Empty box at the bottom

[ivinsfan]

The reason the box is empty is because we have so many people using ad blockers that's it's undermining the ability to offer services for free. We basically moved the ad from the footer of the page (which would not have seen before if you are using an ad blocker) into the box in the footer.

The box in the footer is empty because the ad blocker is removing the ad. All you have to do is click the X and it will go away for 24 hours. Then you can view as many pages as you want before it comes back in 24 hours.

We are looking into a way to disable this thing for members who actively post. For example, made 20 posts in the last month it would get disabled. We are working on this solution so it might be a little while before we can roll it out.

And that's a good reason..we have to remember that nothing is free and yes advertisers aren't going to pay money when people block their ads..it's just the way of the world. Thanks for the once in 24 hour tip that was helpful...a lot of anti-virus programs seems to run adblockers as a default option.
The problem is sometimes it seems like the pop-ups are endless, not here but on other sites.

 

[CardsFan]

Based on the comments from the admins, I have turned off adblock for this site. I find it the most useful forum I frequent. If watching a few ads pays the bills, then I can handle that.

 

[Peter]

Has any consideration been given to a subscription that eliminated the ads? I would see that just as an option; if someone is prepared to put up with the ads, then they wouldn't have to pay. And of course there will still be freeloaders (like me). But, I would be happy to pay a few $ per month to support the site.

 

[mpeirce]

But, I would be happy to pay a few $ per month to support the site.

Seriously a tip jar type thing with a reminder ever so often wouldn't be bad.

Another low friction way to generate a little money for a site is an Amazon affiliate link which allows folks to buy amazon items through it while generating a small kickback to the site.

 

[REWahoo]

I'm sure Andy R appreciates all these suggestions but since he owns 50 or so of these sites through his company Social Knowledge, I'm betting he knows far more than we do about how to make a buck running a forum.

 

[The Cosmic Avenger]

Based on the comments from the admins, I have turned off adblock for this site. I find it the most useful forum I frequent. If watching a few ads pays the bills, then I can handle that.

Has any consideration been given to a subscription that eliminated the ads? I would see that just as an option; if someone is prepared to put up with the ads, then they wouldn't have to pay. And of course there will still be freeloaders (like me). But, I would be happy to pay a few $ per month to support the site.

I'd much rather donate $1 a month (or more) to not be served ads. As I said, I had the ad blocker turned off, because the footer or inter-post ads aren't that intrusive, but pop-over, pop-up, and animated ads always get blocked, they're like nails on a blackboard for me.

 

[zedd]

Don't change a thing. As a guy I spend a lot of time in my empty box.

 

[tb001]

I’ve got it too. On safari on an iPhone. It takes up a huge chunk of real estate on the phone and displays so that you have to scroll far to the right to dismiss it. Really annoying.

Eta, the only reason I installed an ad blocker was because this particular site kept displaying an add that tried to take over my computer/phone. I’m happy to uninstall if we can ensure that ad doesn’t come back. I haven’t experienced it on any other forums.

 

[ownyourfuture]

The box in the footer is empty because the ad blocker is removing the ad. All you have to do is click the X and it will go away for 24 hours. Then you can view as many pages as you want before it comes back in 24 hours.

.

I can certainly live with that.

 

[mountainsoft]

I assumed it was a new kind of ad that was being only partially blocked by my ad blocker, but I hadn't yet gotten curious enough to turn off the blocker and see. Are you guys using ad blockers?

I use Adblocker Ultimate with Firefox on Windows 7. I saw the blank box too until I right clicked the box and chose to block that element. Haven't seen it since.

 

[Dtail]

I'm seeing the same thing at times on Chrome.

+1

 

[target2019]

Brave browser had a problem automatically finding this element and blocking.
If you encounter this problem enter "div#footfixed" without the quotes into the block element dialog.
That worked for me.

 

[Winemaker]

+1

Deleted.

 

[target2019]

Brave browser had a problem automatically finding this element and blocking.
If you encounter this problem enter "div#footfixed" without the quotes into the block element dialog.
That worked for me.

In Chrome, AdBlock Plus finds and blocks this element as "early-retirement.org###footfixed"

 

[DatumPoint5]

The reason the box is empty is because we have so many people using ad blockers that's it's undermining the ability to offer services for free.

