This sucks.

NOTE THAT THE PRODUCT LISTED BELOW WILL CAUSE YOUR HAIR TO FALL OUT, PUKE ON YOUR PIZZA, AND GIVE YOU HERPES. UNDER NO CIRCUMSTANCES SHOULD YOU USE IT.

It is certainly obnoxious.

Thanks for my afternoon laugh!

Actually, I see no ads in this thread. I thought they usually began to appear after a thread attained a certain length. They I noticed they colonized only the first three posts on the page.

P.S. the advertisement that actually appears below your post is very much sanctioned by Frank, and it is listed as an advertisement. Also it's not actually part of your post. It's separated by clear demarcations. The ones that are annoying me are the ones that are embedded within your actual post.

I think they're GONE!

(Ooops, they're not gone. I looked around a little, and there they are....but maybe they're not happening newly.)

Nope, they are most certainly not gone.

Look at my "back to lessons" thread. I eliminated the ad by editing my post. BruceB eliminated the ad by editing his post. All that we succeeded in doing was to push the ads to the three following posts. If YOU don't see the ads then you have sufficient software blocks to prevent them from appearing on your screen. But they are most assuredly still there.

I'm sure the ads help support the costs of maintaining the site and gives those looking for something pertaining to music sources which they might otherwise not find. It is no problem, for me, to skip them and concentrate on the posts, or, if one catches my attention and interest then I can investigate.

That the ads help pay the bills for the forums seems to be a reasonable assumption.

Ralph

Not sure about how, but it could be that they are populating the posts after the PW site is "cycled" by Google? They would not appear in new threads until this behind-the-scenes "service" is completed? Just guessing, of course. It's always fun to speculate.

...but Frank says he had no knowledge of them, which would mean the site didn't want them -- and I believe him.

Frank has said in the Piano Forum that the ads are rogue. The techs are trying to figure out what's going on.

Indeed. Frank has explicitly said that they are not his doing.

Varcon,

It may not be a problem for you, but for me it is. If this were Frank's explicit policy, I would slap the dust off of my sandals and leave. Putting advertisements directly into my posts would be a breach of ethics, in my view. Frank owns the bandwidth, but if a site attempts to claim ownership of the post itself, and does so in a way that to me is directly misleading, I would not give that site the time of day henceforth.

Right. I was just speculating on the mechanism that was causing them to appear. Just because Frank didn't order toast doesn't mean the waitress won't bring him toast by mistake.

And Google is a very creepy waitress...

When all is said and done, I think this will be known as the metaphor and aphorism thread.

Indeed!

And you forgot, "Google is a very creepy waitress."

Google is a very creepy waitress who has sourced your toast that you never asked for, from the trash bin behind the chemical companys leaking toxic waste pipe.

ewwwwwwww.

I apologize!! I thought they were the ads between the posts. I just saw one that was inside the post so now I understand and I see Mr. Baxter has posted his comments on them and will work to get the glitch fixed.

I can see that the ads would be a problem.

Ralph

sigh. This is why more people need to just get an ad blocker for their browser. I don't see any advertisements on the web at all, anywhere.

I just installed one on my browser. My erstwhile offended retinas are now rejoicing.

But the problem is more than what YOU see. I don't want J.Random Person out there on the web seeing my posts with ads embedded in them. The placement of those ads often looks strongly like an implied endorsement.

I agree totally. But I am content that the PTB are looking into why this is happening and will hopefully get rid of it, and in the meantime I can at least check the forum from time to time without searing the back of my eyeballs with cultural sewage. I do hope fervently that the sewage will stop spilling completely, but in the meantime, it's nice not to smell it, even if it's just a patch on the problem.

If only ad blocking on an iPad wasnt a complicated matter

1) Frank is working on it, so let's give him time. I believe that he runs this site in good faith, this breach is nothing he would sanction.

2) If it wasn't for this problem we would have never had all these wacky metaphors flying fast and furious, so if for nothing else, I'm thankful for this problem for that reason alone!

me2, sort of

As they say, the mud on your shoe today may be the diamond in your rough in the next fortnight.

Mark,
I found it rather humorous earlier today to see the ad for Lang Lang included in one of your posts.

....but seriously folks.....why does Lang Lang needs ads anyway -- especially on a site where most people think he stinks....

It's a great mystery of universe.

I haven't seen an ad in a post.

I didn't either until I went looking for them (this afternoon). Dunno if they're still there....

As far as I can tell - THEY'RE GONE!!!! YEA!

Cathy

All Hail The Frank.

The ads help with the site maintenance costs and so forth. They're there for a reason. We can't complain much especially if we get to use this site for free.

Please read. The ads in question were part of a hacking job that penetrated the PW website. They were not the approved sidebar ads that contribute to the revenue the site generates.