POP UP

[csfishslayer]

What's the deal with this wallet pop up it's driving me crazy. Every time I open a page it takes me to there home page. anyone else have this happen to them.

[LAPORTE]

It's killing me.

Dan Help !!! .... make it stop hurting me....lol

[Got Fish??]

  Haven't seen it. But maybe you should open up the wallet. And see if there's any money in it!

[fiker]

I've seen it.  And I DON'T LIKE IT!

Help Dan .... Please

[csfishslayer]

Help Please

[Skulley]

Turn on your pop-up blocker and then the annoying little *&^%&%&^%         doesn't show up.

BD               

[Waterfoul]

My pop up blocker IS on.  Still getting the darn wallet.

[dartag]

i use IE with add-ons disabled and it does not come up.  i don't like the fact that you can't get around opening it.   even my Blocker at work did not stop it.  them guys are getting smart. 

[djkimmel]

I apologize if the ad campaign is causing you any problems. It is working as it should for me on Internet Explorer 7 and Mozilla Firefox 3. The ad should only show up twice a day maximum (unless you are blocking all cookies maybe)? You may see it more if you are coming to this site on different computers in different locations during the day.

It's not a popup ad. It is part of the page itself, an over-layer. It should disappear in a few seconds and you should not go to the advertiser's home page unless you click on it? Don't click on the ad or press enter until it goes away if you are not interested in it. I'm not seeing anything like what you described. I will need some specific information to figure out why someone might be having trouble.

Please email me - support@greatlakesbass.com - and tell me:
What browser you are using - make and version;
How long the ad is showing in seconds - should be less than 10;
How many times you see it each visit - should be 2 or less;
What type of Internet connection you have;
Do you stay logged in to the forum all the time or do you have to log in each time?

If it is showing no more than twice a visit/day and you just don't like it, then I ask that you please consider a few things:
* This web site is free to you;
* It is not free for me - costs continue to rise and will rise substantially in the near future due to host requirements necessitated by our growth, and I can't begin to tell you the number of hours a week that go into just keeping it running and from being invaded by outside attackers alone;
*The ad campaign is temporary and though I have contractual requirements to advertisers, I've limited most of these kinds of ads and will probably continue to do so despite the loss of additional income opportunity;
* Ad income is 98% of what I get to cover my costs since donations and affiliate purchase links are rarely used. To keep from asking any of you for any money directly, I try to fund my expense as painlessly as possible. I ask for your patience and tolerance for necessary activities to keep the web site improving, growing and free to all of you. If I reduce ads, then I have to reduce in other places that will affect everyone too. As I've said before, you are either growing or going backwards. There is no standing still. It doesn't work that way.

I try to support as many browsers and connections as I can, but admit out-dated or obscure browsers, and slow connections may have problems with some parts of the web site. Unfortunately, I don't have the resources or time available to program the web site separately for every possible version and connection speed. Costs to do something like that would run $1,000 to over $2,000 if I paid someone. Please email me at the address above with the information I asked for if you are having problems with the ad. Thank you.

[Waterfoul]

Dan... have you considered a "sponsoring membership" fee?  Many other sites have this option for around $10 a year.  Nothing should be FREE... this is a great site and I think many others would join me in helping to keep it around.  With the membership you get more space to store pictures, have a sponsoring members section, whatever you deem acceptable and good for these members to have versus the non-sponsering memebers.  I belong to many boat and fishing sites and several of them operate this way.

[djkimmel]

I've seen some of those arrangements. It involves software and programming that I don't have installed on this site. It would be difficult to 'retrofit' the functions into this site without possibly, a major redesign, and moving of pages and databases. I may have to move to a new host soon and may also do redesign once that is done so I'm not done looking at it as an option. To pay someone to do it would cost bigger dollars than I have available.

With any new software and features, there's a learning curve, and then the biggest job is to maintain the software, keep it up-to-date mostly for security so you avoid being hacked as much as possible and doing more backups of databases along with troubleshooting. It ads hours a week to the work. I'm not sure that it would be the best use of time for this site? A number of things need to be coordinated to identify various members and give or block access to various software that are beyond my skills for now.

I'm testing and learning various software for other sites. It is possible one or more of those might be applied to this site to reward loyal members with more features. There's also probably existing modules available for the software I'm using on this site now to do some of the features, but adding new, separate functions often complicates upgrades, maintenance and troubleshooting too. Until you've had to do it for a while, it's hard to have a good idea about how often things have to be updated to correct for bugs and security enhancements, and how much time that can take.

I personally would prefer to keep the direct cost free since most members don't want to pay based on feedback I've received in the past, and I have an alternative that works. I hate asking for money, particularly when it is easier to sell advertising to companies that are asking already. I have turned down a number of advertising opportunities in the past because I felt it would add too much overhead to the site. Hate turning anyone down, but I've put a lot of hours into trying to speed things up and I prefer not to add more new advertising spots.

I have the voluntary donation link up. It is not used. I put it up for those persons who had previously asked. That may be something I can roll into an increased benefits package in the future.

I do appreciate the suggestion and will add it to my ideas file. But for now, advertising is how the bills are paid. That is the main way most Internet cost is covered, even on some of the sites that take membership dues.