Google Ads Now Appearing Inside A Post?
 

I am hoping that this is some type of technical glitch and not a new display format, but figured I'd ask here to verfiy.

Within the past hour or so, I've noticed that the OP in every thread (as well as the first post on a page if the thread goes on to multiple pages) has a Google Ad inserted into it.

Like this ------------------->

In cases where the first post contains quoted text, the quoted text blocks-out all or part of the Ad.

Is this a new development or a glitch?

It is one thing to have the Ads come between posts in the thread, but quite another to have actually inside a post.

They are very distracting. The sponsored links between posts didn't bother me at all, but this is just way too much in the body of a post.

I suspect it was intentional. I had trouble replying to posts for about 30 minutes today. After I got in again I noticed the ads in the body of a post.

I really support FT, and would even pay for it, but I think these ads are just a bit too much.

Me too Mary. I would rather pay for FT than have these inside the posts.

I know oen thing, I'm not going to post another trip report on FT with it like this. I don't want my formatting messed-up by this feature.

I guess it's good as it encourages me to get off my duff and finally create the website I've been meaning to do.

If this was an intentional change, then :td:

I trust it is a mistake and will soon be corrected. Thanks in advance. :)

They are very annoying. Like many, I read FT from a laptop a lot and my screen is only 1024 pixels wide. The ad images to the right of the thread that narrow the display are bad enough. Narrowing the post itself with another ad frame is worse. In a standard-width browser window on my desktop, the OP in this thread is a third taller than it otherwise would be. :(

Plus it looks really silly/excessive to have two ads side-by-side. Kind of like how the weather.com screen was about 75% ads for a while, which happened to coincide with when I quit visiting there.

Anyone know a good adblocker extension for firefox that will kill these google frames? I normally support google advertising because it is 1) text and 2) at least somewhat relevant, but this is too much.

Thanks for the heads up on this, do you have a link to an example of this? Thanks,

--Tim

Sure. Check-out post #121. May be others.

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/showt...eferrerid=6611

Yes - this thread!

I think Tim was referring to cases where the first thread contains a quote. Unfortunately, I interpret Tim's response as meaning the ads are not a glitch.

Thanks, PresRDC, yes that is what I was looking for. I am working on fixing this glitch with the quote text overwriting the ad text currently, hope to have it fixed soon. To answer the other questions the placement of the ad is not a glitch, but the overlapping of quotes onto the ad is not intended of course. Thanks,

--Tim

Example: this one makes for an interesting view, too -- and it's not a quote...
www.flyertalk.com/forum/showthread.php?t=452504 :D

/.

Thanks for the info Tim, shame it wasn't the answer I was hoping for :(

Definitively not an enhacement! :td:

Can we get add-free FT yet???

I'm finding that in many cases they not only appear inside the post, but they cover the text within the post and there's no way to get around it, so you can't read everything!!!

:(

That is most unfortunate :td:

As others have pointed, it is extremely disruptive and distracting, particularly when reading on a small and narrow screen (like a small laptop).

These ads are a really bad idea - not just more annoying than "Web Sling Dr. Octavius" and "Earn Your Degree While You Work", but they also make you look like you're promoting something when you post. I hope RP is making a lot of money off them, otherwise it's just going to tick people off with no reward.

ADDED:

Speak of the devil, here I am advertising what Google thinks a frequent flyer wants to know.

Please post links to these threads as well as what browser/version and on what platform you are viewing the threads if possible. This will help me isolate and take care of these problems. Thanks,

--Tim

It certainly has some amusing results. In the AS forum there's a thread in which the OP expresses surprise and mild concern about the airline's practice of putting Bible quotes on the meal trays -- and then right there in her post, there are ads for Bibles.

Surely you jest. :eek: :o :mad: :td: :td:

Make them go away!

flyertalk...try post #1 of this thread:

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/showthread.php?t=452968

WindowsXP SP2 IE 6.0.2900.2180

I will also echo other opinions here that the placement of these ads within the body of the post...is a very, very bad idea, IMHO.

Having the ads in the posts is definitely VERY annoying - I sure hope this isnt a way to encourage people to sign up for the flyer talk lite (is that what it is to be called - the paid ad free flyertalk?) whenever it comes out.

