Once and for all: How to stop the iVillage ad onslaught. First we need to understand how it's done: iVillage doesn't bother to try and buy ads directly from all the various companies that show up on the pages of GW. Instead they use large ad-service agencies like doubleclick, akamai and pointroll. You can visit some of these sites if you'd like to see who's behind the ads. http://www.akamai.com http://www.doubleclick.com/us http://pointroll.com This makes it easy to block out all or almost all of the ads very easily, just block the originating sites. Right now all the ads on GW come from: http://amch.questionmarket.com http://a820.g.akamai.net http://iv.doubleclick.net http://i.ivillage.com http://m.2mdn.net http://tste.ivillage.com http://img-cdn.mediaplex.com http://ads.vmirror.com http://cmhtml.ivillage.overture.com http://ads.pointroll.com The Universal Solution.This will work on Windows systems for all browsers; IE, FireFox and Netscape. The Windows operating system provides a system-level method to block specific IP addresses before they even get to the browser. To effect this solution you need to edit a Windows system file called hosts. This file is located in the directory: Windows XP: C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM32\DRIVERS\ETC Windows 2K: C:\WINNT\SYSTEM32\DRIVERS\ETC Windows 98: C:\WINDOWS Open the file in Notepad. Cut the following from this post and paste it to the end of the file. 127.0.0.1 amch.questionmarket.com 127.0.0.1 a820.g.akamai.net 127.0.0.1 iv.doubleclick.net 127.0.0.1 i.ivillage.com 127.0.0.1 m.2mdn.net 127.0.0.1 tste.ivillage.com 127.0.0.1 img-cdn.mediaplex.com 127.0.0.1 ads.vmirror.com 127.0.0.1 cmhtml.ivillage.overture.com 127.0.0.1 ads.pointroll.com Edit each entry so that there is a tab between the IP address 127.0.0.1 and the URLs. Save the file and you're finished. Close and re-open your browser and all the ads will be gone. Unfortunately, iVillage may in the future buy ads from a new source. In this event the new ad source will have to be added to the list. The IE solution.Most of the ads are placed using Java$cript. You can remove the more offensive ads in IE with the browser settings. You can't however remove them all. To improve GW using IE do the following: From the menu select Tools -> Internet Options -> Security and click on Custom Level. Scroll down to the end of the list and you'll see an entry for Scripting. Disable all the sub-entries. Now select the tab labeled Privacy. In the bottom of the box that appears check on the option to block pop-ups. I recommend you also click on the button Advanced and select the option to block Third-party Cookies. NOTE: By disabling Scripting you will also effect the way other websites behave. You may need to get used to switching scripting on and off as desired. That's why this is the least desirable of these various options. The FireFox solutionThis is an excellent choice -- it's the fastest...

Hi everyone, We know how much you love GardenWeb and we are always striving to make things better. We do listen to your suggestions and we've received many comments asking us to better target products and services for this audience. We are very interested in your feedback and would appreciate your thoughts on the following questions. Feel free to cut and paste them into your posting window and reply below each question. If you have any concerns or comments that are not related to these specific questions, please feel free to contact me. My direct email address is listed on my profile. We hope you'll take a few moments to join our focus group and share your thoughts. Thanks! Tamara 1. Would you be interested in receiving special offers available exclusively to GardenWeb users? yes, but not in pop ups or emails 2. How would you like to receive offers from GardenWeb - product offers or service offers? Email? Posts to the forum pages? A dedicated deal page? Dedicated deal page 3. What types of products and services would you be most interested in seeing offered? discounts from websites and free shipping. a decent discount like 15-25 percent at least 4. What are you looking for now that Gardenweb could help you find? seeds, bulbs, garden flags, plants 5. From which retailers/service providers would you like to receive offers? Those with good ratings from garden watchdog. 6. What would entice you to take advantage of an offer? good sale and free shipping. Also a company with a good reputation.

I use Windows Live Mail that gets my server mail. There are 2 ways to block it in there. I maybe get one spam a year, it usually something I have done to receive it. It is not because I blocked it. A tech from my server told me to make a unique email address and it will stop most spam. He said he didn't get any spam. A lot of people say this doesn't work but it does for me. I make an addy that only makes sense to me using an old street address number mixed in with my initials alternating numbers and letters.

Harry - All's forgiven. You've always been one of my favorite curmudgeons. ;) Just a note to everyone about the worry about rights and ownership of content. Houzz's terms of use is really no different than most websites -- it's pretty standard boilerplate language. GardenWeb's terms were nearly identical. Basically, it means that you will always own your photos, but if you post them on the site, Houzz has the right to use them. Some of you might remember a similar brouhaha when NBC acquired GW. I know that it sounds a bit scary, but it really isn't. GardenWeb would feature photos on Facebook or in FAQs or on the side rail of the site. That eye candy is what hooks people! ;) Also, search engines - like Google - are pretty efficient. They have robots that crawl sites and index information constantly and that's why you will see your photos out there so quickly. GardenWebbers have always been so generous in sharing your knowledge and photos and I hope that you'll continue to help others in this way.