I've moved this topic to the suggestion box where site related topics should be posted so I know they are a concern for a member.
I honestly feel like a broken record explaining why popunders are on Total Motorcycle, why we need them, why they are important NOT to block, why ads are here, why they support the site, etc.
PLEASE READ this before complaining again and again:
viewtopic.php?t=13502 I wrote that to address just the concerns a few of you have voiced (strongly). That will answer your questions.
Ok, now for replies (and a lot of them):
MrGompers wrote:I have chimed in on this subject before. I hate pop ups, pop unders, pop overs, and any other pop ups one can think of. I will continue to do everything possible to avoid them at all costs. That form of web advertising is invasive and completely unnesscessary. There are better ways to advertise on the interweb.
MrGompers, I do understand your position, but please understand the other side as well. Is not a useful, friendly and helpful website worth a few viewing a few ads for? Would you prefer to PAY to view this information (that you can't find free anywhere else) rather than see a few ads? Ads are not invasive and are completely nesscessary, unless you want to to pay a fee to have them gone. When you block ads there is NO OTHER WAY to advertise to you other than calling your home phone number or sending you snail mail. But I feel I'm barking up the wrong tree because I doubt you would pay for anything useful.
rapidblue wrote:you guys are unbelievable!
those 2-3 popups a day help pay for the site.(any more and it's spyware) I see that most of you are site supporters and I would be too if I wasn't trying to save for a house. So having to click my mouse 3 extra times a day to help keep this site alive is not really asking too much.
This topic has been discused to death. There are pop-ups, click them to go away, and stop yer bitchin!
PS Mike, I think you need to make a sticky in every forum and a notice to each new member telling them that there are indeed pop-up so that we don't have people making one of these topics every day.
Thank you for your support Rapidblue. I'm glad you understand and get it. I really try run the minimal amout of ads necesary to cover my expenses. I don't want to put any visitors/members/supporters through ad hell. Yes I sure do have a sticky:
viewtopic.php?t=13502 Maybe I need to amend the Registration agreement terms? haha.
basshole wrote:none of the other free site I go to have pop ups. I can't stand the things. So if the other free motorcycle boards don't have them, why does this on have to have them?
Basshole, simple reason is because I can run less of the other types of ads as popunders pay more. So it's a give and take that I did so you are not bombarded by even more annoying ads. 0-3 popunders PER DAY is all there is. TMW does not serve popunders EVERY PAGE or EVERY 5 minutes. Only 0-3 every 12-24 hours, that's is definately not many.
scanevalexec wrote:basshole wrote:none of the other free site I go to have pop ups. I can't stand the things. So if the other free motorcycle boards don't have them, why does this on have to have them?
There is no such thing as a free site. You may not have to pay anything or see any adds, but someone is paying for the disk space, and the internet hookup. I wish everyone would just deal with the reality of the situation. The arrangement here is Mike gets paid by the ads we see. Since they pay TMW bills and that is the arrangement Mike made to keep us in disk space and Internet access, so everyone should just deal with it.
Now I bet if you wanted to provide disk space and public access to a computer of yours, he'd be more than glad to move to you as a provider. How do other free sites do it without ads? I don't know. Maybe you could research that for mike in your "free" time.
Great points. Few people want to do anything for free or help another person out without it gaining something for them. TMW is a rare bird indeed as its supporting riders and motorcycling worldwide for free and the majority of its members do care and help achieve this goal to make TMW one of the most friendlist, useful and helpful places on the internet. I have no idea how other sites run for "free" but free sites that are great resources are never around long if they are not supported financially.
sv-wolf wrote:
I don't mind getting the pop-ups if they help the site. But what bothers me is that the sheer quantity of them (and there seem to be more and more all the time) suggests that there are a lot of spyware progammes being downloaded into my system. If I run my spyware cleaner after being on TMW for any length of time it always picks up dozens of the little beasts.
I've now got one pop-up ad that will not go away. It's a 'pop under' but it sits on my desktop so I can't access it. The only way to get it to go away is to log off Windows and log back on again.
I agree, you need to read:
viewtopic.php?t=13502 I'll say it again, you will NOT get more than 0-3 popunders per 12-24 hours. Say you surf TMW in the morning and get a 0-3 popunders, come back at lunch, NO popunders, come back at dinner, NO popunders. If you get more than 3 popunders a day, it's not from TMW, sorry mate, its a virus or something wrong with your computer. Adware and other "spyware" cleaners WILL find cookies. TMW leaves cookies on your computer. Cookies ARE NOT spyware. TMW cookies on your computer only do 1 thing, they tell the TMW server NOT to give you an ad. Remove the cookies, you get ads.
dieziege wrote:Honestly the only problems I have with the ads here are that they are:
A) Totally unrelated to motorcycles, and
B) Allmost all scam ads from the worst sort of scam outfits (i.e. ringtone scammers).
If the ads were from motorcycle service providers it'd be great.
I've never considered blocking the ads on that site... but I've blocked just about all of them from TWM.
Dieziege, the motorcycle ad market isn't big like the car market. There are only so many adverterisers out there. 580,000 visitors a month come to TMW, serving 6.7 million pages the motorcycle advertisers cannot spend that much money, that is why you see non-motorcycle ads. Harley-Davidson for example is advertising on Total Motorcycle to support it. But you won't see H-D's ads unless you are in the USA.
Nibblet99 wrote:dieziege wrote:What I've always done is subsidized the sites myself out of pocket. I pay about $150/mo for my colo'd server... yeah, it chews into the bottom line but I consider it worthwhile.
TMW costs aren't just server space and bandwidth though... Its a full time job for Mike, making sure TMW always has the most up to date information, and collating everything MC related on the net... and thats before even considering moderating the boards.
What makes TMW great is that it has one person putting so much time and effort into making it work... Ads allow him to give up full time work to do this for us.
Nibblet99 (and many others), thank you so much for supporting Total Motorcycle in an understanding and supportive way. Yes, Total Motorcycle is a FULL TIME (12 hours a day) job for me, its what I do for a living. I have choosen this because I believe in helping people out, supporting motorcyclists and motorcycling around the world. I DO NOT ask for money or make you pay for all my work I put in everyday. All I ask is you see a few ads and that pays for my food, clothing and shelter. I help provide a friendly, useful and helpful environment and ask not a penny (cent) from anyone. Block the ads on TMW if you want, but you might as well slap me in the face for all my hard work you enjoy.
VTX1300C wrote:When I first started using this site, I was bombarded by popups. Turned out my browser/cookies were corrupt. Check out the thread at the top of the forum for the fix.
Now I only get two and they are no hassle whatsoever. Cheap distraction for such a great site.
Thank you, thank you, thank you many times. Your understanding and support is very much appreciated.
Whew. That was a lot of time answering these questions but I'm glad I did as the ad hates and ad blockers will understand better why they are necessary.
Have a great day and thank you for viewing the ads on Total Motorcycle.
Mike.
Unfortunately when I went to the site it was very little 'tips/help' for dads and more 'dads are uninvolved deadbeats, here's how now to be one' drivel.