Do NOT buy from the Free Trial ads at top of forum

[fishinahat]

Ok - this is posted in the proboards news section - and may be useful for everyone:

Problem Ads posted 6/1/10

Dear ProBoards members:

Due to an increase in problems from some ad networks, we have disabled every ad network except for Google for the time being. This should alleviate any problems you were having with your forums related to the ads.

Once we feel that the situation is sorted out we will re-enable the other networks.

Thank you for using ProBoards.

posted by Patrick Clinger at 11:32 AM


I am not sure if everyone can access the link - but here it is:

blog.proboards.com/


And here is the message before the one above - explaining the problems and importantly - how to report rogue ads.


Posted 6th December.


Ad Quality - Reporting Tool

ProBoards is committed to providing the highest quality service with the least intrusive advertising of any free forum host. We know that you don't like ads that play audio, cause popup windows, or expand across the page without you taking any action -- and we don't like them or allow them.

Recently we have had a couple issues with advertisements being displayed on forums that violate our rules. In order to effectively stop these types of ads, we have added a new tool for you to report inappropriate ads on your forum.

If while browsing your forum you see an advertisement that violates our rules, you can report it by pressing CTRL + ALT + R on your keyboard. This will bring up a "Report Advertisement Problem" page where you can submit your complaint directly to ProBoards for us to investigate. It will send us key information about the ad so that we can effectively identify it and block it.

With your help, we can make ProBoards a better place for everyone. Thank you for using ProBoards!

posted by Patrick Clinger at 11:28 AM | 5 Comments

[magicma]

Thank you Fish for explaining all that, much better than I could've done.
I wonder if they will clean up their act.
The problems with our very experienced friend was horrendous. MM

[Chrissie]

Thanks for posting that Migsie

[foxy9212]

The PB Notice doesn't really have anything to do with the type of advertisements that concern we who've been 'had' by them. I did read somewhere that Google, unlike some other sites, are continuing to accept adverts from these 'ambiguous' companies (all under the same management) so please don't be tempted to drop your guard. Free Trials are just that, the products have to be paid for. Just by ordering one gives permission for all affiliate companies to charge you for goodness knows what, whenever they wish and cancelling is a nightmare.

I've been very fortunate so far in that all my money has been credited back to my account by my bank's fraud department - hundreds, if not thousands, of others have not been so lucky.

I received no product in the first instance and that is why I've received my refund, had I received the product and failed to return it within the two week period from the time of ordering (impossible to do), I would have committed myself irrevocably.

Fox

[Chrissie]

Foxy is right everyone, I'm fairly certain that the friend from another Proboard that several of us know (she is also well known on the eBay forums), hasn't been able to get back the hundreds of pounds taken from her bank account after sending off for the free trial from the tooth whitening ad

[foxy9212]

If you enjoy horror tales, THIS is a pretty cool place to be.

Fox >

[Chrissie]

Very interesting that a member of the company replied 5 days ago

[foxy9212]

The 'company' use automated reply wotsits to post rubbish in every complaints thread. Wonderful of them but completely useless.

Fox

[Chrissie]

Ah, I did wonder if it was some sort of bot rather than a real person.

[Scylla]

I saw the "free" teeth whitener here last night but it faded into one of the OK ones, it seemed as though the baddies were worming their way in.

I wonder how such ads fit with Google's "ethos"?

scylla

[Chrissie]

Scylla, I also saw the teeth ad a few minutes ago. Unlike in the past, they onl seem to stay there for a few seconds. I wonder if Proboards are having a similar battle with taking them down as eBay do with scammers?

As for Googles ethos, that's a difficult one, their was some talk that they where going to ban all e-cig websites in their search facility but same as eBay that would make them such hypocrites !

[foxy9212]

Proboards aren't trying to get rid of the "Teeth" adverts - those are perfectly legal sadly. The reason the company/companies involved are doing so well is that customers don't read the Terms & Conditions and, therefore, have no idea what they're letting themselves in for. Misleading, yes but illegal arguably not .... yet!

Proboards don't permit animated or audio advertisements on their forums as they slow down loading and are intrusive.

The dodgy adverts presently causing problems are, apparently, hiding malware/spyware/trojans and they are the type PB are attempting to have removed.

[Chrissie]

Proboards have disabled the banner ads again

[foxy9212]

Barmy isn't it? You'd think Google could sort the problem out quickly - PB is a pretty good customer and not one to irritate.

I've not encountered the audio/flash ads/malware yet so I've been one of the lucky ones it would seem.

Fox

[Chrissie]

Fox, I'm very surprised that Google hasn't been able to sort it out yet. Same here, I've not encountered the audio/flash ads/malware yet.