I’d rather pay an extra $1 or $2 to eliminate the need for banner ads. I get a lot of enjoyment for my subscription fee (what is it now, $14?) less than $1.50 a month for the kind of fun I’ve had here to date? psh. not a problem.
That’s my issue. I don’t care so much about the ads myself, but I know that people whose posts I value will. Unfortunately, if enough of those people leave I will have to as well.
The ironic part is, I expect that some of the same people who want animated avatars are going to be up in arms (if they aren’t already) about the banner ads.
BTW, I saw TubaDiva explain in another thread that members are only going to see them for as long as it takes for Jerry to find some bug.
In the run-up to subscriptions, Admins said numerous times that they couldn’t take donations because they are a private business run for profit, or something like that.
Preach it, Brother/Sister !!
They could certainly offer more expensive ad-free subscriptions, though. Hell, I bet Jerry could even solicit “tips”.
I have a sneaking suspicion that people would bitch and moan no matter what the Reader did. Jeez, you’d think they were jabbing forks in your eyes, people. Try to fortify yourselves for life’s soul-searing tribulations a little better. :rolleyes:
TV, magazines and newspapers pay for content too, whether through subscriptions to wire services (or syndicated episodes for TV) or directly, to the reporters, writers, actors, directors, and so on, for content produced directly for them.
The SDMB does not have this cost. WE create all the content. They don’t even pay the SDSAB who write some of the reports going up on the front page.
Your analogy is flawed.
It’s not even in the top 500. Cite.
Hm…well I stand corrected then.
Perhaps it was back when we were free that we had so many people? I could have sworn we were in the top 40 once.
ETA: We do seem to be doing better in the post-count department though.
It was explained in another thread that the slow running is due to a bug, not lack of resources.
Ads? I see no ads.
I do have a metric boatload of the advertising infrastructure of America blocked though, so damn near nobody can get an ad onto any page I see on any site.
I just noticed the ads today, oddly enough.
I can take them or leave them. Haven’t noticed any with sound, as I usually have my computer speakers turned off when visiting the SDMB.
I’m there anyways. The ads aren’t annoying to make me jump ship. I’ll miss anyone who does go, though.
What** Leaffan** said.
I’ve been lurking here awhile on the same Mozilla/Firefox/Adblock Plus combination (Windows XP), and had I not seen this thread I would have had no idea the SDMB had started banner ads.
**Silenus ** and everyone else, don’t go away. I know this sucks and hopefully the 3 ongoing protest threads will not be met with hostility but rather a concession to us members, but it is simple enough to block this crap.
There are several methods for IE, free add-on blockers, hosts files (not as good) or using this method:
**What I did was first view source to find the ad site and then I went into tools - internet option - security tab - restricted sites - and I added the one I found.
http://media.chicagoreader.com/phpAdsNewer
The view source in IE 6 is available as a right click, in IE7 it is under Page option.**
ETA:
Hit f5 to refresh the pages with banners and see if they go and clear the temporary history files in internet options.
If these don’t work I will be experimenting on other machines in the morning.
Jim
Fuck me, I’m so jaded by the whole intarwebz experience I didn’t even realise there was a banner ad staring me in the face until I saw this thread! 
Thanks everyone who has suggested Adblock. That’s happening RIGHT NOW. :mad:
(“Your photos on real postage!” “FUCKO OFF!!!” God I want to split that baby’s head open with an ice pick.)
I’m not seeing ads any more. There’s a white space where the ads would be. I installed something for Internet Explorer, so we’ll see if that does it.
Wow, I had no idea. I thought this was a joke thread.
Running Firefox with adblock, stop autoplay, and flashblock extensions. My internet experience is well filtered, aesthetically. I heartily recommend it.
Before:
After:
Big photo of Nancarrow with a huge grin on his face and a thumbs-up. Voice-over: “The Adblock extension to Firefox changed my life, and it can change yours too! Download now! It’s free!” … annoying jingle music. Subliminal message flashed for 1/50 of a second saying “Nancarrow is really hot in bed!”
Jim, f5 is “hibernate” on my laptop. What am I going for here?
For what it’s worth, I’m still getting the ads but now all the pages are hanging for up to 3 minutes before loading.