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  • HI folks the server that hosts the site completely died including the Hdd's and backups.
    Luckily i create an offsite backup once a week! this has now been restored so we have lost a few days posts.
    im still fixing things at the moment so bear with me and im still working on all images 90% are fine the others im working on now
    we are now using a backup solution

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Bob Davis

Bob Davis

Bob Davis
How can I get rid of the adverts that now dominatey BHF pages. They are all Google ads and of no interest to me
Bob
 
horsencart said:
Oh dear you will not be liked for asking that question you will be told that it help keep this forum going I personally hate detest the adverts and use this software https://adblock.adguard.com/en/download.html there is software on the web to stop them tracking you ,
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Sorry I did not realise that they were the forums income, it was just that I could not get to posts as they seemed to block the whole page on my smart phone.
Bob
 
Part of the Forum's income, Bob, the rest is donations from members (see the Donate page) and amounts raised from raffles at the various Brum meetings, the next one being just before Christmas at the Jewellers'Arms.

Maurice
 
have to say the main page now seems completely surrounded by adverts was not so bad having them just at the top of the page but now we have them at the top..the bottom and on the right hand side above where it say.."staff online"...can be a little off putting the ones i dont like popping up in my face are the date a girl from different countries.. just noticed there is a TOP BRA one at the bottom of the page..far from being a prude but i just think there is a time and place for these sort of adverts...just my opinion but as said i think there is a way of blocking them so i will be looking into that..well my son will

lyn
 
I see no ads at all. Is it your browser settings? I am useing MS Edge on my ipad and laptop with no ads on page.
 
I see no ads on most web pages. Opera browser has a built in ad-blocker. I also use Ghostery as a anti tracking and cookie curb. No trackers on BHF it says, but 13 ads are blocked by Opera.
In fairness the place has to operate and does cost someone some money so consider a donation. This thread reminds us all. :grinning:
 
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can someone who is in the know tell me that if i block the adverts will this affect the forums income??

thanks

lyn
 
Thats generaly the norm, a small payment per click.
It would be interesting to know how much ad revenue this site acutely generates and then discuss if it’s worthwhile.

I would be happy to bug a few quid in the pot to go advert free.
 
I have the Edge browser on my iPad and iPhone and it blocks all adverts without me doing anything in settings. I was a bit surprised because Apple's own Safari browser does not block adverts unless a block app is installed.
 
Have just gone to Edge, which I never use, on a laptop, and it does seem to not show the banner adverts, though still has then included at the bottom of the page, mixed with the random threads. However as Edge seems to ask me every time if I am a bloody robot, then there is even more reason to not use it. Would much rather have the adverts
 
I take that back about no banner adverts. Must have been a blip. Have just gone back on Edge and they now do show. It must be something to do with the ipad that blocks them
 
Lyn,

As Mort says, the site only gets revenue if you click on an ad, and it's pretty small revenue at that. My own site at its busiest period a few years ago - approximately 70 visits a day - took two years to raise £35 from ads. That's almost as much as it cost to clear the check from Greece! Far better to make the occasional donation and run an ad-blocker IMHO. Many newspaper sites either ask you to take out a paid subscription or remove your ad-blocker.

Maurice
 
I suppose we all have our computing devices set up differently and see different things. It amuses me that the big advertiser Google actually have official extensions for the Chrome browser which block adverts. Microsoft have ad-block extensions for the Edge browser in their Microsoft Store.
:)
 
I do not see any ads or pop ups whatsoever, I used to make the occasional donation to the forum, but when we started having the meet up raffles instead of making a donation I make a reasonable donation to that by way of a purchase of raffle tickets 3 times a year plus I always donate a prize. Myself I think it a more efficient and enjoyable way of upkeeping the forum and is why I do not feel guilty switching off the adverts, after all adverts were one of the reasons why I stopped watching television.
 
