Intrusive adverts making this site unusable

[janch]

If no-one is reading the ads (I'm certainly not) then why have them?

[rantnrave]

Anyone remember the halcyon days, when ads for Property118 used to appear here? I spent many a happy hour clicking and refreshing that link in an attempt to bankrupt Busta.

[stuckin2up2down]

Installing ad blockers screws over good publishers that only use non intrusive adverts and spend a lot of time making good content.

This is just a forum, its not content that should earn much. Site owners are just being greedy imo.

[locky82]

2 hours ago, BearlyBegun said:

It was driving me mental on Chrome until I recently installed the from Chrome add-in uBlock which works brilliantly and cuts out most adverts including the floating video.

I'd recommend uBlock 

Thank you. 

[GeneCernan]

Couldn't agree more. I've only been on here a short while but the adverts are just ridiculous. I adblock them on Chrome but on a mobile they are a disaster.

[chronyx]

47 minutes ago, rantnrave said:

Anyone remember the halcyon days, when ads for Property118 used to appear here? I spent many a happy hour clicking and refreshing that link in an attempt to bankrupt Busta.

[regprentice]

The ads cut out the audio from my music player...which is a real pita. Took me ages to work out what was going on when they started. Does put me off logging in if I'm somewhere I prefer to use headphones such as at work or on the tram.

Same thing stopped me logging onto zerohedge. 

[winkie]

2 hours ago, brit1234 said:

I use to look on this site traveling back and forward to work listerning to music. The video adverts cut your music off, so now avoid hpc on phone.

Pain....no other site does that.....why are the floating videos so intrusive on this site?....they do more harm than good......?

[Buzzardo2]

5 hours ago, Unexpected said:

I'm already out because of these adverts. They really are making this site unusable and I think many have already left because of this and have gone to a site with no/minimal advertising.

I've almost stopped coming here as well (lost old email address, so had to sign up again with new username, but I've been around since 2010 as a (previously) active reader and poster...) 

Part of that is because of the ads, but a much bigger put-off has been the increasingly asinine, narcissistic and point-scoring exchanges on some of what used to be the best threads of all.

Biggest case in point for me the "BTL Scum Regrouping" - the so-called "party thread," which used to be a daily draw for me - I'd pop in for no other reason than to check out the latest soap opera-esque goings-on of Busta, Ros, 'Nessa and the rest of the 118 / P/Tripes goons.

That whole thread has recently been hijacked by two keyboard-warriors who just 'won't let it lie' (h/t Vic and Bob...) One who once wrote a half-decent e-book, but now seems to think s/he is the greatest academic brain of all time (my mental picture - an egocentric, pontificating junior teacher with no social life and too much time on their hands) and the other who appears to be the Zombie rebirth of the Venger-bot. Both popping away at each other endlessly, in increasingly long and tedious posts / cross-posts, making troll accusations etc, when TBH I can't see what they're even arguing about. 

When I sauntered over at some point yesterday afternoon (in guest mode) that particular thread was alive with the sound of hubris and teeth-gnashing, and there were three or four other threads with posts on the same day - the rest of the first page seemed like it was all threads with "last posts" going all the way back to the previous day. And Page Two was all at least a day old, going down to 2-3 days old at the foot. The only thread with real life in it was the "Brexit - What happens next" one, and I'm not planning to waste any of my life reading the sectarian drivel on that! 

(By way of a real-time update; at the time of typing this the last thread on Page One ("The Smoking Gun") was last posted to 23 hours ago - I honestly can't remember when the forum was as dead as that, at any time let alone on a Thursday afternoon...)

Maybe the time for this to be a relevant and vibrant forum has passed. I used to be on here every day - usually badly to the detriment of my productivity - and it looks like I'm not the only one voting with my feet. 

Shame really. This used to be a place where I learned stuff and had fun. Now it seems to be a place for a small number of "troll-hunters" and pontificaters to wave bits of their anatomy about and try to look clever...

Ads - yeah they're bad. But IMHO they're a sideshow compared with the real reasons I don't bother to come over much any more...

B2

[stuckin2up2down]

14 minutes ago, Buzzardo2 said:

B2

 

*LIKE*

I've been a member here since 2006, but because I don't post regularly the odd time I did one of those posters mentioned there started calling me a troll and was banned. Went through all my posting history to find typos and some inconsistencies that I had made to remain anonymous (locations and dates) and so I was banned. No email or anything. Can still log on to my account from back then, but when I post my messages are never shown. Anyone that doesn't share the same views is seen as a troll and for what its worth I got banned in 2012 for saying I think the bubble will continue for a few more years. Exactly as I said it would do happened.

