pay for the site o.0

According to my virus protection those ads are trying to load a trojan.

Yes Chainer, I'm talking about the popup ads, and yes, there is a button to close them - that's what I was referring to by "take some extra action to get it out of the way".

Let me say it's a great site which I have visited often since first beginnings, it is well designed with just the right balance between usability and complexity. Cards on the table, I have not uploaded any pics. But I do participate with posts, comments, invisibly by contributing names and tags to pictures, and I was conscientiously active in screening pics during the recent copyright purge. That was an excellent exercise in empowering the community for the greater good and it paid off.

And I realise there must be ads to pay for the site.

These popups however are, imho, a barrier between the content and the user, and have a negative impact on that same community who contribute in whatever way to the site. I feel at home using the site but that feeling is destroyed when the site is suddenly gone and all I am looking at is some unasked-for, unwelcome, and irrelevant blurb. Whether I take action by clicking the "skip" button or wait it out, the flow of browsing (so well implemented on GWM) is halted and I feel manipulated. While I sometimes click on an ad on the side of the page if it catches my interest, I am simply NOT going to submit to an in-my face assault, anymore than I give the time of day to cold telesales calls.

Please please get rid of them, GWM is too good to be spoiled by this litter.

These advertisements are a trojan/malware attack waiting to happen. Mark my words.

I love this site, I really, really do; but if it comes down to the safety of my computer vs entertainment than the safety factor is going to win out.

You will note that those who are complaining have not been involved with this site much.
The site developer has worked hard to provide us with the kind of entertainment we like-that's why we keep returning.
It is his/her right to earn some income from these labors in my opinion and if it becomes too difficult to move your mouse and click on a "close" button, then vote with your feet and find another site that's just as good as this one.

Yeah, well, thanks for your input PoolShark, I had tried to deflect some of the "ad hominem" responses in my second post above but lets take your comments in detail.

" . . . not involved with the site much." Ok fair dos, depending on your definition of "involved" and "much", but I take your point.

" . . . developer has worked hard . . .  kind of entertainment we like . . . why we keep returning." Agreed, just as I said in my second post.

"It is his/her right to earn some income" Of course, no problem.

" . . . too difficult to move your mouse . . . " Not really the point. No-one suggested it is "difficult".

" . . . vote with your feet and find another site that's just as good as this one." Exactly what I hope to avoid, there is no other site as good as this one, and popups, imho tarnish it's undoubted quality.

The point is not Chainer's right to fund the site or earn something for his work, the point is not about advertising per se, the point is certainly not about who raises the issue. The point is about THIS particular form of advertising. Is it good or bad for the site? Have you a defense of it?

I don't know if these ads introduce trojans/malware, I run Mac. But it wouldn't surprise me as it's all part of the same litter on the web. Who welcomes LiveJasmin opening up behind the image you clicked? Maybe popups are massively more lucrative than other forms of advertising, if so that might be a defense. But let's hear about the issue rather than "you're nobody, therefore your thoughts are worthless, sod off."

As  a new user, but an old fan of muscular women, I concur that this form of advertising is intrusive. I also think it's mostly triggered by accident, and I haven't encountered other websites  that trip you up when your cursor accidentally rolls over a spot and you take no other action (i.e., no clicks).

Have you thought of doing a paypal drive, maybe once every server billing cycle? I would gladly send some money your way for what this site provides.

I can deal with annoying. ALL ads are that. But my virus software blocks every ad. I don't see them at all. So as an ad, it's worthless. And I wish the site wouldn't constantly be introducing this stuff to my computer. Is it worth the risk of comming here at all? I'm thinking it over, a SURE virus/malware site! Gotta think twice.

Couple of days ago, perusing the main GWM site and had my avast anti-virus warn me that it had just blocked malicious malware. No sooner had that happened than I was informed that my computer had been infected. Promptly shut down my system and began to run system restore (which I've used in the past to take care of this same type problem). System restore didn't work and I found myself unable to even access the Firefox browser I'd been using. Proxy server refused connection. Long story short: system crashed and Firefox defunct (even after removing, then re-installing it on my pc). I don't want to blame the site for the cause of all this, but it sure looks like something on the site triggered this total f/u. Currently using IE as a browser but when I tried to access the main site with it, started to get the same weirdness. Needless to say, I guess I'm screwed as far as ever going back to the main site. At least the forum still works o.k.... so far o.0

It's a great site. But if it's a DEFINITE virus source, I 'gotta say good-buy.   

