New advert too large

[Former Member]

There is a new advert at the top right hand corner in the forums, located below the forum description or the thread title.

It is too large and not well placed in my opinion. You cannot even see the stickies anymore... let alone other recent posts.

Stuff like that belongs on the "front page" and in optional banners and crevices of the site, and not "in your face" all the time.

Is there a way to block it in the browser?

What is the large blank area left of it reserved for?

Cheers,

Julius

[Former Member · Accepted solution]

> What is the large blank area left of it reserved for?

Ahh...

I see that GuiXT was first to step forward... and Win-shuttle will no likely be next to spam SDN with obsolete technology at the end of it's lifecycle, again.

I recommend keeping product flamewars which are "in our face" centrally here in this thread, unless they become too much to handle at one time in one thread.

Cheers,

Julius

[former_member181931 · Accepted solution]

In other forums the space on the left is not blank, it's where the search function is and also where the 3 top contributors are listed. I guess that's how the page is structured... Maybe someone can comment/confirm here?

Laure

[Former Member · Accepted solution]

Yes, it is much better now. Thank you.

Cheers,

Julius

[ThomasZloch · Accepted solution]

Am I not really awake yet or did those huge ads suddenly come back?

Thomas

[former_member184657 · Accepted solution]

Am I not really awake yet or did those huge ads suddenly come back?

Yes. Like all evil horror movies, they are back with a sequel.

pk

[Former Member · Accepted solution]

I actually downloaded the commercial terms document because I wanted to advertise for the "Happy Julius Day 2011".

For polite people a normal (small) banner can be bought. For noisy people there is an extra charge to go extra large.

But it would only appear randomly, so I would just consider it shouting.

Personally I gotten used to the single small one, but would not want them all over the place like on some other sites.

Cheers,

Julius

[former_member184657 · Accepted solution]

Instead of doing away with those annoying adverts or atleast cutting and tucking them into a corner, they seem to be growing in size.

Just not done!

pk

[Former Member · Accepted solution]

Since today morning there are adverts on almost every forum page and really making the whole page shifting in either directions (Up-Down, left-right)..

and even it's taking forver to open a thread.. looks like this advert are making SCN performance really slow..

-Pushkar

P.S. : Almost all adverts are blocked by our compnay so even if we click on then we get the policy violation window so these adverts really don't contribute

[peter_atkin]

Guys,

Just got rid of those anoying adverts in my IE8 browser..

Download IE7Pro from [here|www.ie7pro.com] then activate the Ad Blocker module in the Preferences popup

PeteA

[Former Member]

Well, it appears, the ad was made smaller, but now there are two of them and one comes from an non-secure site, so I am constantly getting a popup.

(But I can get rid of both of them by answering 'no'.)

Rob

[Former Member]

Yes, it is much better now regarding the size, but there is still some space for flashing lights on the left

For your second problem, try: Start --> Programs --> Windows Update... to make the popups go away.

The nice thing about some OSS notes, is that you can see the source text and know whether you are using it...

Cheers,

Julius

[OttoGold]

Looks like the Voice of the people cannot do anything about the ad? Otto

[andreas_mann3]

...weg damit! away with this ad-garbage!

A.

[Former Member]

Hi Julius,

Finally I understand some of the comments I've seen in the forums. After seeing your thread I finally opened up my Internet Explorer (rather rusty on my machine ;-)...) - and could see the ad.

On my latest [Firefox|http://www.mozilla.com/firefox/] (which I use for my daily browsing) with [AdblockPlus|http://adblockplus.org/en/] (with filter <em>EasyPrivacy+EasyList</em>) add-on I've never even seen the ad. I'm not sure if I get bashed for banning ads, but I strongly believe that it's my own choice which ads I want to see and which ones not. In the forums it's even worse, because we're contributing instead of simply consuming and thus should have control (as opposed to using free services where ads might be a valid business model to sponsor something).

Anyhow, it's probably my good old German paranoia, but to me it's a security feature to surf the web with ideally just the right permissions to get me the information without giving away too much control/data. Thus add-ons like [BetterPrivacy|https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/6623] and [NoScript|http://noscript.net/] and similar, which help me filter out some of the junk and tracking are really useful.

