Why all the ads?

[jblum315]

Why is the forum suddenly all filled up with ads for coupons and promos?

[Jim 9922]

I assume they pay the "freight" at no cost to us. Operating one of these sites isn't free. The new owner probably wants to earn a good return on his time and investment. More power to him, and thanks for the site!
:bigbow:

[Vinny]

I do not come here much anymore. Hard to find the post among the ads. This has become a forum where our visits translate into higher ad revenue and more ads. There are forums that are labors of love and enough ad revenue to cover costs is sufficient. Then there are those that are money making enterprises. This is the latter as far as I am concerned and go elsewhere much of the time.

[eweissenbach]

I do not come here much anymore. Hard to find the post among the ads. This has become a forum where our visits translate into higher ad revenue and more ads. There are forums that are labors of love and enough ad revenue to cover costs is sufficient. Then there are those that are money making enterprises. This is the latter as far as I am concerned and go elsewhere much of the time.

I find this forum quite easy to navigate, and find the ads relatively unobtrusive most of the time. The OP was referring to a barrage of ads in the form of numerous posts this morning.

[Pturner]

I'm glad the site is successful. I'm glad local businesses are doing well enough to advertise; and I hope the ads help them grow their business.

Cheers!

:beer3:

[eweissenbach]

I'm glad the site is successful. I'm glad local businesses are doing well enough to advertise; and I hope the ads help them grow their business.

Cheers!

:beer3:

You're a smart lady!

[TOTV Team]

Why is the forum suddenly all filled up with ads for coupons and promos?

There are countless man hours that go into the security, maintenance, and development of the site. I personally spent over an additional 40 hours during December above and beyond my normal daily maintenance time for various development projects. Access to the users is all made available for FREE and it is the desire of the administration to always remain FREE and to have the advertising always be the supporting factor. We thank everyone for their support of the local businesses and advertisers that contribute to supporting the site. Please consider them for any of your future needs.

[Barefoot]

I'm glad the site is successful. I'm glad local businesses are doing well enough to advertise; and I hope the ads help them grow their business. :beer3:

Well said PT. We're lucky to have this free site. I use TOTV advertisers whenever possible. Hats off to the Admins!

[pauld315]

I can also see an improvement in performance since the new owner took over. I suspect there was some hardware improvements for the hosting server etc when the new owner took over. I don't find the ads bothersome and I hope they make a nice profit on the site.

[RichieB]

You have freedom of choice.

If you want to read the ads, click on the ones you find interesting.

You also can ignore the ads.

You control the "clicker."

[Posh 08]

I never ever click on an internet ad. Anywhere. The reason, I don't know if those sites are secure.

[Challenger]

I'm glad the site is successful. I'm glad local businesses are doing well enough to advertise; and I hope the ads help them grow their business.

Cheers!

:beer3:

Me too:coolsmiley:

[LatDoc]

I love the site and I'm grateful to the advertisers for supporting it.
This is one of the best websites that I go to and I'm happy that it's free.
Thanks to administration for doing all that they do and hopefully they get reimbursed for all their hard work.

[jimbo2012]

I have setup 3 of these forums in the past, you have buy the software, annual cost for upgrades, pay for a server space & bandwidth, pay for or design the standard format.

That's not to mention the time it takes to supervise the new signups and delete spam posters.

The ads have to pay those costs and the owner should make a few bucks, they aren't going to get rich form it.

? Do you intend to upgrade to vBulletin® 4, it has a lot of nice bells & whistles.

I have seen vBulletin run with paid sponsorships thereby deleting the ads, but that also has issues.

[skyguy79]

I never ever click on an internet ad. Anywhere. The reason, I don't know if those sites are secure.Clicking an ad poses little to no threat to our computers. What it does do in some externally fed ads, is increase the income to the forum as the revenue is based on the number of clicks made to their links. Click away folks! I'm gonna do just that right after I'm through with this post. :D

[Posh 08]

Clicking an ad poses little to no threat to our computers. What it does do in some externally fed ads, is increase the income to the forum as the revenue is based on the number of clicks made to their links. Click away folks! I'm gonna do just that right after I'm through with this post. :D

A little threat is enough for me to shy away. No thanks.

[Barefoot]

Clicking an ad poses little to no threat to our computers. What it does do in some externally fed ads, is increase the income to the forum as the revenue is based on the number of clicks made to their links. Click away folks! I'm gonna do just that right after I'm through with this post. :D

I recently received an e-mail from a trusted friend who provided a link, with the suggestion that I'd find it interesting. I clicked on the link, which turned out to be a dumb ad. When I called my friend, he said he'd never initiated the e-mail to me with the ad link. Subsequently everyone in my address book was sent an e-mail from my ID (NOT from me) asking them to click on the link. I'm done clicking on links! :Screen_of_Death:

[skyguy79]

A little threat is enough for me to shy away. No thanks.No problem. I can fully understand your caution. Many years ago before the registry and other elements of the modern PC, I used to delve into areas I wouldn't think of going today. Better the side of caution when we feel it's necessary!

[KathieI]

I agree with Bare. I never click on links attached to emails from friends either, nor click on any ad links on facebook or any other site. Consequently, I've never had a virus (oh dear, don't speak too soon, Kathie) and hope to never get one. They are a PITA...

[jimbo2012]

If you use Gmail 99.99% of the crap is filtered out.

Other email interfaces can't compare.

[TOTV Team]

I have setup 3 of these forums in the past, you have buy the software, annual cost for upgrades, pay for a server space & bandwidth, pay for or design the standard format.

That's not to mention the time it takes to supervise the new signups and delete spam posters.

The ads have to pay those costs and the owner should make a few bucks, they aren't going to get rich form it.

? Do you intend to upgrade to vBulletin® 4, it has a lot of nice bells & whistles.

I have seen vBulletin run with paid sponsorships thereby deleting the ads, but that also has issues.


We have held off on vBulletin 4 due to ongoing issues they seem to be working through with this new release. Once we are convinced that it is a solid platform we will move over to it. Even the company (Internet Brands) who owns over 100 forums who purchased vBulletin has yet to convert their own sites over to the new vBulletin 4. So we are continuing with VB 3 as most forum owners are until VB 4 has all the bugs worked out.

[jimbo2012]

I have one of my 3 forums on V4 so far so good, but glad you're on top of it.