Phil said:
I do not see any ads or pop ups whatsoever, I used to make the occasional donation to the forum, but when we started having the meet up raffles instead of making a donation I make a reasonable donation to that by way of a purchase of raffle tickets 3 times a year plus I always donate a prize. Myself I think it a more efficient and enjoyable way of upkeeping the forum and is why I do not feel guilty switching off the adverts, after all adverts were one of the reasons why I stopped watching television.
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phil as i know how much you donate at our meet ups you do more than enough...you do your bit along with our other members that can attend:) and for our members who cant make the meet ups there is always the donate button

lyn
 
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sospiri said:
Lyn,

As Mort says, the site only gets revenue if you click on an ad, and it's pretty small revenue at that. My own site at its busiest period a few years ago - approximately 70 visits a day - took two years to raise £35 from ads. That's almost as much as it cost to clear the check from Greece! Far better to make the occasional donation and run an ad-blocker IMHO. Many newspaper sites either ask you to take out a paid subscription or remove your ad-blocker.

Maurice
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Quite a few years ago - more than fifteen anyway - I used to get about 25 church newspapers each week for parishioners. Some did not sell, so we broke even or lost money. Eventually, people dying or leaving the Parish meant that the numbers ordered dropped to around five. Well we did make a very small profit on them however the administrative cost of writing and clearing cheques actually meant a loss. We now advise folk to take out a subscription to the newspaper if they want it.
So that gives an idea of what is often thought to be profitable, when studied, turns out not to be so.
 
Astoness said:
have to say the main page now seems completely surrounded by adverts was not so bad having them just at the top of the page but now we have them at the top..the bottom and on the right hand side above where it say.."staff online"...can be a little off putting the ones i dont like popping up in my face are the date a girl from different countries.. just noticed there is a TOP BRA one at the bottom of the page..far from being a prude but i just think there is a time and place for these sort of adverts...just my opinion but as said i think there is a way of blocking them so i will be looking into that..well my son will

lyn
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According to a banner that I keep getting, there are legions of beautiful Polish women eager to "date" me.
They'll soon go off the boil when they cop a load of my moosh !
 
I have reduced then down after running some experiments. But it's a closed case really since without them there is no site.
 
for reference the ad revenue pays for the costs of running the server without them there is no site.

the costs of running the server come out of my own pocket as the site is too big to run on the cloud it uses over 150gb with nearly a tb of traffic being used every month.

the money raised in donations pays for licenses and hardware when it needs replacing.

you may not like the ads and are of course free to use a blocker but you can white list this site and click the occasional ad to help it stay online.

if everyone who came on here used an ad blocker there would be no site period.

donations are not even enough to cover the licenses myself and my Dad (Postie) already take money out of our own pocket to ensure the sites survival.

We are not the BBC we are not fully funded by the tax payer im glad everyone enjoys using the site ect but this is an argument that really involves only two people myself and postie.

Clicking on an ad costs you nothing no baby pandas die when you do it and there are worse things at sea.

neither the ads or donations combined cover the full costs of this site.

this site is on 24/7 365 days of the year and sometimes for me it's a second job that ends up costing me money to work for it.
 
warren said:
for reference the ad revenue pays for the costs of running the server without them there is no site.

the costs of running the server come out of my own pocket as the site is too big to run on the cloud it uses over 150gb with nearly a tb of traffic being used every month.

the money raised in donations pays for licenses and hardware when it needs replacing.

you may not like the ads and are of course free to use a blocker but you can white list this site and click the occasional ad to help it stay online.

if everyone who came on here used an ad blocker there would be no site period.

donations are not even enough to cover the licenses myself and my Dad (Postie) already take money out of our own pocket to ensure the sites survival.

We are not the BBC we are not fully funded by the tax payer im glad everyone enjoys using the site ect but this is an argument that really involves only two people myself and postie.

Clicking on an ad costs you nothing no baby pandas die when you do it and there are worse things at sea.

neither the ads or donations combined cover the full costs of this site.

this site is on 24/7 365 days of the year and sometimes for me it's a second job that ends up costing me money to work for it.
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thanks for making that perfectly clear warren...i have had members tell me that they did not even realise that the forum runs on donations this is because its not pushed in their faces..i think that because its free to join many think its free to run..not so...the donate button is there and if members want to hit it and donate that is great...no pressure but when it comes to your dad and yourself having to subsidise the dwindling donations that is not quite fair..quite a few times at our meet ups i have said to your dad he must let members know when funds are low so that we can rally round but of course he wont do that...to lose a site of this size and what it does for the history of birmingham would be tragic ......this is not me with a begging bowl out but just trying to inform members who do not know that to run a site of this size and keep it secure does cost money to run.....thanks folks

lyn
 
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