AFF website Advertising Issues

[Lynda2475]

WCMO is the new "True North" luxury cruising ads on AFF that have randomly appeared today that stop the website from working because they play a video within a floating ad window.



Whenever that ad is served either:

1. The whole site freezes and or



2. The font on the whole site changes, the screen jumps to a different post (not the one you were reading) and you cant continue to type in the text box (see yellow highlight below) and you have to wait for that advert to go away before you can click on any menu, submit a post etc.



The stupid ad is on high rotation coming up a few times every minute rendering AFF unusable in Chrome on a windows PC. If you scroll right that one ad will take up the entire monitor.



I understand AFF needs to generate revenue but given at any one time there are 3-4 adds taking up real estate (one at bottom of screen, two on the right of screen - a regular and floating one plus ads between each post it really is overkill.

This True North Cruise one is absolutely faulty- I already have zero interest in cruising and all this does is make sure I tell everyone how the selfish company corrupts your browser session and to never travel on them. SO instead on not winning a new client they are alienating many more.

 

[mel-world]

WCMO is the new "True North" luxury cruising ads on AFF that have randomly appeared today that stop the website from working because they play a video within a floating ad window.

Taking out an AFF Silver subscription would alleviate all your angst.

 

[lovestotravel]

WCMO is the new "True North" luxury cruising ads on AFF that have randomly appeared today that stop the website from working because they play a video within a floating ad window.



Whenever that ad is served either:

1. The whole site freezes and or

View attachment 408126

2. The font on the whole site changes, the screen jumps to a different post (not the one you were reading) and you cant continue to type in the text box (see yellow highlight below) and you have to wait for that advert to go away before you can click on any menu, submit a post etc.

View attachment 408128

The stupid ad is on high rotation coming up a few times every minute rendering AFF unusable in Chrome on a windows PC. If you scroll right that one ad will take up the entire monitor.

View attachment 408129

I understand AFF needs to generate revenue but given at any one time there are 3-4 adds taking up real estate (one at bottom of screen, two on the right of screen - a regular and floating one plus ads between each post it really is overkill.

This True North Cruise one is absolutely faulty- I already have zero interest in cruising and all this does is make sure I tell everyone how the selfish company corrupts your browser session and to never travel on them. SO instead on not winning a new client they are alienating many more.

I thought that was just me today

 

[Lynda2475]

Taking out an AFF Silver subscription would alleviate all your angst.

No thanks I have my reasons for no longer being a paying member.

The issue isn't ads, it's ads that render the site unusable. A bad look that they are making revenue from preventing the site loading properly.

There isn't even a way to report the problem ad (other sites allow you to block offensive or problematic ads).

 

[Doug_Westcott]

Taking out an AFF Silver subscription would alleviate all your angst.

I have Gold membership and still receive annoying ads

 

[Flashback]

I have Gold membership and still receive annoying ads

@admin

 

[lovestotravel]

No thanks I have my reasons for no longer being a paying member.

The issue isn't ads, it's ads that render the site unusable. A bad look that they are making revenue from preventing the site loading properly.

There isn't even a way to report the problem ad (other sites allow you to block offensive or problematic ads).

Yeah I looked at signing up today, but not worth $6 per month

If/when the adds continue to get worse I'll just stop using the forum as much

 

[Lynda2475]

Are the admins even investigating the damage this particular advertisers is doing to their site ? smart thing to do would be to remove/block the problematic advert.

 

[Pushka]

Are the admins even investigating the damage this particular advertisers is doing to their site ? smart thing to do would be to remove/block the problematic advert.

I had a similar issue on cruise critic. It hit the website during Australia time when the NH was largely asleep. There was no response from the website admin despite a lengthy thread on it from Oz people, until the NH woke up and then ‘chaos’. It got fixed.

Hope it sorts out soon. They were extremely annoying on cruise critic.

 

[elanshin]

This is worse on a mobile device. The renders the whole forums actually non-interactable and jumbled up. Basically can only close out of it and refresh and do things in the first few seconds before anything shows up.

 

[Lynda2475]

@admin @mods can someone please confirm you are investigating a fix for this horrendous advert?

Really hoping the revenue for this ad that renders AFF unusable isn't considered more important than a thriving community.

