Yeah never mind, it's back.

Honestly I'm a little annoyed at the Gifts-to-Russia owner or whoever the heck he is, but I'm fine with small banner ads like this. I know Ewok's gotta at least cover costs. Hell I'll even click on it from time-to-time. What I'm not fine with is being spammed in the forums. And that seems to have been addressed, so I'm cool now.

Another board I'm on has $24/year paid membership to nix the ads and get bigger avatars, etc... Anybody who doesn't pay gets to see all the ads. Seems like a reasonable tradeoff to me. Maybe VJ can institute something like this for those who don't want ads?

Or, if you're you dont like either option, you can get the AdBlock Plus extension for Firefox/Camino.

Z

Mox "the pitbull" Animal

Now it's a text ad...

Oh well. I don't really look at the ads anyway. I probably would have never noticed if you guys hadn't pointed it out.

ditto here and ditto what slim said. it's annoying. and it only happens when i'm in this forum.

I've seen it when I look at other forums.

I see it everywhere but Charles only sees it here. I wonder if it only targets the Russia Forum OR if you have your SO from Russia. I don't know why, but I'm really annoyed by this ad. It's gaudy and distracting.

GrrrrrUFFF!!!!


I think it's because your country isn't set to Russia. I see it in every single forum.


If I were paying a subscription I'd be upset. But because this site has literally saved me hundreds if not well over a thousand dollars, I'm not to upset about it. I liked the banner-free days, but if it keeps the site running them I guess it's ok with me.

I had no idea what you guys were talking about. I had to bring up IE and login to VJ to see them. I never even new VJ HAD any ads! I have been running Firefox with the Adblock plugin for so long, I'm just accustomed to never seeing advertisement...

I'm surprised you didn't see the ad. I have adblock too, but it needs to be manually added. I'm going to leave this one up and click on it occasionally because VJ has been so valuable to me. If the ads ever get bigger or more in your face though...

I guess, it's because it's the SAME damn ad over and over wherever you go on VJ. I understand what you are saying, Kirk. Just give us something different. It makes me tempted to change my country to make it go AWAY.



How do you know it is a pay per click?

Hmmm...good question. I guess I just sorta assumed it was.

Google ads are pay-per-click, but many times companies like this only pay IF the clicker actually buys a product. I'm thinking that's the reason for the dollars off coupon that appears. Luring us to make a purchase so VJ gets a percentage.

Stupid internets.

I agree that although annoying, I'll put up with it due to the value of the advice I have received here. I'm still using IE on the site as at least, I have not been seeing any pop-ups. If that starts, I'll start using Firefox. I didn't even notice the banners, Google or otherwise, until all this started yesterday. Of course I sure did notice the spamming posts and reported those immediately. I find that kind of thing much more offensive. Pretending to be in the Visa process and "feeling our pain.. here's a discount for VJ users" pissed me off.
Let's hope that our email addresses aren't harvested and we start getting spam email! That's why I use Yahoo mail for most things and only give my real email to friends and family.

You know, I won't say I dislike the new ads. If I were a newbie, and looking for a good way to send my girl flowers, maybe I'd click on one of those ads.

Of course, I'd ask here if anyone's used them yet first!

I think it's a good idea for a business... but that yellow is so jarring. if it were a text ad it wouldn't bother me. but anyway i don't have a girl to send flowers to, and i doubt they have gifts that my guy would be interested in. if they started selling computer parts, then it'd be very useful for me.

You could send some to my girl. Just...you know...put my name on them please.

(I think I'll actually be saving money when she gets here. She *loves* her some flowers...)

I don't really *get* the whole flower thing. I think the thought is nice, but eh.

Every other girl I've ever dated could take or leave flowers too. I don't know what it is about Russian/Ukranian (maybe Eastern European women in general?) women, but I haven't run across one yet that didn't completely melt at the sight of a boquet flowers. Even my tutor (Ukranian) was almost speechless when I gave her a little bag of truffles and a little yellow rose for International Women's Day. And it wasn't the truffles she fawned over.

Alla loves flowers, but, well... I send her the money and she picks out her own. (I'm assuming a lot less than this company charges for the same amount).

i have so many american female friends who were given flowers by their Russian boyfriends and just didn't know how to react.

I can see that! I am always amazed at how many Russian people still take long walks in the woods hunting for certain varieties of wild flowers and then returning home to present them to mama or babushka. Does any one do that here anymore? Russian women have a definite affinity for flowers.

Maybe it's also because flowers are abundant and cheap there and are actually given for romantic purposes. Here, they're given as holiday gifts or "gettin' out of the dog house" type deals. Most girls now have an almost Pavlovian response to flowers.. "Ok, it's prom, he's going to bring me a corsage. It's Valentines Day, I bet I get some roses. Whoo-freakin-hoo. I wish he'd give me flowers on Tuesday!"

Eekee, I see you don't have a time line or show what visa your going for...so tell me what it is you're doing on VJ if you don't mind? Maybe you covered this before but I missed it. Are you engaged? Going to get married in Russia? Going for a DCF process?

DCF

Marriage in Russia then DCF:)

Good for you! DCF will save you grief and time.

Yeah, DCF seems to be the way to go if possible.

Nah, the best is to find a Russian lady already here (with papers) with all the qualities that are over there!

Provided you want a lady...

Good one Eekee!

Plenty of former USSR guys here too. Myself included.

That wasn't her joke Sat, I think she knew that!

The only difference between dating a guy born in the FSU who emigrated and a guy born in the US is that the FSU guy will probably have a mother who does everything for him, which is a bad thing. I know a lot of people who left and came here and you wouldn't know it until their parents call them and they speak Russian (often with an accent).

Anyway, it's not about dating specifically Russian guys. I never went on a website or anything to find a Russian guy. I just happened to be living in Russia; thus, the vast majority of guys I met during my brief single period were Russian.

How is that possible? She's here with papers but still has the same qualities? Could be possible. But, willing to marry a fat old guy? Not so much.



It's funny to me that when women refer to their "single period" they mean the time before/between boyfriends and while not involved in dating anyone seriously.

When guys refer to their "single period" they mean the time before/between marriages.

I dated a Russian woman who lived in the USA...she was the worst of both worlds. She'd been here 12 years and was separated from her husband but didn't want to divorce him because she had such a good deal. Every time I turned round she as buying some big ticket item (flat screen TV, leather furniture, oriental carpets, etc). Her son still lived with her and he was in his late twenties and worked off and on. Interestingly, her son only wanted to date Russian girls...in the USA!

In the interest of full disclosure, this woman was actually Belarusian descent (sorry Eekee). And she grew up Catholic in Latvia...so not your typical Russian.

Well that's what time and knowledge of life in the US system can do. So I think your encounter can serve as a good predictor of what can come in the future in all of our relationships.

AKA not Russian

My wife is at the mall spending money we don't have as I type this. Didn't take her long at all.

I wish she would buy a flat screen TV and some leather furniture. I have no use for bebe sport costumes. (I kind of have a use for Victoria's Secret stuff...) But that big TV, that sure would be nice. If we're going to go into debt, at least buy something cool.