Top Ads not seen

I read the Top Ads TAQS, but I never seem to see any of these ads - not really complaining about not seeing ads. But curious. I looked at my preferences and don't see any way to block or unblock them. Again, just curious.

Are you talking about the Top Watchdog Ads? They have not been showing up for some time now - since the transition of owners, I think. At this time, you won't see them either way, whether you have them selected in your preferences or not.

To select/deselect Top Watchdog Ads:

To get your Member Page, choose "My Info" from the menu under the banner.
From your Member Page, choose "Manage your preferences".
From your Preferences Main Menu, Look to the far right of the page for the "My Tools" menu, choose 'Ads'
From the Preferences: Advertisements page, you can select or unselect Top Watchdog Ads.

Hope this helps.

Yes, it does help. Under Preferences, the ad choice is selected - but no ads to be seen. So I assumed it was a problem with me - apparently just another problem with IB. Well, I was just curious - I have no real desire to see more ads in my life.

No, It's not you. The feature simply does not work now.

I recall when Dave added the Top Watchdog Add feature. I participated in Beta tests of this feature. The adds were from vendors who had received very high marks in the Garden Watchdog. The adds were displayed in a fairly small box at the top right side of the screen so that they would not be in the way. This was a fairly new feature. I turned the Top Adds on during the Beta test and never turned them off again as they were unobtrusive and, at times, actually of interest to me. Because I had this feature turned on, I witnessed the point at which they stopped showing up and even reported it in one of the very 1st threads asking for feedback on problems noted after the code was transitioned to IB's system.

I gather this is not a high priority item, at least not at this time.

not sure if my problem is your problem but now every time i come to dg ads pop up. just like over on gardenweb. is that the way it's going to be?

I personally don't object to ads - my brain and eyes long ago were trained to filter out what I don't want to see - like telephone lines and poles all around our landscapes. Ads are essential to maintain what is a mostly free web - someone somewhere has to pay for internet. I would rather see (or ignore) an ad than have to pay hundreds of dollars to use these sites. Even the approximately $20 a year is a real bargain, I think. I was just curious why I was not seeing the Top Ads. I had been away from DG for several months and started back just a couple of months ago. Therefore, I did not realize this feature had worked for a time, but was no longer operable.

mamajack,

I don't see adds at all on any of my DG pages. As a subscriber, I'm pretty sure you still have the option to turn adds off. Have you gone into your preferences and turned them off? (If not, see my 1st post above where I give instructions on how to do so. Except in this case you will want to be sure that all of the add boxes are unchecked. I think there are 2 such boxes but don't remember for sure.)

Well I wondered what happened to those great little ads that were in such good taste. (Unobtrusive but attractive and appeared in the upper right corner.) I didn't mind those at all. In fact, it was hard to resist clicking on them. They were so appropriate for whatever forum you were on. IB is missing out on some good advertising money if they don't reinstate that feature.

Judy,

They may well plan to do so in time. Up until now, I think the priority has been on making sure the main features work correctly after the transition of the code to IB's system.

I, too, found those adds to be unobtrusive and even helpful. They were created to be an actual benefit to us, and are, or were, only available to subscribers. My only 'problem' with those adds was that they helped me find too many great plants to buy and too many great new companies to buy them from. (lol)

every time i enter dg for the first time of the day i get an ad. just like you do over on gardenweb. annoying.

mamajack,

Have you checked your preferences to see if you have adds turned on?

As I mentioned before, you can turn adds off, so if you are bothered by them, you should check this and make sure they are turned off.

i did follow what you said and i actually was able to do it. i'll watch to see if that cured the problem or not. right now it's a survey that keeps popping up asking me about my dg usage. anybody getting that?

GardenWeb has really become obnoxious with ads ... when your cursor moves over one of those little green words in the text, an ad pops down. I seldom go there any more except maybe to check the gallery in the Cottage Garden forum. Am super careful where my cursor goes. :-)

Dream ... like you, I also bought too many plants and found too many websites. You should see the order I placed with Bluestone yesterday. Groan!!!

Mamajack ... have not been bothered with any survey. Wonder what that is?

Mamajack - I am not seeing any survey. I wonder what that is about?

mamajack,

Are you using a Windows computer? Hopefully, now that you have turned the adds off, you won't see that add/survey anymore. However, if you are using a Windows computer AND if you see that add again now that you have turned adds off, I would suggest that you run one of those anti-spyware programs (like Adaware, Spyware Doctor, etc).

it didn't come up this time when i came on so looks like you fixed it dream. thank you. it asked questions about how many hrs you spent or how many times a week you came to dg. about 6 questions total but i just scanned it.

my computer is windows vista.

mamajack,

Good to hear that turning those adds off seems to have worked for you. And thanks for letting me know it worked.

It sounded like some of your ads were enabled. There are actually 3 tiers of ads so that you can customize your experience.

The Top Watchdog ads are not running now, but the 'holding spot' is still there. We're working with another ad agency to come up with a similar program, so those should return in some form in the future. As always, you can choose to see them or not as long as you are a subscriber.

Your ad experience can be adjusted under the Manage Your Preferences link. You'll see 'Ads' in the column at the side of the page.

Melody,
I loved those Top Watchdog ads. If they keep the same tasteful format they will be welcome on my page any time. And I usually clicked and investigated each and every one. Most of the vendors are now bookmarked. Hope they find a way to bring them back.

the top ads are the ones that were over on the far right, right? i liked those too. i clicked quite a bit as well.

Right, Mamajack. When you went to, for instance, the Clematis forum, the most gorgeous Clematis you have ever seen would come up in that ad on the upper right side of the page. Now who could resist that? LOL

Yes, those are the ads and yes, we're working on something similar for that spot.

To add to Melody's note - we are working with a company to do the same sorts of specific plant and product ads you saw previously. The original ad company unfortunately has closed, which is why the ads stopped appearing.

I too loved those ads and they often led me to plants that were
new to me and gave me some good ideas. Will look forward
to having them back.

I'll sure be glad when that feature is restored.

Like I really need something urging me to buy plants ... uh huh. :-)