I still read a couple of times a month, but gone are the days I lurk daily due to how badly its run.

Edited July 19, 2018 by stuckin2up2down

[HPC Pollster]

Thanks for your feedback guys, especially those of you that kept it friendly. 

We have removed the floating aspect of the video adverts and are hoping this will improve the experience. 

Let us know if it works. 

[Guest]

5 hours ago, chronyx said:

I'm stunned there are still people not using an ad blocker or Brave browser

Found, installed, now in heaven ? 

I love you

[longgone]

6 hours ago, Unexpected said:

I'm already out because of these adverts. They really are making this site unusable and I think many have already left because of this and have gone to a site with no/minimal advertising.

have you never heard of adblock ? 

trying going on the daily mail site your cpu will overload. ?

[elephant]

1 hour ago, Buzzardo2 said:

I've almost stopped coming here as well (lost old email address, so had to sign up again with new username, but I've been around since 2010 as a (previously) active reader and poster...) 

Part of that is because of the ads, but a much bigger put-off has been the increasingly asinine, narcissistic and point-scoring exchanges on some of what used to be the best threads of all.

Biggest case in point for me the "BTL Scum Regrouping" - the so-called "party thread," which used to be a daily draw for me - I'd pop in for no other reason than to check out the latest soap opera-esque goings-on of Busta, Ros, 'Nessa and the rest of the 118 / P/Tripes goons.

That whole thread has recently been hijacked by two keyboard-warriors who just 'won't let it lie' (h/t Vic and Bob...) One who once wrote a half-decent e-book, but now seems to think s/he is the greatest academic brain of all time (my mental picture - an egocentric, pontificating junior teacher with no social life and too much time on their hands) and the other who appears to be the Zombie rebirth of the Venger-bot. Both popping away at each other endlessly, in increasingly long and tedious posts / cross-posts, making troll accusations etc, when TBH I can't see what they're even arguing about. 

When I sauntered over at some point yesterday afternoon (in guest mode) that particular thread was alive with the sound of hubris and teeth-gnashing, and there were three or four other threads with posts on the same day - the rest of the first page seemed like it was all threads with "last posts" going all the way back to the previous day. And Page Two was all at least a day old, going down to 2-3 days old at the foot. The only thread with real life in it was the "Brexit - What happens next" one, and I'm not planning to waste any of my life reading the sectarian drivel on that! 

(By way of a real-time update; at the time of typing this the last thread on Page One ("The Smoking Gun") was last posted to 23 hours ago - I honestly can't remember when the forum was as dead as that, at any time let alone on a Thursday afternoon...)

Maybe the time for this to be a relevant and vibrant forum has passed. I used to be on here every day - usually badly to the detriment of my productivity - and it looks like I'm not the only one voting with my feet. 

Shame really. This used to be a place where I learned stuff and had fun. Now it seems to be a place for a small number of "troll-hunters" and pontificaters to wave bits of their anatomy about and try to look clever...

Ads - yeah they're bad. But IMHO they're a sideshow compared with the real reasons I don't bother to come over much any more...

B2

You win post of the day *thumbs up*

[wsn03]

1 hour ago, HPC Pollster said:

Thanks for your feedback guys, especially those of you that kept it friendly. 

We have removed the floating aspect of the video adverts and are hoping this will improve the experience. 

Let us know if it works. 

When I wrote to you you stopped the floaty ads. Still no issues with them thanks

[Bland Unsight]

2 hours ago, Buzzardo2 said:

Biggest case in point for me the "BTL Scum Regrouping" - the so-called "party thread," which used to be a daily draw for me - I'd pop in for no other reason than to check out the latest soap opera-esque goings-on of Busta, Ros, 'Nessa and the rest of the 118 / P/Tripes goons.

That whole thread has recently been hijacked by two keyboard-warriors who just 'won't let it lie' (h/t Vic and Bob...) One who once wrote a half-decent e-book, but now seems to think s/he is the greatest academic brain of all time (my mental picture - an egocentric, pontificating junior teacher with no social life and too much time on their hands) and the other who appears to be the Zombie rebirth of the Venger-bot. Both popping away at each other endlessly, in increasingly long and tedious posts / cross-posts, making troll accusations etc, when TBH I can't see what they're even arguing about. 

I've found that Chrome with Adblock (link) on the laptop (Windows 10) has HPC running like a dream.

For the phone (Android) I did have a problem with videos playing somewhere on a page and hence running madly through data but that was Chrome with no ad blocker. Now using Opera (which has the ad blocking built in and that seems to have sorted it.