Just an fyi to all the other members here. I do not have my ad blocker turned on for Early-Retirment.org. The experience is very, very acceptable as far as speed and responsiveness is concerned.

I use the ad blockers on my PC whenever I am traveling over other websites on the internet, and that improves my experience greatly. But, when I find a "gem" such as ER.org, I happily let the ads "roam free" and, occasionally, I will even click on an ad from within this website if it is something I was recently looking for on Google anyway.

I am sure my efforts are not making anyone wealthy within ER.org, but, I think, "every little click" counts as far as keeping this forum open and available for future FIRE hopefuls!

 

[ncbill]

Turned off my ad blocker for this site as well.

My only request would be for ads on the side, not popup on the bottom that blocks text of the posts.

 

[GalaxyBoy]

In Safari on Mac OSX with no ad blocker, there is simply an ad at the bottom that I can easily close; no slowdown in performance. Small price to pay if it covers costs of the site, IMHO.

 

[tb001]

I would hope, given the traffic here, ad revenue is doing more than just covering the costs of the site. Which is great—a win win for all of us.

But I’ll say again, the ONLY reason I have an ad blocker turned on is because this site, and only this site, regularly had an ad that tried to hijack my browser on the phone. I know many others had this issue as well and though it was reported several times, it continued to be an issue and makes the forum virtually unuseable from a phone.

I’m more than happy to turn it off if this type of ad can be easily removed when reported. Not sure how doable that is.

 

[Cobra9777]

I use Chrome with Adblock Plus. I've seen this empty pop-up box a few times over the last few days. Very weird and confusing. Haven't seen it recently. Maybe ABP learned how to block it entirely.

 

[ivinsfan]

I would hope, given the traffic here, ad revenue is doing more than just covering the costs of the site. Which is great—a win win for all of us.

But I’ll say again, the ONLY reason I have an ad blocker turned on is because this site, and only this site, regularly had an ad that tried to hijack my browser on the phone. I know many others had this issue as well and though it was reported several times, it continued to be an issue and makes the forum virtually unuseable from a phone.

I’m more than happy to turn it off if this type of ad can be easily removed when reported. Not sure how doable that is.

Right and this just reminded me that the hi-jack ad happens every once in awhile on my Kindle Fire....I usually stay off the site for awhile on the KF and return a week or two later then it seems good.

 

[audreyh1]

Yes, I'm seeing this on both Safari on my Mac, and on my iPad. My iPad is running an adblocker, but I still see the box. My Mac has no adblocker, but it looks the same as my iPad. This is very annoying.

I'm also one that only has an adblocker on my iPad because of this site. The winner popups that simply won't go away was the reason I finally resorted to using an adblocker on my iPad.

 

[audreyh1]

I assumed it was a new kind of ad that was being only partially blocked by my ad blocker, but I hadn't yet gotten curious enough to turn off the blocker and see. Are you guys using ad blockers?

I see it on my Mac (Safari) with no adblocker, and on my iPad with an adblocker. Looks the same.

 

[audreyh1]

The reason the box is empty is because we have so many people using ad blockers that's it's undermining the ability to offer services for free. We basically moved the ad from the footer of the page (which would not have seen before if you are using an ad blocker) into the box in the footer.

The box in the footer is empty because the ad blocker is removing the ad. All you have to do is click the X and it will go away for 24 hours. Then you can view as many pages as you want before it comes back in 24 hours.

We are looking into a way to disable this thing for members who actively post. For example, made 20 posts in the last month it would get disabled. We are working on this solution so it might be a little while before we can roll it out.

But I'm not seeing the ad on my Mac in Safari (just a blank box) even though I am not running any ad blocker there.

 

[tb001]

But I'm not seeing the ad on my Mac in Safari (just a blank box) even though I am not running any ad blocker there.

Now that I think about it, pretty sure on my Mac it’s showing up as a blank box too. No ad blockers on the computer either.

 

[ExFlyBoy5]

Yes, of course, we all understand that ads pay the bills.

But pop-up ads? In 2019? Seriously?

You can always request a refund.


I don't find it annoying at all. It takes a whopping .03 seconds to move my mouse 2 inches to X it out. It's still much better than some of the sites that load up a page with 14 ads.