Interesting exchange and presentations of viewpoints.  I must agree with:
It is unfortunate that all good things eventually come to an end and what I see developing is bad from the potential malware, etc. direction caused by the Advertising.  In fact, an uploaded file (photo) to the site not so long ago was itself a virus.

All good things do not have to come to an end however if a combination of efforts are made.  The site obviously requires some sort of financial support if it is to continue without the 'advertising' issues that are being discussed. 

While I have no idea what the dollar cost of supporting this site monthly is, I suspect that it is not huge.  Let's face it, the content is user supplied.  The host if more than $100/month is probably a stretch.  The cost of the administrators time is the factor.  This is the matter that needs to be addressed.

ADS in the manner that are currently presented on the Site need to go!

Thoughts and responces please.

I don't mind ads, they make free sites possible. But a DEFINITE virus/Trojan site... I'm outta' here.

Agreed, I might be joining you as well. I actually had Symantic inform me that a threat was detected but fortunately neither it, or Ad-Aware or MalawareBytes found anything.

I actually haven't a clue what you guys are on about. Have they been removed already, or are they perhaps browser- and/or region-specific?

You do make it sound like something that would need to be replaced ASAP, though. I fully understand the need for ads and won't quickly complain about them, but some things are of course unacceptable, and malware would definitely be on that list.

Your virus software isn't alarming quickly on this site? Mine sure is. I don't go anywhere but the boards. (No ads here). It's become a rather unsafe page (it seems).

You HAVE GOT to get rid of those ads!
When the "white screen" ad comes up, if I don't close the page immediately, my anti-virus software pops up a message that it is a malicious site.
I appreciate that you have to raise money through ads. You can do that by placing discrete ads on the margin of the page, like lots of other sites do. You don't need to sell your soul to the vendors of these highly annoying (and possibly criminal) ads.
I'm definitely a fan of the site. But it's not worth it to put up with the annoyance and the risk.
So far I haven't been infected. But that's it for now. I'm outta here until you clean up the site.
 >:(

I agree with the sentiment about the ads. I don't mind ads on the pages of the site, heck you've got to pay for bandwidth right? I don't even mind if you make money - it's a great site! But the ads that take over the page and cover over the content are very difficult to deal with. The forcibly take the user away from the content which is a no no. In addition, those ads create a behavior where users try to avoid them. When I click on a picture page I click the picture itself to get the full size view as quickly as possible to try to avoid the ad. I don't mind the ads on top and bottom - but when the ad takes over the whole page and occludes the content - it makes enjoying the content VERY difficult. Perhaps limit those ads to only once per session/visit?

You all will be happy to know that I have removed the full-page ads for registered users. They still show up for people who aren't logged in, but once you do log in, you shouldn't see them.

The reason for adding them was that Google Adsense (whose ads I was previously using) suddenly decided that this site was against their terms of service, so I had to switch to another ad network. The new network, however, pays significantly less than Google did, so if I am to pay for the site I have to resort to their full page ads.

If you have experience with an ad network (besides Google) that you are happy with, please let me know about it! Contact me at my email:
girlswithmuscle@gmail.com

Also, in general I highly recommend using either Firefox or Google Chrome as your browser, with the Adblock extension (available for both browsers). It will make your Internet browsing experience much less painful; I've been using it for years.

Thank you. It's not the ads, even annoying ones. Everyone gets that it's a free site. It was the virus/trojan alerts they were throwing up like crazy. Reputable ads make it all possible. I don't think anyone minds that.

Thank you Chainer, I for one appreciate being able to avoid the full-page ads. I'm sorry to hear Google is doing evil, one more nail in that claim's coffin. I too would like to know about ad networks, for business reasons. Although my stuff is unlikely to trigger a small-minded censorious knee-jerk, I'd rather not support the reactionary tendency. I also know that  a screen-take-over would kill traffic.

Is there a third way, anybody?

Hello GWM hosts !

I very much enjoy the site and appreciate your efforts.
I am a registered member.

My request is that you consider this intrusive advertising and ask whether it can be moderated to a less overwhelming experience.

I have been startled recently by loud advertisements suddenly blaring forth from my speakers when on the GWM site.  This is startling because I did not click upon the ads.
 
Having "This is a GREAT OFFER - ACT NOW !" shout out at me has made me jump a few times.

Thanks for your consideration.

The ADs which take over this is to the point of insanity need to go..