New ad bar

What is this SPAM AD that pops up at the bottom of the page...

WIN FREE MOVIE
TICKETS ALL
SUMMER LONG

expands and takes most of the page...

That's a LHB sold ad? or?

Richard

then I previewed this and now it is a HP VEER 4G SMARTPHONE AD.

I found a down arrows button on the far right side of lower part of screen to make is slide down ...

Marked Connect via Meebo...

is this the forum or is it my Safari?

Richard

Well, Richard maybe it is a MAC afflication. I had it too. Like you I got rid of it. Funny, it didn't come up on any other web page that I tried.

[Robin Garr]

It's not spam, Richard, and I'll thank you to retract that. The Meebo bar will rest quietly at the bottom of the page as long as you don't mouse over the links.

I am frankly unhappy with your snap judgment that it's spam. We bring you this forum and all its fun for no cost, but the costs to us of running our websites are not trivial. When meebo approached us we vetted them carefully, and decided to give it a try, because like every other small, local business in this economy we have to make our numbers work.

Spam. Ptui. Next time, $@%, please ask me before you make that kind of assertion about our forum, all right? Spam,

Thank you very much. Keep it moving, folks, nothing to see here ...

It's not spam, Richard, and I'll thank you to retract that. The Meebo bar will rest quietly at the bottom of the page as long as you don't mouse over the links.

I am frankly unhappy with your snap judgment that it's spam. We bring you this forum and all its fun for no cost, but the costs to us of running our websites are not trivial. When meebo approached us we vetted them carefully, and decided to give it a try, because like every other small, local business in this economy we have to make our numbers work.

Spam. Ptui. Next time, $@%, please ask me before you make that kind of assertion about our forum, all right? Spam,

Thank you very much. Keep it moving, folks, nothing to see here ...

Yeah, sorry I used the wrong terminology. It's not spam. Canter and Siegel it isn't. My mistake and I take it back.

However I was really taken aback by this unexpected and never before seen bar appearing at the bottom of the page with an offer for free movie tickets. I assumed it was in the vein of Groupon or Half Price Louisville and thought ok this is LHB. I clicked and was given a screen wanting all kinds of personal info so I just killed it.

Then it was another ad. Then I saw the arrows beside the slide bar to make it go down.

I don't mind and in fact like the local business ads for iglou or creation gardens and such, but I was really put off. I do understand it costs money, and I am quite happy that this and other forums are supported by ad revenue.

I logged in with my desktop PC and see it is on the bottom of that page too so it is not specific to Macs. But it is certainly less noticeable on my desktop than the Macbook.

Again, I apologize for the snap judgement of some kind of nefarious ad activity. Next time I'll just ask WTF.

Richard

[Robin Garr]

Again, I apologize for the snap judgement of some kind of nefarious ad activity. Next time I'll just ask WTF.

Thanks, Richard. And everyone please be assured, "WTF" questions are always welcome. Usually we have common-sense reasons for what we do, and again, Meebo so far seems to vet their advertisers significantly better than Google Adsense does, so go figure. I see a Groupon down there right now.

Again, bottom line, the Meebo bar runs ONLY at the very bottom of the page, and the ad at the lower left pops up ONLY if you hover your cursor over it. And if you hit it by accident, and aren't interested, there'll always be a CLOSE - X box at the upper right of the opened page.

This recession is a pain, and it's still hard for new media to compete with the paid advertising staffs of the print people, even if we can demonstrably deliver better results for local advertisers. Help us spread the word, if you will; if I could support the site entirely from local ads, I would love to do that.

[Robin Garr]

By the way, Richard, I took the liberty of rewording the title of the OP. No offense - I don't mind one way or another within the forum - but I realized that the five most recent forum headlines pop out on the HotBytes front page, and that's not so good.

I'm glad you asked. I thought I had a virus on my pc.

The meebo ads seem to be alot less of a problem than some...at least you can hide them unless you want to see them. Cannot stand the ones that pop out and walk all over the screen.

[Robin Garr]

The meebo ads seem to be alot less of a problem than some...at least you can hide them unless you want to see them. Cannot stand the ones that pop out and walk all over the screen.

Us either, Bev. We sould NOT put anything like that on this forum.

I do hope you guys won't hide the bar. Frankly, it helps us a lot of people use the bar to look at the ad, tweet a message, share it on Facebook, etc. Of course it's not required, but the reality is that if you use the bar now and then, you'll support our forum. It won't cost you a thing, but it will help us pay our server fees, free-lance fees, operating budget and all that good stuff.

Apparently it is a lot bigger on the Macs then PCs. I did not notice it until the Groupon came up on it.

[Robin Garr]

Apparently it is a lot bigger on the Macs then PCs. I did not notice it until the Groupon came up on it.

Mary has Macs, and she installed it. Maybe only certain Macs? Older OS? Does it take up 10 percent of the page? 25 percent?

I have a PC and didn't notice the bar until the middle of this thread. Perhaps I should be more observant.

Ever since this new bar went up I have difficulty...as in can't..."cut and paste" when replying. When I highlight something for cutting a little "tag" pops up and sez "share with meebo". I participate on other forums and this is the only one this occurs on. Also, I have had the pop up ad appear 5 or 6 times when I KNOW I didn't scroll over anything...Kinda of annoying in a small way. Don't like the new bar at all but if it helps pay the bills, what the hell, I'll figure a way to work around it.

Own a Mac and a PC. Seems to be the same for me on both.