Hi mods

Unless my browser is palying tricks, I see that the right side of the forum pages have been occupied by adverts. This has reduced the width of the threads making reading a little problematic. I daresay, it's merely a question of time before we get used to this. Any chances of changing it the right side though? like placing it elsewhere?

I spent the autumn talking to teens using Facebook and al of them siad they dont even look at the adverts bar on FB for they 'know' that has the ads :-) while that will happen with us too, right now it hits the eye while reading...

It's shrunk a lot (but vertically too??) and I've been using a widescreen today. I doubt I'll like it on a 14 inch laptop screen.

This is a commercial site so we can't complain.

I've got them on both sides--very annoying. And by the way, the ones on my facebook always say things like: "More than 5k debt?", or "Need debt consolidation?" HOW DO THEY KNOW??? Incidentally, the one to my right here says "Date Girls in Sheffield"--not on the money quite so much...(excuse the pun).

I think I am convinced by now that FB ads are specifically 'suited' for the contents on the person's profile space. They match ads with content on your profile and/or applications and/or exchanges with others.

I have, in the course of interviewing 60 children in 7 London schools for my fieldwork being coming across too many similarities between person's FB content and the ads they see.

Some are random, many are not.

Creepy and weird, I think.

As for postgradforum, I have a netbook and am finding the new geography impossible to tackle. If the advertisers think this will 'aid' their cause in any way, it's wrong. For much of my irritation is spilling over to the content of the ad itself now.

Latest right hand bar advert on PGF:

Find Mature Woman
Meet singles in your area - browse our huge database of UK members!


Why does this bother me? dunno. PGF is as open like the student union cafeteria so ideally anything goes. I know. But still...

Hi Bug

Maybe it bothers you because it sounds like an ad for cheap sex services? Or a dodgy late night phone sex ad? And also because it's unlooked for (I was going to say unsolicited!) and unwanted?

If this was up in a uni's caff, it would be easy to ignore, we'd walk past and forget about it. But it's in our space, at home or at work, in an environment where we're trying to learn and support each other through our studies.

And if it was in a uni caff, hopefully some women's studies students would have written some choice graffiti on it!

I get different ads, just boring ads for Australian unis, for which I'm thankful compared to your ads! I hope your next ad doesn't include large breasted women trying to tantalise men...(sorry fellas!)

Yes, it's been annoying me since yesterday. I thought maybe the PGF programmers had fiddled with some screen setting or other and gone home for the weekend. It looks like the right-hand advert block should be a bit further over to the right, as you say, only a tiny bit for everything to fall perfectly back into its old place! It looks like the posts threads section ('our' bit! :p ) should be a little narrower, so it fits into the massive amount of white space I now see whenever I log on here...:-)

I've been noticing the 'meet mature men (or women) in your area' ads, now you've mentioned it. Seems to assume that all postgrads are mature, sad and single, as well as incapable of any human contact in 'real life' without the help of random, google sponsored, adverts. What a depressing stereotype that paints!! :-)

Google Ads is targeted advertising, so google thinks you're interested in dating. :$

Mine is adverising MBA's. Hehehe

Cleverclogs, it shows how accurate they are then! ;-)

If you use Mozilla Firefox you can download an add-on for free, called Ad-Block Plus which blocks virtually all adds on the internet. So when I visit this forum or any site on the internet, such as newspapers, I never see any of the annoying adds. It's worth giving it a try because pages load faster and the user experience (God, listen to me!) is much smoother.

Thanks Walminski, that's a brilliant tip - it's improved my user experience no end today!! (up) :-)

Bug, can I give him a star by proxy?

Alas Rubyw, you cannot, but I will! Sigh, cyber-archaeology is more out of user-control in the era of interactive media, than ever before...