Hey,

Today i was looking at some new news at universe today and to my surprise i see those ANNOYING ads that i hate on other sites..

The ads that i see now: (big ads)
1. SpaceSpot
2. pkr.com
3. partypoker (flash!! KILL THAT ADD!!!)

and there are smaller ads like firefox and google text ads..
I would like to ask (fraser) to keep Universe today clean and use googles text ads and not the image ads. SPECIALLY NO FLASH ADS!! i think you can make enough money to break even with universe today if you only use text ads.

And please keep universe today clean.. i liked it when it was clean and i don't really want to start disliking it.

Mark.

EDIT:://

oke now you've done it.
i'm seeing the following ads on one page now.. KILL THEM!!! (added the on purpose in this post to let you see how ANNOYING they are. PLEASE GET RID OF THEM together with all animated banners)



And after another F5 (refresh) i saw:



Now i could do it simple with those ads... just block everything that contains "edgesuite.net" but that won't block the rest. so i think i'm gonna write a script that downloads those news posts and pots it on my localhost news site no ads no nothing and still up to date

Sorry fraser but those ads are screwing your site.

I'll kill any annoying ads.

You might want to consider installing the Adblock plugin to Firefox.

__________________
Fraser Cain
Publisher
Universe Today - Free space news delivered by email every weekday.

It would be best to just use Google's text ads. they aren't annoying and still do the job quite well.

Hi

I emailed you (Fraser) a few weeks back about the whole ad thing. They are seriously irritating!

One thing that really irritates the crap out of me with these ads is that they are complete crap. You actually have to be a total idiot to believe what they say.

Maybe you don’t see the ones I’m seeing because you're in Canada and I’m in South Africa and as a result seeing different ads?

These

"you're the 999 999th visitor to this site.. blah blah blah... ...you win a fake prize, woohooo.... blah blah..."

ads are all over the web. Particularly on dodgy websites.

They do nothing for universe today's credibility! If anything they damage its reputation (at least the one I’ve come to know over the years).

Another thing i can guarantee you is that these ads do NOT appeal, in any way, to the users of the universe today website/forum unless they are incredibly gullible or just plain stupid.

I suggest you stick with Google Adsense or find an ad server who will serve useful ads with some level of credibility.

Best Regards

__________________
Challenging Limits

www.fullscap.com

www.howearthworks.com
www.climatechange.com.au

I can't believe my eyes: an ad for creationism on Universe Today! Please, please take it off!

Oh leave Fraser alone. How much money are YOU giving him? None?

__________________
In your rush to call everyone "entrenched" or closed-minded or "limited" you fail to note that the "limit" here has a very natural boundary: that point at which the evidence stops. - JayUtah

Science fiction was never meant to be an educational tool. - Editor Amazing Tales

I am not the 999,999 visitor what a bummer.

__________________
If it's just us, it seems like an awful waste of space.
Contact Carl Sagan

http://davidsuniverse.wordpress.com/

Class-action lawsuits!

__________________
*

Fraser doesn't place the ads. He just allows the placement OF ads.

The cookies saved on your computer tells the companies placing those ads which ones to show individuals based on their surfing habits.

Just another version of little brother watching you.

P.S. I don't see any ads on his page. Spybot Search and Destroy works wonders.

There's nothing wrong with trying to pay those web host fees, but some of those ads seem to be confusing/annoying. I mailed about what I thought to be a PRO drugs ad ... "hit the button to give xxx a drag on the joint" ... which then spins his brain around. I looked closer after I'd sent the email and it is actually an ad for an ANTI drugs site. A support site. Doh ! Oh well. I must say I seriously disagree with their ad campaign though. Your average drug user WANTS to spin their brain around and this kind of thing actually ends up promoting the very thing your trying to stop IMO. Some guy sitting with his friends, then you give him a toke, and all his friends GO AWAY, would work a lot better IMO.

DJ Barney

The ads you se are based on your browsing. But loosely.

If you go to a real medical site for men, and the word viagra is there, the cookie hits on it and you will see viagra ads on your bowser and also in your email.

EE, you win the Freudian typo of the week award.

Oi. Does that mean we should all check our "bowser's" or does it mean if we DO check 'em, then we should use that reflexive reaction (redundant, I know) as a learning experience telling us something about ourselves...?

I'm SOOO confused....

__________________
"...wait for the ricochet."

There are many ways to block ads. Some websites really slam you with them. As well as pop ups gallore.

I never see any ads on this site at all. But I also block cookies (except this site of course)

I don't see that kind of Ad here in this site.

