plantmanager said:Thanks, Jon! Someone grew up. Nice profile pic.

I agree! Love, the new avatar photo, Jon. When I first saw the picture, I didn't even realize it was you!

I NEVER read the ads in the middle of a post, because I am trying to read the actual post, so I scroll past them, and they are useless to me - just junk - and yes, they do look like the poster is the one promoting them. I do look at the ads on the side though. But again, most useful to me is the option in the database to 'buy now' a specific plant. It sure saves time to be able to click that button and buy a particular plant right now instead of trying to find a nursery that sells it. I really do think companies should use their advertising money on that option.

Thank you Jon. I was wondering who that person was in the photo. I truly did not recognize you. And time rolls on.

Still haven't disabled seeing ads. Those in between posts are getting better at being disguised as a post. Here's one where I just did a screenshot where it looks like Judge Judy has joined NGA using the name Adios Judge. The name is even in blue like a regular member. So here's @ Adios Judge


I was going to add that I was not a fan, but that seemed punny considering I'm referring to an ad concerning a well-known TV personality about whom I would prefer to keep my opinion neutral in regards to fan status.

Wow. That would drive me right straight up the wall! Just curious, why don't you just shut the ads off?

lauribob said:Wow. That would drive me right straight up the wall! Just curious, why don't you just shut the ads off?

That's a good question, actually. Partly it's an altruistic action. NGA and formerly ATP are free to me, but obviously the service has costs somewhere. Servers, time, management - that sort of thing. I assume the service is paid for by purchased ads. I don't know if those purchasing an ad can count members where the ads display as opposed to those that can turn the feature off. I'm no techie by any means. Managing a site like this would be a nightmare for me. So it seems sort of selfish to utilize NGA and then want to deprive it of income because I don't want to see ads. The ads are sort of like taxes to me. Some work better than others. I do appreciate driving on a well maintained highway which are funded by taxes. So there's all that.

Another is the nature of the site. It's garden/plant specific. In theory, a lot of advertising would key in on the membership of such a group. I might be really interested in what they advertise and save myself some unnecessary searching. In that respect, an ad for a plant specialty commercial source or plant containers might actually get a hit from me (that's happened) whereas a clothing ad probably wouldn't. Some ads are just clutter or white noise. I don't think the Green Pages here are utilized very well. If companies themselves would join and then tag their goods to make searching easier, it would work a lot better. Not as a rating, but as a potential source. A specialized search engine within NGA, I guess.

Also, it takes a while and some effort to be a member with the privilege of disabling the ads. To some extent, it bothers me on the part of new members or long time lurkers which then don't have the privilege. In my case, I think if these latest ads had been on the site when I first got on it, I would have disregarded the site and not been active or a contributor. Which puts me to the next point.

I have to say I'm not liking these new ones very much. They strike me as being presented in a deceptive manner. I don't like being conned and these are approaching that. At least to me. They really do make the appearance of NGA look less reputable. I guess that's just an optic thing, but it's my perception. But the optics can change and that's what I'm hoping happens. It's how the ads are being presented, not that the ads are there or of their content.

I think those sort of explain why I haven't disabled the ads. At least so far.

Well said. I also feel that I should pull my weight to use the site. I try to contribute enough to the product - the database - to not feel like a freeloader.

I haven't seen the ads but you gave me a good laugh just now. Did Judge Judy really appear between my comment and Vic's or were you doing some creative cutting and pasting?

If I were seeing such ads I'd be out of here lickety split. (So now y'all know how to get rid of me.)

Maybe Judge Judy likes to garden and actually joined NGA?

@tx_flower_child
That was a screen capture. The ads aren't static. They bounce around to different locations. If I had left and gone to a different forum, it probably wouldn't have been in the same spot. Just refreshing a page is enough to relocate them. That makes it difficult (for me) to do a screen capture. I have to look up the directions by opening a new window and be careful to leave what is seen alone. It took me a couple of weeks to do that successfully because of the manner in which they move around. As I said, I'm no techie. It's been an effort on my part to be able do the captures. It's exactly as it was appearing.

