Family Historian User Group

Anyone getting fed-up with the constant flashing caused by ads on this site? (Three per page seems a bit over the top!)

Whilst ads pay for the site, for which I'm thankful, FreeBMD has got it completely wrong!

Whilst most sites reserve a discrete space/box for the advert to appear, FreeBMD seems to to it diferent.
When the advert changes, they collapse the box, then re-generate it for the next advert, which causes the text on the page to be continually moving around the page, as the boxes appear and disappear.

I'm sure this 'flashing' is not good for anyone with a tendency for epilepsy.
Anyone know how to contact them to complain?

I don't see the adverts on any website... Can't imagine using a browser without having a adblocker installed.

However, their contact form is at https://www.freeukgenealogy.org.uk/contact/

This is interesting. I have seem something similar mentioned on another site but I have not experienced this problem myself. I see a banner advert at the top and a smaller one at the bottom but if I scroll so that I can see all the search boxes, neither of those are visible on the screen.



When I first open the page there is also a smaller advert at the bottom but it has a little cross above it on the top right which allows me to close it and it doesn't re-appear.

I'm using Chrome on a Windows 10 laptop. Could it be to do with the browser settings?

I am using FreeBMD in Firefox on Windows 10 and do NOT get any adverts. Certainly nothing flashing.
On the home page, there are a few sponsor's logos along the bottom but no adverts.
My screen is exactly like Gardengirl's.
The web address is https://www.freebmd.org.uk/cgi/search.pl

It would seem you all use ad blockers, so don’t get the adverts.
It is not the adverts per se, that I’m complaining about, but the way the are updated, causing the text to jump up and down.
I sent an e-mail to support@freebmd.org.uk, if that’s the correct address. Hopefully they’ll sort out the coding on the page.
In the meantime, I’ll investigate getting an ad blocker for myself
Thanks for the comments

PS for those who get stable adverts, you may need to wait 10-20 seconds for them to refresh to see the problem.

Firefox AdBlocker add-on installed - did the trick

I use Ublock, which has a better reputation these days (less memory intensive than adblocker).

As much as I don't like intrusive adds, they do pay for the sites we visit.

I may be wrong, but I thought the major browsers had built in "partial" add blockers, but that still lets through a lot of ads from the supposed legitimate advertisers.

jimlad68 wrote: ↑

22 Oct 2020 19:37

As much as I don't like intrusive adds, they do pay for the sites we visit. ...

Yes, I'm torn, because of that aspect. I do run an Ad Blocker though, because, on balance, I find them more annoying than I'm prepared to agree to. That must be a lesson in how (not) to design adverts.

As an aside, the most annoying thing currently is "We care about your privacy which is why we've just slapped this great box across your screen to stop you doing anything until you click that you agree with this statement of the bl****g obvious". I tend not to see it on my laptop because I've got "I don't care about cookies" but it really disrupts my phone experience. Another imposition of legislators who think we need to be protected from ourselves, leading to a cure worse than the disease... Rant off

What Adrian said.

FreeBMD very happily accepts donations to keep the service running.

Take a look at https://www.freebmd.org.uk/donations.shtml for details.

For those who do not like seeing adverts, or maybe just some forms of advertising, perhaps making a financial donation could set a cookie which effectively says 'present site without ads'?

That would seem to be a way of keeping everybody happy.

Putting the Ads ‘flashing’ aside, what I find even more sinister is the amount of information these sites have gathered about us, to personally tailor the ads, after tracking our every move on the internet!

Yes, it's the tracking aspects that worry me. I disable my Ad blocker on some sites which I know depend on ads and for which I can't donate, and donate to others if they're run by amateurs/charities and I value what they're doing.

It is worth looking at the Privacy Badger plugin for Firefox if you use it.

Also the Facebook container plugin is useful if you use Firefox and Facebook.

There maybe similar plugins for other browsers.

I have the facebook container for firefox, but will take look at the privay badger, thanks Colin

I've been using Privacy Badger for a while, but the latest version of Firefox (82.0) seems to be blocking more or less the same items anyway, so I'm wondering how necessary PB is now. (I have Firefox's Enhanced Tracking Protection set to Strict.)

UPDATE
Freebmd support has acknowleged the problem, and are following it up with their advert suppliers

I use Adblock Plus on Chrome, Firefox and Edge. And the Ghostery extension on Chrome.