'You may like'

[Mermaid]

Steffan said:

No the basic. I was always good value.

EFA

[Steffan]

Mermaid said:

Steffan said:

No the basic. I was always good value.

EFA

Too deep for me Mermaid I have no doubt you are right!

[Cyder]

I quite like that the Chrome adblocker I've got at home blocks the external adverts but allows the PH content ads through still.

Ha in your faces PH!

[Hunky Dory]

I am starting to think the ad selection is actually an in joke that I don't get. That's the only possible explanation, isn't it?

[ali_kat]

Steffan said:

Adblocker works for me on Safari on an iPad. Try it and see? I have no ads on any PH site on iPad, Windows PC, Windows Laptop, Windows Tablet. Not a one on PH. Worth a try? Actually it is pretty good on other sites too.

thank you!!!!

Starting to hate this now!!

[Junior Bianno]

It's interesting that everyone is openly talking about adblocking like it's perfectly acceptable. Wouldn't put it quite on the same level as illegal file downloading or not paying your TV license, but it's not far off.

Ars Technica ran a really well know editorial on it a few years ago, and even experimented with effectively blocking users who used adblocking software. http://arstechnica.com/business/2010/03/why-ad-blo...

"Imagine running a restaurant where 40% of the people who came and ate didn't pay" kind of sums it up. Not used an adblocker since and can't say it bothers me.

[illmonkey]

Junior Bianno said:

It's interesting that everyone is openly talking about adblocking like it's perfectly acceptable. Wouldn't put it quite on the same level as illegal file downloading or not paying your TV license, but it's not far off.

Ars Technica ran a really well know editorial on it a few years ago, and even experimented with effectively blocking users who used adblocking software. http://arstechnica.com/business/2010/03/why-ad-blo...

"Imagine running a restaurant where 40% of the people who came and ate didn't pay" kind of sums it up. Not used an adblocker since and can't say it bothers me.

Wrong on so many levels!

[surveyor]

Junior Bianno said:

It's interesting that everyone is openly talking about adblocking like it's perfectly acceptable. Wouldn't put it quite on the same level as illegal file downloading or not paying your TV license, but it's not far off.

Ars Technica ran a really well know editorial on it a few years ago, and even experimented with effectively blocking users who used adblocking software. http://arstechnica.com/business/2010/03/why-ad-blo...

"Imagine running a restaurant where 40% of the people who came and ate didn't pay" kind of sums it up. Not used an adblocker since and can't say it bothers me.

I use adblocker because PH cannot control adverts on their site and I got tired of music arriving.

This thread has not convinced me to change me mind.

It does seem like they are trying really hard to stop work using accessing ph during the day....

[TonyRPH]

I think this is one of the problems we see when a large company (in this case Haymarket) take over a popular hobbyist site and want to make money out it's users.

There are many other sites out there, running on proven forum software, that don't require the constant 'fettling' that this forum requires, and hence do not require the developer staff.

As I see it, one of the problems with PH is that the forums seem to be permanently in beta (no offence Ted), and then there's the classifieds...

If PH was run by one or two people on proven forum software*, running costs would be far, far cheaper.

*awaits all the snide comments about so called proven software not begin able to handle the traffic that PH generates..

[otolith]

Junior Bianno said:

It's interesting that everyone is openly talking about adblocking like it's perfectly acceptable. Wouldn't put it quite on the same level as illegal file downloading or not paying your TV license, but it's not far off.

Ars Technica ran a really well know editorial on it a few years ago, and even experimented with effectively blocking users who used adblocking software. http://arstechnica.com/business/2010/03/why-ad-blo...

"Imagine running a restaurant where 40% of the people who came and ate didn't pay" kind of sums it up. Not used an adblocker since and can't say it bothers me.

Presumably you never fast-forward through the adverts on TV.

[Gun]

illmonkey said:

Junior Bianno said:

It's interesting that everyone is openly talking about adblocking like it's perfectly acceptable. Wouldn't put it quite on the same level as illegal file downloading or not paying your TV license, but it's not far off.

Ars Technica ran a really well know editorial on it a few years ago, and even experimented with effectively blocking users who used adblocking software. http://arstechnica.com/business/2010/03/why-ad-blo...

"Imagine running a restaurant where 40% of the people who came and ate didn't pay" kind of sums it up. Not used an adblocker since and can't say it bothers me.

Wrong on so many levels!

[illmonkey]

[redacted]

[Kiltie]

Junior Bianno said:

"Imagine running a restaurant where 40% of the people who came and ate didn't pay" kind of sums it up. Not used an adblocker since and can't say it bothers me.

Weak analogy. Try this.

