[erikkellison]

Okay, so I can put up with the ads that insert themselves after the first comment on any classified ad or forum post. But the popups that I'm seeing with disturbing regularity are actually making it really difficult to navigate as about half the time they're freezing my browser. I have the most current version of IE7 and no other problems.
Is Ridemonkey really that poor that it needs even more ads? This is getting ridiculous...

 

[Wumpus]

Pop ups?

I never see any.

 

[erikkellison]

They're these imbedded popups from Backcountry.com that appear in the upper left - not a true popup because they're not a new window - they might be a Flash object, I'm not sure.

 

[MTBracer]

You might consider getting Firefox. I've got it, and everyone else here who doesn't see pop-ups and other things has it. So it must be doing something right. I think it's awesome. I've never seen any ads on this website with it. Only knew they existed from other people complaining about them.
http://www.mozilla.com/en-US/firefox/
Check it out man

Edit: Did I mention it's FREE!!!

 

[DirtyDog]

I don't know what you mean. That Backcountry ad isn't a pop. We are serving the same kinds of ads we always have.

 

[Wumpus]

They're these imbedded popups from Backcountry.com that appear in the upper left - not a true popup because they're not a new window - they might be a Flash object, I'm not sure.

Maybe it is an RSS feed from backcountry. I frequent there and here, but I don't any types of popups from them.


maybe you should try out ad-aware or spybot and see if they find anything.

 

[erikkellison]

Coincidentally, they stopped appearing. It was just yesterday and late the night before. I kinda wonder if they were experimenting with something. I am quite sure they were linked to the RM, and that I don't have any viruses or anything of the sort. The best way to describe it would be to say that it was an object, like if you went to a website, and a survey request popped up. Part of the webpage, not distinct, but the worst part was that these popups halted the RM page from loading, and didn't have the typical "X" or "close" button. They ended up crashing IE7 every time. Let's hope they're gone.

 

[DirtyDog]

Coincidentally, they stopped appearing. It was just yesterday and late the night before. I kinda wonder if they were experimenting with something. I am quite sure they were linked to the RM, and that I don't have any viruses or anything of the sort. The best way to describe it would be to say that it was an object, like if you went to a website, and a survey request popped up. Part of the webpage, not distinct, but the worst part was that these popups halted the RM page from loading, and didn't have the typical "X" or "close" button. They ended up crashing IE7 every time. Let's hope they're gone.

I know what you mean - that little Nelson netratings survey. Yes annoying. I don't have control over everything these networks serve. Hopefully those things are done now.

 

[erikkellison]

They still keep causing issues every now and then. They are the square ad in the upper left corner. Sometimes when I load the RM page, they load improperly and freeze the window. Sometimes refreshing fixes the problem. Weird. I hate ads. Is RM getting too commercial that they need ads, or has this already been hashed out in different threads/forums?

 

[DirtyDog]

They still keep causing issues every now and then. They are the square ad in the upper left corner. Sometimes when I load the RM page, they load improperly and freeze the window. Sometimes refreshing fixes the problem. Weird. I hate ads. Is RM getting too commercial that they need ads, or has this already been hashed out in different threads/forums?

We've had ads since the dawn of time. Sometimes the ad networks sneak some crap in that is both obnoxious and difficult to deal with. Nothing I can do about that.

I'd be happy to issue you a full refund if you would like.

 

[erikkellison]

I'd be happy to issue you a full refund if you would like.

Funny! Seriously.
Really though, I might just subscribe, but I don't really see what my money would get me to avoid the ads. I know that there's always been an ad on the website, but not at least 3 per page. I'm not a webmaster, and maybe it's a necessary evil, but I just fail to see what costs money. If it's time, then volunteer it. If you don't have the time to volunteer, someone else will. Hosting? All you need is a server and a dedicated IP, right? Doesn't seem that difficult. But again, I'm no web genius, so I may be missing something. I just am frustrated by ads, and wanted to voice my opinion.

