Sat Nov 27, 2004 5:51 am
Yes, I looked at the page she was viewing and it had the banner that we have now! Honest!
I know when I looked at that page I kept seeing a Yahoo Hot Jobs huge ad. Hmm, wonder why she got a different looking page
I'll have to look again when I log in again ...
Edit: Now Saturday, November 27, I went to the Bleh page, and I took a SS:
See? I'm seeing the current banner - with everything cleared out of my cache and refreshing the page! I wonder what's going on??!!!
I know when I looked at that page I kept seeing a Yahoo Hot Jobs huge ad. Hmm, wonder why she got a different looking page
I'll have to look again when I log in again ...
Edit: Now Saturday, November 27, I went to the Bleh page, and I took a SS:
See? I'm seeing the current banner - with everything cleared out of my cache and refreshing the page! I wonder what's going on??!!!
Mon Nov 29, 2004 7:45 pm
I get the HUGE ad banner, still. I still would like to know why they can't just put it at the bottom of the page? I mean, they aren't being very nice to players by putting it up at the top. Yeah, it was nice of them to warn us, but can't they at least do that for us?
Mon Nov 29, 2004 7:52 pm
Because if they put it at the bottom of the page it wouldn't make much sense from a buissness point of view. I mean, how many of us would really scroll down to see any ads?
Mon Nov 29, 2004 8:15 pm
everconfused wrote:Yes, I looked at the page she was viewing and it had the banner that we have now! Honest!
I know when I looked at that page I kept seeing a Yahoo Hot Jobs huge ad. Hmm, wonder why she got a different looking page
I'll have to look again when I log in again ...
Edit: Now Saturday, November 27, I went to the Bleh page, and I took a SS:
See? I'm seeing the current banner - with everything cleared out of my cache and refreshing the page! I wonder what's going on??!!!
You have to click on the link (the word "here") in the third paragraph. The url would be: http://www.neopets.com/bleh.phtml?new_template=yes
Mon Nov 29, 2004 8:46 pm
Anybody else having banner-related probbies today?
All day I've had the annoyance of seeing the bottom info on most pages shoved up in the upper right corner....and then the images load up over it.
Perhaps they are working on placing the new bar right now, and this is a side error?
It's über annoying. -_- I know it's not much, but it is pestering seeing that as the images load over it partially.
Here's a screenie if you don't know what I'm talking about:
Haven't had this problem in the past, just today.
All day I've had the annoyance of seeing the bottom info on most pages shoved up in the upper right corner....and then the images load up over it.
Perhaps they are working on placing the new bar right now, and this is a side error?
It's über annoying. -_- I know it's not much, but it is pestering seeing that as the images load over it partially.
Here's a screenie if you don't know what I'm talking about:
Haven't had this problem in the past, just today.
Mon Nov 29, 2004 9:54 pm
valerielundberg wrote:Anybody else having banner-related probbies today?
All day I've had the annoyance of seeing the bottom info on most pages shoved up in the upper right corner....and then the images load up over it.
Perhaps they are working on placing the new bar right now, and this is a side error?
It's über annoying. -_- I know it's not much, but it is pestering seeing that as the images load over it partially.
Here's a screenie if you don't know what I'm talking about:
Haven't had this problem in the past, just today.
it does that in all of the guilds too, pain when putting your own sidebar ><;;
Tue Nov 30, 2004 1:40 am
Cranberry, it's very odd, when I click "here" on the news page it just goes to the bleh.phtml. And i see the smaller banner.
When I clicked on the link you had, I DID see the HUGEEEEEE banner and guess what! It's spyware infested! It was an ad all grey just saying "system tray update" and a link to click. Put my cursor on the ad - got http:// webpdp.gator.com gator is one of the most notorious horrid spyware out there! What the heck is neo doing putting clickable ads up in the first place? They're always telling us not to follow links off the site - but it's ok when they put links that could lead to bad sites/spyware or worse?
When I clicked on the link you had, I DID see the HUGEEEEEE banner and guess what! It's spyware infested! It was an ad all grey just saying "system tray update" and a link to click. Put my cursor on the ad - got http:// webpdp.gator.com gator is one of the most notorious horrid spyware out there! What the heck is neo doing putting clickable ads up in the first place? They're always telling us not to follow links off the site - but it's ok when they put links that could lead to bad sites/spyware or worse?
Tue Nov 30, 2004 1:48 am
Woah, I refreshed 20 times and haven't gotten a single neopets banner! Please don't tell me the new banner will actually be like that! 
Tue Nov 30, 2004 1:55 am
Darklegendary wrote::o Woah, I refreshed 20 times and haven't gotten a single neopets banner! Please don't tell me the new banner will actually be like that!
I know! Well, that page does say this:
The question is increasing by how much? I'm already seeing alot more than the much touted 3%.Also the frequency of sponsor ads will be increasing, but there will still be Neopets-related ads.
Of course, that page also says:
Just to re-inforce what we have said before, there will never be any pop-ups, pop-unders, spyware, interstitials or anything like that on the site. We hate those as much as you do! Although the top 90 pixels will probably be some sort of ad, the rest will remain mostly ad-free.
So the frequency will be increasing - then they say the top 90 pixels will probably be an ad of some sort. Sounds pretty much like outside ads most of the time to me. And the no spyware? Then why did I just see a url from gator?
