Am I the only one annoyed by these? I mean, these really piss me off. I realize it takes money to run FitFreak and everything, and that's fine, but when the money making starts to override the benefit to the community and gets in the way of enjoying the site, that's when I think it's gone too far and needs to be put in check. Isn't there a better way to get the point across without having to throw a huge banner and useless sidebar up in people's faces everytime they load a page? Forums can be slow loading enough as it is, so why add even more of a burden to the mix? Besides, people that come to this site: a) have a Fit already and don't need to be sold one; b) are waiting for their Fit to come and, again, don't need to be sold one; c) are interested in the Fit enough already to have found the site to gather info and once again, don't need to be sold one.

Ok, I've vented my one yearly (if even that) complaint, back to our regular program.

 

Yes ad's can be annoying, but I think lots of people do find this site that don't own a fit yet and maybe they will click through to the Honda site. I'm glad this site is free thanks to advertisers.

Something that another big website I'm on does is hide ads to registered users, maybe something like that would work here? That way all the guests get spammed

 

You're right, and it's not necessarily ads in general that bother me so much as the way they're being used. We've had ads on here ever since I can remember and I've never had an issue with them. But then, they also weren't needlessly large, didn't slow down the site, never opened a dialog every time your mouse hits them, or followed you up and down everywhere you scrolled either. To me, that's getting a bit abusive and I don't like it, free or not. Why can't we just have a nice thin banner only at the top or between posts like ads we have now anyway? People will still see it and click it if they want to. Or, just rotate it in with the other banners we already have. Honda may not like that perhaps, but then someone should tell them that this site has probably sold more Fits for them free-of-charge since before they ever showed up, and that they oughtta back off a bit.

 

i dont mind the one on the top but the one on the side is getting real old real fast

 

lets get more feedback on this.

 

I don't like the one on the side either.

 

yeah the top banner is fine, as were all the ones in between posts. But the skycraper on the right side is annoying as crap! I know the skyscrapers pay more, but it just doesn't fit with the content right now.

 

Yeah, the top one is cool. Side one...Blah. However, from a site admin's point of view, I am sure Honda realized that this is a growing community and HOPEFULLY compensated them very well. If not, if it was my site, they would be tossed. Just MHO.

 

I know a lot of non Fit owners are cruising the site...but still makes me laugh when I see Honda advertising the Fit here...to a group of owners...hehe...

Anyways, I agree with the consensus, I don't mind the banner on top, the small one on the bottom (sponsored links) or the ones on the top right, but the side one...it's ok for my blogs (because it's been oriented like that for a while and fits their setup), but for a forum, it's freakin annoying...and makes all of the text boxes 1/5 smaller...yarrr...

 

Honestly, I wouldn't mind paying if it was a reasonable fee. Not quite sure what it would take considering the size of the site but I could probably spare $5-10 a month if it meant no ads.

 

Whew, good to see others felt the same way -- I thought afterwards maybe I was taking the ads too seriously, but seems not. I agree with everyone, the side bar needs to die first.

 

My old Protege site accepted Donations and everyone has a donation counter to help out the forum and rely less on ads...

 

Ads don't bother me. If they are a pain, you might want to consider donating money to the site to keep it running. We have a few ads on the NSX forum but its kept to a minimum because of the fact that people donate to fund and maintain the site.

 

Top or bottom banners don't bug me(as long as they don't scroll with you) Side banners mess up the formatting of the page.

 

Side banner was getting in my way of the "search this thread" feature. I couldnt see what I was typing.
I dont like them. 95% of the people on this forum have Fits, we know about the Magic Seats.

 

I noticed the forums opening are a lot slower than the last time I was on and the HONDA banners weren't on the site. It took 1 minute! to load one page on the T3 at work. I usually love this site cause its so quick, it was 5 seconds to load a page MAX! before the ads with giant pics.

 

uhh the top banner is slowing the site down it seems, and if there is future buyers on the site (which there is) then they obviously already kno where to purchase a fit... I honestly think its pointless to have a banner like that. but looks cool?

 

Hate Them!!!

 

I would much rather have the ads for and keep the site for free. Donations maybe but not a monthly fee. I, for one, don't mind the ads at all. They are different, yes, but not that big of a deal for either ad location.

 

I agree, it should be from a purely donation standpoint, not a monthly fee. That and maybe tone down the animated banners, they may look cool, but in the end just annoy people and as some people here see, they slow down the site. I personally dont look at banners so if there are any overpaid marketing guru's reading this, THEY DO NOT WORK, find another way to waste peoples time and money.