UK Disability Resource of Disabled Needs

ians1 · New Member Joined: 20 Nov 2007 Posts: 16

Hi

I am always puzzled why people who start these things are always lured into the "free forum" thing.

Why put loads of advertising on a site for someone else's benefit?

The ads detract from a Forums focus, and are very often inappropriate in their nature. They also make it slow to read stuff.

Surely it would be better to get a proper domain name and get some inexpensive hosting and not have any ads you dont want?

The other problem you will find with these free boards is there is no way to backup your board and memberlist, so no easy migration to a proper site later.

They rarely run the latest software so are more vulnerable to attack from hackers wanting to hijack your board for advertising.

Having a proper domain name and decent hosting also conveys some professionalism and impresses the media more, it also gives you a more memorable email address.

Just some observations.

ian

Speeds · Posted: Tue Nov 20, 2007 7:59 am Post subject:

Firstly welcome to our forum.

Secondly as one who frequents several forums som e with ads and some not - I think this forum is great. For me the advertising is not obtrusive. In fact there have been several sites that I have now looked at that I never knew existed and searches may not have brought them up - in fact they haven't in the past. So far I have not seen a single ad which I would call inappropriate for the site. Most of them are aimed at the people we are talking about - our family, our kids and disability

Thirdly, yes I am sure the Forum owners could go to that expense but at the end of the day there are other methods of backing up the addresses of "true" members and also there is no need to go the whole hog and get a domain name etc. I know it is not extortionate - we have our own domain name.

I think you raise very valid points but unless Pixie et al feel different - I love this forum, the way it looks and what it offers - a place to talk to like minded people at no cost.
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pixie · Site Admin Joined: 16 Jun 2007 Posts: 1955

Welcome from me too Ian. We do bump into each other on other forums so I recognise your user ID.

I must admit I am not a great lover of the large ad at the top but I can live with it.

The forum is free, yes and that suits me for now. Maybe in the future things will change but for now it is fine.

I don't feel the ads detract as they all seem to be appropriate to the forum theme. Like Speeds I haven't seen one that has been inappropriate as yet.

I would like to say that I am very impressed with the support that the myff offer including backup on a daily offsite basis and after a week sent to another repository. Backups are also retained for a considerable length of time.

They also offer a brilliant support forum as well as a How To Do It Forum and a art forum for graphics etc.

I don't feel a need to impress anyone to be honest. Again this may change in the future and the support service offers all I could need with transfering the forum to a domain name if I wish to do that in the future.

I hope you enjoy the forum despite the ads.
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wendy · Sr. Member Joined: 19 Jun 2007 Posts: 107

I love this forum, and to be honest I had never even seen the ads.
Wendy

barbsy · Super Member Joined: 19 Jun 2007 Posts: 570

a very interesting first post ian.

i have found some of the ads most interesting and helpful and it has certainly not distracted me in anyway.

i have actually found a few very interesting sites due to the adverts.

pixie has a wonderful site here with amazing members, i havent noticed any other complaints about the ads.

looking forward to reading some more of your interesting posts.

have a nice day.

barbs

ians1 · New Member Joined: 20 Nov 2007 Posts: 16

You cant miss the ads, unless you have a software that blocks Google Adsense ads, things like games etc top and bottom.

To get a proper copy of your forum on here they say they charge a fee, there is no access to backup directly, and even if you did have a copy you will find it difficult to restore on hosting elsewhere as its a heavily customised version of phpbb.

We found years ago that free=no contract=no obligation and when they shut down or go out of business or tranfer to some new owner very often your site goes west with it.

Having been caught out once or twice this way we now only use paid for hosting as you then have a contract and some leverage in case of trouble.

Domain names only cost a few quid and hosting suitable for a small board is only about a £1 a month.

Just a few words from someone who has been there done that and has several old T shirts in the drawer!

ian

pixie · Site Admin Joined: 16 Jun 2007 Posts: 1955

Thanks for your post Ian.
Constructive crititism is always welcome and members posts and opinions are important to me.

The ads are obviously not a problem for the members as they are relevant to the forum.

Games ads are fine and often I have found new games for my son from looking at the ads.

Of course I would expect a fee to be charged to migrate the forum elsewhere, nobody does things for free these days.

I used to have my own business website and contact from customers from that website. It was a paid for site with additional hosting as well. It was always going down for whatever reason. The last 2 years it was free by way of compensation for the loss of business whenever the site went down. The business closed not long after due to lack of customers.

So I have also been there and lost a business in the process.

This however is a chat forum for carers who want to share their good times and bad. To share info and links etc.

I hope you will be able to see past the ads and become an active member as I know you have much knowledge to share with us all.
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ians1 · New Member Joined: 20 Nov 2007 Posts: 16

Hint: If you download Firefox http://www.mozilla-europe.org/en/products/firefox/

and then Ad Blocker Plus (a certified add-in for Firefox)

http://adblockplus.org/en/

and then subscribe it to the Easylist

http://easylist.adblockplus.org/

(all this is prompted for in the install)

Voila! No more Google Ads! ....ever

ian

barbsy · Super Member Joined: 19 Jun 2007 Posts: 570

ian, if nobody else is bothered about the ads and as already said find them useful, why are you worried about it.

barb

pixie · Site Admin Joined: 16 Jun 2007 Posts: 1955

Thanks Ian but I will be keeping the ads as it is a condition of myff that you have ads. That is how they can offer free forums as their revenue comes from the ads.

I could pay to have them removed but then it wouldn't be a free forum any more.

As Barbsy says nobody else seems bothered by the ads so they will stay.

I do hope they will not put you off from being an active member of this forum.
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