Ad-free forum

[roger]

Hi everyone,

Since 12th October, this forum has been ad-free to members when they are logged in (but regrettably not to guests). Initially, this was little more than a short-term feasibility study. I am not yet willing to guarantee that we will be ad-free permanently but I am sufficiently pleased with the results so far. I have therefore decided to continue to make it ad-free for the time being probably at least to the end of the year and we'll see how it goes.

Interestingly, Joe and Stephany have both commented that pages load faster. If true, that is an additional benefit that I hadn't considered. Hopefully, the general appearance of the forum is more aesthetically pleasing.

Roger

[martindn]

Hi Roger,

I am not aware of the commercial situation, but basically I don't care about ads if they are the price we pay for enjoying this site. What matters to me is the information we share, and if a few ads is what we need to support the site, it is a price worth paying. This is a great site and you are doing a wonderful job. If you need the ads for financial support, don't feel embarrassed about it.

Martin

[milewalker]

I agree Martin. Ads are a small price to pay for participation here.

Incedently, as I type this, there is still one ad on the page for "Skype" apparantly a free "internet telephony" program. I am not pointing this out to be critical - merely as an observation of a possible technical issue.

I think the pages do load faster....

Jon

[roger]

Hi Martin,

The commercial situation is this. ProBoards software is free to the user. They make their money by placing adverts on all forums (there are currently over 2.7 million of them) but each forum owner has the option of paying a small amount of money each month for the privilege of having an ad-free forum. In the past, payment by credit card could not be made from anywhere outside the US or Canada which is why we haven't done it before. Now, it can.

Therefore, the existance of the ads were not exactly supporting the site but merely the result of me not paying to have them removed. The information we share is not dependent upon having adverts but I hope the ad-free option creates a more pleasing appearance of the forum on which we share it.

Hi Jon,

Thank you for pointing out that the Skype ads still appear on some pages. They are the one exception insofar as they are not placed there by ProBoards. For some reason, Keith (HWI's previous owner) deliberately added the coding which displayed them. I removed that coding from the main pages long ago but I never got around to searching for it elsewhere. That may take a while because I suspect he may have added it to each individual board. I will search for any surviving coding and remove it when time permits.

Roger

[milewalker]

Hi Roger,

Please dont put yourself through any extra work because of this. Personally, I dont really mind the ads in bulk - being ad free is certainly an improvement in many small ways, but none of these things are of enough consequence that it would have ever occurred to me to ask to have them removed. The presence of a single ad is therefore even more trivial.

As it stands now, it seems to me that some of you hardly sleep....

Jon

[Dave]

Oct 25, 2008 16:06:51 GMT milewalker said:

As it stands now, it seems to me that some of you hardly sleep....

Did someone call?

Dave

[roger]

Oct 25, 2008 16:06:51 GMT milewalker said:

As it stands now, it seems to me that some of you hardly sleep....

Aaw, just when I was beginning to nod off!

Okay thanks, Jon. I won't spend time searching for the coding but, if I stumbled upon it in my travels, I will delete it.

Roger

[martindn]

Roger,

Am I right in assuming that this is costing you money personally? If so, is there some way you recoup it. If not, we all owe you.

Martin

[roger]

Hi Martin,

Let's put it this way. Hayley once released an album called 'My Gift To You'. I am merely trying to return the favour.

Roger

[martindn]

Hi Roger,

Then let me be the first to thank you for that, as wel as all the work you do to keep this site going.

Hayley in her book said she thought the title "My Gift to You was "cheesy". Actually I didsagree with her. It is not cheesy at all, and there are different ways to interpret that title

Hayley's gift to her fans, or "supporters" as she now calls us
Since it is a Christmas album, God's gift of his son to the world.
God's gift of her talent for singing - to Hayley
God's gift of Hayley's voice - to us.

And probably some more. Not cheesy at all in my opinion.

Martin

[Joe]

Hi everyone,

In keeping with Hayley's birthday and the special announcements, I have paid to have the advertisements removed for the remainder of April.

With the often distracting ads gone, I hope this will enhance your enjoyment of the forum i.postimg.cc/9fYxy370/smilie-big-grin.gif

Best wishes,
Joe

[Dave]

Thanks Joe,

That's a really nice "Hayley" birthday present - to all of us!

Members who aren't logged on, you need to "log on" to lose the ads!

Cheers, Dave

[Richard]

Thanks Joe!

Best Wishes,

Richard

[postscript]

This post and Dave's reply have been moved from the Rugby World Cup thread by Richard.

Sorry Dave, off subject but the ads have gone. Thank you not just for that but for all your efforts much of which we realise is behind the scenes.

Peter S.

[Dave]

Oct 16, 2011 19:41:20 GMT postscript said:

Sorry Dave, off subject but the ads have gone. Thank you not just for that but for all your efforts much of which we realise is behind the scenes.

Peter S.

Hi Peter,

Yes off topic, but well worth a reminder, and it's all down to Joe! Members who are logged on will currently see no advertisments in the forum so there's a nice big incentive for not viewing it as a guest. Thanks Joe!

Cheers, Dave