In the last few days ads have been appearing like posts in the body of a thread. There will be a couple of posts and then an ad also appears in a box as if it were also a post. Personally, I find that means of presenting advertising intrusive whereas those in the sidebar or at the top or bottom of the threads don't bother me.

I have the option of disabling ads in the settings area, but I've never used the option. I basically don't object to ads unless the interfere with my scrolling and reading posts. At least some advertisers key in to the 'gardening' part of the site and occasionally have actual interest to me. However, I think now the option to disable ads may be put to use.

Is this really new or is the manner they are showing up something that others have noticed recently as well? I hope advertisers that utilize the presentation have to pay dearly for those, because it's really hard to overlook them.

Yes, Donald, I noticed them also. The first time I was looking for that report button to report spam because it looked like part of the thread. The problem with sidebar adds is nobody sees them. Your mind goes straight to the threads and never looks over to the side. It is a bit disruptive having them interspersed in the threads but it's about the only way to guarantee that they will be seen. I think they would be better if they were image ads rather than text so they didn't look so much like member posts.

You can set your preferences to disable ads on the site.

Go to your profile page:
Select: Change your site preferences.
Scroll down to where it says: Disable Ad's on site?
Select Yes, remove the ads.
Go to the bottom of the page and select: Save your changes.

Thanks, Lin. I might add that you two have added plenty to the database so you can disable the ads. I think they can't be disabled until a certain amount of database entries are posted. Newbies have to get busy if they want to disable them.

Donald did mention that he has the ability to turn off the ads so he knows about that option, this is more of a complaint of a new type of ad that imposes itself as looking like a post, part of a thread. Smack in the middle of a thread.

@Calif_Sue
Yes, that would be correct. I'm going to attempt to adjust without disabling the ads, but I'm not too hopeful. They do have the effect of irritating me. I think if I were new to the site, I'd quickly gravitate away from it. I think they leave a bad impression. They redirect the focus away from the purpose of the site, IMO.

@Dave, can you look into these new ads?

As a former web site developer, I'm guessing the ads are a way for Dave to offset the cost of keeping the site running. While I don't think going down the 'paid membership' road would be helpful, maybe @Dave can set up something where we could occasionally contribute cold, hard cash to keep things going and allow for future development. We could even offer up a special micro badge as recognition for monetary support during a calendar year.

I'm in a few groups where monetary donations are optional. Enough members give that the sites are able to keep going without ads. That would be fine with me, if Dave and Trish want to do that.

Hi. I agree that the new ads imbedded amongst the threads are intrusive and annoying. But I disagree about the other ones on the page. If your browser is set up for it, advertisers will put things there that you've previously bought or researched on the internet. They'll definitely catch your eye, and I've occasionally clicked on them. Right now on this page, there's a large photo of a beautiful sweater I'd love to wear, but can't afford.

So, on the top and side, I don't mind the ads.

I agree with @josieskid all of a sudden there are ads everywhere and they are invasive and annoying. There so many ads sometimes i just get lost in them and need to check to see where i am. I am viewing several ads interspersed in this thread. It is becoming a challenge to find the content. This is way too much when the ads exceed the content and at least they should be secondary to the content and have a designated space. I think i am only a few posts from realizing the database requirement to disable ads. I guess i could throw some photos in the database but i am careful with what i submit to the database (i.e. does my contribution add something new to the database?). I haven't been bothered much by the ads until they have been given free reign to insert themselves into the content.

@vitrsna, you just crossed the threshold for your ability to turn the ads off if you wish but ads are a necessity to keep a website running.

@Calif_Sue thank you for the information, but my profile still does not give me the option to "disable ads". At any rate, it is early days now and i would not use the option. I will give @Dave the time to see what he can do to to reign in the invasive ads. I know "fixes" can be complex and i know ads are important, but they have run amuck. Maybe up the price for ads and only have the ones that do not invade content?

Not sure why you don't see the option under your preferences, you are over the 100 database contributions mark.

Sue, I've noticed that sometimes things like that don't show up until the update at the start of the next server day. Perhaps that's the reason Vitrsna is not seeing the option yet?

It took a while for the option to show up for me after I'd got to 100 image uploads. I don't remember how long but it certainly wasn't instant.

Thank you @Danita for offering a possible "why" I'll check from time to time but i am still not ready to use the option, although it is nice to know that one has the option. I wonder if it got lost in the server change activity?

I am now counting 6 ads in this thread and we are still on page 1
In the right-hand corner you can click and the ad goes transparent black but that only brings more attention to the ad

@vitrsna have you tried logging off the site and then logging back in using your password? I generally don't log off, but sometimes doing stuff like that resets things.

The ads aren't consistent in showing up. E.g., on this thread I'm not seeing any today. I've noticed when I'm actively viewing a thread, they drop off after a viewing. When I'm trying to catch up on a thread with lots of posts, I see a lot of the ads. Not sure if that's clear, but a couple of threads which have many pages of posts have caught my interest and I'm wanting to possibly participate, but have been reading all the posts from the beginning to see if my questions have already been addressed. I'm currently somewhere in the middle of a thick book with many chapters on one . The ads just make getting to the end seem more tedious. They may not at all, but they certainly mean more scrolling to get through them all. Maybe ads show up on a 1st visit sort of basis? This thread doesn't have too many pages, so it's interesting I'm not seeing them currently because some were there previously. Tech stuff - so naturally I'm sinking in the bog .

I must have the ads turned off as I haven't had them interrupt the forums but was surprised to see an ad in place of the first photo in a plant I had looked up in the Plant Data Base. Kinda strange to see cookware listed as an Epiphyllum...

Thanks for the tip about logging off and on @needrain. It is something i have never done and have no clue what my password is but i will explore and try this.

It is a little creepy @pod to know the database has been infiltrated by the ad mania as well.

I am possibly more effected by this due to being out of the country. I think @Dave has less reach than he does in the US, but i don't know why i think this.

When i just popped in i did notice the ads have changed and there are new ones and none of them are transparently blacked out, if that means anything. I am in the tech bog as well...i feel indiscriminately spammed.