STICKY....OSCAR download apneaboard and ads..please read

[SuperSleeper]

Dog Slobber, thank you for the suggestions. I hope to have some of these issues solved soon, as I previously stated. I'm certain that we can implement workable solutions soon.

[SuperSleeper]

Okay, I found a solution a lot faster than I thought. I'm not sure how this is going to affect the ad revenue, but as Dog Slobber suggested, I've taken the top ads completely off of all of our Wiki pages. They are GONE. The only ones remaining are the ones that Google automatically places on that site, and currently those are near the bottom of each page. There may be some popup ads, but those are clearly not part of the Wiki, and those can easily be clicked off (hit "close" or click on the up or down arrow to move them off-screen or whatever).

Of note is that when I view the Wiki pages on my iPhone, the automatic ads appear at the top of the page, not the bottom, but it's very apparent they are ads, so no one would click on them thinking that they are part of the page. And, when people are looking at the OSCAR-related Wiki pages, they're usually on their PC, not a mobile device, since OSCAR only works on PCs, not mobile devices, and if they're on a PC, the ads all appear near the bottom of the page, not the top.

So, here's where we are at:

1. There are NO ads at all on the Official OSCAR Download Page, at https://www.SleepFiles.com/OSCAR

2. ALL links that originate from the OSCAR Download Page lead to Wiki articles that DO NOT have an ad at the top of the page. All ads on those pages are generally in the bottom portion of each page when using a PC.

This should (hopefully) prevent any of those deceptive ads from appearing on any of our Wiki pages (that includes ALL of our articles, not just the OSCAR-related ones). I'm hoping this will not significantly reduce the ad revenue from Google, as we depend upon that to pay for server and other costs.

Hope this helps.

[SuperSleeper]

Forgot to ask... so does this solve the problem, yes or no?

[lazarus]

does this solve the problem

Thank you, sir, for your responsiveness and for your diligence.

If zonker and Dog Slobber sign off on it, I will too.

I truly hope none of that unduly affects your revenue from ads.

-Jeff

[Dog Slobber]

Forgot to ask... so does this solve the problem, yes or no?

Doesn't solve, but it should help/reduce.

Thank you.

[Respirator99]

Thank you for removing the top advertisement. However, there is still a huge ad across the bottom of the page. When this is closed, yet another "start download" button appears in the left sidebar.

I understand that the ads are necessary to generate revenue, but they are particularly insidious being on the download instructions page. Is it possible to eliminate the ads on this page (only) without taking too much of a financial hit?

[SuperSleeper]

Is it possible to eliminate the ads on this page (only) without taking too much of a financial hit?

Wish I could. Unfortunately, those ads that slowly appear (or pop up) on the bottom of a page are the ones that are auto-placed by Google with their new auto-ad-placement program (or whatever they call it). They are site-wide and if I remove that option, it would remove those ads from all of our pages, (the forum and everywhere else) and that's a large part of our ad revenue. There is an option to exclude a page from auto-ads (see https://support.google.com/adsense/answer/9262311?hl=en)

However, because of the structure of our Wiki URLs, they are listed as "unsupported" by the auto-ads removal option. See the Adsense quote from that page, here:

Unsupported URLs
Make sure you enter a valid URL when you add a page exclusion. Auto ads doesn't support URLs that contain fragments (e.g., www.example.com/page#top) or parameters (e.g., www.example.com/page?q=target).

The structure of our wiki page URLs are like this:

Code: Select all

https://www.apneaboard.com/wiki/index.php?title=OSCAR_Help

As you can see, it's a link to an index.php file, not an html file, and the stuff (what Google calls a "fragment" or "parameter") after the question mark is likely what Google is burping on, when it's rejecting that page from their ad-exclusion.

I tried to put the OSCAR-related Wiki URLs into Google's ad-exclusion option, and it didn't work at all. So I can't simply eliminate ads on individual page basis while using MediaWiki, which is what we currently use for our server-side wiki software.

