Is someone reading my messages to insert these links?

The in-text links that appear within the forums are automatically generated by our software and are based on keywords, so your privacy is maintained.

Why have these ads been introduced on GardenWeb?

In order to continue to offer free services such as GardenWeb's community, we rely on advertising to help cover the costs of running such a large and popular site.

I don't want to see these ads, can I disable them?

While we hope that you find these links relevant and useful, you can opt out of seeing these links by visiting this page:
http://www.vibrantmedia.com/whatisintellitxt/gardenweb.asp?ipid=17559&cc=us&server=gardenweb.us.intellitxt.com

For further questions or to report issues, please feel free to contact us.

hmmm...wonder what is up that you can't use the Contact link. I just contacted them via the link and linked to this thread.

Of course now I see they are getting the follow-up replies here emailed to them.

duh Sue

Okay, found it. In case it will help someone else with Firefox, I had to disable my ad block for it to show up...otherwise, the only option you'll see is a form to contact "VibrantMedia" so they can contact you in return.

If you're good enough with computers you can use the instructions provided on wikipedia to try to block these ads if they become excessively annoying.

By coincidence and to be fair, a major men's magazine ran a small story on personally targeted ads on facebook and the like. Whenever these get done right they'll be less annoying than having to sit through 12 minutes of ads an hour to watch a tv show was to the greatest generation.

How inefficient! You should try to monetize every single word. For shame!

I think Gardenweb is being reasonable and I'm very glad they don't ask for a paid subscription. That's an inconvenience at least, even if you can afford it.

If those little adds start popping up even when you don't intentionally mouse over something, I'll be back to complain.

This may be fine for you if you like the company involved, but not so great if you object to their practices for whatever reason.

I suppose you could always add a standard disclaimer to posts, saying that you do not endorse any business or organization linked to in the body of your message. Kind of inconvenient, though.

Those who do not wish to pay a subscription can continue to encounter the pop ups, scrolling ads and IntelliTXT.

Those who would like to pay for a subscription should not have to see any form of advertising.

Wouldn't that be fair for everyone and still provide you with a revenue stream?

When moving your mouse means that text you are trying to read is no longer visible, which IntelliTXT ads often do, it just makes it too difficult to use the site.

I think this was a bad decision.

That's like a TV network suggesting that you go get a DVR so you can record programs and skip over the commercials.

That's like a TV network suggesting that you go get a DVR so you can record programs and skip over the commercials.

Not really. If they don't provide an opt out option. too many people will abandon the site because they detest this type of advertising. The option allows sites to have it both ways. Without the option, Vibrant Media would have a much smaller client base.

If the display ads were not full colour with motion and sometimes sound, I would not mind seeing them - discreet notices off to the side would be bearable as they would not slow down loading as well as not being annoying.

But here's a thought - what about a made-in-GW solution involving threads... after all, threads is what GW does. There could be threads that advertisers pay to post to, that ordinary people can't post to (so, no spam), that are information ads of various sorts... could be one or two threads per forum, positioned outside the current threads list. Postings could be a limited size, renewable so the list is always different, Imagine a thread in the Windows forum, for instance, where people could scroll through a series of informative posts from window manufacturers... that would be a useful tool for shopping for windows. Even if there weren't a lot of hits, the ones there are would be purposeful and likely high-return. There could maybe even be site-wide threads linked from the announcements section at the top just as this announcement is.

KarinL

The free non-ad-supported forums out there are usually run by an egomaniac with a god complex and those are no good.

You must be frequenting the wrong boards...

Well, it will go the way of spam, of calling people's homes to solicit business and of television advertising. I can't remember the last time I watched an advertisement. I have a DVR and I record programs so I don't have to watch advertisements at all. Pretty soon people get fed up and find a way around it. They shouldn't have to, if advertisers cared at all about how much is reasonable to expect people to deal with. But they don't care. Neither does GW.

I also buy brands that DONT advertise. Advertising has become so intrusive, has long been known as dishonest and manipulative, who pays attention to it any more.

I pay close attention to them. The ones that are informative may get my purchase later. The ones that use techniques I recognize as shady: providing incomplete information, using false logic, using emotive methods, subliminal graphics; I mark down as companies I don't want to deal with.

If you truly want to opt out send me a private email.
sgbotsford@gmail.com. I tried posting the method here, but it got flagged for profanity because I mentioned the names of the blocking methods.

I don't mind seeing the side bar ads, but in-text (in MY text) is horrible. I do NOT endorse any of these places! They are using our words to make money.

And it is confusing to see embeded codes next to to them! You don't know what is ads and what is an important link.