 

[DirtyDog]

Funny! Seriously.
Really though, I might just subscribe, but I don't really see what my money would get me to avoid the ads. I know that there's always been an ad on the website, but not at least 3 per page. I'm not a webmaster, and maybe it's a necessary evil, but I just fail to see what costs money. If it's time, then volunteer it. If you don't have the time to volunteer, someone else will. Hosting? All you need is a server and a dedicated IP, right? Doesn't seem that difficult. But again, I'm no web genius, so I may be missing something. I just am frustrated by ads, and wanted to voice my opinion.

LOL you have to be kidding. Seriously, LOL. To start with, do you have any idea what it costs to host a site like this? And that is just to start. There are backups, security, upgrades, administrative support time, and on and on.

This is the last I am going to post about this but here it is: you would not believe the personal sacrifices it has taken to run this site over the years. When people come along and complain and insist that this should be "free and easy", it really strikes a nerve with me.

Luckily, this site has proper backing now so I don't have to worry about paying the rent anymore. You shouldn't complain too much about what is given to you for free. Helpful suggestions and feedback are welcome. But when it turns into simple complaining, I am going to take exception to that.

 

[DirtyDog]

Oh, and recently we decreased, not increased, the number of ads per page.

 

[erikkellison]

Relax, man. It's not like I'm whining, threatening or getting malicious. I do appreciate the RM - and you're right, I don't really have any idea. I am apparently ignorant of all that goes on behind the scenes. I didn't mean to upset you, but you have to realize that a lot of people - probably the majority of the members here - have no clue what is required to run this website. Anyway, thanks for all your hard work.

 

[binary visions]

Relax, man.

Incidentally, I investigated buying RM back when it was for sale and I've seen the numbers. This is not a serious money-making endeavor. Hosting costs are no small peanuts, and you know that all of us mods and admins have real jobs and lives and do this simply to try and keep RM as a nice community that we all enjoy, right? To complain about advertisements on a website where a whole bunch of people volunteer their free time to maintain and moderate just gets frustrating. I'm not chiding you, just trying to open your eyes to the work that actually goes into a site like this. It doesn't run itself.

On top of daily activities like moderating discussions, keeping out spambots and participating in the board, vBulletin upgrades don't happen by themselves, security patches don't apply themselves, additions to the site like new forums, embedded YouTube videos, functions like credits or rep or new classifieds, those all take time. Even stupid administrative stuff like answering PMs, replying to emails, odds and ends like users requesting username changes or whatever... it all adds up.

Anyhow. Like I said, not lecturing - just showing you all the little pieces that end up adding up to a lot of work and money.

 

[erikkellison]

It's all good

 

[I Are Baboon]

I want a raise.

 

[DirtyDog]

I want a raise.

20% - effective immediately.

 

[jonKranked]

Admins, Mods: for as much of a sarcastic jackass as I am, I have a lot of respect for you guys. This is one of the best run forums I've ever seen. You guys do a great freakin' job. Keep up the good work!

To those inquiring, running a website isn't free. Hosting space and bandwidth are 2 of your biggest costs, not to mention paying to use certain pieces of software. I can't even imagine how large the database is for RM. If you don't mind me asking, on average, how much bandwidth does this site use in a month? My guess is somewhere in the multiple terabyte range.

 

[binary visions]

Traffic got so huge we actually had to hire HAL to handle it for us.

 

[HAB]

Firefox+ad block= no more ads. Problem solved. For free.

 

[sanjuro]

LOL you have to be kidding. Seriously, LOL. To start with, do you have any idea what it costs to host a site like this? And that is just to start. There are backups, security, upgrades, administrative support time, and on and on.

This is the last I am going to post about this but here it is: you would not believe the personal sacrifices it has taken to run this site over the years. When people come along and complain and insist that this should be "free and easy", it really strikes a nerve with me.

Luckily, this site has proper backing now so I don't have to worry about paying the rent anymore. You shouldn't complain too much about what is given to you for free. Helpful suggestions and feedback are welcome. But when it turns into simple complaining, I am going to take exception to that.

I want to congratulate you for running an excellent website.

Given the enormous budget of tens of dollars, I think the uptime and performance is more than adequate. Upgrades and designs have improved over the years, and let's not forget about this: the quality of moderation directly reflects in the quality of our threads (and if you don't believe me, just go to mtbr or pinkbike).

And I know something about computers.