Cheers, harald

p.s.: If you like to focus on content when reading forum entries check out the add-on [Stylish|https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/2108]. By applying your own CSS to any site you can redesign it to a much cleaner layout. I.e. when I'm reading forum entries I don't need all the navigation links and logos at the top and the footer is also pretty meaningless... (furthermore I no longer struggle withe postings that extend too far to the right)

[Former Member]

Hi Harald,

Thanks for the detailed answer and sharing how you deal with advert banners and usefull add-ons.

I think the adverts should still be appropriately placed, sized and rationed - and then I would not mind them really.

Many folks don't have the option to use a browser other than the one their company's client engineering provide them, so usefull as the tools and alternate browsers are - I don't see them as a solution to SDN.sap.com.

Of course this is SAP's own website and advertizing of products and events etc is perfectly okay, but the big pictures are an overkill and too "in your face" compared to the reason why the average SDNer clicks on a link or creates one.

I am saving my energy for when partner product adverts appear for solutions which in my opinion are uncertifiable, so will leave the thread open for the moment still - but actually you have answered the question I originally asked.

Thanks again. I always enjoy reading your posts and learning something from them.

Cheers,

Julius

[Former Member]

Hi Julius,<br />

<div class="jive-quote">

I think the adverts should still be appropriately placed, sized and rationed - and then I would not mind them really.<br />

</div>

Obviously you're far more open-minded and tolerant than I am. <em>Cruft</em> wherever I see it annoys me and ads belong in this topic. I don't read e-mail spam either, though SAP would probably be appalled seeing this comparison... ;-)<br />

<br />

While experimenting, maybe they should introduce more (configurable) fun features like <i>users who enjoyed this thread also liked reading this</i> or solving all those other problems the forums suffer from...<br />

<br />

<div class="jive-quote">

Many folks don't have the option to use a browser other than the one their company's client engineering provide them, so useful as the tools and alternate browsers are - I don't see them as a solution to SDN.sap.com.<br />

</div>

You are right, though sometimes usage of <b>zero-foot print tools</b> (e.g. <a class="jive-link-external" href="http://portableapps.com/apps/internet/firefox_portable" target="_newWindow">portable apps firefox</a>) is accepted. Often though companies' security policies are overly restrictive and they'd fare better by considering that security measures <i>include</i> user awareness and training. <br />

<br />

Anyhow, as you can see tool restrictions in general is a sore topic to me, as I have a collection of tools that I'd like to have available where I work. <em>Is this absolutely necessary?</em> No. <em>Can I do my work without them?</em> Probably almost all of the times. <em>Am I efficient without certain tools?</em> Definitely not and that's sad considering that the customer's meter is running (due to hourly rates). Quick disclaimer though: Browsing SDN is not part of my time or bill... ;-)<br />

<br />

<div class="jive-quote">

Of course this is SAP's own website and advertizing of products and events etc is perfectly okay [..].<br />

</div>

Well I'd phrase it differently - <em>they can do it, but maybe shouldn't depending on user expectations</em>. I'm wondering what the actual intent of the ad is: Are they looking for new ways to generate <i>revenue</i> (doubt that and hope they're not <i>that</i> desperate) and slamming it in our face or is this meant to be a service to the community. In the latter case I'd say they should offer a good way to <i>opt out</i> and consider that this is a community website, which thrives due to the people being here...<br />

<br />

<div class="jive-quote">

I always enjoy reading your posts and learning something from them.<br />

</div>

Kind words, but it's actually the other way around...<br />

<br />

Enough off-the-topic-ranting, enjoy your weekend, cheers, harald

[Former Member]

You are a linux hacker, right?

I agree with you, and have one comment to add:

> Well I'd phrase it differently - they can do it, but maybe shouldn't depending on user expectations.

Well.. you take it on the nose if you neglect active user expectations.

On a project we once used a "most unhappy user" report based only on response time statistics, as well as a "naughty girls" and "naughty boyz" report linked to factory calendars. All anonymous of course. It was very interesting to watch the implementation and use of the system from this angle.

Why people come to sdn.sap.com, what they do here and why they stay should in my opinion be the main sustainable metric.

