New change on FS

My mom has always been paranoid about personal data. I'm not, well, not about this sort of data. I've always been taught, as an accounting student, that if you want to appear moral, be moral. If you don't want to be exposed, don't do anything you'd rather not be exposed for. My habits are pretty benign because I don't have any deep dark secrets. And I don't type anything into a computer(besides financial info on secure websites) that I wouldn't be able to cope with being made public. Not all of it is stuff I'd be thrilled about getting out (like my weight for example, some enemies would have a field day), but it's not criminal or immoral. If fatsecret wanted to sell my info to diet marketers, that's a devil I can live with. I hate marketing, so I've pretty much blocked it out (except Apple, I love you Apple) ;P

I still say they if want to make a buck, offer it ad free and I would pay for it!

This. My weight is a bit humiliating, but I have nothing to hide. If someone really, really wants to find something out about my personal life, they will. I really have no secrets. I, too, have things I wouldn't really shout from the rooftops, but nothing illegal or immoral. It isn't worth the effort to be paranoid to protect my illusion of privacy.

No, most web ads are pay-per-view not pay for click. There are exceptions, but in general most web inventory is sold by the impression rather than by the click.


I should be fair and add a disclaimer: I'm employed by a web advertising company. I don't particularly *like* advertising, but I have a pretty good understanding of the web ecosystem and how ad-supported websites work. I despise invasive ads, but tolerate banner ads because I understand the need for them.

What are those hellish adds that come up on your computer and keep you from being able to see what you are looking at! God I hate those.. banners on the side and top do not bother me but he pop up ones need to go.. My husband set up my computer so I no longer get the pop up ads. There is a website I will no longer go to because of its pop up ads. I want to say it was better homes and gardens.. every time you turn the "page" a huge pop up comes in the middle asking for your info or you can choose to close it.. so if you are looking at the 13 best time savers at dinner time.. you have to close the pop up 13 freaking times. 25 best low fat chicken dinner ideas.. get ready to close it 25 flipping times. RAT FINKS!!

A little off topic, but the recipes pictured in the FS Recipes promo look DELICIOUS!!! How come they never look like that when I make them??

Ceebee, if they open in a new window either on top of your browser or under it they're called popups or popunders. If they show up on a separate page when you click on a link, and you have to click something else or wait for the ad to finish to go to the page you wanted, then they're called interstitials.

Those all qualify as invasive ads, in my opinion.

You took the words right out of my mouth!

YES! That Sushi roll was making me so hungry! Maybe NOT the best thing to have in your face on a diet site!

I enjoy the "calories out - calories in = success!" banner ad, though I imagine some of our Atkins buddies do not

I like the picture with the garlic, tomatos and noodles mmmmm lol

For those people who don't want ads, or who feel it's ethical to block ads, how do you expect FatSecret to stay in business?

By selling ads? I just assume not everyone will block, just as not everyone gets up to visit the restroom during commercials.

Just think, my fabulous content provided gratis(ooooh I'm so fabulous) is giving some poor sap some reason to read the site.

Anyhow, they already have ads on my phone app. They are pretty unobtrusive, but mostly stuff I have zero interest in. Should I feel bad about my lack of impulse to purchase Fiber Gummie Vitamins? Or about plugging them without compensation?

I don't mind ads... as long as they don't include misspellings or grammatical errors!!!! Has anybody else noticed the one that says, "There is no question to hard (or silly) for this gang, the community is here to help." Arrrrrgh, it hurts my brain. How about, "There is no question too hard (or silly); the community is here to help."? Can someone who has such powers please change it? It would make the ad much more effective!

I just saw my first paid ad. It was for Torrid, which is certainly within the range of what I would expect and want to see on a site like this.

I saw one with Jillian from the biggest loser earlier.

Honestly, I don't even notice the ads. They are just part of the page and I only read what I need to. Most of the time, I do what I need to do on the site, and then go on with the internet. I say let them do what they need to do, so long as they don't charge me for it. If they need to charge me, I might as well join a diet group like WW or something like that. No offense to anyone on WW, but you get the idea.

I noticed a real ad other day at work but didn't remember on what page I saw it. Today, I found it here: Tomatoes. So I guess they've only put them on individual food items thus far.

I don't mind. It's a very valuable service to me, and I'm willing to pay the price of seeing ads in order to benefit from it.

I don't mind them either and, if I see a decent one, I'll probably click through to see more info. My concern falls in to two categories:

1. A lot of fitness/gym related ads have folks in workout clothes. That's all well and good but not the type of thing I want on display on my work monitor. I blocked ads on CNN when they started advertising Victoria's Secret for the same reason.

2. The Jillian Michaels ad is probably just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to diet products. In this forum, we generally seem to be recommending people eat real foods and put in real work to lose weight. Kinda a mixed message if my post is next to an ad for Alli.

They can put up all of the ads they want but the stupid Sprint ad that gets larger everytime I try to click on the right side of my screen makes me want to ScReAm!!!

I hate that too. You have to maneuver your mouse around the box because just passing over it makes it open up. I have left other sites because of those damn adds...I hope that doesn't happen with FS because I really like this site. Besides, nobody in their right mind buys anything from those stupid adds, do they?