The pop-up that I get when I log on is annoying enough. CTT inconsiderately and uselessly tries to entice me to renew my subscription, which they surely know is already ample. But when I try to click on the X to get rid of it, half the time it jumps upward on the screen just an instant before I click, so that I actually open the thing.
Bob Nelson
Agreed. Same goes for that little bar at the bottom of the screen. I come to this forum to enjoy my hobby, not to have a sales pitch pushed at me each time.
For me it pushes more away than it brings in. The mail alerts that you get are just as bad. Not to mention the cost.
Joined 1-21-2011 TCA 13-68614
Kev, From The North Bluff Above Marseilles IL.
A moving target is hard to hit, and I have noticed the same thing.
But jeez, how about the fact that you get to enjoy the use of this forum at zero cost to you? Someone foots the bill. Like anything else, it is a business and selling their wares is why this spot exists. No sales - no magazine. No magazine - no free forum.
I get many emails from CTT offering products. I either read them or delete them depending on if the subject line grabs my interest.
Seems like a small price to pay.
The pop-up at the bottom always frosts me ...
Bob Keller
I get blocked twice here and up to three times a visit at Trains. The problem is it wont let you move on without dealing with it.......I get HO Model Railroader ads in the mail...(?) Is that a hint?.
Same at Garden Railways...Someone should inform them this aggressiveness can backfire as several former folks at the GR forum just got fed up and left. I keep getting asked to subscribe and I already do subscribe..I don't visit as often as I used to..it just gets irritating...I think it has cut down on participation here and elsewhere as there are alternatives...sad to say.
Nothing is more fairly distributed than common sense: no one thinks he needs more of it than he already has.
The magazines don't have control over the pop ups, they are placed by the company's circulation department.
Advertizing is a given. I gotta go with the crowd here. The pop ups are annoying.
They do not change my buying habits in any way.
EDIT it just did it to me again. Took me right off the page and to their ads.
"IT's GOOD TO BE THE KING",by Mel Brooks
Charter Member- Tardis Train Crew (TTC) - Detroit3railers- Detroit Historical society Glancy Modular trains- Charter member BTTS
It costs money to maintain this forum. It's like commercials I get on free TV. It's easy to click off and I don't begrudge our hosts efforts to pay for the site.
We all understand they need the ads but pop ups annoy more people than they attract.
Which would everyone prefer, dealing with an annoying pop-up or having to subscribe(pay) for useage ?
There ain't no free lunch !
Remember the Veterans. Past, present and future.
www.sd3r.org
Proud New Member Of The NRA
Doug, there is another possibility: a pop-up that takes into account whether it makes sense to try to get a long-term subscriber to--subscribe(!)--and to create ill will by tricking viewers into opening an advertisement while trying to close it. Think of it as the honey alternative to vinegar.
It's kind of ironic to see the prevailing opinion is users being turned off by their host having ads for services that generate the revenue to provide this free forum. It's also ironic that the topic of users being turned off by ads has now generated more responses on the first page of this free forum than any hobby-related topic - except the more social, non-hobby related gathering spot - the coffee pot. (And also a long running American Flyer thread).
Across the street, the forum has dozens of blinking ads on every page and the only discussions about train-related products allowed are threads about products offered by forum advertisers, or sponsors. If a non-forum "sponsor" starts a thread about a product he offers for sale, the thread gets deleted by the moderators for the protection of the sponsors. If a non-forum sponsor - providing products or services in which hobbyists might have interest - enhancing their hobby experience - includes a website or blog link in their posts - the thread gets deleted.
I think here you can talk about anybody's train products or services.
The acronym "CTT, " the phrase "Classic Toy Trains" and the word "Classic" are all "banned words" in that venue as well. If you make a post containing any of those words or phrases, the post goes to the moderation bin where someone has to read it to ensure no positive mention is being made of CTT in a thread.
Every couple of dozen times you visit the other forum, a pop up appears offering a "Premium Membership" where you pay an annual fee to access special features - among these a "Private Messaging" feature - which is provided here for free. Not being a premium member, I only know that second hand - whether or not it remains to be true I do not know.
Point being - there are worse things than a "pop up" ad or a few emails and I seriously doubt that ad is designed to move around in order to bamboozle anyone into inadvertently opening the link. I have found waiting an extra second for the page to fully load ensures the "X" to close the ad will be in the spot where you expect it.
Simply stated "I concure"
Don
The only time the adds move on me is when I don't let the page load completely first I use to have that problem about a year ago and it went away after running some malware scans it removed what ever was causing it. as my computers as a whole don't have to play hide and seek with the adds I normally can click close and go on
Life's hard, even harder if your stupid John Wayne
http://rtssite.shutterfly.com/
If one were to pop over to the new websites of our sister magazines, Trains and Model Railroader, you, like me, might note a drop in the number of pop ups. Who knows what the future may hold.
