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****ing Counter Ad

post #1 of 219
7/9/09 at 9:53pm
Thread Starter 
At first I thought Mike Frezon was the only one experiencing it, but today I started getting it every other page load here. The problemn is this: American Express (I believe) has a banner ad that prevents the rest of the page from loading until it's finished a Flash animated countdown. I can only assume that this is deliberate, since the rest of the animation does not affect the page loading. But this can extend the time the page takes to load by as long as 15 seconds in my experience.

I understand and completely support Ron and Parker's efforts to monetize the site and create a self-sustaining community. I humbly submit that ads which hijack key functionality of the site (for instance, loading) should not be included on that ad strategy. Thank you.

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post #2 of 219
7/9/09 at 10:05pm
I suppose this goes without saying (but I'll say it anyway), but I completely agree with Adam on this issue. 
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post #3 of 219
7/10/09 at 1:22am
The one that counts up to 25,000? It uses a shocking amount of CPU if it stays visible, but the rest of the page loads and I can scroll it off the screen during the few seconds it is counting, on recent browsers running Flash 10.
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post #4 of 219
7/10/09 at 6:36am


Quote:
Originally Posted by Ken Chan View Post

The one that counts up to 25,000? It uses a shocking amount of CPU if it stays visible, but the rest of the page loads and I can scroll it off the screen during the few seconds it is counting, on recent browsers running Flash 10.

I can't.  Not at all. 



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post #5 of 219
7/10/09 at 7:36am
Quote:
Originally Posted by Adam Lenhardt View Post
I understand and completely support Ron and Parker's efforts to monetize the site and create a self-sustaining community. I humbly submit that ads which hijack key functionality of the site (for instance, loading) should not be included on that ad strategy. Thank you.

Word.  Until then tho, Firefox & NoScript.
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post #6 of 219
7/10/09 at 10:18am
Apologies to those of you who have had loading issues with the American Express ad.  We have placed a temporary block on the ad.  It should stop appearing shortly.  We will be actively working with our ad network to improve the delivery of future ads.
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post #7 of 219
7/10/09 at 1:01pm
Thread Starter 
Thanks, Christina! Since logging on a minute or two ago, no site stopping ads. I really appreciate you guys taking care of this.
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post #8 of 219
7/10/09 at 3:09pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Mike Frezon View Post

I can't.  Not at all. 

I saw in the other thread that you're using older hardware (a Pentium III). I dunno what Adam is using, but that might be an important variable. Even on current machines, it uses so much CPU it could be considered a battery-killer.

Hopefully now a moot point now that the ad has been removed.
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post #9 of 219
7/11/09 at 8:26am
Its odd as I never had any problems with it, but I am on a relatively newer machine with a 20Mb+ download connection.  Either way it seems like there were issues so I'm glad it was removed.
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post #10 of 219
7/11/09 at 2:31pm
It's not very big, but it gets downloaded early, before other content, and is very CPU-intensive (for no good reason -- it is apparently a poorly coded loop to do animation). If you're on a slow single-core machine, and there's some combination of the way the browser juggles separate tasks and the OS handles busy threads, it could cause things to lock up. On a slow machine it takes several seconds.
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post #11 of 219
7/11/09 at 6:47pm
I, too, appreciate the attention paid to the removal of that ad.  None of the other ads seem to be giving any problem at all....even on my hamster-powered PC. 
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post #12 of 219
7/11/09 at 6:51pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Adam Gregorich View Post

Its odd as I never had any problems with it, but I am on a relatively newer machine with a 20Mb+ download connection.  Either way it seems like there were issues so I'm glad it was removed.

Errm.... It's not odd you had no problems, because you're on a new machine with a 20Mb+ download connection. Not having those two things causes the problem.
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post #13 of 219
7/11/09 at 6:52pm


Quote:
Originally Posted by Mike Frezon View Post

I, too, appreciate the attention paid to the removal of that ad.  None of the other ads seem to be giving any problem at all....even on my hamster-powered PC. 

Mike, that's an insult to hamsters! 
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post #14 of 219
7/11/09 at 7:16pm
I pay them well!
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post #15 of 219
7/22/09 at 9:02pm
Guess what has returned to the HTF again tonight? 

That's right.  The Amex "Counter" banner ad.  It finds itself occasionally lodged in the banner ad at the very top of my home page. 

And, ya know what?  It still makes my computer wait until it has clocked 25,000 miles before my pages will load. 
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post #16 of 219
7/23/09 at 5:37am
Mike, you need a flashblock plug-in. I appreciate websites need ads for revenue, and don't advocate these ad-disablers. But if over-caffeneited ads are preventing you from seeing the site, I suggest defensive moves on your part.

As for me, I mostly get ads for Wynn Hotel in Las Vegas. Alas, I've had my 3 days in Vegas and that will do me for a few decades. I need ads for cat toys and kitty litter (such is my life, now :)) and Mac software.
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post #17 of 219
7/23/09 at 6:28am


Quote:
Originally Posted by DaveF View Post

Mike, you need a flashblock plug-in. I appreciate websites need ads for revenue, and don't advocate these ad-disablers. But if over-caffeneited ads are preventing you from seeing the site, I suggest defensive moves on your part.

As for me, I mostly get ads for Wynn Hotel in Las Vegas. Alas, I've had my 3 days in Vegas and that will do me for a few decades. I need ads for cat toys and kitty litter (such is my life, now :)) and Mac software.

