[gdpmumin]

Apparently within the last 24 hours, BlackBerryForums has succumbed to the idea that using intelliTXT advertising was a good idea. It isn't. If I want to buy something, I'll go looking for it. If I don't know that I need or want something until you show it to me, I don't need it.

Is there a way to turn it off from the user's side? Probably not, but it was worth a shot to find out if I could make the annoying green underline go away.

[Tom]

I knew this sort of thread would pop up almost instantly.

If you want to send me a cheque to cover hosting fees and other expenses, feel free to do so. Until then.. the ads stay.

NO. There is no way to disable them, and running a add disabling program will result with denied access to the forum.

[BBAdmin]

I can see Tom's opinion (despite the delivery being a little harsh I must say), it's a business after all, and we've all noted the new sponsors recently (Vodafone no doubt being one of the biggest). What a great shame though, intellitxt is a massively annoying way of advertising and extremely intrusive. The users make the forum what it is, the sponsors pay for the forum (and line Tom's pocket I suspect by now) - without one the other can't exist and it's a shame when something like this happens. Not my preference of advertising though I must say, and I'm a little surprised and dissapointed to see it.

[lraed74]

You get the collective information off here for free, there is no subscription price thanks to the sponsers.

I agree w/Guess, send him a check or quit *****ing.

[BBAdmin]

there is no subscription price

Not sure I've ever considered paying to be part of a forum though, would you?

[NJBlackBerry]

Unless you want so much advertising on the page that it looks like RimRoad, I think this is a small price to pay. Guess had costs to cover and we certainly aren't paying him anything.

[lraed74]

Originally Posted by BBAdmin

Not sure I've ever considered paying to be part of a forum though, would you?

Well no, but overall I meant its free information, good stuff at that. Even free wont stop the *****ers and moaners though

[gdpmumin]

BlackBerryForums is, without a doubt, a very helpful site. I'm very appreciative of that. But there was already advertising on the site (sponsored links, forums sponsors, etc.). What I hate, though, is the content of the forum, i.e., the stuff that makes it helpful, changed in such a way as to disrupt the content and make it annoying to read the information.

And isn't it ironic that the word "intelliTXT" isn't hyperlinked to an ad? You would think they would link their own name to an ad for them.

[jibi]

in all honesty, this type of advertising is annoying to me for about 10 seconds then i just ignore it. sure it makes some content green, but unless you are actively using your mouse cursor to skim through the content, then it shouldn't even bother anyone (in my opinion).

[jibi]

Originally Posted by BBAdmin

Not sure I've ever considered paying to be part of a forum though, would you?

some forums do have subscription-based memberships. vBulletin now has it included with their product. just think along the lines of porn sites, celebrity nude websites, online forum-based gaming websites, etc. usually all of these fee-based forums will offer a service in return for the subscription fee, and they usually cater to an audience that is willing to pay for it. i'm in agreement with you, though - i wouldn't pay for information that is free elsewhere (in most cases).

advertising is an easy way, and sometimes a slight inconvenience/annoyance for some tight-wad members, for the provider to keep costs at a minimum for him/herself and keep a website alive and kicking for us patrons. the hosting fees Tom speaks of are not $5-10/mo like some shared hosting companies offer - he actually had to pay for multiple servers, colo dedicated hosting, bandwidth increases, software licensing fees for multiple aspects of this website, etc. and if he's actually making money in the long run, then all the more power to him - i'd have to have to spend a lot of time on something not to have any return on investment (short of the appreciation and praise from the members).

personally, i spend money out of pocket for cheap hosting for my website/forum, as well as licensing fees. i offer free advertising for promoters with upcoming events or local producers with upcoming album releases (some other similar websites charge a substantial fee). however, my return for my money is that i haven't had to pay for a single event that i've wanted to go to in the last 4 years, be it a concert, a club night, drinks at either, a plus-one on the guest list, VIP area access, etc. (hell, one time i even had a limo thrown in for it).

