New ad is horrible

[WYNot]

I realize I'm not a paid member and accept the ads as the price to make use of the resources here. This new ad though seems a bit excessive. It is really compressing the main area of the site and wasting a LOT of screen on white space. How long till this ad is gone?

----------------------------------

Edit to add... The link to page is:
http://www.dbcagproducts.com/backyard-chicken-health-pack/

It is DBC Ag Products Backyard Chicken Health Pack ad.

 

[crazyaboutchickens]

Every fullpage ad is horrible, but I suppose it's necessary. It shouldn't last more than 3 days, and they don't do it that often. I'm just thankful it isn't like that neon green one we had one time before. Press ctrl and the + button at the same time to magnify the page so you can't see the sides anymore, or scroll all the way down to the bottom of the page and use the mobile setting. It's kinda awkward at first, but it works.

 

[DuckLady]

There are various membership levels. Info is here
https://www.backyardchickens.com/a/byc-memberships-help-support-backyardchickens

You can purchase Golden Feather memberships in the BYC store here
http://www.coopedup.net/buy/

Or keep an eye out for various contests that have them as prizes.

 

[Nifty-Chicken]

Thanks for the feedback!

We work hard to provide a great service for FREE to literally millions of people around the world... doing so is not cheap. We're VERY thankful for our sponsors that are related to our nice (chickens) that support our community... we'll take chicken related sponsors over the alternatives as much as possible!

I do a LOT of web surfing and our ads tend to be way less intrusive and annoying than many other similarly sized websites that offer as many benefits as we offer.

As stated before, the current "site skin" ad will only be up for 3-4 days. If anybody finds the ads so bothersome that they can't use the site, please purchase a GFM, which for the price of a single movie, will give you 6 months of ad-free browsing and many other benefits: https://www.backyardchickens.com/a/byc-memberships-help-support-backyardchickens

 

[WYNot]

Just to clarify a little. I do understand the need for the full page ads. I don't mind the ads that are made to fit into the site. The problem is the way this one distorts and drastically shrinks the useable space of the site. Ads should fit into the existing format of a page not reformat the page to fit the ad.

And for the suggestion to zoom in to eliminate the white space... That does indeed eliminate the white space but I'm then stuck with really big letters crammed into tiny content space.

 

[Nifty-Chicken]

The layout / formatting / width of the site has not changed with the addition of this ad. Our site is built for a 1024 minimum screen size and dynamically resizes beyond that size, but up to about 1280, at which point it is then fixed width. This is the case with or without the "full-page ad". It may just look like it is differently sized because of the white vs. the blue background we usually have.

 

[WYNot]

Might be the browser then. Running Firefox 37.0.2 via the PortableApps platform running on a USB stick. I can see it start loading the page and all the content sections are as they normally are (pre-ad) then the two extra blocks for the ad load on the right and left and everything in the middle gets squished.

Loading IE from the computer isn't doing this. Of course it isn't displaying the ads either. :/

Below are a couple of screenshots showing the differences in widths. Both are at full screen size. Opened them both in a graphics program and the content section of the one with the ad is narrower.

 

[Gabo]

Someone might want to tell the DBC Ag Products folks that before they spend money on an advertising campaign they should make sure the "Order Today" links on their page work.

Only 2 out of 5 work and the two that work are the same page just re-branded (Dairy Health USA and PBS Animal Heath), 2 of them take you to "Page Not Found" and the other one just takes you to their front page.

If they feel like sending me a free Chicken Health Pack for pointing this out to them I'll be happy to provide them with my address

 

[suebee]

Might be the browser then. Running Firefox 37.0.2 via the PortableApps platform running on a USB stick. I can see it start loading the page and all the content sections are as they normally are (pre-ad) then the two extra blocks for the ad load on the right and left and everything in the middle gets squished.

Loading IE from the computer isn't doing this. Of course it isn't displaying the ads either. :/

Below are a couple of screenshots showing the differences in widths. Both are at full screen size. Opened them both in a graphics program and the content section of the one with the ad is narrower.

I notice you don't have adblock plus. Go to Firefox, tools, ad-ons, get add-ons, type in adblock plus and install if you can.

 

[jtn42248]

The purpose of advertising is to attract customers and sell a product. The current ad by Backyard Chicken Health Pack does not do that. When you go to a BYC page it "shrinks" the BYC page so that the ad actually surrounds the page. By the time you move your mouse to click on a BYC item it has changed the page and you end up clicking on the ad along the side of the browser window which forces you into their ad. That is not the way to attract customers and, because of this ad behavior, I would not purchase their product.

Use of the Internet is a cooperative effort between content providers, advertisers and the user. When any one of these are ignored or taken for granted to the point that they are forced to be exposed to content they have not chosen it is alienating and just plain bad business. The user should not have to make special effort to enjoy their time online like having to download and install clients to block advertisers. I know that this is something that can be done but I chose to just not patronize those advertisers.

I look forward to the time when this intrusive ad has run out and BYC can be the calm and helpful place it has always been.