I'm sorry, but that new advertising bar after the first post of every page of every thread is terrible. I love BS, and I pay $$ each year to be a supporter and get a supposedly 'ad-free' experience (and to support BS in general). Is that ad bar a mistake, or is that here to stay?
Another reason I won't give a dime to this site. Advertising shoved down our throats like that sucks. I understand this is a business for Huss but damn, that's overkill.
If you pay for the ad-free subscription, you should contact the help desk (link at bottom of every page). I just checked with my non-premie account (I had one waaaaaaaaaay back when there was a tech problem, at it hasn't been deleted...) and there were ads. As I am now using my premie account, I have no ads.
Apparently. Nevermind the fact that there's at least three different operating systems (Mac, Windows, Linux), and various subsets of those systems (different versions of MacOS, Windows XP Pro, Windows XP Home, several different flavors of Windows Vista, and who knows how many flavors of Linux). If you really wanted to get geeky, someone could complain that BigSoccer doesn't function properly on their iPhone, or other smart phone. Throw in the different browsers people use such as, IE 6, IE 7, Firefox 2.0.0.X, Firefox 3, Firefox alpha/beta/nightly builds, Safari, etc. Throw in the different third-party add-ons and extensions that people add to various web browsers too. Throw in people's general stupidity when it comes to the internet. (You downloaded spyware. Don't complain to use when BS is slow.) It's really no surprise things don't work right 100% of the time for 100% of the users.
Do you subscribe to cable or satellite TV? If you do, you're probably paying at least $35 a month for basic service, and look at all the ads you get. If you want a premium service such as HBO, that's another $11 or so a month, for ad-free TV. Add to that another $40-$50, if not more, for internet service, and look at all the ads you're paying to look at, all over the internet. Along the lines of "paying for what is free", how much bottled water do you go through? Perhaps it's just my opinion, but my plan works out to something like 7 cents a day. It's more than well worth the ad-free environment at that price. But, hey, if you'd rather complain about mouse-over ads that make sound, and various "shoot the terrorist"-type ads, be my guest.
I think the placement is what sucks. Why not at the top of the page? We're going to see it one way or another, so it's pointless disrupting threads with the ads smacked right in the middle. Things like this might actually deter people from purchasing whatever from BS. Then you have the guy who wants to upgrade his status to paying member, but may be hesitant because of the possibility of ads or whatever being shoved in his/her face. And why does it have to repeat itself? How about different ads, wouldn't that make more sense?
The more intrusive ads that appear, the more people are going to turn to ad-blocking software, thus simultaneously reducing the number of clicks those ads generate and driving some who would otherwise pay for membership to ad-blockers instead. Lose-lose situation it seems to me.
christ thats annoying.... maybe if you guys focused on turning the big soccer shop into a decent online business,you would'nt have to plaster these crap adverts in the middle of posts for your crap shop....
It blocks the images, so all ones sees are the text links. Still annoying, but less so than without the blocker.
It still disrupts the flow of threads. It's like an attempt at subliminal advertising. lol I think maybe it's time to retire from BS and look for greener pastures, or fields in this case.
I don't usually have too many problems with the way the site is designed, but I really dislike the placement of the new BS Shop adbar. I saw that same ad all the time on top of threads. I even visited the BS Shop (though they couldn't do authentic MLS fonts so I had to go elsewhere) and have bought things from them. But, as one poster has already said, the placement of this ad would seem to be counter-productive.