Full disclosure, Dave.  Upon the recommendation of members here after my last round of posts on this subject, I--for the first time ever--installed a flashblock plug-in for Firefox.  Honestly, I didn't even know that such things existed before.

They worked fine...but after the news that the ad was banned from the HTF, I disabled it because it interfered with other sites I frequent--especially mlb.com's Gameday audio.  I have never wanted to disable the ads on the HTF and potentially impact any kind of revenue stream for Ron & Parker.

I figured when the platform team said the ad was gone it would stay gone. 

I've been getting, mostly, the Wynn ads as well recently.  For awhile, I was being invited to move into some spacious high-rise apartments near Philly.  It seems now, though, Amex is back with a vengeance. 

I wonder if these ads are somehow "intuitive" to cookies (or something) on our PCs?  I'm wondering why they seem particularly attracted to me and not other HTFers?  I'm not really smart about how these things work.  Although I've learned a lot about different things since this platform switchover. 

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post #18 of 219
7/23/09 at 10:04am
The ads can be served based on (apparent) location. My corporate 'net routes through Indiana so some ads give me ads localized to that state, thinking I'm there.

Maybe HTF ads are localized and somehow your location corresponds to using AMEX at high-rent Philly hotels?
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post #19 of 219
7/23/09 at 10:22am


Quote:
Originally Posted by DaveF View Post

Maybe HTF ads are localized and somehow your location corresponds to using AMEX at high-rent Philly hotels?

Or maybe I'm using my Amex-Cards (which I've never had, BTW) to fund trips to Wynn Resorts in Las Vegas from my fictional home in Philly! 
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post #20 of 219
7/23/09 at 10:27am
Face it, apparently you need to get an Amex or a second one if you already have one. It's going to haunt you until you comply.
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post #21 of 219
7/23/09 at 10:30am
Where do I sign up?!? 

Hmmm.  On second thought, I'm not sure they'd approve me.
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post #22 of 219
7/23/09 at 10:44am


Quote:
Originally Posted by DaveF View Post

Mike, you need a flashblock plug-in. I appreciate websites need ads for revenue, and don't advocate these ad-disablers. But if over-caffeneited ads are preventing you from seeing the site, I suggest defensive moves on your part.

As for me, I mostly get ads for Wynn Hotel in Las Vegas. Alas, I've had my 3 days in Vegas and that will do me for a few decades. I need ads for cat toys and kitty litter (such is my life, now :)) and Mac software.
  There is another add-on called Ad-Killer that does not block any ads unless you choose to. Basically all ads show. Then if you get an annoying one just right click and it is history.

I can honestly say that if I need a HT component or other electronics or related items, the first thing I do is turn off all my add blocking add-ons and then I visit the HTF. I have bought many items from these advertisers specifically because they support the HTF. Other than that the add blocker is on for all sites. All the "IN YOUR FACE" flashing , scrolling and popping adds made the internet useless for me and with out the blockers, I wouldn't use the internet.
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post #23 of 219
7/23/09 at 10:47am
Quote:
I can honestly say that if I need a HT component or other electronics or related items, the first thing I do is turn off all my add blocking add-ons and then I visit the HTF. I have bought many items from these advertisers specifically because they support the HTF.
Ron and Parker appriciate your support!
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post #24 of 219
7/23/09 at 12:18pm
ad.doubleclick.com or whatever it is is making me not want to visit HTF today.  It is totally destroying performance.
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post #25 of 219
7/23/09 at 12:45pm
I knew that there was a reason that I love my FIOS connection.  Here in NY it's 35M down and 20M up. And, unlike cable (which claims up to 100M) it's not a shared service!

Sweet.

No American Express issues for me (except that I have 4 different AE cards!)

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post #26 of 219
7/23/09 at 2:04pm
It appears to be a CPU issue, not a bandwidth issue.
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post #27 of 219
7/23/09 at 2:12pm


Quote:
Originally Posted by Ken Chan View Post

It appears to be a CPU issue, not a bandwidth issue.


Understood (and why I used a smiley in my response.)  I actually think that it might be more of a combination of a  CPU and a RAM issue.  I seem to recall that at least one person who mentioned the problem is running 512Megs of Ram.  With today's Internet and OSes, regardless of type, fewer than 2 Gigs of RAM invites these sorts of problems. If the RAM can't handle the load it often passes it off to virtual memory on the HD and that can be relatively slow.  In any event I've not seen any of the problems mentioned but I have to believe that the main reason is that I use dual core CPUS and 4 Gigs of Ram in my machines, desktops and laptops.
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post #28 of 219
7/23/09 at 2:37pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by RAF View Post

I knew that there was a reason that I love my FIOS connection.  Here in NY it's 35M down and 20M up. And, unlike cable (which claims up to 100M) it's not a shared service!

The NY I'm in doesn't have FIOS. The Rochester part of NY, that is.

And I've bought things from HTF sponsors (I like the cable / parts suppliers. Good stuff, great prices)

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post #29 of 219
7/23/09 at 2:45pm
Haven't seen that Amex ad in quite a while - though I've never seen the mileage counting thing. For that matter I don't even see the other ads mentioned in this thread. Perhaps it is locally oriented. The current ad I see is for Abt Electronics. That store is local for me. Coincidentally I don't think I've ever purchased anything online from them. But, then I just drive there and pick up what I need. It is a really nice store.
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post #30 of 219
7/23/09 at 5:10pm
Nobody else has been having problems with the ads coming from Doubleclick?
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