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Steve_freereeder
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1#
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Rank:none
Posts:405
Registered:01/07/2004
Time spent: 0 hours
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(Date Posted:06/10/2005 09:58:42)
Reply to : C age ing
Strange things are floating in front of my eyes on this board, and no alcohol passed my lips last night. Perhaps that's the cause.However, chasing these things across the screen will give rise to Repetitive Strain Injury. Who will be the first to sue on these grounds?Bill.
I think this means that Squeezy's subscription to the Aimoo message software has expired and we're now seeing the effects of a free board, with pop-up adverts. Horrible, isn't it? I'ved also noticed that the typing and editing speed on this screen is much reduced.
Perhaps we all need to club together (is that a Hohner Club? - groan) to pay for a new subscription and get back to normal. I'm willing to chip in. Anyone else?
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WheelieSqueeze
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2#
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Rank:none
Posts:59
Registered:24/08/2004
Time spent: 0 hours
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(Date Posted:06/10/2005 11:05:38)
I'd certainly contribute, but whilst we are at it couldn't we go for something like PhPbb?
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Whomper
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3#
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Rank:none
Posts:58
Registered:16/06/2005
Time spent: 0 hours
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(Date Posted:06/10/2005 11:36:04)
This is indeed what happens if you don't give Aimoo money. Bloody awful, and believe it not, it gets worse over time - the number of adverts will go up.
I'd be loathe for Squeezy to throw good money after bad. InvisionFree.com offers Invision based forums for free, with only Google Text Adverts, and you can pay to get rid of those. No popups, no floating weirdness, and far superior forum software.
I could set one up tonight in 20 minutes, then send the admin details to Squeezy. Then we can escape the twin terrors of Aimoo and the Floating Menace.
Thoughts?
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C age ing
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4#
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Registered:20/08/2005
Time spent: 0 hours
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(Date Posted:06/10/2005 12:40:28)
Surely there is a need to consult Squeezy as it is his site. Although an OAP, I would be more than willing to make a donation if that is the answer, as I enjoy this site, even if some/most of my contributions are rightfully frowned on. If we follow Whomper's suggestion, can we take the address with us?
Bill
post script:-Hell, I'm being serious, I'll have to take my medication.
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Open_G
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5#
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Rank:none
Posts:74
Registered:28/06/2004
Time spent: 0 hours
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(Date Posted:06/10/2005 12:47:03)
Or alternatively use Internet Explorer's settings to block the little buggers.
Click on Tools - Pop up Blocker - Pop Up Blocker Settings - then adjust the Filter Level to High
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Fee
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6#
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Registered:28/03/2004
Time spent: 0 hours
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(Date Posted:06/10/2005 13:14:59)
Reply to : Whomper
This is indeed what happens if you don't give Aimoo money. Bloody awful, and believe it not, it gets worse over time - the number of adverts will go up.I'd be loathe for Squeezy to throw good money after bad. InvisionFree.com offers Invision based forums for free, with only Google Text Adverts, and you can pay to get rid of those. No popups, no floating weirdness, and far superior forum software.I could set one up tonight in 20 minutes, then send the admin details to Squeezy. Then we can escape the twin terrors of Aimoo and the Floating Menace.Thoughts?
I think Squeezy's issue with this when we had the moderation discussions was that he didn't want to lose the old threads on this board. If an aimoo free board doesn't have any posts on it after a certain space of time, they close it down. I used aimoo for about six weeks last year and finally ditched it as the ads simply drive people away, awful, awful.
I then used a free phBB service at freeBB.com (they seem to have gone now too) and I've ended up at Proboards, who have unobtrusive top of page ads...and give you lots of opportunity to make it look how you want (though it helps to know a wee bit of html). Very similar to Whompers InvisionFree one, I see after a quick glance.
