Caution New Ning banner ads (Match.com) Will get us into Community trouble

Recently I was showing a school on how to build a comunity with a Ning. When I poped up one in a lecture a huge banner ad for Match.com (You know their line "Its OK to Look") in bright colors overshardows the branding of the Brown Ning and all you see is the ad. This was a school Ning. To say that it was not fun to be laugh at by educators is an understatement. They dismissed idea of the Ning even though they new they could not have ads.

So......You can contact Ning Customer Service if you Ning is for K-12 schools and they will remove the ads. This is what I call a wonderful company. Thanks Ning

Richard

Tags: Caution, Child, Ning, Porn, protect

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Permalink Reply by Anthony VonBank on November 23, 2009 at 12:24pm

Thank you for the heads-up. I will certainly have to discuss this with my administrators...

What an unfortunate choice for NING to make.

VB

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Permalink Reply by Jonathan Wylie on November 23, 2009 at 5:35pm

Firefox + Adblock Plus = What ads?

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Permalink Reply by Jeffrey Thomas on November 23, 2009 at 6:33pm

Unfortunately, this puts the onus on the user to block the ads. Since we know that most users do not use Firefox, let alone the Adblock Plus extension, most of the intended audience will see the questionable ads. Too bad for Ning--this will definitely hurt them in the long run!

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Permalink Reply by Richard Close on November 23, 2009 at 9:12pm

Thank for your comments
Yet few Not for profits and schools get this
My issues runs even deeper. Ning is for 13 and up or so they say... Hey look mary... isn't that our librarian on Match!

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Permalink Reply by John Paulett on November 23, 2009 at 9:36pm

The banner ad came as an unpleasant shock! I have another site that is ad-free. I was just setting up a new site when this popped up. I know it might not be different in intent but the face and general appearance looks threatening to people with younger or more sensitive audiences, I wish there was some middle ground. $25 / month to go ad-free is not possible. The Ning folks have been really good about educational sites becoming ad-free. I hope they can find a business model that encourages growth in a vital market and still keeps them sustainable.

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Permalink Reply by P. Murphy on November 23, 2009 at 9:59pm

Those of us who do take the time to contact Ning should mention discussion threads like this that demonstrate the dissatisfaction is widespread.

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Permalink Reply by Richard Close on November 24, 2009 at 5:31am

I will copy all these responses and send it to them
ISTE is a powerful assoocaition They Should also approach them.

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Permalink Reply by Richard Close on November 24, 2009 at 9:00am

Nadine
Thank so much. This should something we see during setup
I will do a Post on this if you don't mind
Richard

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Permalink Reply by Richard Close on November 24, 2009 at 10:23am

Nadine
I am talking to a school that is interested in integrating a Ning with a Global K-12 Library Portal that have over 15,000 free educational web site and teachers can build lessons for free on it. We could in fact integrate collaborative Web 20 learning, child filter and library and all it takes is a link.
If you look in the resources tab of my Ning you will see My Web Library or you can see thier technical demo on www.bascom.com. My Ning is http://globallearningframwork.ning.com
If you know of a Business development person at Ning I would love to chat with them.
Richard