[BBAdmin]

You definately raise some valid points there jibi. In the bigger picture, I'm sure we would all rather have a bit of sponsorship getting in the way than not have the forum at all. It must of course be a difficult balance to keep the users happy and the site financially running, as both are equally important to keep the site alive. It's just a shame overall that this type of sponsorship was used. Nevermind, it wouldn't stop me using the site!

[Soapm]

I would think RIM would be a large contributer to this site? Without this site I would not have bought and sure wouldn't have kept my 7290.

[Tom]

Originally Posted by Soapm

I would think RIM would be a large contributer to this site? Without this site I would not have bought and sure wouldn't have kept my 7290.

I wish. I requested a Press Pass to WES 2006, as I attended in 2005, I wasnt even dignified with a proper response. just a "we are reviewing your request"...

Rim really does not care.

[Soapm]

Originally Posted by Guess

I wish. I requested a Press Pass to WES 2006, as I attended in 2005, I wasnt even dignified with a proper response. just a "we are reviewing your request"...

Rim really does not care.

I remember your 8700 incident so their gratuitous appreciation (or lack thereof) doesn't surprise me.

[jibi]

The 8700 incident was more of one with Rogers, if I remember correctly. I agree with Tom though - the people I've talked to at T-Mobile and RIM seem to think of this website as a bastardization rather than a blessing... a thorn in the side, if you will. Although, in my opinion, this website has given an online outlet to help facilitate the growth of the BlackBerry product lines, both consumer and enterprise levels - not to mention helping third parties launch their own products thus fostering a 'boom' in the development community for BlackBerry applications as well.

[NJBlackBerry]

I wonder how many support phone calls to RIM (and the carriers) were avoided because of this site. Their lack of appreciation is absurd.

I really don't think they care. Gotten a little too big for their britches.

[EricaJ1074]

I have had my 7105t for 2 months now and only made 4 calls to T-Mobile...1 to get the phone; 1 to activate service and switch from my Sidekick Data Plan to my BB Plan; 1 due to email setup problems; and 1 because I couldn't figure out why it took 3 days to activate service. I found out it was because I put the wrong SIM card-the one that came with the phone, instead of the one from my SK-in the phone. I swapped SIM cards and the phone worked immediately.

[BBAdmin]

Well I think we've all gotten a bit off the beaten track here. No doubt we're all a bit annoyed with the choice of sponsorship, but we can live with it, or use another forum - which is kind of cutting off your nose to spite your face as BBF has more members with more technical knowledge than other BlackBerry technical sites. I think if it ever got to pop ups with every page you opened then it would be a nail in the coffin for me as, obvioulsy, most of us aren't here to shop!

[Baylink]

Originally Posted by Guess

I knew this sort of thread would pop up almost instantly.

If you want to send me a cheque to cover hosting fees and other expenses, feel free to do so. Until then.. the ads stay.

NO. There is no way to disable them, and running a add disabling program will result with denied access to the forum.

IntelliTXT annoys people so badly because its implementation violates the social contract of the web: underlined words in a different color are hyperlinks placed there *by the creator of the content* to provide useful information to the reader.

It's not bad enough that they look like regular hyperlinks but are not, but they tend, in my experience, to link to things which are not remotely pertinent to the word in the context in which it's being used.

Such as "pop-up" in your comment, Tom.

:-)

Alas, while paying the hosting bills *can* be a bastard, the Internet is not a zero-sum game, either.

And I'm pretty sure if someone runs Greasemonkey to disable IntelliTXT from modifying their screen, you're never going to know.

Course, IntelliTXT won't either, so...

[And I am forever having to disable silly-ass-smiley-translation on my postings, and I don't complain, so...:-) ]

[siennaberry]

as a non-mobile forum webmaster i know there's cost involved ESP BANDWIDTH. That being said I see in the sponsors section of BBf there's about 15 sponsors. Even if they each payed a max of $100 per month that's 1500$ there already. BUT the lowest ad available on BBF is $180 per month and no less than a 3 month contract!! Then there's still google ads running on this site which although my site does around half the traffic google revenues between $1000 - $1200 per month.

There NO WAY hosting can cost more than $1500.00 per month. A good estimate would be around $900.00

intellitext = making a killing/greed i guess.