This is what our message board looks like (I never like to miss an opportunity to advertise  ):
http://coolasfolk.proboards28.com/index.cgi
Cheers
Fee
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Peter Brook
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7#
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Rank:none
Posts:103
Registered:12/03/2005
Time spent: 0 hours
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(Date Posted:06/10/2005 13:26:12)
Reply to : Open_G
Or alternatively use Internet Explorer's settings to block the little buggers.Click on Tools - Pop up Blocker - Pop Up Blocker Settings - then adjust the Filter Level to High
Sorry but this does not work on my machine even with blocker turned on and with settings on high.
If anyone is in contact with Squeezy they could ask him if we could migrate to another program. Concertina.net forum software is much better and I would be willing to pay a nominal fee for better functionality. Concertina.net did migrate about 18 months to two years ago and the posts from the previous sites were lost, however the forum is now as vital as it has ever been and the loss of those "legacy" posts does not seem to have harmed the community.
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Mike Gott
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8#
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Rank:none
Posts:264
Registered:05/06/2005
Time spent: 0 hours
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(Date Posted:06/10/2005 13:57:42)
This is happening with me too - and my weekday daytime access is during breaks at work on my work computer - which I do not have access to a lot of the settings and options on. To quote a colleague "somebody has hacked in with these". We also seem to have gained static adverts in with the screens.
Mike
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Triskel
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9#
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Rank:none
Posts:329
Registered:19/12/2004
Time spent: 0 hours
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(Date Posted:06/10/2005 14:27:54)
Reply to : Open_G
... use Internet Explorer's settings to block the little buggers.Click on Tools - Pop up Blocker - Pop Up Blocker Settings - then adjust the Filter Level to High
I've been using PopUpCop for the last few years and find it brilliant for dealing with websites that "misbehave", though it might take a little while to tweak it for all issues. You can allow or disallow popups from a website with one click.
You just need to crank up the level of filtering by one notch and those "strange floating things" are gone. 
Postscript : At least I thought they were, but it seems not to be as easy as that after all as they are still there initially, definitely more "tweaking" required, but at least it stops the pesky things "floating" around !
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andrew_w
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10#
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Rank:none
Posts:143
Registered:02/04/2005
Time spent: 0 hours
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(Date Posted:06/10/2005 16:43:56)
Hmmm, some thought's on this subject.
Personally, I think we are finding out what it is like to use web based discussion board services. If they close, up their charges, change their policy over what sort of adverts to run (or anything else), then you're stuffed.
Aimoo have our posts, and though they could release them, they won't because it is in their commercial interests to keep us bound and tied tightly into their system.
I would steer well away from any other "free" or webbased provider. There's no freedom in having our posts hijacked by yet another "service provider".
I notice that squeezy hosts melodeon.net at fasthosts, and I assume that he is paying for their cheapest package at ?.99 +VAT per month (that makes it around ?.70 per month in reality). For a little more we could have a Linux virtual server with a database that could easily run a discussion board or even a proper content management system like eZpublish.
With this, squeezy, and any helpers would have control over the content. We would not lose our posts (backup!) and not have to look at adverts we don't want...... as I said, control.
I would happily set up a little standing order to help pay for the site (as I'm sure others would as well) and lend my technical expertise in setting everything up.
Anyway, thanks to squeezy for starting this site, paying for the hosting and message boards (!!!) and then letting us all play. All hail chairman squeezy :-)
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Polkaholic
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11#
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Rank:none
Posts:316
Registered:18/07/2004
Time spent: 0 hours
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(Date Posted:06/10/2005 17:01:12)
It's about enough to discourage from coming here at all, so intensely do I resent those floaters. However, it seems that once you've clicked on about 5 or 6 links, and ignored the floating ads, they stop coming. Is this everybody's experience?