I look at www.sap.com or use google to find basic infos about SAPPHIRE dates, etc. It is now easier for me and have reminders, but I don't need it inhibiting forum navigation and use.

Personally, I am okay will discrete google-juice even (see the source code) but block it on my PCs.

Cheers,

Julius

Edited by: Julius Bussche on Apr 9, 2010 11:46 PM

[Former Member]

You are a linux hacker, right? 

Before answering let me first quote the [Jargon file|http://www.catb.org/jargon/] definition of a [hacker|http://www.catb.org/jargon/html/H/hacker.html] (first point):

A person who enjoys exploring the details of programmable systems and how to stretch their capabilities, as opposed to most users, who prefer to learn only the minimum necessary. [RFC1392|http://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc1392#page-21], the Internet Users' Glossary, usefully amplifies this as: A person who delights in having an intimate understanding of the internal workings of a system, computers and computer networks in particular.

I'd say I have the attitude, not necessarily always the knowledge.. So not sure how you guessed the Linux connection, but yes, that's kind of how I "grew up" (at college all desktops and servers ran on Unix boxes and if you wanted to approach one of the gurus for getting some info you'd better ask an interesting question, because otherwise you'd simply be ignored).

Anyhow, I'd hope that the attitude described in the definition above is what motivates people here on the forum. Apparently often not, but it's at least nice to know that there's still some entertainment possible: . That posting made my day, thank you.

Please refrain from posting a reply, because otherwise I might have to respond with more irrelevant stuff. Might be ok for this forum group here, but I'd really hate to break my own rules and keep spamming the forum with useless information...

[Former Member]

I think we are heading off-topic slightly here...

Just to confirm though, that the definition of "hacker" which you found is also the one which I meant. Nothing derogatory about it.

Cheers,

Julius

[ChrisPaine]

>On my latest Firefox (which I use for my daily browsing) with AdblockPlus

You can also use AdBlock on Google Chrome (it's also free, although it is by a different author) and I believe that there is even a version for IE7 (again by another author - but I haven't used it and don't know how well it works). I don't see that these ads provide value to me, so I'm quite happy to block them.

I don't know if my user experience has diminished since I stopped my browser sessions seeing ads - you can't know about what you can't see. But I certainly don't think so. If you are a heavy web user and don't like being bombarded by adverts, I can strongly recommend the use of these types of solutions. If you are really particular, I believe you could even set the solutions to only block ads from specific sites - i.e. SCN.

Cheers,

Chris

[Former Member]

Actually, now that I look at it more closely, I don't think it's too large. But it is misplaced (at least in the forum overviews). There is a lot of white space to the left of the "Welcome ..." panel. The panel could be moved to the left and the ad then moved up.

Rob

[former_member182193]

Thank you all for your feedback. We are expanding the pilot we started in October of last year by adding relevant banners to additional forums.

We started this last night with the monthly release and all forums were included by default. It does not make a lot of sense to market in this forum or other similar forums such as the coffee corner. We will look for ways to keep these forums ad free.

We are also in the process of introducing smaller size ads similar to the SCN banners you see in other areas of the site (234X60 pixels vs. the 300X250 pixels currently used).

We are looking into the broken link reported by Priya.

Thanks again for the feedback.

Regards,

Amir.

[Former Member]

Thanks for the infos Amir.

If the size is acceptable then from my side it can stay in any forum, but it is an overkill to have it in each thread as well (regardless of the forum overview).

People will see it once only when entering the forum and without distorting the layout of the page and what they can see of it. That should be enough IMO.

Cheers,

Julius

[ThomasZloch]

It's too large and misplaced, please do the needless.

Thomas

[Former Member]

Agreed.

Rob

[JPReyes]

Also agree... there must be a better place to put the Ad or maybe resize it

Regards

Juan

[Former Member]

I completely agree, "Two annual subscriptions for one low price of $2150" is not what I want to see while reading a thread. Moreover I got a 'HTTP Error 403 - Forbidden' error when I click the link.

Regards,

Priya.

[OttoGold]

Full support, I don´t like the advert as well. Otto

[Jelena]

I couldn't agree more. It's very annoying and a waste of space.