In the end, we got rid of ALL ads at the top of ALL the Wiki pages, which from what I've read here, is the major part of the problem that people were having. That ad at the bottom of the page really isn't going to be a major issue as far as I can see. It might be for a very, very small number of Internet newbies, but unfortunately, it can't be removed without removing it everywhere on Apnea Board.

So, for now, I think this is going to have to suffice. I would recommend keeping an eye out (here and Apnea Board) for folks who have a problem like what was described in this thread. I'd be willing to bet that removing the top ads from the Wiki will likely eliminate the vast majority of issues people were having, but time will tell. Thanks everyone for bringing this issue to my attention.

[zonker]

Thanks everyone for bringing this issue to my attention.

thank YOU for coming over to explain how things work from your end.

[lazarus]

Maybe a silly idea (certainly not my first) but can a line be added on all OSCAR-related pages saying something to the effect that "Anything below this sentence is an outside advertisement and is NOT a link for downloading OSCAR!"?

After all, direct honesty and truth are the only weapons we have to protect the vulnerable/gullible from misdirection and lies in ads.

[zonker]

Forgot to ask... so does this solve the problem, yes or no?

went over to the links, turned off my ad block and all seemed cromulent.

in all, i feel comfortable enough to send new folk that way.

thank you for the steps you've taken.

[chunkyfrog]

It probably bears repeating:
DON'T GIVE YOUR CARD # FOR FREE OSCAR
---Because it's effing FREE!

[SuperSleeper]

Thanks folks. Just as a quick update on changes that have been made - we put an additional statement on the Official OSCAR Download Page, immediately after the OSCAR description at the top of the page that reads, "OSCAR never asks for payment of any type-- It is free and always will be free."

In addition, in an effort to further reduce annoying ads, I've begun a test (started today, February 1, 2024) of removing ALL Google "auto-ads", which will leave only the inline ads that we had there prior to Google's switch to auto-ads. Although this should help, this action will not remove all "deceptive" ads that say stuff like "Download HERE" or "get your PDF manual here", etc.. It's virtually impossible to do that without spending every waking hour ferreting out the offending ads within Adsense and removing them, one by one.

Removing the auto-ads should help as far as removing most intrusive or annoying ads-- however, it is going to reduce our forum ad revenue, so I'm hoping that any shortfall can be made up with donations.

But it's my intention to run the test for the entire month of February if we can. But after the first week, I'll do a quick evaluation of the ad removal and it's effects.

But for now, the auto-ads are gone from both the main ApneaBoard.com website, the Apnea Board forums and the entire Apnea Board Wiki.

Again, thanks for pointing out some of the issues involving ads, folks. I've tried to do my best to address them, as much as is realistically possible.

[zonker]

Again, thanks for pointing out some of the issues involving ads, folks. I've tried to do my best to address them, as much as is realistically possible.

thank you for graciously taking these steps. while it's only been two folks effected so far, it's good to know that you've drastically cut down on any problems going forward!

[lazarus]

thanks for pointing out some of the issues involving ads, folks. I've tried to do my best to address them, as much as is realistically possible.

Much of life is a compromise.

Thank you for your professionalism in your efforts to help users of OSCAR, to protect potential users, and to facilitate the work of everyone involved.

[SuperSleeper]

Thanks for the kind thoughts, folks.

Just a one-week review & summary-- we've removed ALL the top ads on the Apnea Board Wiki, of course, so the primary cause of people clicking on a deceptive ad while thinking they were downloading OSCAR are GONE.

And, as i said before, we've included a warning statement at the top of the Official OSCAR Download Page stating that "OSCAR never asks for payment of any type-- It is free and always will be free."

In addition, we've COMPLETELY removed ALL Google auto-ads, which sometimes covered too much of the screen or were otherwise frustrating to work around. We now only have our original in-line ads. I've evaluated the diminished ad revenue, and it's substantial, but I'm hoping we can make up for the shortfall. The plan is to continue without the top ads or the auto-ads to make the website and forum more user-friendly on a permanent basis.

So, I apologize for any frustration those handful of ads has caused. After investigation, it really only affected a small number of people (that we know about), but now it shouldn't affect even most newbies.

I believe that this problem has been 99% solved, which is about the best that we can do.