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Post by Charlie Hall on Jun 22, 2009 4:35:53 GMT
I have long noticed that adverts appear on this site, whereby their content is somewhat linked to wording used on a page.
We have to put up with these ads because the site hosting by Proboards is free of charge. However I am trying to think of a way to make certain ads less likely to appear.
To get straight to the point, I suspect that the site name Charlie Hall & Friends seems to be the cause of a long running ad by Plenty Of Fish, which I believe is not appropriate for this site. I do not think that the header in red is the cause because it is not text, more likely it is the use of the same words (in black) in the box immediately below the header.
Please comment as to whether you think it would be a good idea or not to remove the & Friends from the black wording to see if it helps to remove such ads as the Plenty Of Fish one. As stated, the red site name should be able to stay as it is because it is an image and not text, therefore it shouldn't be recognised by the system for the purpose of ads. If it turns out that it is recognised, then the ad system is cleverer than I would have thought possible.
I could have changed the wording without mentioning anything here, but I would prefer that the members at least know about my intentional experiment first.
This thread will be a temporary one. I intend to delete it afterwards if removal of the suggested words is thought to be a good idea by the majority who comment, and that if doing so changes the advertising content to something more in keeping with this site.
Regards,
Charlie
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Post by bill on Jun 22, 2009 7:09:43 GMT
Hi Charlie,
I just thought 'they' had some way of knowing I was a sad old git! Otherwise it's been a bit of a mystery to me why some adverts appear; I assumed they were adverts that the advertiser had paid more for greater exposure.
It's worth a try although I feel it would be a pity to remove the Charlie Hall & Friends.
You have made me think though, that if it wasn't for the fact that 'Charlie Hall & Friends' is there on the page, I should have put those words in as an alternative text version with the graphic version so that a web reader programme being used by people with poor or no sight would be able to read it out, otherwise poor sighted people don't know what the graphic reads. The google ad programme would be able to read it as well though.
Another thing we could try (I think, I haven't looked into it) is to put a list of words that *are* related to this site into an invisible list. That might skew the ads such that the irrelevant ones don't come up so often.
So, personally on balance I think I would just put up with the ads as is but by all means try it.
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Post by noelford on Jun 22, 2009 7:24:27 GMT
Yes, it's worth trying - be interesting to see how effective it is.
Noel
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Post by Deleted on Jun 22, 2009 11:35:36 GMT
HI charlie & all,,,, go for it mate & see if it works ... I have not seen the fishy-add ,I seem to alway's see guitar related adds etc here in OZ , or I find it cleverly notes the thead word's as if it is say concerning speaker's a speaker add will pop up% so on very clever programing on there part .. saying that though the adds do not bother me at all & I know they are a nesessary thing for the site to continue for free!!!!!!! I would not like to see the nice red ''charlie-hall&friend's go missing ,,,,It is now an ''ICON'' CHEERS barry.. [PS ] HI to you bill3 I have missed you on the site lately mate are you ''OK''  ? |
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Post by Len on Jun 22, 2009 11:46:31 GMT
Hi Charlie and All
The ads don't worry me. It's just as Barry described in Oz. It's mainly guitar or amp ads I have noticed. I never really look at them. They don't bother me at all. I might have seen a screensaver ad once or twice. Once again I don't give much heed to them anyway. I go straight to the good stuff on this website.
Regards
Len
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Post by twang46 on Jun 22, 2009 12:11:40 GMT
Hi Charlie
I remember seeing some "strange"adds from time to time, but non that have caused any offence or annoyance to me.
As most of the adds are related to the page on display, to me it seems a very small price to pay for the site hosting.
However I am happy to go with any decision you may make re "wording" etc.. if you feel it to be beneficial
Cheers
Dick.
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Post by John Haldane on Jun 22, 2009 14:07:13 GMT
Hi Charlie,
I have received messages from profish, not sure where they got my address from though, but as I do not know them I just deleted them, as I do with all messages from people I don't recognize.
take care
John H
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Post by Charlie Hall on Jun 22, 2009 15:05:04 GMT
Thanks for your replies. The red wording will remain whatever happens. I will change the black wording only to see what happens. If it makes no difference I will put it back as it was.
