[Zombie]

I'm not sure who else might be having this problem or what the administrators can do about it, but wverytime I try to connect to the site I get a box pop up. It says something lame like: You have won a prize but you only have an hour to claim (or some s**t like that). It's annoying, but the worst part is every other time I try to close it, it crashes my browser. I'm constantly getting thrown off the net.

[seaslave1]

I get that too, but it doesn't crash my comp like it does yours. Thinkin about it though, I haven't had it for a while.

I think its a link, that is authorised on the site. Like the one at the top of the page now, for forum hosting.

Ivan will probably let you know whats going on.

The only problem with me is that I find it very distracting when I'm trying to read my posts.

I have also been getting spam emails asking me if I want drugs. Viagra, vallium etc. I just send them to AOL and let them deal with it. Got one last week asking me if I'd like a some grugs to give me a bigger todger. Its even been sent to my youngest. Luckily I intercepted it before he got to it.

Decided, if I dont know who its from I just delete it.

Pity we cant do that with the flashing links.

[Zombie]

Yeah - I see what you're saying. I can handle most spam - I just delete it without reading it, but this is different. It disconnected me again just now when I tried to get onto this site. The bar at the bottom of the window says downloading from (then there's an IP number) - then it freezes. If I click the mouse my browser dies. It seems to go away once I reconnect tho'.

[ivanmcp]

Here it is, the 'official' response.

This site is serving ads as part of the online advertising network. As such, I have full control over which adverts get displayed, in what format etc. Every month, new campaigns start, and I have to sift through all of them to spot the offenders, like strong flashing images and colours. Once I do that, next month approaches, therefore new campaigns start, and I have to perform the whole thing again. Consequently, number of those get through.

Why do we feature adverts on this site? Well, the answer is simple. Money. I make bucket loads of $$$ and £££ running this site. Nice houses, cars and fancy holidays. Life is sweet.

Only kidding. I wish I wasn't. I have run this site since 1996, as I wanted to learn more about the Internet. So I married my interest in surfing with www, and SurfNewquay site was born. Since then, I have spent literally thousands on pounds on this. Everywhere you look, there are costs to be paid. From domain name fees, licence for the forum software, gallery, server to host it on blah blah blah, the list goes on and on.

It all started on a free web space, with some of my holiday photos from Newquay. Than more visitors stopped by, and pages ground to a holt. I made a decision to move whole site to a proper host. But site grew and grew, so I finally had to move it to the dedicated server. And here we are. Site performance is good now, but more content needs to be added.

And this brings me to another issue, which I can not put a price on: my time. It takes long hours of work to maintain this relatively small site. That is why I do not read forum all that often. I have no time. Oh, and I just deleted 10,000 pure spam emails from my thrash bin. I do not need any further enlargement, thank you very much. But I would love to find a way not to have to go through around 100 emails a day, with only few being site-related. I dread going on my 31 days holiday in December. When I return in January, I'll have around 3,000 emails waiting to be looked through. Cool!

Being full time student of computer science, and also in full time employment (everyone told me it could not be done), time is precious commodity for me. Why do I still do it? Well, certainly not for money, like I had joked earlier on. It is because I like it, I love Internet, and people that use it. Running a web site like this is no hoper money wise. If I did not have my job, this site would be a history.

I have placed adverts on this site in order to try and get some financial assistance, since the opportunity to do so presented itself. Everyone on the Internet is used to get what they want for free, me included. If I can't get it for free, I go somewhere else. Simple as that. By serving adverts, every time somebody comes to this site, they say to it "'Ere, we donated you a tiny, tiny, tiny amount, without any expense to ourselves". This way I receive a gift from you, without you even knowing it. Maximum I received so far covered 50% of dedicated server monthly cost. This only happens during peak summer months, and figure nowadays is more like 20%.

My aim would be to reach figure of 100%, so I could loose my job, and site would be able to carry on independently. By I do not want to litter this site with adverts either. At the moment, every page has only one advert, no more than that. Also, there is only one pop-under advert per user, per 24 hour period. So in 24 hours, you only get one. I could opt for much more advert formats, but the truth is that I hate adverts myself, and would also drive visitors away.

I do not know why you - Zombie, have problem with pop-under window. But there is a solution that I use and would advise everybody to try it, if not a user already. Google toolbar for IE is brilliant, as it allows you to block any pop-up adverts, and choose sites where you want to allow them.

I also use Opera browser most of the time, which has built in pop-up blocker as well.