I haven't complained about many of the things GW has done. This is a free site after all. It would be different if I had to pay. But this is encroaching just a little too much on us. AND I very much dislike their new policy of not letting us link to certain sites...
CMK

I think Gardenweb is being reasonable and I'm very glad they don't ask for a paid subscription.
Me too.

There are very good no-ads free forums.
I'm trying to think of one ...just for fun. Ok...I thought the 2 very small (in comparison to GW) Yahoo groups I belong didn't have advertising but I see if I access them via IE they too have ads. I guess my Yahoo groups and GW are only no-ad forums with FF and whatever I have added onto it.

Has GW noticed that the forums are getting fewer and fewer posts? More and more people are finding other places to gather. Facebook has become the place to be.
Yes, but typically the actual Garden forums are slower this time of year anyway. I agree, as more social networking sites become available, computers users will either spread themselves thinner, spending less time at any 'one' place, or will land at a place they consider 'home'. Since I don't see any ads here, it will probably be 'home' to me. Then there are the folks that started farming at Farmville and quit all other sources of social networking on line.

Opt out is a waste of time if you clean your cache and delete your cookies which I do often. You have to do it over and over, it's no permanent solution.
I just went and did a disk clean-up and didn't have to opt out again and am not seeing the one contextual advertising that I know of in one thread. But then I'm using FF and some ad-ons...so that explains why I am a happy camper and have never been annoyed with such things as described above.

YMMV,

Mike

I'm sick and tired of marketing hype being shoved down my throat, and I have absolutely no respect for businesses that think this is the way to get my business.

Sandy

I sent an e-mail, and hopefully it will fix the issue. If not, I'm done until they come up with another support method for the website....like a fair subscription cost. I'm willing to pay my way. I'm not willing to put up with unsolicted ads.

I have used forums with these kinds of ads and I find them annoying since they make it harder to read due to the disctration. On top of it the ads are always laughingly irrelevant; you have to be a pretty clueless company to be suckered into paying real $$ for that kind of ad.

Scott

When you are on the 'Disable' page it will say down below "Disable Vibrant Ads" with a "Click here to Disable". Click on this just ONCE. Click it again and you will re-enable it, lol.

If it diables it correctly you will see the underlined 'Click here to disable' has changed to "Click here to Enable".

At least, that is how it happened when I went to the disable page. When I double clicked on it nothing happened, ads were still there. Clicked it once and they went away.
CMK

Not good.

I was interested to read an article about the use of this kind of advertising, which claimed many companies tried it and gave up because it alienated their users.

I just tried enabling then disabling to see if it needed refreshing, but that didn't help.

Claire

I was going to give the new advertising form a chance since this is after all, a free site, but none of the highlighted words link to anything related to the threads. Sooooo, I wish to opt out.

Count me as another who will NEVER give business to those who advertise this way. You never get a second chance to make a good first impression.

And count me as a user who will become an infrequent or non-existent user if we aren't given a true opt-out feature.

Not that I think GW IT listens. I had problems logging in to GW several months ago that coincided with GW software glitches. They told me they weren't connected. Yeah, right. Never mind that when GW finally fixed the software glitches, my log-in problems miraculously went away at the same time. Through it all, GW IT was useless, telling me things that software engineer hubby said were totally bogus.

I have to agree, that companies who choose this type of advertising will end up with more alienation than anything else. The money that it costs to advertise these days, could be better spent, improving their products and relying on word of mouth advertising. Someone said they are fine with advertisements that provide information, but I'm sorry, I don't trust advertising. For me, it represents dishonesty and manipulation and I don't see that changing any time soon.

The big 'D' site, is fee based, but, it is very well run and populated. Very user friendly and well maintained.

I so agree!! i'm only on a few boards but this is the only one with pop up annoying ads.

we lose our threads and now this?

if you opt out see if your spyware increases...I don't want their 'cookie' on my system.

We are working with Vibrant to fix the problems with the opt out option. Mac users, in particular, seem to be having the most problems as well as some Firefox users.

We're hoping to have this resolved shortly and appreciate your patience!

Best regards,

Tamara

Not sure how much of a difference it makes, but I'm using Google Chrome on one pc and Firefox on another; although I have chosen to opt out on both machines, I'm still getting the links.

Kate

I believe GW participants have spoken loud and clear:

We don't want advertising links in our posts!

