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Author Topic: Troublesome ads on the Gasbuddy site Post a Reply Back to Topics
plastic

Champion Author
Virginia

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Message Posted: Mar 23, 2012 8:36:44 AM

From time to time, the advertising vendor will put ads that will interfere with the use of the site and cause a terrible user experience.

This is a good place to share those bad experiences or to give general feedback to Gasbuddy.

Gasbuddy does not control the ads but they are responsible for the proper function and appearance of the site and have a duty to require that the advertising vendor conforms its ads to the requirements of the site.

Whenever I report a troublesome ad, the moderators usually ask the following: what is the ad, what is it doing, what is your operating system, what browser and version. So try to share as much information as possible.

No comments about ad blockers will be appreciated unless there is a problem with the ad blockers with the site. If you use an ad blocker; good for you.
REPLIES (newest first)
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kwzh
Champion Author San Jose

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Message Posted: Apr 22, 2012 2:48:25 AM

dirt girl: text ad, static image, animated GIF, or Shockwave/Flash?
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dirt girl
Champion Author Twin Cities

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Message Posted: Apr 21, 2012 2:40:29 AM

I've been having problems with the ads on the right margin. It varies which ad but lots of times it overlaps the text on the first few posts in a forum by a word or two. Using XP, IE7.
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mwjones
Champion Author Dallas

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Message Posted: Apr 20, 2012 10:45:17 PM

bruin -

As someone who operates a number of sites myself, I can tell you that it is not free to operate the site. Servers, Internet Bandwidth, Domain Names and other functions all carry costs.

Instead of passing those costs on to the individual contributers, GasBuddy generates revenue from the advertisements, as well as some sites they provide data feeds to (like some media outlets). They also host a managed solution for small chains of stations.

To me, I'm perfectly happy seeing the ads - as long as they do not extend beyond the boundaries they're supposed to be in, or pop up in a second window. To date, using IE, I typically haven't had those kinds of problems here.
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bruin19MD
Champion Author Maryland

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Message Posted: Apr 20, 2012 6:52:50 PM

Since joining is free, we may not have the site without ads?
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regulate_now
Champion Author Indiana

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Message Posted: Apr 19, 2012 4:14:31 PM

I've seen the ads on the website interfere with the page/scripting functions. A half dozen or more times in the past couple of years... I am talking the website, not the apps/mobile smartphones... Right now Bank of American, State Farm, Ebay and/ Fares searching ads cause problems; Windows 7, and XP and on different PCs...
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plastic
Champion Author Virginia

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Message Posted: Apr 19, 2012 9:14:43 AM

Bkosher, if you're talking about the website, then yes, there are several ways to get rid of them. Ask "bytebug" (below) for more information.
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mamabeck
Champion Author Florida

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Message Posted: Apr 19, 2012 6:32:38 AM

I hate having them on every station when you go to post prices, as well as at the bottom of the home page. They need to go away. I think they are becoming more frequent than they were when I first started 3 months ago. Is there any way to get rid of them?
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plastic
Champion Author Virginia

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Message Posted: Apr 13, 2012 8:20:19 AM

" No comments about ad blockers will be appreciated unless there is a problem with the ad blockers with the site. If you use an ad blocker; good for you."

I do like the "less filling" part though! Lol

Glad no one is having trouble... Yet
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scoutmaster
Champion Author Pittsburgh

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Message Posted: Apr 13, 2012 7:28:30 AM

I use AdBlock! Works great! Less filling!
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bytebug
Champion Author Orange County

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Message Posted: Mar 23, 2012 9:52:40 PM

>> Btyebug at least used a clever skirting around his ad block comment :)

I don't block ads.
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teafortwo
Champion Author Washington

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Message Posted: Mar 23, 2012 7:48:17 PM

I believe what you are talking about is the ads that jump around the page. Like from the side panel to on top of the text in an an article or comment.

This seems to be even more of a problem lately.
At one time I was working with a moderator on these glitches. I sent him attachments showing images of the screen so that he could see exactly what I was talking about and which ad was the offending party. We had a pretty good system and we were solving some glitches & problems. Then there was a reorganization at GB and the next time I sent information I received an email back asking why I was sending it ..... after some back and forth explanations; it was clear to me that the new guy(s) did not care about the ad glitches. ?

We had to use the regular email because the site PM does not handle the print screen attachments that I was sending in. The system worked well, but if no one at the site is interested, there is very little I can do to make them care or understand why it matters .... ;0\
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plastic
Champion Author Virginia

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Message Posted: Mar 23, 2012 4:21:51 PM

No, the problem is with the coding of the ad. If it's not a problem for you then you have nothing to report in this thread. If you see an ad that interferes with your ability to use the site then feel free to use this topic to report it.

I put this topic here because it seems that every time there is a faulty ad; there will be a half dozen topics started about it. Hopefully this is a place where faulty ads can be discussed and reported to PD without causing a bunch of new topics. If there is already such a topic then I expect PD will lock this and post a link to the existing topic.
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herndonks
Champion Author Baltimore

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Message Posted: Mar 23, 2012 3:19:45 PM

Plastic, they are not troublesome for me. Adds do not trouble me or my browser. Some appear and cause no problem. Others do not appear, and white space is not a problem. Could the problem be your browser or add blocker and not the adds?
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plastic
Champion Author Virginia

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Message Posted: Mar 23, 2012 10:18:16 AM

Herndonks, you are completely missing the point. The point is that there are troublesome ads; whether or not you look at them.

Btyebug at least used a clever skirting around his ad block comment :)

[Edited by: plastic at 3/23/2012 11:19:44 AM EST]
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herndonks
Champion Author Baltimore

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Message Posted: Mar 23, 2012 9:54:29 AM

I have never had a problem with web page functioning, but I am sure my browser (Firefox) is blocking some of the adds, because I see alot of open white areas, and when I go to the web site on my android phone I see adds instead of blank white spots. If you are having problems, try using firefox (it is free).
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bytebug
Champion Author Orange County

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Message Posted: Mar 23, 2012 8:54:16 AM

It is amazing that I've never been bothered by troublesome ads. I thank the GasBuddy gods for carefully filtering them from the pages they serve to me. Must be karma for the rest of you!
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plastic
Champion Author Virginia

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Message Posted: Mar 23, 2012 8:47:25 AM

As has been mentioned, the Puerto Rico ad is causing a problem. I haven't noticed it on my desktop yet but it's really bad on my Android OS.

The ad blocks use of the gasbuddy page. There is a button to close the ad but, most of the time, when I click the close button, by whole browser will shut down. Very annoying.

Android 2.3
Google Internet 2.3
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