New Banner Ad

"Gathering data..." + browser keeps loading = worrisome. I have to manually stop the loading, which is a pain. I suggest you at least change the text of that banner. I usually leave a tab open to UU, but if I keep getting constant browser loads I'll probably stop doing that...which is also a pain because I visit UU often throughout the day.

Thanks, guys. I really appreciate all your efforts in making this such a great site.

Some ad site seems to have taken over this site.
I get wbank.info popping up constantly

I'm using Google Chrome and I have none of these issues!

Let's give the UU guys time to sort the new banner ad out. The issue I originally posted about was clearly the ad company gearing things up. I also got a few pop ups automatically coming up. That shouldn't happen unless I actually click on the ad.

The highlighted words that bring up small popups when you hover over them can be pretty annoying if there's too many of them. It's too easy to accidentally pass over one of those words while browsing. Again, let's give 'em time to sort things out.

I have the same issue you do Drew Bear.....many words underlined and pop-ups appearing without clicking anything.

Coriandre, you may need to adjust your browser preferences to block popups. Some ads can get around that, but it's worth playing around with the settings. The automatic popups stopped for me, so it's possible they were caused when I "hovered" (briefly passed over) the main banner add at the top.

I know these things are annoying, but I understand the necessity of financing a free website as it grows and needs more bandwidth.

It is a relief to find this thread. I just spent the better part of two hours trying to MAKE IT STOP!!! I pray the site admin can solve this. Does this happen to subscribing members? I don't mind subscribing to a site I use often, but if I also had to deal with the flashing ads at the top of the page, the underlined hotlinks or whatever they are, and the ads popping up and loading god knows what, I'd be pretty ticked. And I'd most certainly spend my time elsewhere.

......................

I agree boydellinii. So much for being able to have a nice peaceful conversation.

Lexxy said:

I'm using Google Chrome and I have none of these issues!

Click to expand...

Are you using some kind of extra Ad-Block plugin though?
I'm using Chrome too, and UU is atrociously infested with ads for me today...

How well a browser can block ads is not the issue here.
It's whether we should bombarded with ads on our favourite ukulele forum...


Sometimes, the whole screen just redirects me to this kind of whole-page ad..


And oh gosh:

PLEASE GET RID OF THESE NEW BANNERS THEY ARE A BLOODY PAIN, and whats the crack with these underlined green words, please sort it out please, NOW I GOT POPUPS TAKIN ME AWAY FROM THE UU SITE AND CAN@T GET BACK WITHOUT LOGGING OFF AND THEN GOING THROUGH THE WHOLE PROCESS OF LOGGING BACK ON< GGGGGRRRRRRRRRRRRR

^^ Woah!

I haven't had any of those massive screen-covering ads yet! The small banner at the top doesn't bother me, but the horrible green underlined words that throw up ads when you hover over them annoy me to no end........

But hey, all this UU goodness is free.





EDIT: Damn, I spoke (typed?) too soon, I've just been hit by the full page ad horror!!

I experienced the full page ad while reading this thread.

It started to happen to me too, it's a pain in the butt.

Lexxy said:

I'm using Google Chrome and I have none of these issues!

Click to expand...

Perhaps because you're a VIP? Is that one of the benefits of giving them money - an ad-free forum experience?

Add me to the list of folks being beset by ads.

I understand that the UU forum is free, but honestly, if this is the price we now have to pay, I may be spending far less time here. I guess these ads would have then done the opposite of their intended purpose, eh? Driving eyeballs away from the site, rather than attracting them to the sponsor.

23skidoo said:

Perhaps because you're a VIP? Is that one of the benefits of giving them money - an ad-free forum experience?

Click to expand...

Yes. The "problem" is that regular (non-VIP) members have been enjoying the ad-free forums for a long time. It's always more difficult to charge a fee for a service after you've been giving that service away for free. Ask Netflix.

By becoming a UU VIP you will be directly contributing to keep UU alive and you will also receive a slew of great benefits for becoming a VIP member.