 

[admin]

Thank you for bringing this to our attention, and I want to sincerely apologise for the inconvenience caused by the recent ads, particularly the "True North" luxury cruising video ads that have been disrupting the site.

We fully understand how frustrating this has been, and I assure you we're working on a solution.

We want to move away from random ads that negatively affect your experience and focus on content that is relevant and less intrusive. Therefore, we are in the process of setting up our own advertising system. This will allow us to better control the types of ads displayed on AFF, ensuring they align with the interests of our community and provide actual value to our supporters.

In the meantime, I’ve escalated this issue to our ad partners to stop the faulty ads immediately, and we’re working to restore normal functionality for everyone as quickly as possible.

 

[elanshin]

Thank you for bringing this to our attention, and I want to sincerely apologise for the inconvenience caused by the recent ads, particularly the "True North" luxury cruising video ads that have been disrupting the site.

We fully understand how frustrating this has been, and I assure you we're working on a solution.

We want to move away from random ads that negatively affect your experience and focus on content that is relevant and less intrusive. Therefore, we are in the process of setting up our own advertising system. This will allow us to better control the types of ads displayed on AFF, ensuring they align with the interests of our community and provide actual value to our supporters.

In the meantime, I’ve escalated this issue to our ad partners to stop the faulty ads immediately, and we’re working to restore normal functionality for everyone as quickly as possible.

Just for reference, I don't think it's just the True North ad that is breaking the site, but likely sizing ratios and other things especially on mobile.

Some of the ads pop up ok then others break the site completely.

 

[Flyfrequently]

I was interested to hear this conversation.

I was getting very frustrated and thought it was just me, perhaps due to not being a paid-up subscriber.

Could not react/respond to posts for quite a few days, but do appreciate @admin now addressing this issue.

 

[Flyfrequently]

WCMO is the new "True North" luxury cruising ads on AFF that have randomly appeared today that stop the website from working because they play a video within a floating ad window.



Whenever that ad is served either:

1. The whole site freezes and or

View attachment 408126

2. The font on the whole site changes, the screen jumps to a different post (not the one you were reading) and you cant continue to type in the text box (see yellow highlight below) and you have to wait for that advert to go away before you can click on any menu, submit a post etc.

View attachment 408128

The stupid ad is on high rotation coming up a few times every minute rendering AFF unusable in Chrome on a windows PC. If you scroll right that one ad will take up the entire monitor.

View attachment 408129

I understand AFF needs to generate revenue but given at any one time there are 3-4 adds taking up real estate (one at bottom of screen, two on the right of screen - a regular and floating one plus ads between each post it really is overkill.

This True North Cruise one is absolutely faulty- I already have zero interest in cruising and all this does is make sure I tell everyone how the selfish company corrupts your browser session and to never travel on them. SO instead on not winning a new client they are alienating many more.

Thanks @Lynda2475 thought it was just me!

 

[Lynda2475]

Just for reference, I don't think it's just the True North ad that is breaking the site, but likely sizing ratios and other things especially on mobile.

Every single time I have an issue on Laptop or Tablet or Mobile it is always this stupid True North advert, shame after a week AFF still have NOT blocked that particular advertiser.

Im sure there used to be a way to right click and report offensive ads. There is one that doesn't break the site but shows some obese ladies cellulite ridden thighs in grandma undies, no idea what it is for but am positive it is not travel related or related to any search I've done and it isnt appropriate.

 

[jkbaus]

Any progress on a fix?
I have been having issues on this site all week on my iPad (no computer anymore).
Works ok on android phone.

I like reading AFF even though my age & health mean I can’t travel anymore.

Haven’t got a paid membership
Will ads disappear if I pay for silver?

 

[lovestotravel]

Back worse than ever today!

 

[CaptJCool]

My kid helped install ad blockers some years ago

I can’t recall the last time I saw ads on any site

Aside
Well the news sites seem to push ads out but I’m not a consumer so I block them out by deft scrolling

 

[Pushka]

My kid helped install ad blockers some years ago

I can’t recall the last time I saw ads on any site

Aside
Well the news sites seem to push ads out but I’m not a consumer so I block them out by deft scrolling

Ad blockers don’t seem to work for many of these intrusions.