Keeping the forum ad-free

[Chaosfeary]

It's not really very hard just use Firefox and AdBlock Plus (install link, won't work if you don't have Firefox installed, website)

It comes with a filter that blocks ads on proboards (and alot of websites) built in
/[\W_]ad(banner|click|flow|frame|ima?ge?|log|serv(er|e)?|stream|type|view|vert(ising|isement)?|v|js|trix|xchange|wrapper)?s?[\W\d_]/

With that filter all these advertisements that would normally be shown on the page I am looking at now are completely gone and not even loaded:
banners.4d5.net/ads/ads.cgi?Entertainment
(^ particularly nasty one that, it's an embedded web page to show the ad, that also has two other pages inside it with tracking cookies (SPYWARE) :/ examples:
jupiter.bravenet.com/rover/f?cid=proboards&ctype=0&term=007
xml.bravenetmedianetwork.com/xmlcpc/serv.php?p=23&ctype=1&cat=007&r=4397363 )

and pagead2.googlesyndication.com/pagead/show_ads.js gets blocked too


At least try it, I was sceptical at first but it works damn well, to quote the people here "I haven't seen an ad in months"

[Kneetroll]

I can't do that! I'd lose the bloody board if I tried to worm my way around the adverts. I've recieved a few kind donations from members and do intend to remove the adverts properly!

[DreamDangerously]

I have to admit, I've been converted to the happy ways of Firefox and Adblock recently, it doesn't really affect this site too much...just mostly gets rid of that annoying ad bar at the top....no more "Atlantis Gay Cruises"...unless of course you like it.

[Chaosfeary]

admin said:

I can't do that! I'd lose the bloody board if I tried to worm my way around the adverts!

You wouldn't!
It's not server-side, it's just on the people that use the boards' browser. There's no way to tell that someone's using it.

Also, in Adblock plus, in the options in "support sites", you can set the advertisements to be silently downloaded in the background without actually being shown on your screen, instead of not loading them at all. This way sites still get money for show-per-ads.

However pro boards is a big host, and there's nothing they can really do about this. Removing the board because people on it use Firefox and exercise their freedom of choice to not look at ads? Not going to happen. (If you hacked the actual board somehow and removed ads for *anyone* though, yeah, probably.)

[Chaosfeary]

chaosfeary said:

It's not really very hard just use Firefox and AdBlock Plus (install link, won't work if you don't have Firefox installed, website)

It comes with a filter that blocks ads on proboards (and alot of websites) built in
/[\W_]ad(banner|click|flow|frame|ima?ge?|log|serv(er|e)?|stream|type|view|vert(ising|isement)?|v|js|trix|xchange|wrapper)?s?[\W\d_]/

With that filter all these advertisements that would normally be shown on the page I am looking at now are completely gone and not even loaded:
banners.4d5.net/ads/ads.cgi?Entertainment
(^ particularly nasty one that, it's an embedded web page to show the ad, that also has two other pages inside it with tracking cookies (SPYWARE) :/ examples:
jupiter.bravenet.com/rover/f?cid=proboards&ctype=0&term=007
xml.bravenetmedianetwork.com/xmlcpc/serv.php?p=23&ctype=1&cat=007&r=4397363 )

and pagead2.googlesyndication.com/pagead/show_ads.js gets blocked too


At least try it, I was sceptical at first but it works damn well, to quote the people here "I haven't seen an ad in months"

Anyway, basically, if you use that, no one has to see ads and no one has to pay any money either.

Proboards could supply you with the database if you wanted to move the forum elsewhere, but I read that one user got quite a rude email back when they asked politely for this so they could copy all the messages/user accounts/forums etc to a new board. -_- Their business relies on hooking people making new websites and then making it hard for them to switch. ;/ Can't blame em I guess, but still, a pity.

[Kneetroll]

Oh I seee lol.

I'll give those sites a read and take a looky