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[mrehorst]

Will subscribing make that s**t go away?

 

[mrehorst]

if you become a paid subscriber, only 25$, you wont see the adds .

https://audiokarma.org/forums/index.php?account/upgrades

Athanasios

I go to that page and there's a check box to subscribe, but nothing that says that if I do I won't be flooded with ads.

 

[Nashou66]

I go to that page and there's a check box to subscribe, but nothing that says that if I do I won't be flooded with ads.

You won't be. Just an add at the very top from usually one of the paid AK manufactures .

It occurred to me that it could be revealing to try another xenforo site that uses advally, and see how the user experience is there. I found this one:

SatelliteGuys.US

The FREIENDLY Place to Talk Technology! DISH Network, DIRECTV, Free To Air, IPTV and more!

www.satelliteguys.us

A quick browse, as a guest, was painless. I was using the same browser I use for AK: Firefox on a Linux laptop with no ad blockers or any other customization. Actually, I didn't see any ads at all, which seems odd. It looks like they might celebrate February as an ad-free month, though, so if they are doing that in 2026, it's not a valid comparison.

Is there any chance that any other AKers are also members of SatelliteGuys? If so, can you comment on your experience compared to AK? If not, I think I will register there and browse it some more next month, when ads should be enabled.

Anybody know how to check which xenforo version is in use at SatelliteGuys?

They might pay for a higher tier plan that doesn't have adds ?

 

[Dswankey]

I'm kind of tired of seeing all these threads crapping on AK with threatening tones at some point folks need to take personal accountability on their end.

There are a good many of us Subscriber & non Subscriber who are NOT seeing all these ads so in my eyes it points back to end user issues.

I would suggest that folks make an effort to learn how to go in into their browser settings and make sure certain features are activated with regards to ad's, pop ups etc.

Just an example in Firefox

Settings > Privacy & Security

This option is defaulted to unchecked, you have to manually check it

 

[Dswankey]

^ Another thing is that the main Browsers (Firefox, Safari, Chrome, etc) are routinely upgraded and if one is having an issue I would suggest upgrading to the most recent and then double check all your personal settings.

I posted this back in 2023 regarding accessing via phone, hopefully someone will find this helpful


I posted earlier today re; accessing AK via iPhone, which I rarely do, and having no problems. I hadn't done it in months if not a year so I tried it earlier and have no issues whatsoever with ad's.

My guess is this is NOT an AK or Phone issue but settings in members web browser

Fwiw these are my current iPhone settings in Firefox Daylight 40.1 (7037)

Under "Settings" in the "General" section

I have "Block Pop-up Windows" enabled or on

Under "Settings" in the "Privacy" section, there is "Tracking Protection >" when I tap on that I'm brought to (see below)

"Enhanced Tracking Protection" ("reduces targeted ads and helps stop advertisers from tracking your browsing") enabled or on

^ Under ETP there is a section called "Protection Level" which gives you 2 options

"Standard (default)" and "Strict"

I have "Strict" enabled or on and it describes the following "Blocks more trackers, ads, and popups. Pages load faster, but some functionality may not work"

So this took me awhile to figure out theses current settings, if I can do it I'm sure others here can do it to.

From what I can tell I do not have an adblocker just the settings in FF I mentioned above

 

[Dswankey]

Apple Safari settings

Change Websites settings in Safari on Mac

In Safari on your Mac, customize how you work with an individual website.

support.apple.com

Firefox settings

Change Firefox options, preferences and settings | Firefox Help

Learn how to access and adjust Firefox settings, including privacy, startup behavior, downloads and more.

support.mozilla.org

Google Chrome Settings

Change site settings permissions - Computer - Google Chrome Help

You can set permissions for a site without changing your default settings. Manage site permissions You can easily allow or deny site permissions. You can also gran

support.google.com

 

[billyz]

I'm kind of tired of seeing all these threads crapping on AK with threatening tones at some point folks need to take personal accountability on their end.

There are a good many of us Subscriber & non Subscriber who are NOT seeing all these ads so in my eyes it points back to end user issues.

I would suggest that folks make an effort to learn how to go in into their browser settings and make sure certain features are activated with regards to ad's, pop ups etc.

Just example in Firefox

Settings > Privacy & Security

This option is defaulted to unchecked, you have to manually check it

View attachment 3703923

I use Firefox and I do have those Boxes checked, but the ads are so bad I am not sure how much more time I want to spend at Audio karma. .

 

[GChief]

Its on $25 a year to support the site "you" are always on.

Its not free to run this site, but the freeloaders sure seen to complain the loudest

 

[Ken Overit]

Relax everyone, if you are using Firefox, just install the ublock origin add-on.
I haven't seen adverts on any platform for years ! (including youtube)

 

[leesonic]

Well, some of us provide content on our lunch break, tea breaks, and any other time we can get a few minutes on OUR WORK COMPUTERS. I've had people get crabby with me because I haven't replied to their message 5 minutes after they post it, saying "you status shows you as online". Fact is, some of the sites used at my job require pop-ups to be enabled, because they take us off in the Oracle cloud. So in answer to those that say it's "end user issues", maybe we have to use Chrome, Firefox etc. the way we have to. The fact that it's only AK that does this kind points to it being an AK problem, not a user or browser problem.