I miss the OLD gardenweb! The gardenweb where I didn't have trouble with logging in, where there were not so many "garden gnomes" fouling up the system, here I wasn't molested with ads, where we had the freedom to link to and mention other informative sites (like David's* Garden)!!
CMK

However, be prepared that you have now entered the war against Internet advertising and scripting. This means other sites which normally worked will not, UNTIL you right click on the no script icon and "Allow XYZ Site" when it starts acting funny. At that point, your site will work normally (permanently) again. No worry about cache or cookies.

If you are not computer literate, it may be easier to just endure it or find another site as some suggested.

Not sure how long my post will be here, since I've seen other posts like this one last for a day then "disappear".

substituting words will probably just be temporary... ground vs. soil vs. dirt ... it will just be a matter of time until they increase their dictionary.

I'm not getting any links and I don't know why. I probably haven't rebooted in a while... maybe my luck is temporary.

However, it was quite easy to disable, I will admit. I clicked on the ? that was at the top of the popup box and it had a link for me to click on that disabled this obnoxious thing. Then I quit Safari and reopened it and there were no more words lit up in green.

PS What ever happened to the Suggestions Forum?

So far it seems to be working this time (no green lines), so the problem may have been fixed.

To be honest, I find the green highlighting mildly annoying but certainly not annoying enough to leave Garden Web. I'd rather pay a subscription fee, but I can live with the green lines if GW needs the income.

Claire

IE8
http://simple-adblock.com/

Chrome
http://www.adsweep.org/

Safari
http://burgersoftware.com/en/safariadblock

This only took me about 15 minutes to find all these links. Sheesh! Find something else to complain about now!

Just to let you all know the only one I have is for FF and it works fine.
I can't guarantee any of these will work on your OS. My OS is XP SP2.

What I meant was that if you want you only have to forbid those scripts and not all scripts @ wendyb

RE ads: The only place I ever see ads is on the FAQ page for some unknown reason. I never see them on the forum pages. I have Safari preferences set to block cookies from third parties and advertisers, so that may help.

Claire

Claire

I have firefox and did what was suggested above. It worked, for 24 hours.

Thanks,
Marie

1 - With FireFox, install and use Adblocker Plus ... make sure Intellitext.com is on the blocked list.

2 - With Windows or Linux operating systems, there is a file called the "hosts" file ... find it and edit it (you will need 'root' permissions or admin rights) In Linux, it is in /etc directory. I forget where it is in Windows, somewhere in the system directory.

If there is a domain you would rather never see again, add a line at the bottom of the hosts file that reads:

127.0.0.1 intellitxt.com

This will have the effect of redirecting any requests to that host to your own computer, not theirs. You will vanish off their radar, they will never darken your door again. You can be very specific ... I blocked the annoying part of cox.net, not all of it.

Isn't that a marvelous idea?

If you want to track why they are blocked, use a # in front of the text explaining why:

127.0.0.1 intellitxt.com # green underlined ad text

OR

127.0.0.1 intellitxt.com
# green underlined ad text
# use as many lines as you need

See, my basic level of understanding of this is pretty basic!
However I'm not incapable. Over the years I have learned 5 different documentation programs for medical visits. HOwever, it usually takes me a few more weeks than the saviest guys and a couple weeks less than the most panic stricken middle aged person!!

If you can direct me to a website that can take me step by step slowly I'll be glad to keep trying. I do want to learn to do this myself.

Thanks.
Marie

Pop-ups just recently returned for me, too. Combined with the in-line ads, enough to make me start looking for new forums.

And it's some nerve on GW's part to add these extra annoyances when they've already been losing threads non-stop lately.

When you open a page with an ad you want to block, follow these steps 1)click on the 'ABP' icon in your browser then 2) click on Open blockable items. (See the second image in gallery) This list will include all blockable items. 3)Right click on the item you want to block, 4) click on 'Block item', then 5) click 'Add filter'. You might have to do this several times to block them all. Just continue steps 3-5 before exiting the ABP list. You can avoid choosing each of them by selecting the shortest element on the 'Add filter' window.(See the fourth image in gallery)

Hope that helps.

How exactly do I think? All I said was that I object to a site using my words to advertise products which I might not want to endorse.

You and I might agree politically more than you think, but I'm not really sure how that has anything to do with my post... it just seems to me that adding more inconvenience (with in-line ads), when your site is already dealing with a lot of bugs, is not a good way to attract/retain business. I wouldn't say GW is being greedy (I have no way of knowing whether or not they are, I don't know their profits), but I do think they're not taking a very good business angle here. They need to come up with innovative advertising that will catch people's attention without intruding on personal posts... and they need to fix the bugs before expecting people to put up with more ads.

Being the worlds best and most popular gardening site IMHO, it takes a lot of work to keep the site up and running.

