There are other Forums but they have problems and people too.

Vance Wood.

From what I've seen, Lucy is one of the few people that bothers to try to offer much here anymore. If you are dis-satisfied with her answers, I'm sure she offers a money-back guarantee (how's that for sarcastic?) This site has deteriorated into a gigantic billboard, complete with every tacky browser manipulation that is currently available, and most of the "regulars" of the past have moved on. Many now frequent BonsaiTalk. As Vance briefly mentioned, we have the occasional personality conflict there as well.
Take care,
zube

Vance! There's a name I remember.

Zube, I'm sure I came across as rude at the very least, but thanks for a point in an additional direction. Just hearing that the 'regulars' moved on from another person is good to know.

Thanks

I still find the pop ups grossly annoying, especially when they pop up in the middle of something I am trying to read. This is the major reason I do not frequent this site as often as I used to, it's sad. This used to be the premier bonsai site on the net, now it is notorious for its pop ups and incursions.

I agree with you Vance. I've always really enjoyed GW, even to the point of defending it against unkind observations by other forum participants. It's becoming a pain to navigate & there's always something new & unimproved to contend with. The last few days I've had to log in every time I open the site. This is the first time I've allowed myself to carp, and only after many years of participation on many forums here. After being invited to another, competing forum site several times, I now carry dual citizenship. I have to say that people are leaving GW in large numbers & from what I've seen, it's some of the members that supply much of the info/feedback that made this (entire) site so valuable a resource.

Al, sadly.

Al: You are right, I have had to log in every time I want to post something as well. It is like they that run the site don't care about the people that make it work.

Hi Vance; I`m having the same problem as you.It sure doesn`t want to be like it was years ago.If I recall,they mentioned that donating members were exempt from adds & daily sign-ins.What happened??? I`ve been contributing for about 10 yrs.--Z

You guys are doing something wrong! ;-)
I have *never* seen a pop up here...at least not on my home computer. The technology is there to easily block them.
John

John, I'm running the newest version of Firefox with as much stuff blocked as is reasonably possible, and still have plenty of pop-ups and such when I visit. This site sets so many advertising oriented cookies on my computer that I can hardly stand to check in here. When I disable them and attempt to allow only the home site (GardenWeb) to set cookies, I'm not allowed to log in. I shut down my Firefox browser and came here with Internet Explorer to post this. This used to be my home page. It makes me sad to see what has become of the place.
Take care,
zube

A little off the topic of bonsai, but if it helps, I recommend google toolbar (not sure if it works with firefox). It's a free and very simple download that appends 'google' to your search bar, and blocks all popups (i'm up to 4,847 blocked!). It won't really help the cookie 'problem', but i have no popups to speak of.

There's another program called "spybot search and destroy". Another free program that will scan your computer for thousands of known 'bad' cookies and remove them. I use it about once a month, and maintain a relatively 'healthy' computer.

Maybe in the future they'll make one for bonsai ;). ok, enough out of me already.

I use windows xp home edition and netscape with pop up blocker on. It makes this site pretty easy to navigate, no pop ups, minimum ads and I don't get disconnected. I also have a DSL line, this may also make a difference. This did seem to be a nice site before when more of the experienced people were involved. It would be nice to have more choices. Why is it that the people running this forum won't respond to the users wishes? I use other forums on garden web and find them useful and don't see the complaints that appear here.

I don't see why people have to jump through hoops to have a decent experience here. I don't think I should have to install all kinds of pop up blockers on my system to make a contribution here. I can't understand what is going on. It is difficult for me to understand how a site like this that essentially has nothing to offer but the band width and survives intellectually off the contributions of those who frequent the site can make it such an unwelcoming place to attend? I too became a member her about ten years ago, but boy things have changed, and not for the best. I now have to log in every time I visit,regardless of how I fill out the log in script.

Vance Wood

Here is another irritation I just discovered, the iVillage Sponsor survey. As soon as I come onto the site it loads itself on the site and then onto my desk top. The aggravating thing is when you click on it to take the Garden Web survey you get the message: Thank you for attempting to participate in the survey. The number of responses need for the survey have been reached. If that is so why does this thing keep intruding on us?

Vance Wood.

>>> I'm running the newest version of Firefox with as much stuff blocked as is reasonably possible, and still have plenty of pop-ups and such when I visit. This site sets so many advertising oriented cookies on my computer that I can hardly stand to check in here. When I disable them and attempt to allow only the home site (GardenWeb) to set cookies, I'm not allowed to log in.Odd, latest Firefoxk here, no popups, cookies set for originating site I can log in fine. That does let cookies from graphics on another site sneak in but I don't see many show up with zero popups.

gerry

There is no reason to have jump though hoops to be able to use this site. There is not much of a reason to be here. Most people have moved to BonsaiTalk. Just popped in to see if it still sucks and it does!