 

[Bill Ashton]

I got ads in middle of threads for a while, and then about the time everyone started screaming pop ups started appearing above and below, taking up a lot of the phone screen. I voiced my agnst in this and another thread and it got taken care of, done. Thanx much to the tech(s) that got on it.

 

[NattyBDC]

Its on $25 a year to support the site "you" are always on.

Its not free to run this site, but the freeloaders sure seen to complain the loudest

This is a horrible attitude. Everyone came here as a new person or "free loader" as you say at one point.

Is this really the site experience that AK wants to present to new users?

This site is often the first result for technical audio questions. If, when I had started my HiFi journey about 4 years ago, I had come here and gotten the kind of pop ups I was getting before installing extra blockers (not necessary on ANY other site or forum I visit....), I would simply close this site out and never return. You can say it's on the users end, but if many many users are having issues they weren't having before, it seems to me that puts it back on the site.

The casual attitude of suggesting "well just pay $25." First off, you don't know everyone who posts finances or priorities. Could I afford it, and have I been a member in the past? Yes! Am I inclined to do so now, when the user experience is being ruined and blamed on users rather than administrators? No! With a kid off to college and the too casual attitude here towards "free loaders" and outsiders, I have better things I can throw $25 at.

 

[chazix]

only AK that does this

The elephant in the room.

I think it's great that problem-free contributors to this thread are offering end-user fixes to the problem-plagued. I know those suggestions are well-intentioned, and I think they are welcome, at least for the first dozen or so repeats.

But end-user fixes are "not scalable" (an obscene phrase in IT-land!). How about some more ideas about why the problem is reported to be unique to AK?

Addressing that question is why I suggest a comparison with another xenforo+advally site.

 

[maxhifi]

This is a horrible attitude. Everyone came here as a new person or "free loader" as you say at one point.

Is this really the site experience that AK wants to present to new users?

This site is often the first result for technical audio questions. If, when I had started my HiFi journey about 4 years ago, I had come here and gotten the kind of pop ups I was getting before installing extra blockers (not necessary on ANY other site or forum I visit....), I would simply close this site out and never return. You can say it's on the users end, but if many many users are having issues they weren't having before, it seems to me that puts it back on the site.

The casual attitude of suggesting "well just pay $25." First off, you don't know everyone who posts finances or priorities. Could I afford it, and have I been a member in the past? Yes! Am I inclined to do so now, when the user experience is being ruined and blamed on users rather than administrators? No! With a kid off to college and the too casual attitude here towards "free loaders" and outsiders, I have better things I can throw $25 at.

The reason I stopped subscribing, is that bartertown isn't that useful or active for people who live outside of the US, due to shipping cost (and now tariffs) and it's the main benefit of subscribing.

 

[Mr Boochie]

I guess there is always Audio Asylum.

Now, that site has a lot of issues, too.

 

[hjames]

GChief (Joined Jun 17, 2016) does NOT speak for the owners of AK.
Most folks here do NOT regard non-subscribers as "FreeLoaders" and hearing GChief speak that way is
an insult to many of us who have been on the site for MANY years ...
Have things gotten bad on the internet? Yes - Ai engines and web scanners are hammering MOST sites on the web that contain much usable content,
trying to steal it and monitize it in some way.
The Lansing site is current unusable most of the time since it was poorly built and not updated by the previous management,
and the AK owners have tried to get it updated to stabilize it and the folks they paid to sort it out have taken the money and done NOTHING for it.
And yes, all this stuff costs money, and the ads are an attempt to help afford the cost of running one of the most popular audio sites online.

There is more to say and this is not the place to dump it all, but suffice it to say that Mr grumpy is still in recovery from a serious health issue and
Ms Grumpy is working hard to help him with day to day issues AND run this site.

 

[maxhifi]

GChief does NOT speak for the owners of AK. Most folks here do NOT regard non-subscribers as "FreeLoaders"
and hearing chief speak that way is an insult to many of us who have been on the site for MANY years ...

In my view, the only "freeloaders" are the ones who sign up to ask a question, get the answer, and never come back or update the people who answered On the other hand, if it helped someone, maybe it's good "karma" for the audio community in general.

 

[Blue Shadow]

Well some minor change. The top gray band has stopped for a bit. Still have the bottom one.
iPad Pro, DuckDuckGo

The bands get populated with ads when I use safari on this pad.

One more gray band to remove and it will be back to the no ad normal with open space where ads would be that started a year ago or so.

Is ak trying to sell ad space or is all this ad mess targeted attacks?

 

[Dswankey]

Is ak trying to sell ad space or is all this ad mess targeted attacks?

...Have things gotten bad on the internet? Yes - Ai engines and web scanners are hammering MOST sites on the web that contain much usable content,
trying to steal it and monitize it in some way.

I think you're right in that this is targeted, I don't know enough to say it is or isn't

 

[elvi]

It's now out of control...