A restaurant you've been a loyal customer of for years decides to get a mural painted on the wall facing your favourite table. The mural has some images and themes which are pretty close to the bone. It's incongruous, ugly and unnecessary.

You tell the owner that you love the food in his restaurant but you maybe won't be coming as often now that the mural is there. You're worried that some of your regular guests won't like it.

The restaurant owner is taking his time mulling over the suggestion.

Until you know how things are going to be, you use the restaurant for casual suppers but don't want to risk taking any business guests there during the day.

[Bisonhead]

Seems that there is only one irrelevant ad rather than 2 now. Mods, is this due to reporting a certain number of Taboola's ads as uninteresting or have they reduced their requirements?

[Junior Bianno]

Gun said:

illmonkey said:

Junior Bianno said:

It's interesting that everyone is openly talking about adblocking like it's perfectly acceptable. Wouldn't put it quite on the same level as illegal file downloading or not paying your TV license, but it's not far off.

Ars Technica ran a really well know editorial on it a few years ago, and even experimented with effectively blocking users who used adblocking software. http://arstechnica.com/business/2010/03/why-ad-blo...

"Imagine running a restaurant where 40% of the people who came and ate didn't pay" kind of sums it up. Not used an adblocker since and can't say it bothers me.

Wrong on so many levels!

Enlighten me then. On all levels

[rscott]

TonyRPH said:

I think this is one of the problems we see when a large company (in this case Haymarket) take over a popular hobbyist site and want to make money out it's users.

There are many other sites out there, running on proven forum software, that don't require the constant 'fettling' that this forum requires, and hence do not require the developer staff.

As I see it, one of the problems with PH is that the forums seem to be permanently in beta (no offence Ted), and then there's the classifieds...

If PH was run by one or two people on proven forum software*, running costs would be far, far cheaper.

*awaits all the snide comments about so called proven software not begin able to handle the traffic that PH generates..

Here goes then (braces for snide comments).

So what would you migrate the forums to? Presumably something like Lithium. Or an open source solution , if so which can cope well with the volume of posts on here without any ongoing 'fettling'.

[porridge]

rscott said:

Here goes then (braces for snide comments).

So what would you migrate the forums to? Presumably something like Lithium. Or an open source solution , if so which can cope well with the volume of posts on here without any ongoing 'fettling'.

Why the fuss?

PH forum is just text, doesn't host its own images or video or indeed even provide a search.

[AW111]

Junior Bianno said:

Enlighten me then. On all levels

One difference is that on a site like Ars Technica or a news site, they provide the content you go there to read. On a forum, we generate the content ourselves, with only a small part coming from PH staff / stringers, and that via the non-forum section.
Also bandwidth - with the merciful lack of user avatars etc., most of the content is text, so low bandwidth.

Ads on the main site I think are easier to justify, as someone has to pay for Harrises fleet of gold-plated Ferraris, and Garlick's underground volcano lair, but ads on forums are less clear-cut, especially as the forum members also help drive traffic to the classifieds and news sections.

I don't use an ad blocker, because I don't read PH at work and can ignore the ads, as long as they stay at the bottom of the page and keep quiet. They seem pretty lame/irrelevant and NSFW, but it's no big deal to me.

[illmonkey]

Junior Bianno said:

Enlighten me then. On all levels

I started my forum as I saw a hole in the market, not for profit, but to do some good. I didn't run ads for 2 years, until the site grew and started costing a bit of dosh. I still didn't and have never forced people to pay. I also know some people adblock, and I don't kick up a fuss of ban them. I was then told by the regular members to offer a way for them to pay it back to me for starting and running the site. A nominal amount was agreed and most of them joined up.

You offer them a few perks for helping to run the site, nothing that really costs you anything (apart from a bit of disk space maybe), as a thank you back. Members on most forums use it as a way to be social and chat with people with similar interests.

Your/the articles analogy is ridiculous. Comparing someone running a business FOR profit directly selling items compared to a web site allowing free viewing. Their analogy should have been with a restaurant who allows you to eat for free but would benefit from you dropping a £20 note when you walked out.

Forums exist due to the members and what they say. Without them, forums would be pretty crap. Don't treat them like crap, and certainly don't force them to pay money to line your pockets.

[B17NNS]

porridge said:

even provide a search.

It does. It just doesn't work

My beef with all this is that as suspected we were lied to. We were told it was just links to other areas of the site. It was always going to be ads and we all knew it. Why not just say? It's like your mum mashing sprouts into your potatoes in the hope you won't notice.

Fair enough, we need ads to pay for the site, nobody is going to argue against this. It's just the quality of the ads. They are truly dire. Someone is missing the trick of the century here. Good quality, motoring related advertising would be beneficial to both the users of the site, the sites coffers and the advertisers themselves.

It really isn't hard to get right.