What are all these underlined things ....

[mybabyphx]

This is not going to keep me from posting either, since I'm already an addicted TCS lover. LOL but I could see how it could turn potential new members away

It does seem to slow down the site for me... it's not like that for any other site on the internet, just this one. I find it very annoying when trying to read posts with these there... just my opinion (again) LOL!

 

[catsallover]

Anne, here are the ones I see- are these the same ones you (or anybody else) is seeing?

Index page:

Health... :the word "catfood"; ad for Ebay

Pregnant cats and..."pregnant cat"; ShopBrite.com

Behavior..."cat lovers"; www.wonderfullywacky.com (gifts)
also:..."feline"; www.justanswer.com (vet and feline experts)

Care and Grooming..."beds"; www.mattresscity.com

Caring for strays..."feral cats"; www.petcareinsurance.com

SOS..."animal shelters" www.toseeka.org (answer page)

Cats and other..."pets"; www.flint-river-ranch.info (pet food)

also "household"; www.hfc.com ("imperfect credit?")

And the thread by Jen (10 typed lines in post):
"diet", "green beans" (twice, I believe), "tofu", "icecream", "metabolism"

Does that help?

Oh, and in this thread, (after I posted it) the words "catfood" and "household", along with all the words in Jen's thread, are not showing up underlined here.

Oh, and the banner ad at the top of this forum for SpoilMyKitty.com has the words

"cat furniture"; Cat-Furniture.Pages.US.com

"feline"; www.caring4cancer.com (leukemia site)
and
"cat trees" abolishpestcontrol.com (animal trapping service)

 

[carolpetunia]

Odd -- I'm not seeing any of these at all! Could it be because I'm on dial-up rather than broadband? Or is my trusty Mac protecting me from it?

 

[kaylacat]

You are lucky then.

 

[pat]

I am not a fan of them. My one point for not doing this would be, they are showing up in my marketplace ad - which although it is free, why would I want to see any link possibly taking folks to a competitors site? I noticed thiat these link/ads are also showing in the paid banner ads.

So...my 2 cents as to why I would prefer to see these not become a permanent aspect of TCS.

 

[larussa]

And why do we have them, are they just ad's. They sure are ruining this forum.

 

[trouts mom]

Yup, they are new ads. You can't see them as PL member though, thank god.

 

[icklemiss21]

There is a thread here about them

 

[EnzoLeya]

ugh....it's cheesy. Cat toy , pet food , cat tree , can anyone say annoying?!

 

[arielrain]

It is very annoying!

 

[larussa]

Thank you all for the info. I did see something about this but I guess I didn't check it out completely. I just can't afford being a paying member tho I know it takes time and money to have this wonderful forum. I guess I will just put up with the ads.

 

[proudkittiemom]

Originally Posted by Natalie_ca

I found them totally annoying so I blocked them with my browser and firewall.

hey how did u do that? These ads keep messing up my computer and making it go so slow

And well I dont have the money right now to be a paying memeber

 

[icklemiss21]

You should post these comments in the thread I linked so the admins see them.

 

[wesley's mom]

I was just coming to this part of the site so I could ask about them myself!! They are annoying! They have never showed up for me before so I was about to post a thread about it! Now I know!!

 

[Anne]

I totally don't appreciate the tone this thread has taken in the last few posts.

I have been working on this website for over six years now. Not only a labor of love, but also a huge investment in terms of both time and money. This place needs its own dedicated server and admin services, costing several hundreds of dollars a month as well by the way. There are other expenses too, and above all, there is the time and work that has gone into it over the years and still is on a daily basis. So, yes, this is a business, without taking away from the commitment towards promoting cat welfare, which was what made me start this place.

I really don't appreciate comments like "ads only ruin this place" or "why do we need ads, don't we have enough of them already". I appreciate even less recommendations and explanations about how to block ads in this site. If you want to block ads, then you have the option to become a paying member. It is there, available to all for under $5 a month. If you don't want to, then all that is respectfully required from you is to put up with the adverts that pay for your time here. We do try to balance things out, so for example we have no pop-up ads, and we try, as much as is possibly, to bring you cat-related promotions and campaigns. It is not that easy to acheive, so there is a mix of non-cat-related ads as well.

We launched a new form of advertising and I specifically asked for feedback and explained that is was being tested. I wholeheartedly thank the many members that responded both in this thread, and via PM's and reported back various issues, including overall impressions and user experience. We may, or may not be keeping the Kontera ads. We may even disable them temporarily to see if at least some issues can be tweaked away from the board.

Please keep your posts here respectful to the site and to our advertisers. You have the option to pay for browsing this site. You are more than welcome not to, but in that case, these advertisers are the ones paying for you.

I am sorry if I come across as too harsh, but this is something that bothers not only me, but many other web publishers. We work along a model that allows surfer free access to content and web services. That model depends on advertising being served. By blocking ads, on this or any other site, you are robbing the site creator. If more people were to block out ads all over the net, sites would cost money to browse, at least the kind of sites that actually invest in content creation and services.

 

[Anne]

Several posts in this thread have now been deleted, in accordance with my last post. No infractions or warnings are issued at this point. If you have any problem with my editing act here, feel free to PM me.

Please read our rules before posting any replies which might be in violation of our rules. Otherwise, feel free to keep bringing us more feedback and again, thank you for that

 

[Anne]

Following reports about slower loading time, we have decided to suspend the in-text ads for now, until we resolve some issues with ad performance. It still shows up in our articles section, but not on the forum itself. Thank you all for providing valuable feedback during our testing time.

 

[KitEKats4Eva!]

When I turned the ads back on I actually didn't see them, but I did notice that my server got very slow and jerky. They don't sound like they'd be too invasive, and I'm pleased that I can turn off all advertising, but if they're slowing things down then perhaps it's best for now until it can get ironed out.

I also want to add, for those who are considering becoming a paying member but can't quite manage the $60, you can pay quarterly, which is what I do. In Australian dollars it's about $75 per year, which is much more manageable in three-monthly instalments.

 

[catsallover]

Loading much faster today...

 

[graciecat]

Yep, it is for me too.
Plus it doesn't jerk when I scroll down a page.