Steve
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Lin Erica
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12#
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Rank:none
Posts:224
Registered:01/08/2005
Time spent: 0 hours
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(Date Posted:06/10/2005 17:07:35)
Hi y'all
I'd be very happy to contribute to an advertless site
no technical experteese to offer though 
Lin
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C age ing
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13#
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Registered:20/08/2005
Time spent: 0 hours
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(Date Posted:06/10/2005 17:23:51)
Open G,
The same anti-blocker seems to work with Safari on a Mac. Thanks for making me look, now did I raise an unnesesarry panic? Yes, I know RTFM.
Bill
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Mike Gott
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14#
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Rank:none
Posts:264
Registered:05/06/2005
Time spent: 0 hours
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(Date Posted:06/10/2005 17:25:30)
Reply to : windy miller52
...I'd be very happy to contribute to an advertless site..
...me too. AND my favorite lookalike message icon has disappeared. I am however currently enjoying zapping the adverts though I can see this wearing off before too long. Has anybody bought a Wolf-Eyes Tactical Flashlight yet? 
Mike
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Whomper
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15#
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Rank:none
Posts:58
Registered:16/06/2005
Time spent: 0 hours
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(Date Posted:06/10/2005 18:01:35)
Well, just in case we need it, I've crafted a refuge in which users can hide during the floaty advert invasion.
I give you... Melodeon.not!
Actually, even if people do manage to cope with the floaty adverts, I'd appreciate it if you had a look and a play with this board. It's an example of what's offered by InvisionFree; a far better (IMO) message board system, with only small, stationary Google text adverts, and you can pay to get rid of those if necessary
Invision is the same forum software used by other folk instrument specific sites, like Concertina.net and Chiff & Fipple. Works a charm there.
People like myself and, I suspect Dazbo, are stuck using old work PCs which don't have the latest version of IE with pop-up blocking, or aren't able to customise our settings. The forum in its current state is untenable.
Certainly, new users will run a mile when they see floaty adverts. Brr.
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Peter Brook
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16#
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Rank:none
Posts:103
Registered:12/03/2005
Time spent: 0 hours
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(Date Posted:06/10/2005 18:38:32)
I think that would be lovely - I've already posted a message. Why don't we just all move anyway? Surely it's the people in the community and not the site/place that is important?
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Dazbo
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17#
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Registered:08/08/2004
Time spent: 0 hours
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(Date Posted:06/10/2005 18:47:29)
Well these pop ups seem to be getting worse.
I don't mind contributing to the cost of a new site ("I should think so too" I hear you all shout) as I seem to use it so much. 260+ messages tssk! tssk! What would my boss say[ isgusted;]
Darren
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andrew_w
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18#
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Rank:none
Posts:143
Registered:02/04/2005
Time spent: 0 hours
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(Date Posted:06/10/2005 19:09:40)
For the floating ads - try disabling javascipt and plugins for aimoo.com; that's solved it for me. I've no idea how to do that in Internet Explorer since I use Linux. In Konqueror you just go into the settings and add aimoo.com to the list of disabled sites.
As for immediately abandoning this forum, I think we ought to slow down a bit. Most people haven't posted on this thread, there are other options and we've no idea what squeezy thinks about it yet.
There may be a mouse on this forum, but I hadn't noticed any lemmings.
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Theo Gibb
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19#
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Rank:none
Posts:758
From: Great_britain 
Registered:30/06/2004
Time spent: 4850 hours
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(Date Posted:06/10/2005 20:10:46)
I'd be happy to move to another platform for the forum, and I'd not be too worried about loosing the existing threads if the result was a better structured and more reliable forum. I would also be willing to pay for advertising my services here. That is something that seems to work on concertina.net too, but I would only want to do this in a way which does not annoy visitors.
I am amazed at the amateurish way that Aimoo puts in their advertising. I actually thought that the board had been the subject of a hacker attack. I'm still not completely convinced that this is done deliberately by Aimoo. If it is then the sooner we ditch them the better.
We seem to have a number of people willing to help and with the appropriate technical knowledge. I think they need to get talking to squeezy so between them they can discuss the options and bring forward some proposals.
The community that has developed here is too good to loose.
