Ads taking over everything....

[Twisted Sanity]

Frankly, I'm torn about the ads on Neopets...I recognize that costs must be covered, and this is the single best way to do it that the internet has discovered.

But I wish that Neopets had better policing of their sponsors. The sponsors are forbidden from creating popup ads and from using spyware - but they do it anyway. I wonder if maybe TNT needs to find another staffer whose job would be to approve ads for use on the site, and then the team could really know what the sponsors put up and what they don't.

Isn't the use of ads regulated by some high up authority, higher than TNT. No not God, I'm talking about Doug. Doesn't he have the final say in what goes in and what doesn't? And if he wishes for spyware and popups to appear, then all we can do is give him dirty looks and wave our fists at him.

[Chao]

I don't know about anyone else, but when I use Firefox and use that CSS code, the internet runs as fast as lightning. I'm pretty sure IE has a code to use for ad blocking too.
I'm not really bothered by the ads because they haven't affected my computer much.

[WIS]

I don't know about anyone else, but when I use Firefox and use that CSS code, the internet runs as fast as lightning. I'm pretty sure IE has a code to use for ad blocking too.
I'm not really bothered by the ads because they haven't affected my computer much.

Me neither... Or am I just being affected without knowing it? Its a conspiracy!

[everconfused]

The IE "fix" is that css code - it stops the ads from showing - it does not stop them from d/l in the background. And there is adware/malware/spyware in them. There's one that I don't see the actual ad for - I get an IE pop-up warning asking if I want to install and run Active X - I click No, then get another window saying the page won't be displayed correctly. So that's spyware that's trying to be installed on my computer. There's good Active X (a/v, spyware detectors, flash, etc.) and there's bad Active X - spyware.

I think? most sites that use banner ads are using a Network, probably age/demographically based. So I don't know how much say Neo or any other site has over the ads. Most of the cookies are adware - those cookies let the network know that someone's seen the ad - that's how a site gets paid for having the ads.

But they do make the site slower, there are pages that hang, there are a couple of nasty ones - partner-source for one. There have been 2 ads that caused pop-ups - one was for some weather thing which when Adam found out about got it pulled. There was another, which I didn't see but many did. I'm going to guess that one was seen and pulled also. Good job!

I know the larger ads are now "industry standard" and I know they're here - but they're at the bottom of the page where you really don't even notice them, I've never gotten anything from any of them. Just Neo to be honest.

And I do run my spybot every night now, clear cookies and temp internet after I leave any site too along with having my IE security/privacy set at ohmegee, we're gonna die! mode. There are still a couple of thinigs that try to sneak through.

[Twisted Sanity]

Does anyone have a full list of all the ad-delivery organisations that put the ads on Neo?

I knows theres a few like tribalfusion and burstnet, but I want to get a full list so that I can completely remove them with Ad-block.

These are the ones I know for certain, and that I already block. Add them to Ad-block if you want a faster Neo.

burstnet.com/*
a.tribalfusion.com/*
ad.doubleclick.net/*
a.ad-us.falkag.net/*
ad.sensismediasmart.com.au/*
ad.sensismediasmart.com/*
servedby.advertising.com/*
images.neopets.com/buttons/*
network.realmedia.com/*
ads.acventures.biz/*
clickagents.com/*
partner-source.com/*

Thats all I know. Some of them might not appear on Neo. I just chose some of the more common ones blocked by Ad-block. Anyone have any more?

Last edited by Twisted Sanity on Tue Feb 01, 2005 6:37 am, edited 1 time in total.

[stampsyne]

I do not see the need for banner ads when there are integrated ads already on neopets, such as the sponsored games. Not only is the integrated more effective, it is much les irritating.

[Pteri Sage]

thx teh0mega It didn't get rid of all my most annoying ads but it got rid of several to ad those in your list to my block list.

[galonski64]

I am just glad I have not had the problems you guys seem to be having, lol. *knocks on wood.*

[Twisted Sanity]

thx teh0mega It didn't get rid of all my most annoying ads but it got rid of several to ad those in your list to my block list.

Yeah, no problem, but I still seem to get some non-neo URLs loading up whilst a page loads. I'm just never fast enough to read their full names.

[cat1205123]

I mean...I understand why Neopets has banner ads, but:

1. Couldn't they get away with REGULAR sized ads? It's not like people are more likely to click on gigantic ones then normal ones.

2. Could they at least not have those "Smash the roach and get a free i-pod!" ads?

3. Maybe they should make it so that if you get a high score in Advert Attack, you get ad-free for a month. (Sorry, I just had to make a far-out suggestion.)

[everconfused]

add

clickagents.com
partner-source.com

to your list.

cat, I agree with you on the size - that by itself is just bleh. I know that size banner ad is just about everywhere, but they seem so much larger on Neo - right at the top, right in your face.

If anyone's interested, this is a good safe place to test your pc's basic safety - you can test java, cookies and unsigned active x

http://www.jasons-toolbox.com/BrowserSecurity/

I got this site from netintegration, the Spybot Search and Destroy people a long time ago and just found the url for it again. And ran a quick test to see how my computer was handling things.

[Twisted Sanity]

add

clickagents.com
partner-source.com

to your list.

cat, I agree with you on the size - that by itself is just bleh. I know that size banner ad is just about everywhere, but they seem so much larger on Neo - right at the top, right in your face.

If anyone's interested, this is a good safe place to test your pc's basic safety - you can test java, cookies and unsigned active x

http://www.jasons-toolbox.com/BrowserSecurity/

I got this site from netintegration, the Spybot Search and Destroy people a long time ago and just found the url for it again. And ran a quick test to see how my computer was handling things.

Thanks I added those two sites to the list. And that Jason's Toolbox site is excellent. I passed most of those tests (a couple I failed, but they were ones I couldn't help [I'm not disabling javascript] so it's all good).

[neopeSts]

1) ANTI-BANNER SCRIPT FOR INTERNET EXPLORER

-What this does: Completely gets rid of the Neopets banners at the top of your screen.
-Chances of getting caught: 0% (Impossible)
-How to do it:

a) Open notepad
b) Copy this text:
c) Paste the copied text into notepad
d) Save it as bannerhack.css
e) Open Internet Explorer
f) Go to Tools --> Internet Options --> Accessibility
g) Check the box that says: "Format documents using my style sheet"
h) Click broswe, and select bannerhack.css
i) Click OK

yeah

[Xil]

Granted the ads bother me like everybody else, but I suppose I can tolerate it.

The only situation in which I would be irate is if Rohane and Mipsy picked up Coca-Colas rather than potions.

[Q]

I do not see the need for banner ads when there are integrated ads already on neopets, such as the sponsored games. Not only is the integrated more effective, it is much les irritating.

There is a huge boom in the online ad industry. Can't blame Neo for riding the wave, all that revenue means they can hire more people, pay for more servers, add more content, pay for more lawyers, and fund the Asparagus in Space program If ad revenue drops again it might not be worth their while to have the ads up there, but that's not going to happen in the near future.