As per other comments further up the thread, it is an arms race between people placing ads and the process of blocking them, but it's an arms race that you have to take part in. No such thing as a free lunch. The business model of the forum's commercial operators of HPC presumably make a modest return from the site because of the advertising sold (even if that is just me and Rantnrave clicking on Property118 adverts like Michael J. Fox on a bad day).

[Save me from the madness!]

Video adverts are very intrusive and use up data. This is bad when your mobile, and also at work where large bandwidth hungry websites tend to get monitored. I'm happy with the static ads, but the video ones really reduce my usage of this site sadly.

[Glental]

9 hours ago, chronyx said:

I'm stunned there are still people not using an ad blocker or Brave browser

Was just about to recommend Brave. I like the idea of supporting frequently used websites without being tracked around the web. Blocking all the shit makes loading times much faster too.

Edited July 19, 2018 by Glental

[Now or never]

2 hours ago, Shy Ted said:

Lets face it, this site has turned to shit. That HPC reminder about young people viewing was the last straw for me. Who the ****** under 18 is interested in a HPC? 

+1 I’ve  never said much in the ten years I’ve been here, visit on a daily basis and have taken so much from it over that time, but content seems to be disappearing and what’s left of it feels diluted and repetitive. Feels like an end of an era; this site is dying.

Edited July 19, 2018 by Now or never

[btl_hater]

I don't have an ad-blocker on my phone and agreed, the video adverts are ridiculous.

[Queasing]

14 hours ago, HPC Pollster said:

Thanks for your feedback guys, especially those of you that kept it friendly. 

We have removed the floating aspect of the video adverts and are hoping this will improve the experience. 

Let us know if it works. 

Removal of the floating is appreciated, but the videos are still irritating as well as using up a significant amount of 4G data allowance. I rarely visit the site on my phone these days due to this.

For information my favorite kind of ads on this site are those from the large housing developers. The juxtaposition provides me with some amusement.

[Mossie]

15 hours ago, Buzzardo2 said:

Biggest case in point for me the "BTL Scum Regrouping" - the so-called "party thread," which used to be a daily draw for me - I'd pop in for no other reason than to check out the latest soap opera-esque goings-on of Busta, Ros, 'Nessa and the rest of the 118 / P/Tripes goons.

That whole thread has recently been hijacked by two keyboard-warriors who just 'won't let it lie' (h/t Vic and Bob...) One who once wrote a half-decent e-book, but now seems to think s/he is the greatest academic brain of all time (my mental picture - an egocentric, pontificating junior teacher with no social life and too much time on their hands) and the other who appears to be the Zombie rebirth of the Venger-bot. Both popping away at each other endlessly, in increasingly long and tedious posts / cross-posts, making troll accusations etc, when TBH I can't see what they're even arguing about. 

..........

Maybe the time for this to be a relevant and vibrant forum has passed. I used to be on here every day - usually badly to the detriment of my productivity - and it looks like I'm not the only one voting with my feet. 

B2

If you can't understand and follow the issues under discussion, maybe the fault is within you.

I have had so much fun reading that thread as well, since it began in 2015, but also note that one of the BTLer Forums it drew comedy from has also really slowed in recent months, after their campaigns to overturn S24 have come to nothing. 

All their petitions.  MA's initial email to George *Osbourne.*     "Are you out of your mind?"  The idea of quickly getting S24 overturned.   Ros Report.  Their view of the purpose of HM Treasury, and their impression of people who work for HM Treasury, writing very dismissively toward them.  The 'financial oblivion' admissions.  The fact that some of them had to flee to other countries and hope they are correct about it meaning they are safe from tax-implications.

It really showed up many BTLers for their hubris.

It's not all upon others to provide the entertainment; if you could find things to contribute, then post them.

A thread can handle a temporary off-topic situation, when someone introduces and wants to sell on a premise that others strongly disagree with.

The market is the market and testing lots of people.    I seem to recall some Senior HPCers saying how things can be very slow then burst into high-entertainment with news or other market event (like S24).  We're in a slow patch imo.

I am always suspicious of those claiming to have enjoyed the forum who make the call for it to end.   Also my own view is many HPCer types are full out working/renting.  That HPC forum activity may sharply pick up IF there is ever any HPC start in the market.

Edited July 20, 2018 by Mossie

[JustAnotherProle]

I use Firefox with NoScript extension, I don't see any ads at all.

[Doner Kebab]

Adblocker is king. Also agree some serious downside to house prices is what makes this site thrive, seems obvious. Hopefully we'll be getting that in the next few months.

[chronyx]

3 hours ago, Mossie said:

.

It's not all upon others to provide the entertainment; if you could find things to contribute, then post them.

 

Why would anyone bother when it can be moderated away on a whim

I wouldn't waste my time on anything more than throwaway comments, and a majority of those that did have scarpered elsewhere