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WheelieSqueeze
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20#
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Rank:none
Posts:59
Registered:24/08/2004
Time spent: 0 hours
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(Date Posted:06/10/2005 20:14:15)
Reply to : Theo Gibb
The community that has developed here is too good to loose.
Amen to that. Some of you have become almost like friends even though I have not, and may not, ever meet you.
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Polkaholic
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21#
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Rank:none
Posts:316
Registered:18/07/2004
Time spent: 0 hours
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(Date Posted:06/10/2005 23:43:12)
I'm using Opera. After clicking five links and seeing five floaters floating and not closing them , they stop coming. Very annoying but at least they stop. I'm surprised that you're all mounting plans to move somewhere else without hearing what John S has to say about it all. He might just have to pony up a few shekels to make the site ad-free for another spell, and we could all chip in for that.
Mind you I agree that the board software is far from the best, and having all the posts here under the control of aimoo is definitely a bad idea.
Here's what happened at Chiff and Fipple about 5 years ago. Until then their forum was hosted by Coolboard, which shut all their free forums down with about two weeks' notice. The webmonkey, as he calls himself, who hosted and set up the current phpBB forums (Rich Lafferty) wrote a script to save every last page of the old CoolBoard forum (several thousand of them), which he then turned into a searchable archive. Which doesn't seem to work any more but nobody minds that much because there's now 5 years worth of blah blah in the present forums.
So in the event of a migration, perhaps some clever web, um, simian, amongst us could do the same here?
Steve
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Open_G
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22#
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Rank:none
Posts:74
Registered:28/06/2004
Time spent: 0 hours
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(Date Posted:06/10/2005 23:53:45)
I've tried turning the filter off for a while and it doesn't really bother me too much, so I will follow the consensus- Don't move out without telling me though
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Whomper
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23#
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Rank:none
Posts:58
Registered:16/06/2005
Time spent: 0 hours
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(Date Posted:07/10/2005 01:18:20)
I've only really set up Melodeon.not to show people what Invision's like, and give people who can't abide the adverts somewhere to post. I'm not proposing we all abandon this place pronto.
InvisionFree are a good provider, though - I use a board with at least 600 members, unpaid, and the adverts don't get any worse than Google Text. Certainly no floaters.
I wouldn't propose a general move without Mr Squeezy's consent. But I do think we should get off Aimoo as soon as possible, and not throw good money after bad to be held hostage by godawful floating adverts.
As for those thinking the forum's been hacked, it hasn't - this is Aimoo's business model. You open a forum, and for about 20 days it has no adverts at all. Then the text adverts for Tactical Flashlights come up, then about a week later the floaters arrive, making the site next to unusable on some machines. The idea is that you pay up, or lose your month's worth of posting. Pen discovered this when she used an Aimoo board for her choir, and it sounds like Fee's had a similar experience.
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andrew_w
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24#
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Rank:none
Posts:143
Registered:02/04/2005
Time spent: 0 hours
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(Date Posted:07/10/2005 03:41:45)
Reply to : Whomper
I've only really set up Melodeon.not to show people what Invision's like, and give people who can't abide the adverts somewhere to post. I'm not proposing we all abandon this place pronto.InvisionFree are a good provider, though - I use a board with at least 600 members, unpaid, and the adverts don't get any worse than Google Text. Certainly no floaters.I wouldn't propose a general move without Mr Squeezy's consent. But I do think we should get off Aimoo as soon as possible, and not throw good money after bad to be held hostage by godawful floating adverts.As for those thinking the forum's been hacked, it hasn't - this is Aimoo's business model. You open a forum, and for about 20 days it has no adverts at all. Then the text adverts for Tactical Flashlights come up, then about a week later the floaters arrive, making the site next to unusable on some machines
I, summat. spliighgddfrghhh........, it's Friday night and I've just got back from playing / drinking!!!!! (flo bol lob boo lob bu lob ....!!!)