Benefits:

• Access to VIP Boards. no spam, no promos, just a place to talk story and hang out
• No more ads in the forum once you login
• Increased PM box (now up to 200 messages)
• UU VIP badge
• set you own user title (no more boring "senior member")
• participate in UU VIP contests and giveaways (we're bringing back the contests for UU VIPs only)
• Premium support for technical issues
• Be on the guest list for LIVE VIP events when the UU guys goes on tour
• Know you are helping UU and the ukulele movement stay strong!

To become a UU VIP is just $5 / month or $45 / year.

You can sign up here (need to be logged in to see page)​

Click to expand...

http://www.ukuleleunderground.com/forum/showthread.php?45886-UU-VIP-Program

Drew Bear said:

Yes. The "problem" is that regular (non-VIP) members have been enjoying the ad-free forums for a long time. It's always more difficult to charge a fee for a service after you've been giving that service away for free. Ask Netflix.

http://www.ukuleleunderground.com/forum/showthread.php?45886-UU-VIP-Program

Click to expand...

Generally for a forum like this, just having a banner ad on top and/or the bottom of the page is sufficient to keep it a "free" service.
This has been the case for some time now, so regular members have not been enjoying "ad-free" membership. That banner ad at the top of the page has been there for some time, and having VIP membership would mean that banner ad is not displayed.

What is unusual is the underlined in green keyword ads, and the entire-screen-popup ads.
This is excessive, and not normal to be the terms of a free website. It is far too user-unfriendly.

Unless there is an explanation, my assumption is that these new ads are not a normal part of the free forum service, but rather a way for the forum to raise revenue by having the extra ads (at the expense of free members' convenience). A bit like how Youtube partners can have ads on their original videos and earn some money.

Drew Bear said:

Yes. The "problem" is that regular (non-VIP) members have been enjoying the ad-free forums for a long time. It's always more difficult to charge a fee for a service after you've been giving that service away for free. Ask Netflix.

Click to expand...

I know what you mean..... but I have to admit that I feel a little guilty about not paying for my use of this forum - I've gotten a lot out of it over the last few months. I've always rationalized not paying for UU+ by realizing that I wouldn't use the added benefits at all. I'm not really interested in the more technical aspects of instrumental ukulele playing - it is not my style. I'm really a guitarist that uses the ukulele more like a small guitar or a mandolin - I'm not really into the more traditional or 'mainstream' aspects of the uke at all. I go for weeks or even months without looking at the UU main page and I've never really used any of the instructional material the UU guys have put together.

So I pretty much use the forum exclusively. Is this something I'm willing to pay for? To be frank, it hasn't been so far - I guess I see it more as a community effort. I see very little on the forums provided by the UU guys, outside of actually hosting the forum itself. So how much does this cost them? I know nothing about how the business side of hosting these forums operates...... I know this is a very busy forum compared to one or two others I have experience with.... does this extra use of bandwith cost more? Are they losing money on this?

I guess I've always felt that the forum was a sideline to the other money making components of what the UU guys do, so I've never felt the need to pay for it. But I've got to say that I think the ads are completely reasonable, especially if it's costing UU money to host the forum - there's no such thing as a free lunch. Hopefully they can find a non-intrusive balance that doesn't ruin the experience for folks. But, to be honest, you get what you pay for. I think the only people who really have a right to bitch about the ads are the folks that actually give UU monetary support - and it doesn't look like it's going to effect them at all. I think this is only fair.

If the UU guys want to take a chance on alienating users with in-your-face ads, that's up to them. I have a feeling they'll tweak things depending on how folks respond to the introduction of the more aggressive advertising. Hopefully things will work out well for everyone concerned.....

kissing said:

Generally for a forum like this, just having a banner ad on top and/or the bottom of the page is sufficient to keep it a "free" service. This has been the case for some time now, so regular members have not been enjoying "ad-free" membership. That banner ad at the top of the page has been there for some time...

Click to expand...

I first stumbled across this forum about a month ago and have never seen a banner ad at the top until yesterday. I agree that ad-supported forums are the norm. I'm not complaining about the ads and will even click on some of them if it's anything remotely interesting to me. My original post was about the text message in the banner space while the ad company was gearing up the service.