Strange that most of you do not see the same ads as I do, or perhaps we are misunderstanding what pages we are talking about, as the ad changes with different pages of the site.
Regards,
Charlie
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Post by Charlie Hall on Jun 22, 2009 15:10:18 GMT
I have made the change. Now, I see an ad for Coop insurance on the first page!
Shall I leave it as it is or put it back as it was, or wait a while to see how it goes?
Regards,
Charlie
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Post by bill on Jun 23, 2009 7:04:46 GMT
Hi Charlie,
The first advert this morning for me was the dating advert, then TV Licencing (grrr but don't get me started), then a music related one. So, it doesn't seem to have made much difference.
I did try to find out what algorithm google ads uses but apart from taking account of key words I couldn't find out much.
We still have '& friends' in the blue writing on the main page though. Do you want to remove that?
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Post by garystrat on Jun 23, 2009 13:41:27 GMT
Hi Charlie
The adds seem to be a small price to pay for the excellent technical advice and help on these pages. I really don't think it detracts too much from the site, and the added ease of using the site is certainly worthwhile.
Gary
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Post by BarryH on Jun 23, 2009 14:07:44 GMT
Hi Charlie,
I'm with Gary on this one, I've no objection to the ads.
Not sure if there are different ads on the site but I don't get any that are offensive in any way, normally they're just guitar based.
Cheers
Barry
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Post by Charlie Hall on Jun 23, 2009 14:35:25 GMT
Thanks for all your comments. I have not seen the dating ad since, but it seems some of you have.
Bill, I had not noticed the blue writing.
I will put it back as it was.
Regards,
Charlie
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Post by Deleted on Jun 23, 2009 18:02:49 GMT
Hi All,
Something that I have just seen is most disturbing to me. It is a moving banner ad on this site for a company called 'Combat Arms' advertising AK 47's! Surely this can't be right?
Regards
Ian
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Post by Deleted on Jun 23, 2009 18:11:00 GMT
Hi All,
I've just realized, having just had another look, this is an ad for a game, but it still disturbs me a little!
Ian
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Post by Charlie Hall on Jun 23, 2009 19:53:37 GMT
Hi Ian,
I haven't seen that! It must depend on the content of the page you saw it on. It only takes one wrong word to cause it!
Regards,
Charlie
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Post by George Lewis on Jun 23, 2009 22:56:53 GMT
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Post by Charlie Hall on Jun 23, 2009 23:03:58 GMT
Hi George,
Are the ads provided by Google on Proboards sites?
Regards,
Charlie
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Post by George Lewis on Jun 23, 2009 23:52:01 GMT
Hi Charlie,
The Google "service" adds have a little note on on them and seem to be the clickable link ones. (Take you immediately to another site) eg at the moment I have three adds in one box, Nikon cashback, Tube Amp repairs and Vox amp sale and the box has a "Ads by Google" in the lower right corner.
Other adds like PlentyofFish are Flash video .. who knows how they are added, they don't seem to be directly related to the site or page content and I get different one ones depending on whether logged in or view as a visitor.
Just for the record they don't bother me I hardly even notice them anymore.
Also I regularly run anti malaware, AdAware and Spybot and always delete any tracking cookies that have got through. Every now and then I delete all cookies and start again.
Regards
George
PS. The banner flash add on the home page at the mo is for the well known auction site.com.au (Australia) so they at least tailor it to the viewer's country, probably by IP address or maybe their cookie on my PC shows I visit the well known auction site.com.au.
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Post by Charlie Hall on Jun 24, 2009 8:48:07 GMT
Hi George,
Thanks, I hadn't considered that different members would see different ads, even if only because of the location. I think that is enough to make me leave well alone. The only real improvement would be to pay Proboards the required fees to get rid of them and I'm not intending to make members pay for that so I won't be thinking about it.
Regards,
Charlie
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