And why is there always a cookie that you can't escape from servedby.advertising.com
- that's what you'll see if you look in your Cookies folder and open that one. It says your name @ neopets . com
Tue Nov 30, 2004 1:56 am
everconfused wrote:Cranberry, it's very odd, when I click "here" on the news page it just goes to the bleh.phtml. And i see the smaller banner.
When I clicked on the link you had, I DID see the HUGEEEEEE banner and guess what! It's spyware infested! It was an ad all grey just saying "system tray update" and a link to click. Put my cursor on the ad - got http:// webpdp.gator.com gator is one of the most notorious horrid spyware out there! What the heck is neo doing putting clickable ads up in the first place? They're always telling us not to follow links off the site - but it's ok when they put links that could lead to bad sites/spyware or worse?
I went to check out everconfused claim, and yup...she's right. Horrid banner, and to top it off it MOVES in that awful earthquake-shaking fashion. What an awful banner.
Here's the screenie of the offense in question, yup..it's legit:
Mr. Powell, where are you? You've always been so good at adressing these topics. Surely you do know these mistakes will end up costing Neopets revenue instead of making it in the long run....parents aren't going to be allowing thier kiddos on Neopets once they start having to clean spyware/malware etc from their PC's.....I trust you man....help us out!
Wouldn't be dumb to check what sort of pop-ups/spyware/hijackers/programs etc these advertisers of yours come up once you CLICK on thier banners either....just a heads up.
EDIT: Aw, I stretched the board.
Sorry.
Tue Nov 30, 2004 1:58 am
I don't see any ads on Neopets. I have an ad blocking program, which really works quite well. The only thing I see at the top of the screen is an empty black rectangle.
Tue Nov 30, 2004 2:01 am
Ew, that is a horrible ad! I just get a big blank spot because I use Firefox and an extension called AdBlock. I don't know if it's actually blocking the ads or just hiding them; I should go check my cookies.
everconfused, it's really weird that when you click "here" you get the normal bleh page -- most people get the "new template" one.
everconfused, it's really weird that when you click "here" you get the normal bleh page -- most people get the "new template" one.
Tue Nov 30, 2004 2:33 am
Zenial wrote:Exactly, be glad the banners aren't as bad as oh well, for instance here:
http://www.pinkpt.com/
Honestly, while the PPT site has lots of BIG banners AND pop-up ads, why do you complain about the banner at neopets?
Exactly. One time I went to the our site (pinkpt) and I saw THREE at the top of the page, all of then slightly running into the one above them
Tue Nov 30, 2004 6:01 am
Ummm, I never go to the front page of ppt 
I have the login page for the forum in my favorites. I do that for any site where I want to go to a certain part, but don't want to deal with extra ads, etc. Who me? Lazy?
But let's be realistic. PinkPT is a fansite and those ads (annoying as they are, I admit and why I avoid the front page) are necessary to keep this site afloat, it's not a business making how much money from merchandise, merchandise tie-ins (McDonald's), sponsors and the sponsor games (Disney, etc.). Yes, I know they have staff to pay, rent and utilities, servers, programmers, etc. and it IS expensive.
But aside from being terribly annoying and a few of them actually make me physically ill (all the moving, blinking stuff) these "network" outside banner ads are not harmless. They've got tracking cookies (at the least), they're clickable so you can be taken off of the site, you don't know that you'll be directed to the site of whatever's being advertised and even if you are - what ads are there that people shouldn't be exposed to?
This is a COPPA compliant site we're talking about, don't forget that. I wouldn't expect a site like this to have advertising that could potentially expose a child to adult material or anyone to spyware/malware/trojans/drivebys - I have been told for a fact that Callwave (one of the ads currently in heavy rotation) is loaded with spyware.
EDIT!!! at 2:27 a.m. (est) while playing games, clicked to go to game room and the new banner is UP! Ewwww is all I can say. It is just .... beyond Bleh!
I have the login page for the forum in my favorites. I do that for any site where I want to go to a certain part, but don't want to deal with extra ads, etc. Who me? Lazy?
But let's be realistic. PinkPT is a fansite and those ads (annoying as they are, I admit and why I avoid the front page) are necessary to keep this site afloat, it's not a business making how much money from merchandise, merchandise tie-ins (McDonald's), sponsors and the sponsor games (Disney, etc.). Yes, I know they have staff to pay, rent and utilities, servers, programmers, etc. and it IS expensive.
But aside from being terribly annoying and a few of them actually make me physically ill (all the moving, blinking stuff) these "network" outside banner ads are not harmless. They've got tracking cookies (at the least), they're clickable so you can be taken off of the site, you don't know that you'll be directed to the site of whatever's being advertised and even if you are - what ads are there that people shouldn't be exposed to?
This is a COPPA compliant site we're talking about, don't forget that. I wouldn't expect a site like this to have advertising that could potentially expose a child to adult material or anyone to spyware/malware/trojans/drivebys - I have been told for a fact that Callwave (one of the ads currently in heavy rotation) is loaded with spyware.
EDIT!!! at 2:27 a.m. (est) while playing games, clicked to go to game room and the new banner is UP! Ewwww is all I can say. It is just .... beyond Bleh!
Tue Nov 30, 2004 7:24 am
everconfused, can you download Firefox? If you get the AdBlock extension, it completely blocks all these huge ads and the little ad buttons, but doesn't affect games or anything else flash on the site. I got it last week and I love it.