Advertisements in the body of threads ?

[scottb613 1,188]

Hi Folks,

Maybe I just noticed - or maybe it's an issue on my end - but are the advertisements within the bodies of threads something new ? I seriously dislike seeing an advertisement in the area where I'm actually trying to read posts - I'm hoping this is in error ?

Thanks...

Regards,
Scott

 

[Jim Young 2,356]

We do have advertisements turned on and I too now see them in the body of a topic.  Of course, you can click on the X in the upper right corner of the offending ad and opt out if you want.  For me the advertisements have not bothered me one bit.  I just disregard them (but every so often I do see something interesting!!).  We have turned on advertising to help supplement revenue just like other FS sites like FlightSim and FlyAway.  We still have not turned on charging members for membership like the other sites though and AVSIM is still free.  Sorry to hear you do not like seeing advertisements in the area where you are actually trying to read posts.  That might be temporary as I know the CEO and AVSIM Tech wanted to have a banner at the top of the forums for the drive for donations for a new Server.  That campaign was successfully completed in just 3 days and we are overwhelmed with the show of support and sincerely appreciate every contribution.  But, according to our CFO, AVSIM still requires funds to defray expenses by the site provider and and Internet Service provider where our servers are located.  The costs keep rising, especially if we ever need emergency repairs at the server location (and another reason we need the new Server). 

The $14K received so far from our members began in 2015.  We just update the year for the Fundraising Goal.  We have never gotten close to receiving $36K a year.  I understand that $14K received since 2015 just barely covers our expenses.  This is why we had to have a special fund raising for the new Server (which will be installed on 19 May and site performance should increase gradually after that).

[sightseer 895]

On 5/7/2018 at 10:52 AM, Jim Young said:

We do have advertisements turned on and I too now see them in the body of a topic.  Of course, you can click on the X in the upper right corner of the offending ad and opt out if you want.  For me the advertisements have not bothered me one bit.  I just disregard them (but every so often I do see something interesting!!).  We have turned on advertising to help supplement revenue just like other FS sites ...

there is an offending ad that I wish to not see.  It has a likeness of Trump and says "Trump ends another Obama era policy"

there is no 'X' on that particular ad like there is on others.

It seems political to me which is odd as I was recently told to get rid of my signature based on a political speech ban on Avsim.

EDIT: in fact, How do I just turn off ALL ads?

Edited September 11, 2019 by sightseer

[Jim Young 2,356]

The advertisements you see are based on the "Cookies" on your system and are not generated for every member on AVSIM.  Delete your cookies and you won't see any related advertisements.  Members do not see the same advertisements you see unless they have the same cookie on their system.  So it is highly unlikely others saw the same political ad which should bring you some relief.  You can remove it by clicking on the 'X' in the upper right hand corner of the ad. 

If you have a browser like Firefox, you can go to their menu and click on Content blocking.  Here you can block about everything.  A lot of members get ad blockers.  Just do a search for Ad blocker and it will tell you how to block ads just using your browser.

[MaDDogz 242]

I understand the need for ads...

but, this is a flight sim forum, and the ads I’m seeing are for granny annexes or work boots

certainly nothing like that in my cookies as I haven’t looked at things like that.

...I’d be happy if the ads were for sim things, hardware ect. 

Of coarse I just scroll on by and ignore it, but if they was related they may indeed get clicks.

[Jim Young 2,356]

The other flightsim sites have the ads turned on a lot longer than AVSIM.  AVSIM has an advertising portal for FS products that can be placed on the site for a fee but we are seeing a lot of advertising in posts and topics which amounts to free advertising.  Although not allowed in AVSIM TOS by developers it is hard to police and most is done by members for the developer innocently or on purpose. Not talking about the Bargain Hunters Forum that Tom allowed members and developers to post sales for free.

[sightseer 895]

Hi Jim - 

Thanks for the information.  I've deleted most cookies ( I try to block most cookies anyway) and I'll see where I get.  That particular ad (and some others don't have that red X in the upper right.  I've seen it on some but not all.

[Jim Young 2,356]

That's strange it did not have an X in the upper right corner of the ad.  I think all ads have it, not only from Ad Choices, but other ad agencies too.  In any case you can also click on the Green lock in the URL for AVSIM and click on content blocking to see what it is blocking.