[Hippie carrying sign] Hey hey! Ho ho! Banner ads have got to go! [/hippie carrying sign]
Count me in as another person who says that the banner ads really suck.
ETA: I’m using Adblock Plus, but just the idea of banner ads being here on the SDMB irritates me.
What ads? I rarely see ads. I use Firefox w/adblock and have software that updates my blocking list daily.
But what is this about? I was thinking of/planning to pay money to be member here, um…geez. 
Even tho I won’t see them, that is no way to treat paying customers.
Me too (both sentences).
CMC +fnord!
I can’t see anything…but I’ve got an edited hosts file.
That fucking sucks though. So this is how the new management is planning to kill the board?
First they came for the Windows XP IE users, but I said nothing.
Then, they came for the WIndows XP Firefox users, but I said nothing.
Then, they came for the Vista users, yet still I said nothing.
Then, they came for me, and while I had previously not seen the annoying ads or appeared to care, there was no one left to speak for me.
bravo sir!
Uh, yeah this sucks.
I think the reason why it sucks is because I have been getting the pervasive feeling that nobody really gives a shit how happy SD members are with what they are paying for. There are all these weird little restrictive rules that seem to ebb away at the carefree spirit of the board. That, I can tolerate, because I’ve never really had authority issues, even if I do think some of the policies are stupid… whatever, I’m not a boat-rockin’ sort of person.
But this is just really, really irritating. Consider my complaint officially registered.
Me three, please.
I actually don’t mind banner ads, though I have started blocking them since they appeared here. But banner ads with sound annoy me so much that I always surf with the sound off, even at home. I never thought of the SDMB as one of the sites that make this necessary – and though I haven’t made a decision yet, I do consider this an example of bad customer service and it may convince me not to resubscribe. We’ll see.
I’ve fiddled with my settings, and seem to have disabled the animated and noisy ones (all I get is a little icon of a film clip that, when moused-over, says something about it being blocked), but I still see the static ads.
As long as they don’t flash and move and make noise, I can live with them for now. But it’s still annoying. Combined with the Google ads, paying to post seems kinda stupid.
I downloaded Ad Muncher for Internet Explorer. I think it may have a 30 day trial, and I haven’t enacted it, but I don’t see the ads now.
I may just have great timing with the deactivation of the ads?
Snipped just to say that this applies to me as well.
ETAmyself: Just that line. If the ads stay, I’ll still stay but I really love this place. That being said, to make everyone else happy and keep the level of traffic this place has, I also wouldn’t mind paying more as long as it means no ads = people staying.
I’ve linked to 3 other SD related sites here. As far as I know, there is no problem with having these links in a post here. There are several other forums as well. I suspect the three I linked to will have links to those as well. As far as I know, there is only one place that it is forbidden to link to from the SD. They must be having a field day with our outrage over banners there.
Geez…
My annoyance is only tempered by the fact that the only ad I seem to get is encouraging me to ‘upgrade’ to Internet Explorer 7. Which would be quite a trick, given I’m on a Mac. So every time I load a page, I’m wasting a infinitesimal bit of Microsoft’s money. Small comfort.
I don’t suppose The New Powers That Be would listen to some of the ideas we’ve had over the years for generating funds for the SDMB that would be less irritating? I for one would love the opportunity to buy a Straight Dope coffee mug that didn’t scare the crap out of me when I look at it.
[sub]on edit: actually since I drink my coffee left-handed, I’d be frightening other people with the mug. Oh, and here’s a Ford ad just to prove me wrong.[/sub]
Don’t upgrade to Safari 3 then, PithHelmet’s not working for that version yet.
Haven’t seen any ads on the Dope (or almost anywhere else) since I started using PithHelmet a few years ago. Best shareware ever.
[attempted geek joke]
We don’t need you anyway Polymer. Your posts are just a long string of the same few things repeating over and over again.
[/attempted geek joke]
No ads until returning to this thread. Now they’re thick and fast. Nothing screaming at me yet but I’ve no doubt the drones are working feverishly.
If someone who knows how to block these shitstainy ads using Safari 2.0.4 and wants to share, I’d appreciate it.
I get it.
Is it bad that I am kinda hoping one of these damn ads makes a noise at me, so I can complain about them legitimately?
I do not like the fact that they’re there, I don’t like that they move/flash/scroll/whatever, but I am forced to admit that I am willing to put up with them as long as they don’t 1) start making noises, 2) become pop-ups, 3) interfere with my music program or 4) install shit on my computer.
Dammit, quit outing my browser. Check here to see about making Safari 3 work with PithHelmet.
Download the “hacked” unofficial version. Worked for me, YMMV, yadda, yadda.