"How exactly do I think?","Combined with the in-line ads, enough to make me start looking for new forums","And it's some nerve on GW's part to add these extra annoyances when they've already been losing threads non-stop lately"

Slightly narrow IMO. The in-line ads were never an inconvenience to me as I am not compelled to mouse over everything on the page. People should know that these ads are not endorsed by the author because of the blatant irrelevance in most cases.

I don't mean to insinuate you are not doing your best or that you are not capable of doing your job. The position may require more help.
Our security is the most important aspect on a any site.

Does that mean it takes forever for you to make these items?

That's OK, I'm already so comfortable and charming that most people can't stand it. :)

I think some folks are overreacting to this (IMO). I don't love it, but I just ignore it. I DO dislike when the advertising window covers over the text I'm trying to read. As a word processor for a couple of decades, I can train my eyes to ignore some things on the page, these underlined words for instance.

I really didn't appreciate it when scanty lingerie ads started appearing at the Quilting Forum (felt like I was being forced to peruse porn) & I protested VERY loudly, they disappeared quite fast (coincidence, I'm sure).

by bboy on
Sun, Mar 14, 10 at 15:04

How funny that a spammer would pop up on this thread in particular.

And you will notice that at the bottom it says "A copy of your follow-up will automatically be emailed to the original poster." but the original poster did nothing about the spam.

While I don't object to supporting forums by advertising, the ad content needs to be discrete, and not obnoxious.

In the Bad Old Days there was a time when FM radio was restricted to having no more than 5 minutes/hour of advertising. The companies made this work:
* Never more than one DJ
* Lots of pre-recorded shows.

The rules changed. We have as many ads on FM as we do on late night television. As a consequence I listen to my iTouch when CBC isn't running a show I like.

Google is a good example of non-intrusive advertising.
* It is clearly advertising.
* It is usually appropriate to the subject matter you were searching for.

There are three possible reactions to over-advertising:
* People turn to programs like ad-block, or No-Script to disable the ads.
* People learn to filter all ads on the site.
* People leave the venue and go elsewhere.

NONE of these accomplish the intent of the advertiser.

By comparison, the google ads are often informative and well targeted enough, that I will look at the line of ads. About 1/3 of the time when I'm looking for product info, I will find the answer in the ads before I find it in the search. Google has my attention.

As to the comment that 'they need a way to pay the bills'
The costs to run a site like this are very small, when figured on a per view/ per post basis. A single high quality server costs about 20 grand, and can serve thousands of pages per second. The bandwidth for such a server is a few hundred dollars a month.

So for a connection cost of under a thousand a month, you can serve around 4 million pages per hour. At 50 cents per thousand 'impressions' your server is making $2000 per hour if there is only a single ad per page.

(BTW, I apparently can't ignore them - too many years of link following on wikipedia has my hand mousing over *everything* with a link. I cursed so loudly the last time that DH took my laptop away and worked some sort of voodoo to make it stop.)

Those ads were most vexing on top of the lost posts and truly terrible search engine. Seriously - can't they at least switch to Google for searching like IkeaFans does? Do I really have to continually resort to using Google to manually search the site because the search engine here is so ineffectual? And I think Sherwood Botsford has a point - if there need to be ads, why not Google ads? Much less obnoxious and usually relevant - Lord knows we reference enough specific products around here. If someone can't make money by linking to the things we're actually trying to shop for, they're not doing it right. Just no porn, flashing or pop-ups, *please*.

Seriously, though - good luck to the techs in charge of this. I've been ready to chew steel and spit nails over all the posts that Google finds that Garden Web lost. People really gave of themselves to provide a lot of really valuable information that we can no longer access. Who really wants to take the time to answer the same noob questions (like the ones I asked) ad nauseum?

Let me know if anyone's got a good port to jump ship on ...

From a tech-side though....this forum softwar-e is a joke. I mean, it's terrible. Archaic. And the lame attempts at monetization are like blind stabs in the dark.

What folks here is created and written is worth it though... But it seems like iVillage is doing the exact wrong things.

Sad. I hope all goes well...I would hate to see a resource like this decline.

If you do not have firefox you can get it here
Firefox

then get the Ad Block Plus add on for firefox
Adblock Plus
simply hit the green add to firefox button, you will then see it install and say to restart firefox, do that.

then go here to get the easylist filters
EasyList Subscriptions
scroll down that page till you see in yellow easy list and easy privacy, to the far right of each on the yellow line it will say add to ABP click there to have it added to your AdBlock plus.
Done and no more ads of any kind.

You might want to try asking at the link below.