BLOCKING ADS? WELL PLAYED...

There are many sites to which I don't subscribe, I still don't see the ads.

As far as I am concerned, the advertisers have brought this state of affairs upon themselves. I feel no sympathy and block as a matter of course.

I wonder what website with "millions" of users this "SkepticGuy" runs.  In post #25 he talked about running the site in the past tense, now he speaks of it as if it were ongoing.

So, what is the deal?  What site is it?  It's probably porn related.

I hate billboards.  Is there something I can download so I never have to see the damn' things again?

I use Adblock Plus, but I hear that NoScript also works well.

I use FlashBlock which allows me to click if I want to see it, and otherwise doesn't gum up my system with a bunch of annoying ads.

AH I FELL OUT O MY CHAIR!!!!!!

oh.

I mean, what?

How does that work?  It sends out teams of men with chainsaws and plasma cutters or something?

From what I've seen of your games here, chopping wood is something to which you are well suited. Now hop along, Cowboy.

There's a few things here...

FIRST: If there are video ads on content pages (I didn't find any) or game-play pages, that should be corrected. I only run such ads (user-initiated video only) on our home page or overview pages... never content pages.

SECOND: Vista is an issue, clearly unfixible at the moment. Since Mozilla has dropped support for legacy Windows OS's, a much better browser option is Chrome. I guarantee you everything will work better in the most current version of Chrome compatible with Vista (and you can import all your Firefox bookmarks and settings.

THIRD: Kaspirsky is known to be an "over the top" malware/virus protection package. I've only ever used Macs, but have a dim overall view of all anti-bad-stuff solutions as they all tend to do way too much as a means to convince the consumer that the software is constantly doing something. For example, Kaspirsky ignores meta data in files and keeps scanning every asset that comes across your connection. So for example, if the Chess client in the browser window has 30 graphic assets and 4 JavaScript files, it will can those every page-load, even when the header data clearly indicates there's been no changes to the files. That really slows things down. Kaspirsky even scans cookies, which is never necessary.

I do know that the Windows-based professionals I work with all prefer McAfee, mostly because of the performance levels (what is scanned) can be more easily tweaked.

FOURTH: Unless you absolutely need Flash functionality for sites you visit, I recommend removing it. Flash is fair technology that has been put in the hands of horrible developers.

FINALLY: I have an old laptop not too far off from the specifications of yours, and Windows 8 runs well on it. If you can upgrade, you should consider. Some things will be slower, but if Internet access is more important, the Internet will be much better under Windows 8 than Vista.

Typo in post 25. I'll let you know via private message if you like. I don't want to be seen as promoting the site here.

You have to have a GoogleGlass windshield.  When a billboard is detected the onboard GoogleGod determines from the position and direction of aim of your pupils which pixels of the windshield need to be altered to prevent you from seeing the billboard.  You can choose to have the altered windshield area show: 1) interpolated scenery compatible with the area surrounding the billboard; 2) angry birds; or 3) cowboy monkeys riding goats.

Well gentlemen let's conclude this discussion by saying that the video ads are really overkill...GIF animations don't use a lot of memory and should be just as good. I'm a free member and only need to do that CTRL ALT DEL thing when the Adobe Flash Player is using WAY TOO MUCH memory because of the chess.com video ads!

This Skeptic Guy nailed this discussion in post 74, anyway so give him mad propz.

Must we?  Are you really in charge?

I still have to hear how this is significantly different on ethical or economical levels to pre-adblockers internet or newspapers "A vibrant and expansive Internet where interesting content abounds, with ads, but only suckers are influenced by them."

Come on, let's be serious here. First off the problem with these video and sound ads is not only that of chess.com but in many other websites. You will ask people to toy with the Adobe Flash Player plugin or Chrome built-in Pepperflash every time they want to play a game of chess or browse the web for that matter? Seriously... And coming from someone with a crown membership..Easy to tell others that which you don't do yourself.

I prefer to cast a vote for protestation against this kind of annoying ads by blocking them. That's a much more efficient way to send a message. Discreet billboard ads are not a problem but the internet users do not need to be plagued by these flashy video sounds ads, that can now be found in too many places , processes that bring computers to their knees.

There are other sites I wont name them, just google correspondence chess without ads(Im referring to the one in Budapest, Hungary) where all moves are sent via email, there is no online site to play on.  The player must learn how to send in commands and communicate correctly with the server.  

I dont appreciate this ominous looking page and can use no script or just the android application on the tablet to remove the ads.  But make no mistake, when my current games are done, I will only use this site to read articles occasionally.

The logic in that ads pay for sites is a stupid one.  Somehow the ad generates money because people will buy what is advertised?  Hardly.  Stupid.  So dont waste my time by putting this nonsense on the screen.

Oops, it doesnt matter because there are sites that are old school 1990's type servers that dont need staff to maintain a server.  Once the basic features are programmed in, why do you need staff to pay?  You dont.  End of story.

First, and most important, as I've indicated in post #74, video/sound ads should never be on content pages, and even then should only be user-initiated (no video unless the user hits play). 

The comment about disabling Flash is obviously a last-resort option for sites/pages you really want to use, but do not follow the standard I mentioned above.

Unfortunately they are, and that's the issue here and in countless websites. Can we really blame someone, simply wishing to have a good browsing experience, for using an adblocker then?

And we are not just talking about flash ads but pop ups as well, another nuisance that we don't need as internet users. Someone complained about that here: (http://www.chess.com/forum/view/help-support/got-pop-up-during-game-what-is-wrong?ncc=1#first_new_comment)

A few months ago I was on a simple video streaming website and got popups flying everywhere with obscene publicities and believe it or not it got through my browser and infected windows despite a good antivirus software on. I just wanted to watch a video.. That's what motivated me to find a defnitive solution to this problem. I have now and I will not restrain myself for recommanding a very useful and perfectly legal addon to others in the same situation

Dang, this escalated quickly.

What do you mean by "content pages" and what would be an example of a page without content?

Is a YT video considered content?