Our pop-up blocker is always enabled to prevent such ads.

__________________
Jean
-----
"The important thing is not to stop questioning. Curiosity has its own reason for existing." - Albert Einstein

"The good life is inspired by love and guided by knowledge " - Bertrand Russell

Let me help your confusion. The answer is 'Yes.'

Hello Forum!

My first post.

Shouldn't any presention funded by ads have those ads taking up a minimal amount of the display?

Television programs are mostly meaningful content and are made up as little of commercial time as possible.

On the homepage of UniverseToday, the display on my monitor is mostly ads.

How much does he want or need? I'll donate. Would you?

How about a paid site with no ads?

I thought I was 999,999.99

First, welcome to the BAUT!

Second, over the years, advertising time for, say, half-hour shows has constantly increased to the point where it represents about 1/3 of the show time, i.e., 20 minutes for content, 10 minutes for ads. And that's not counting the seemingly endless pop-up ads during the content, which keep getting larger and larger and have now added sound effects, to the point now where some shows are unwatchable due to important images and soundtrack parts being obscured/drowned out by the pop-ups.

Most of commercial TV is digging its own grave.

The solution for UT is the ad blocker for Firefox which was previously mentioned. I use it and see no ads.

__________________
A person's name, or a mark representing it, as signed personally or by deputy, as in subscribing a letter or other document.

Mak, you're a little late. Post #18 was from September '07.

I know, it took you that long to get be one of the 999,999th visitors. There may be a new kind of infinity consisting of the set of 999,999th visitors.

Fraser, these ads are stupid and insulting, and not consistent with the atmosphere of UT and BAUT.

Blasted Murphy! The one time I don't check a post's date...How did you know?

One wonders whose infinity is bigger, Fraser's or Phil's?I agree. I fired up IE to a look at what probably most visitors and members see, and it wasn't pretty. Now to run my various utilities to get rid of all the spyware, adware, etc., that IE presents an open door to.

Then back to Firefox and a civilized web experience once again.

__________________
A person's name, or a mark representing it, as signed personally or by deputy, as in subscribing a letter or other document.

Hi John, unfortunately, this is one of those situations where the existence of Universe Today depends on the ads.

So pick one.
1. UT + ads (even annoying ads).
2. Silence.

I'm going to add a little more here, since I'm kind of fired up about this now. In the past, I have gone the ad free route when maintaining the site was a part time hobby. But I could only dedicate an hour or so a day while I maintained my full time job, family etc.

And if you've been a friend of Universe Today for a long time, you'll know that I've opened the doors up for donations in the past. And let me tell you, the result wasn't pretty. Same goes with Astronomy Cast - I think we're lucky to scrape together $50 in donations most months. Not great for 200,000 downloads every month.

if the donations could cover the bills, I would gladly go ad free. But for every one of you who offers to donate a few bucks to help keep the servers running, there are hundreds of thousands of people who will only accept free. That business model is unsustainable. You might get a boost in money when you nag, but for the rest of the time, it's nothing. You've seen public television, that's the level of nagging required to keep the donations coming in.

With all the free information on the Internet, a pay-only solution doesn't work either. If the New York Times has failed to make that work as a business model, I'm not even going to try.

No, in the end, it has to be advertising... it's the only viable business model.

The advertising allows me to make Universe Today. It lets us cover the costs of the server for BAUT. It's just that the ad market is tiny, the advertisers are cheap, and the entire industry has so much momentum in the old-school media.

And I've made it abundantly clear that I'm happy for you to use whatever adblocking software you want to use to consume the content in the most pristine, adless environment possible. I've suggested Firefox + Adblock to anyone who complains, and even give little tutorials. Here on BAUT, we turn off the ads for all the members. Many of you might not even realize they're here.

Of course I know that annoying ads can make a bad first impression for Universe Today. I get that, deeper down in my brain that I think you realize. It's a deal with the devil, but it beats the alternative.

But until the vast advertising machine finally stops blowing its wad on $5 million Superbowl ads and realizes that there's a much better place to spend their ad bucks, Universe Today and other websites have to survive on the scraps that fall off the edge of the table. Some day - when advertisers finally come to their senses - you'll see just a few, really appropriate ads on UT and BAUT, where the advertisers are paying a fair amount of money to reach such a high-value community. The ads will almost seem like a service.

Until that day, we have to grind on, walking that fine balance between annoyance and survival.

__________________
Fraser Cain
Publisher
Universe Today - Free space news delivered by email every weekday.

Be patient, there is hope:
many advertisers are very aware of these challenges.