Has anyone sent a PM/e-mail to JohnMcG from Internet brands? Maybe he isn't even aware of the issue.

That's great, but one shouldn't have to pay for Premium Service to avoid viruses.

OK, I don't know what took me so long considering my number of pageviews here, but I just now got the ad for a p*rn site.

Is it too much to ask that we NOT have these kinds of ads? I mean, seems like many reputable travel businesses - Marriott, Starwood, Amex, Delta, etc. - are buying space here. Surely this site doesn't need smut to stay afloat?

Again, if it's intended as an incentive to get me to buy the premium version, it's not working. It feels too much like blackmail.

I don't believe it is aimed at getting you to buy the premium version. It is my understanding that Randy still owns Inside Flyer and he is the one to benefit from you getting the premium version.

He is not, however, the one who decides what advertisements will appear.

Thanks to those who are correct that I no longer have anything to do with advertising decisions or technology responsibility. I am however, a member just like you and have certainly passed along to IB, your concerns and suggestions to remedy them sooner than later. But, while i think the general membership has been very pleased with what we accomplished over the years, we had our rough spots in earlier years and did make a few mistakes. We tried hard not to repeat them and of course you all saw to that!

It is my hope that IB understands it might be best to learn from the mistakes we made and that way they don't need to make them. But, sometimes companies just need to test themselves. The entire team of HOM and myself will continue to assist you where we can and at the end of the day, we all have the same goals in mind - FlyerTalk as a healthy and welcome place to learn everything we need to know about miles, point and travel in general.

And despite any appearance of black helicopters, there has never been an aggressive plan to use the Premium Services as anything more than a customer service. In fact, that idea was not even original to myself or InsideFlyer magazine, it was original to the members themselves who thought out loud on remedies for using FlyerTalk while at work when in earlier foopahs there was that stupid duck shooting ad with sound.

And that income stays here at InsideFlyer, to do what it did for funding the start of FlyerTalk, this time it is being spent to launch yet another helpful tool for frequent flyers. Look no farther than boardingarea.com for that when it launches in the next month.

So while i can excuse IB for making some of the very same mistakes we made many years ago, i like you, will hold them to a very fast learning curve.

Sometimes the ad networks we use add advertisers or individual ads which we don't consider acceptable. The process doesn't include a review of every single ad that gets run, as these are more than 100 each month. But we regularly block ads or entire advertisers who are objectionable. Please feel free to email me (john dot mcganty at internetbrands dot com) any time you see something that seems objectionable. That will help us in dealing with the ad networks and keeping the bad ads off FlyerTalk.

-- John

I appreciate that. Thank you for your attention to this. The ads are back to being travel-related today!

Unfortunately, it is not good enough for people to say "pay your $12 and don't get the ads".

I would imagine that most people who pay the $12 have already been a member for a while and, having discovered how useful FT is, choose to pay the $12 because they have come to recognise FT's value.

The problem with over-intrusive ads is that people who find FT for the first time will find the level of advertising too high and decide that FT is not the place for them. And, without a steady stream of new posters, FT will slowly die and atrophy.

Its also worth pointing out that the $12 option is not exactly well publicised - it was when it first launched, but there has never been a push since AFAIK. Someone occasionally posts about its existance on one of the boards, to be followed by posts from other members saying "I never knew that".

But should it? Especially if the ads are provided to you in advance? Surely some "checker" can glance at 100 or 200 pictures/ads and determine if something is inapproriate in under 2 minutes, no?

C'mon folks - get an overdraft and stump out the few bucks for an ad free FT.

Then whatever they run will not bother you. @:-)

Sheesh, as if FT is not worth 12 bucks a year ...................

I've been a member since this was announced and I don't mind the $12 a year, however:

To the first-time or infrequent viewer, this now looks like any other sleazy Internet message board site. For all those who wrung their hands over the existence of OMNI, at least pictures of women's labia are never posted there.

Also, a clarification is still needed on exactly where the $12 goes. If it goes to the House of Miles and not to IB, I'll continue to support. But if the money goes to IB directly or indirectly, well, I'd have to pass based on what I've seen so far with regards to this issue.

Randy posted, above, that it still goes to the House of Miles.

at the rate of the US Dollar, the Euro crowd is getting it at USD$6. And even those great Canadians now have the bargain of the year!

But seriously, i don't think you need to spend anything. This has been IB's sort of trial by fire and the first time they have been able to experience the culture and expectation of the members of FlyerTalk firsthand. While we did explain it, there's nothing like experiencing it yourself. I think they have learned a lot from this and in just a few weeks, more than 40 moderators are meeting with them face-to-face and as you'll see from their comments representing the members, the Moderators will be quite vocal in their expectations on behalf of our members. By the end of the day, Sat. Nov. 3rd, there will be no question on IB's behalf about this issue, trust me. In 6 different Moderator online chats this week, it has been one of the most vocal issues in those chats that IB has participated on. And again, with the upcoming face-to-face meeting, your volunteers, the Moderators are very, very hot on this issue right now.

If you have ever wondered what else they do? Well, I don't envy being IB when more than 40 vocal Mods are in the audience and not happy about something. I know, i've been in front of them before when I told them i was discontinuing their rations of Twinkies and Red Bull... (just a joke).

I thought we elected a TalkBoard to represent the membership?

Oh come on, Chex, dont be so naive.

As for the OT, I for one like and appreciate the naked lady ads. ^