What's Up With "RELATED LINKS" ??#$%??

[jeffreyb4me]

Dear "AF Assistant".....what's an 'AF Assisant' anyway and whom or how is he/she/it assisting us???? " Menu dei Motori "'s headliner post about sales on the Forum seems quite clear and while these NEW 'Related Links' might be 'no-cost' nothing is for free.

They take up space and to me, valuable time to scroll past to get to the reply window. Very annoying, especially now that I only a limited amount of time to spend on the Forum until the new house is finished.

Can't these "Links" be place elsewhere, condensed or eliminated altogether? They seem counterproductive to the perceived intent of this Forum, a free exchange of thought, questions and ideas concerning our BMW's and our experiences with them.

[Presley348]

Originally Posted by jeffreyb4me

Dear "AF Assistant".....what's an 'AF Assisant' anyway and whom or how is he/she/it assisting us???? " Menu dei Motori "'s headliner post about sales on the Forum seems quite clear and while these NEW 'Related Links' might be 'no-cost' nothing is for free.

They take up space and to me, valuable time to scroll past to get to the reply window. Very annoying, especially now that I only a limited amount of time to spend on the Forum until the new house is finished.

Can't these "Links" be place elsewhere, condensed or eliminated altogether? They seem counterproductive to the perceived intent of this Forum, a free exchange of thought, questions and ideas concerning our BMW's and our experiences with them.

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WED: 12/01/04 & 21:53hrs.

Hi Jeffreyb4me:

When you find out what it actually is, be sure to let me and some of the other BMW World forum members know what it is all about, and just how it works.
What I can figure out about it, (which is not much), theoretically it can work, but it seems to me it will take up a lot of our needed posting space, and it needs to be placed in a special forum.

Sincerely,

Presley348

[DinanM3_S2]

Eh, im sorry about that thing... Its a google thing that we got to generate a bit of income in order to keep AF free. I agree, it is rather annoying, but I personally think that it is a small sacrifice for having this massive, free, forum.

[jeffreyb4me]

Dear "DinanM3 S2", thanks for the explaination and I do understand the position but couldn't it be made less intrusive?......and what is a "Forum Assistant" anyway?????

[4-Door Flunky]

This forum isn't free. There are many of us who have donated money during times of need. Obviously, I'm one of them, and I find the "ASSistant" to be a pain in the ass.
Especially after I gave Presley a bunch of shit for advertising stuff, now there's an advertisement ON EVERY THREAD!
Let loose, Presley; looks like the door's open.
Flunky
PS-I also hang out on the Honda Civic forum. Their 'ASSistant' is chock full of links to buy stuff. None of the 'related' links are informational in nature.
...now I'm really getting mad. I donated some money to buy a new server, and now space on the server is being used for advertisement, which I despise.

[DinanM3_S2]

4-Door, like you said, this site costs money, but the staff doesn't think that we should charge every single user a fee to use the forums. Its much easier to advertise then to charge all of the users. While I commend you for donating to the site, the vast majority of AF Users would not be willing to pay, even a small fee. The only other option is advertising. If you have some alternative, I suggest you PM an Administrator, but for now, this site would possible die without the income advertising brings in.

To answer Jefferyb4me, im not 100% sure about this, but the ads are in the format they are now to maximize income and make them the least intrusive possible. PM an Admin if you have a better idea. "Forum Assistant" is just a list of advertising that Google thinks is directed towards the interests of those in that peticular forum.

[4-Door Flunky]

Thanks for your response, Dinan. I don't have any productive suggestions, just gripes for now.
Flunky