I understand the need for ads to pay for stuff - but encroaching into post space is perhaps even worse than pop-ups!

It's making the posts harder to read. The ones with the ads inside are poorly laid out.

Looks like some posts are being laterally truncated:

See http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/showt...50#post4320550

With all due respect, you're fixing the wrong problem.

If quotes are obscuring the new intrusive advertising, then that's probably a good thing.

These new intrusive adds are a terrible eyesore. I can live with adds at the very top of the page or on the right, but not ones that venture into post space. Please get rid of them ASAP.

Like Smokey Robinson, I second that emotion.

wow
 

I panicked today after spending over 1000 dollars for a consultant to remove all spyware and put new software technology on my computer this year.
It was set up to remove anything that tracks,displays or promotes ads.
I'm relieved it isn't a more serious problem as I first suspected
I don't mind if advertising is on the site.
But it is preferred not to have it directly in our posts :(
Other options ?
Yikes

Thanks for the help with in finding bugs with this all. The quote overlapping ad problem should now be fixed for everyone. If you are still experiencing it or any other new problems please post your browser/version and operating system as well as a link to a thread that is exhibiting the problem that you describe.

There are two other problems that have come up in this thread that we are looking at now, just so you know we are award of them. They are:

- 'code' tags overwrite ads if they are in the first post of a page.

- long strings without spaces in them/links will be buried underneath ads in some browsers (IE6).

Thank you,

--Tim

Now complex graphical ads are showing up in the middle of posts too, not just text ads.

:(

I don't think that was what we were hoping to do :) These ads are a real problem.

Also, do google ads use the content of a post to determine what is displayed, to some extent? Hence the discussion of Biblical verses causing an ad display regarding Bibles, as mentioned above.

I can see this being a disastrous idea if this is the case.

Google ads use the contents of the page to determine ad content.

i can't wait to pay for an ad-free version to rid myself of this trash.

it's so annoying... it'll backfire too, since enough people are upset about it.

I agree.

Tim...I have to say this was a horrible idea, whoever came up with it. Most of these type ads that appeared horizontally between sets of posts were bad enough. But these new ones within the post itself makes it difficult to read and is very invasive, IMHO.

Please convey to Randy that many of us are expressing our extreme displeasure at this new type of ad.

I certainly hope you folks aren't deliberately doing something like this to make the sale of any future "ad-free" version of FlyerTalk, more attractive. My gut says you would never do that, but it certainly makes me wonder.

First horizontal banner ads, then vertical banner ads added, then horizontal ad bars between posts added, and now these within the posts themselves. I get the feeling that FlyerTalk is literally being squeezed out! :(

Another terrible idea from the folks managing advertisement decisions.

Awful. Really disappointed in FT - this is laughable.

Randy has already said that if you subscribe to any of the other things he offers, e.g. InsideFlyer including the $12 annual on-line only subscription, then an ad-free FT will be a throw-in.

So while lots of folks have said they'd spend say $25/year, anyone already subscribing won't have to spend an extra dollar.

Randy has also said that the current ad issue isn't something they sought out, and he's working on it.

Actually, this sounds to me like a solution:

start every thread with a 'code' tag :D

I too find the ads intrusive and annoying, but not quite as annoying as the way the administators have avoided answering directly the point of this thread. It is NOT about technical glitches where one thing covers up another, and you know it. It is that these ads will discourage some from posting on this site, and that will be the real failure here. The posters and participants are helped by the posts, not the ads. Please respond to the real complaints here, and find the "glitches" yourselves.

By the way, I have to believe the ads would go away very quickly if NO ONE clicked on any of them. Please don't.

Sorry gleff. Then we have conflicting communications. Eariler in this thread flyertalk posted:

I read that as saying the placement of the ads within the posts was deliberate. And not something the ad agency screwed up.

In Randy's post, I think he's mainly talking about how the ad agency has screwed up what kinds of ad appear. Not where they appear. Further, Randy's first sentance in response to Mary2be post about how folks would be just as likely to click on the old ads as the new ones, he responded:

Which sort of implies that they pushed the ads into posts because nobody was clicking on the ads before.

But I hope you're right and they are working on it. I just hope they're working on moving the ads out of the posts!