I know people from A1Surf (weird scientist guy), and Gavin from BeachWizard, who started in this game long time ago, and who all put a lot of work for no financial return, but satisfaction. I am not in competition with any other site, and never even go to any other surf sites. I don’t even know what A1Surf looks like nowadays, since they lost their early spirit, and put lots of claims on their site like 'first', 'the one and only' etc.

I can not wait to finish my university course, so I can get on that winding little road, and cover more beaches in more counties. Did you know that every picture on every beach guide and surf shops has been taken by small disposable camera for £4.99? Oh yes, and even that has earned some praise from 'Guardian Online', who mentioned 'some nice photography', without realising what those were taken on.

I have gone all deep on this subject, but I hope that you will understand why those adverts are a necessary evil.

[Sad?Old Hippie]

Ivan....U r doin an A1 job mate, cant prause this site enuff

Quite horrified 2 find out t costs 2 u n wid have no problem wiv more adverts, etc or woteva it takes 4 u 2 reduce expenditure

Perhaps u could introduce sum kind of subscription charge....I wouldnt object, lord knos I use it enuff.....problem is wud probably put a lot of people off joinin tho

As said......this is t number 1 site on the WWW....keep up t gud work, blieve me it is appreciated

[seaslave1]

Here, here. And I do like to chip in with the odd newsflash now and again. Hope you dont mind me sendin you them. Thought it might help reduce your own search. Will be looking for some more shortly, so expect a few more emails to sort through.

Seaslave x

[Zombie]

I didn't mean any disrespect, I think this site is great and it's good that it's free to use. If it wasn't I may not be here. Thx for the suggestion though. I've now upgraded my browser and I blocked the pop-up. Now I can come and go without being cut off - hooray!

[ivanmcp]

Glad to hear that it is all working now as it should. Your pop-up blocker will not be needed on this site (see below), but will be soooo handy on many other sites out there.

I am now trying to get rid of all those annoying ads, and place something more relevant and from reputable advertisers.

This means removal of pop-up boxes, but will need to see how this new format performs.

[Alsone]

Hi all,



Only just found this thread but think I can offer some advice of interest to all:

I would check before installing the Google Toolbar. I believe (I may be wrong) that I have seen this listed as Spyware in the Spybot program. (For those of you who don't know, Spyware tracks you around the internet and then reports back to its creator where you visited and what you've been doing. Spybot is a free program that detects spyware on your computer and then remedies the problem. I believe the Google toolbar may be listed as spyware in Spybot. For those of you who want Spybot try a search and look on reputable freeware / shareware download sites and magazine cover discs (where i got my copy from)).

The best way to stop spam is to change your primary e-mail address to a random selection of letters and numbers both upper and lower case (like a password) and then not give this out to anyone - ideally should be at least 15 characters. Spammers use random e-mail name generators so doing this helps prevent your primary account being discovered. You may need to close and then re-open a new account to change your primary address as not all service providers will allow it to be changed. Don't worry about remembering it - once entered into your networking settings it will be remembered. Write it down on paper as a backup in case you ever need to re-install. Save a copy to Notepad or Word on Computer in case ever need to enter it on line for support etc (can then just cut and paste).

Now set up secondary addresses completely unrelated to the first and use these instead. You can use names here or anything you want - it doesn't matter. These can then become disposable. If you start to get too much spam from a particular address, simply delete the address and start a new one. The new address can be sent easily to everyone in your address book.

As for pop-ups, get a program such as Internet Security (Firewall, Antivirus, Anti-spam and Pop-up blocker all in one). Alternatively, many other programs now have pop-up blockers and the latest is Incredibar (www.incredibar.com). This is currently in beta phase but is free and is like Hotbar (which again I understand may be Spyware), Incredibar is skin-able and not dismilar to the Google toolbar with shortcuts to loads of useful search engines. I have checked and as of yet, it is not listed as Spyware in Spybot. I advise you to keep checking just in case. A pic of Incredibar is attached from my PC.

One final thing, consider using a different e-mail client. I use Incredimail which is free and gives me great animated e-mails and backgrounds. Whats more, if you decide to go premium and pay a $30 upgrade fee (approx) you can view your e-mails whilst they are still on the server and delete ones you don't want without ever downloading them to your PC. This saves time if your not on Broadband. PS latest build 1361 appears to have slight bug in bounce facility - patch should hopefully be available soon.

Alsone.

[Bristol_Surf]

Use Firefox (The ultimate Web Browser!)

No spyware, built in pop-up blocker, easy cleaning options for removing viewed pages and cookies etc.

Find out more at : http://www.mozilla.org/products/firefox/

Adverts are fine when used in moderation and can add alot to a sit ewith the services they provide, shame they can be mis-used though.