Not happy with hyperlinks in my posts

[mactronix]

What does any one else feel on this subject ?

Basically I don't feel its right that Toms are inserting hyperlinks into forum posts presumably to increase their advertising revenue.
I believe it breaches forum rules at a fundamental level. Suppose I started hacking someone's account and adding stuff would that be ok ? No it wouldn't so I expect the same from Toms.

Is there a way to disable this ?
Why were we not told about this ?

Mactronix

 

[hunter315]

Is it the kontera stuff that double underlines the words in the post and pops up a window when you hover over it? Those are annoying but i think they are just part of the ad package, they are a JS that runs on top of the page and select keywords, they don't actually corrupt the post(note: i have no idea what ads are on tom's these days, browsing the internet without adblock on makes me angry/sad)

 

[amuffin]

I don't like how right when I "accidentally" mouse over a blue double underlined word, it starts playing a LOUD video!

 

[Dark Lord of Tech]

Firefox plus adblock plus and ghostery!Problem solved.

 

[randomizer]

Those are Intellitext/Kontera/<insert other in-text ad service> ads. Nobody is manually updating your posts, it's all done with JS as hunter315 said.

 

[mactronix]

It dosent actually matter how its done its altering the content of what I posted.
I don't know where you got the Idea that I thought someone was sitting in a back room somewhere manually editing stuff :lol:
I'm just saying that script or no script it amounts to the same thing.
Also I don't suppose for one minute that Toms will stop doing it just because I am complaining about it.

To me doing it within Toms own reviews and news pages is something we have to live with. Inserting them into our forum posts (however its done) is wrong on a moral level at the very least.

Yes I know I can stop it showing up but that dosent mean its not still happening does it.

To follow the logic through here Bots etc on game servers are fine then, because its not someone doing it manually, presumably a script that logged your bank details and took money from your account would also be fine ? No I didn't think so.

Anything that alters the content of what I posted is WRONG, fundamentally and possibly legally as far as I am concerned.

Mactronix

 

[Ijack]

When you post on Tom's Hardware you accept the published Terms & Conditions, part of which state:

You grant to BOM and its affiliates a royalty-free, perpetual, irrevocable, nonexclusive, worldwide, unrestricted license to use, copy, modify, transmit, distribute, and publicly perform or display the submitted pages or other content for the purposes of displaying such information on BOM's sites and for the promotion and marketing of BOM's services.

As you have implicitly granted the site the right to modify what you post, I don't think that you can argue that there is anything fundamentally wrong (or illegal) about these links.

 

[randomizer]

It dosent actually matter how its done its altering the content of what I posted.
I don't know where you got the Idea that I thought someone was sitting in a back room somewhere manually editing stuff :lol:

Well another member thought this was happening not that long ago, so I thought I'd cover all bases

I don't like it at all, but because I don't see it it doesn't bother me remotely as much as the bugs that actually slow me down every day here.

 

[mactronix]

When you post on Tom's Hardware you accept the published Terms & Conditions, part of which state:

You grant to BOM and its affiliates a royalty-free, perpetual, irrevocable, nonexclusive, worldwide, unrestricted license to use, copy, modify, transmit, distribute, and publicly perform or display the submitted pages or other content for the purposes of displaying such information on BOM's sites and for the promotion and marketing of BOM's services.

As you have implicitly granted the site the right to modify what you post, I don't think that you can argue that there is anything fundamentally wrong (or illegal) about these links.

As I have better things to do that actually trolling through all the T&C's, I posted possibly illegal.
The T&C's have no weight in an argument about how something can be fundamentally or morally wrong, just ask Jimmy Carr. In case you have been in a cave for the last couple of weeks he is a comedian (arguably) who was involved in a totally 100% Legal tax avoidance scheme.
Turned out once people knew he decided it wasn't actually the most ethical or moral thing to do, so he stopped.

@ randomiszer,

I know what you mean about the other bugs, cant help thinking that all the extra J/S cant be helping with that.

Any way just venting my spleen and seeing what others thought.

Mactronix

 

[Ijack]

I agree that it's tough that Tom's let you post on their forums and tell you how they may use the material that you post. But, what are you going to do about it. It's not as if you could choose not to post here, is it?

 

[Saga Lout]

The T&C's have no weight in an argument about how something can be fundamentally or morally wrong, just ask Jimmy Carr. In case you have been in a cave for the last couple of weeks he is a comedian (arguably) who was involved in a totally 100% Legal tax avoidance scheme.

Where does morality come into it, Mactronix? The Jimmy Carr comparison is mostly meaningless to the majority of posters here from outside the confines of the UK so are we to assume your "cave" is the rest of the world!

In his case, he burdened his fellow taxpayers by ducking out of paying his own and the Jury remains out over the issue of legality. This issue is one of data sharing and if you think BoM is out of order, don't go near Google, Facebook, Twitter and all those others who take all your contacts out of your system and link you to all their contacts.

Years ago, Six Degrees of Separation was worrying enough (I got to Stalin in two) but these days, it's closer to two degrees. I disagree with it and have sympathy with your view but it's reality and we have to accept it.

 

[mactronix]

Where does morality come into it, Mactronix? The Jimmy Carr comparison is mostly meaningless to the majority of posters here from outside the confines of the UK so are we to assume your "cave" is the rest of the world!

In his case, he burdened his fellow taxpayers by ducking out of paying his own and the Jury remains out over the issue of legality. This issue is one of data sharing and if you think BoM is out of order, don't go near Google, Facebook, Twitter and all those others who take all your contacts out of your system and link you to all their contacts.

Years ago, Six Degrees of Separation was worrying enough (I got to Stalin in two) but these days, it's closer to two degrees. I disagree with it and have sympathy with your view but it's reality and we have to accept it.

Well it was pretty big news but I was mindful that there is a large contingent on these boards who don't realise there is a world outside of the United states that's why the small explanation. It was posted on Twitter which I believe is a worldwide thing. Having no truck with either Twitter or Facebook im not placed to comment on how these sites might use peoples personal data.

@ ijack
Its the forum feedback section. I'm feeding back my opinion on an issue I disagree with. You obviously don't agree with my take on the situation. Duly noted, I did ask how others felt. What I didn't ask for was sarcastic comment.

Mactronix

 

[Ijack]

@ mactonix
Its the forum feedback section. I'm feeding back my opinion on an issue I don't disagree with. You obviously don't agree with my take on the situation. Duly noted, you did ask how others felt.

Pointing out the obvious sometimes comes across as sarcasm. It's just the way things are. You take something for free; you abide by the rules of the person providing that free service. You don't like it, you don't have to use the service. Too many people seem to think that they should have a say in how forums are run. That's up to the owners.

 

[mactronix]

@ mactonix
Its the forum feedback section. I'm feeding back my opinion on an issue I don't disagree with. You obviously don't agree with my take on the situation. Duly noted, you did ask how others felt.

Pointing out the obvious sometimes comes across as sarcasm. It's just the way things are. You take something for free; you abide by the rules of the person providing that free service. You don't like it, you don't have to use the service. Too many people seem to think that they should have a say in how forums are run. That's up to the owners.

Your funny

Posting that in this section is like standing in a river in flood and preaching that water does not exist.


@ randomizer

I think we are done here its getting troll like in places and I can only play nice for so long

Mactronix

 

[randomizer]

I'll take that as "please close this thread"