LQ Suggestions & FeedbackDo you have a suggestion for this site or an idea that will make the site better? This forum is for you.
PLEASE READ THIS FORUM - Information and status updates will also be posted here.
Notices
Welcome to LinuxQuestions.org, a friendly and active Linux Community.
You are currently viewing LQ as a guest. By joining our community you will have the ability to post topics, receive our newsletter, use the advanced search, subscribe to threads and access many other special features. Registration is quick, simple and absolutely free. Join our community today!
Note that registered members see fewer ads, and ContentLink is completely disabled once you log in.
If you have any problems with the registration process or your account login, please contact us. If you need to reset your password, click here.
Having a problem logging in? Please visit this page to clear all LQ-related cookies.
Get a virtual cloud desktop with the Linux distro that you want in less than five minutes with Shells! With over 10 pre-installed distros to choose from, the worry-free installation life is here! Whether you are a digital nomad or just looking for flexibility, Shells can put your Linux machine on the device that you want to use.
Exclusive for LQ members, get up to 45% off per month. Click here for more info.
Distribution: Vector Linux 5.1 Std., Vector Linux 5.8 Std., Win2k, XP, OS X (10.4 & 10.5)
Posts: 344
Rep:
Flash ad on home page
Dear Jeremy,
Please review the flash ads that are now playing on the home page. I just viewed a flash banner that had a penguin with a green head band firing a rocket at something.
Green head bands and rocket launchers are iconic images of both Hamas and Hizbullah.
Perhaps this is a visual pun on the Open source warfare metaphor but associating the Linux mascot with Hamas and Hizbullah "colors" is not something that I would recommend.
Distribution: Debian, Red Hat, Slackware, Fedora, Ubuntu
Posts: 13,597
Rep:
Thanks for the feedback. To be fair, the company in question has light green as its color and I think the context of the ad is pretty clear. You may want to contact them directly if you think it's an issue.
Distribution: Debian, Red Hat, Slackware, Fedora, Ubuntu
Posts: 13,597
Rep:
Judging by the description, it was probably an Untangle ad. At least 3 Untangle employees actually participate here at LQ, so it's very possible they'll see this thread. To be honest, I have seen the ad many times (both on LQ and elsewhere) and did not associated the same thing you did when I saw it.
Green peace members wear green bandanas, but they are not Hamas or Hizbullah. AFAIK, LQ does not support none of the conflicting sides so it's not an issue. Would an ad about America's Army be correct then? I could also object.
Last edited by Alien_Hominid; 01-12-2008 at 05:15 PM.
Dude - what's up with the ads. I have nothing against generating some revenue but man - what's it going to take to beg you to get rid of Flash content?
Yes, I know it's easy enough to turn off in Firefox, but damn man - I'm watching the LAMEST ever Solaris ad I've ever seen in my life.
EDIT: It's not so much the ad itself, but the fact that it spams three different places on the page, and slows any non-plugin enabled Firefox browser to a screeching halt with it's load times. BLEH! /cry
'It's Open Source, it's free'
'It runs on all three'
'It's got something for you and me'
'Come to us and see'
Are you frikkin' kidding me man?
Do I have to donate to help keep you guys in business or something? Please don't let stuff like this go under the radar. Your forum is a fantastic tool - would hate to see it go to waste with junk like this.
Other than that, keep up the good work. Great and fun site.
Last edited by b1f30; 02-25-2008 at 02:50 PM.
Reason: Edited because I didn't get the stupid jingle right.
Distribution: Debian, Red Hat, Slackware, Fedora, Ubuntu
Posts: 13,597
Rep:
We are certainly sensitive to what ads we run, but the ad in question here is highly relevant to the LQ audience. In addition to having one of the most stringent ad policies, we generally run significantly less ads than most other sites of similar size. We even give you a way to completely disable ads for the entire site (http://www.linuxquestions.org/linux/member.html).
b1f30,
It appears that for $35/yr. you can turn them off, as well as ALL the rest of the LQ ads.
jeremy,
If I do manage to find the $35 in my Social Security retirement budget, can I disable only the flash ads? They are the only ones that have bothered me so far. I agree that the usual LQ ad is nicely targeted, & therefore useful to the membership.
I have, in another thread, accused flash ads of making LQ "look just as unprofessional & trashy as avatars would". Because I referred to the bunch of Splunk ads that were bothering me, my comment seemed disingenuous. Because the thread was about avatars, I did not pursue the issue.
In fact, my objection was not to Splunk flash ads, but to Splunk flash ads, indeed to ALL flash ads. I find their motion distracting, & the distraction unprofessional. This may be a brain defect, an undiagnosed very mild epilepsy, but I can't concentrate on a page where I can see the motion of a flash ad -- the distraction makes it unusable.
I have solved my personal problem by disabling flash. I accept that that means I can't use YouTube. So far, LQ is way more important than YouTube, so that isn't a great loss. If I ever change my mind, I'll simply track down all LQ flash ad sources, or even all LQ ad sources, & block them at my perimeter firewall. dnsmasq will make that very easy. I hope it doesn't come that because I want to see the static ads & support LQ by viewing them.
LinuxQuestions.org is looking for people interested in writing
Editorials, Articles, Reviews, and more. If you'd like to contribute
content, let us know.