Can you tell what is being advertised? I didn't click on it to see. It seems to be a teaser using Judge Judy. Wonder if she's approved the use of her image? I think that must be a hazard for famous people. Having your image used unknowingly to help sell a product seems shady to me. If that's the case, then I wouldn't be too inclined to use the product. It would raise trust issues about their business practices. Hopefully she signed off on the use, but it seems to be sort of a low rent ad so I'm a bit doubtful.

I have no qualms about shutting the ads off. That was a feature offered by the owners in exchange for contributing to the site. I assume they considered the financial ramifications, and decided it was a fair trade. I love a clean screen.

@Bonehead how would you react to these ads if you were a new member who couldn't disable the ads? I know you aren't seeing them now, but you could temporarily turn the ads back on and browse around in the forums and see how they show up and then disable them again. Just curious

NeedRain: I think the owners should really re-think the direction they appear to be going with ads. From what I've gleaned, folks are not generally opposed to sidebar ads, particularly when they are garden related. And really, what the heck is Judge Judy even doing here? The ones that interfere with conversations (inside posts) would drive me away from the site. Perhaps it is an effort to increase the site contributions (?) to reach the magic number to disable ads. I don't know, I'm just happy I am not plagued with ads. Personally, I encourage everyone to contribute enough to the database to reach the threshold to disable. Seems like a win-win for both the members and the owners.

I do agree to more pointed use of ads - e.g., having an ad pop up when researching a particular plant of where one could purchase it. That makes sense to me, and while being an income stream to the owners would also be a convenience to the membership. Another win-win.

Shrug.

Since adds are how Dave earns money from the sight I said I would never disable ads, but these latest disruptive and sneaky ads have driven me to do so.

In his post on January 10: https://garden.org/thread/view..., Jon mentioned that he was going to be working on the problem with advertisements.

I have my profile set to see the ads but thankfully I haven't had the issue some of y'all are seeing with ad's popping up in the middle of a post.

So even if ads are only on the right ('right' as in the opposite of left) side of the screen, which I vaguely remember, don't they have to be approved in someway? Can anybody buy an ad? Did Judge Judy or her doppelgänger buy that ad? Is it even an ad? I don't know. I'm confused.

It is odd, the ad shows up with a user name of Adios Judge and an avatar picture of Judge Judy. I looked at the member list and there is no user by that name so I'm confused by that post.

It's an ad. There is a little green box with the word AD in it on the left upper corner. That little icon is in all the ads and I think it is intended to mark the ad boxes as ads rather than member posts. It's not a member. I originally tried using the @ symbol directly in front of Adios Judge and had to go back and insert a space because there is a member using Adios and I wasn't wanting to notify them.

Unfortunately I had another one show in the body of a post again this morning. Daisy again. For me, the Ask A Question forum has been having the most ads, but also when I go and read older posts on other forums on a thread that's caught my interest. They aren't appearing in the forum posts where I'm a more active reader.

So if I had any money (which sadly I don't) and I could buy an ad, can I advertise anything? Maybe I've made a lot of cat videos and I'm hoping to promote them? Or would they have to be videos of cats in the garden or cats using garden tools?

Sorry. I'm not trying to be flip. Just trying to break this down

When I check my profile, I'm not finding the option for ads. I'm pretty sure I haven't added 100 photos to the data base, so wondering if some of these things have been added after my original membership. So far I'm not seeing any ads except the few on the far right, and I like it that way.

I turned the ad feature on a few days ago. Rethinking just how Dave and family financial support this site. I am very thankful for all they have done. So ads are back on for me. But I may have to disable them again if they keep popping up in between posts. It is to distracting and confusing for me. I don't mind the right side ads. And have actually used them in the past.