As far as the forum being free, its an adjunct to the magazine and I already pay with my subscription as well as patronizing some of the advertisers. I use a notebook and it's small screen is nearly completely blocked....Its seems a moot point to complain..I dont expect a revolution in Kalmbach policy.
I don't know if this is an AOL thing or if it's part of internet explorer or what, but I have the ability to block pop-ups. So I only see 2 when I sign on nad no more after I close them. I had no idea there were THAT many because, as I say, they get blocked automatically. In my AOL window, the pop-up control is at the bottom right. Maybe your browsers have something similar?
Becky
Trains, trains, wonderful trains. The more you get, the more you toot!
As another Nelson would put it, "Haw haw! Fooled you again!...Wanna buy a magazine subscription?"
Becky, my browser says, "Pop-ups are currently blocked." Go figure.
Pay to play forums can be interesting with additional features.
"It's also ironic that the topic of users being turned off by ads has now generated more responses on the first page of this free forum than any hobby-related topic"
That may be giving the Kalmbach circulation department a hint. Its effecting popularity and participation. The forum does a good job in highlighting the great features of the magazine..so the blocking ads seem ridiculously over aggressive. There are essentially the same ads as on the sidebar. Its a great publication no doubt about it.
If you look at other forums such as GR, some topics have sat there since August..very few posts..the same downward traffic. I seldom go there anymore even though I subscribe..the reason, there's not many new posts..I think its a Catch 22..
I got steered to ads twice just trying to get on....once again I turned off the bottom one only to have it pop up again..that makes three diversions just to participate. I like this forum, hence I am speaking out. Otherwise, why bother? The forum as an adjunct to the magazine, not the other way around and I will resubscribe ..if they would stop pestering subscribers to get a subscription it would be a perfect world..lol.
.How many times can they ask the same redundant question when you already subscribe? Jeez Louise.
I agree about the issues elsewhere on that other venue.... I enjoy this magazine enough where I can tolerate being annoyed up to a point, the other one you mentioned is a mess.
wallyworld "It's also ironic that the topic of users being turned off by ads has now generated more responses on the first page of this free forum than any hobby-related topic" That may be giving the Kalmbach circulation department a hint. Its effecting popularity and participation. The forum does a good job in highlighting the great features of the magazine..so the blocking ads seem ridiculously over aggressive. There are essentially the same ads as on the sidebar. Its a great publication no doubt about it.
If I reading this correctly, the forum has a very small amount of participation because the pop-up ad at the bottom of the page has driven most everyone else away?
You are not reading it correctly. Affecting participation is making it greater or, in this case probably, worse. That only means making it less than it would be otherwise, which is not as extreme a statement as driving "most everyone else away" and leaving "a very small amount of participation". A correct inference from his statement is that taming the pop-up would increase participation even above what it is now.
Frank53 wallyworld "It's also ironic that the topic of users being turned off by ads has now generated more responses on the first page of this free forum than any hobby-related topic" That may be giving the Kalmbach circulation department a hint. Its effecting popularity and participation. The forum does a good job in highlighting the great features of the magazine..so the blocking ads seem ridiculously over aggressive. There are essentially the same ads as on the sidebar. Its a great publication no doubt about it. wallyworld "It's also ironic that the topic of users being turned off by ads has now generated more responses on the first page of this free forum than any hobby-related topic" That may be giving the Kalmbach circulation department a hint. Its effecting popularity and participation. The forum does a good job in highlighting the great features of the magazine..so the blocking ads seem ridiculously over aggressive. There are essentially the same ads as on the sidebar. Its a great publication no doubt about it. If I reading this correctly, the forum has a very small amount of participation because the pop-up ad at the bottom of the page has driven most everyone else away?
I am no mind reader but as a long term participant and subscriber to several Kalmbach publications I can recall when the forums had a wealth of topics and were pretty interesting to read and now it's pretty well comparatively dead. I don't want to pester Bob about this..theres not much he can do about it. Over at GR, its about as dead as a door nail. I suspect a connection between having to jump through hoops to see theres not much to read or respond to and diminished traffic is sort of a Catch 22..round and round it goes. I stopped dropping by because it got to be pointless. I could be wrong of course...It just seems to be a shame that the circulation department might be shooting itself in the foot..or maybe not.
It seems a waste of a great resource that keeps readers interested in classic trains which is my interest.
I think CTT is doing a great job. I am old and a pop up does not bother me. Graeme
I don't think the popups here keeps anyone away. And we all know that advertizing is certainly necessary. But I do think they are annoying and do more harm than good.
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