Hullooo whomper, I wasn't really aiming my comments at you, I was just afraid that things might get a "head of steam" and go off in some daft direction. Has anyone emailed squeezy about this yet?
Hey! we went round the the house of one of our band members, after the session tonight, and she had one of those cheapy chinese kids accordions (melodeons) with which, to to her amazement, I regaled everyone with a selection of tunes :-)
They are surprisingly in tune and all that. However, they are still pretty crap (but amazing for a tenner).
I tried to take it apart to have a look inside. Sadly, I got three pins out, but the fourth wouldn't budge (trust me, I tried!).
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NorthernMelodeon
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25#
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Rank:none
Posts:346
Registered:27/06/2004
Time spent: 0 hours
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(Date Posted:07/10/2005 04:29:19)
Reply to : Whomper
Then the text adverts for Tactical Flashlights come up, then about a week later the floaters arrive, making the site next to unusable on some machines
Today I sold off all my Castagnaris, and am eagerly awaiting the delivery of a massive cargo load of Tactical Flashlights. Without Aimoo's brilliant marketing, I would never have discovered this wonderful and useful product: the Tactical Flashlight. My wife is planning a commando raid on the neighbor's house as I write this. Once we receive our Tactical Flashlights, we'll be sure to be "on target," even in the dark.
Thank you Aimoo.
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Triskel
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26#
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Rank:none
Posts:329
Registered:19/12/2004
Time spent: 0 hours
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(Date Posted:07/10/2005 07:41:34)
Reply to : ecadre
Hey! we went round the the house of one of our band members, after the session tonight, and she had one of those cheapy chinese kids accordions (melodeons) with which, to to her amazement, I regaled everyone with a selection of tunes :-)
They are surprisingly in tune and all that. However, they are still pretty crap (but amazing for a tenner).
S'funny, I took one of them to the session last night for the craic, instead of my usual box. People really are amazed when they hear a few tunes played on one.
And I find the range of notes is actually more useful than that on a Giordy !
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Triskel
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27#
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Rank:none
Posts:329
Registered:19/12/2004
Time spent: 0 hours
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(Date Posted:07/10/2005 07:43:33)
Reply to : Theo Gibb
I would also be willing to pay for advertising my services here. That is something that seems to work on concertina.net too, but I would only want to do this in a way which does not annoy visitors.
Me too !
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Steve_freereeder
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28#
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Rank:none
Posts:405
Registered:01/07/2004
Time spent: 0 hours
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(Date Posted:07/10/2005 09:42:00)
Reply to : ecadre
...... Has anyone emailed squeezy about this yet? ........
Yes - I sent him an e-mail as soon as I discovered the floaters, around 8:00 am BST on Friday 7th October, but have not had a reply so far. I think Fee is the peson who sees him most regularly. Any contact, Fee?
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C age ing
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29#
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Registered:20/08/2005
Time spent: 0 hours
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(Date Posted:07/10/2005 11:20:55)
Polkaholic is right the floaters stop coming after a short while, so is it really going to get worse?
This is a Mac, and we must know if all Macs are showing the same results whatever browser is being used? We know the Linux crew can cope, but are our less favoured companions using Windoze able to weather the storm? (That should get a good inter-operating system row going.)
I'm beginning to think I did a Corporal Jones, and have found one snag, possibly curable, on dotnot. It only records subsequent editing if the editor so chooses.
Bill
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Johnno
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30#
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Registered:28/06/2004
Time spent: 0 hours
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(Date Posted:07/10/2005 11:54:28)
Reply to : C age ing
Polkaholic is right the floaters stop coming after a short while, so is it really going to get worse?This is a Mac, and we must know if all Macs are showing the same results whatever browser is being used? We know the Linux crew can cope, but are our less favoured companions using Windoze able to weather the storm?
I'm using Firefox with the Noscript plugin and this now seems to have stopped the floaters on my Windoze PC.
Paul
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