I am leaving due to the consent message.

My husband pays for a US paper. I don’t see why we shouldn’t have to pay for it, we would have to do so if it was in print format after all.

The simple act of turning off targeted adverts should be easy though. Just show me “any old stuff” advert-wise instead of trying to “target” me and I am likely to ignore them but I won’t complain.

EllanVannin

The Independent newspaper wants you to stump up money before they allow you to research anything on their site.
Wikipedia is the same with certain information. The Guardian is trying but you can usually grab a few lines of what you want.

I don't see what;s so wrong with the papers online requesting payment. If nobody paid then they would cease to exist.

I've never seen the pop up, I have an ad blocker so never see any ads.
I do have a message at the bottom of my screen which tells me to remove or disable the blocking software but I ignore it.
I'm aware there's no such thing as a free lunch but if they want me to subscribe they should ask me to.

Good luck with that idea Grandad1943, you only have to look at the plea by Wikipedia and one of the national newspapers website, The Guardian I think, who plea for a regular subscription, it's not forthcoming.

Ive just ignored it all. ?

Only just seen this thread and I followed each of Lara's links and they all told me the link didn't work! Please could someone send me a link which does work? Thanks

I remember in the olden days, someone wrote a letter to the papers to say they never watched the adverts on TV, but went and made a cuppa instead. They were castigated by another reader, who said it was their duty to watch the ads. Not just to have them appear on the screen, but to sit obediently and watch them and be brainwashed into buying what they didn't need, with money they couldn't afford.

At the time, I though that I would rather pay for a TV license than submit to the constant drip of peer pressure to buy, buy, buy. Now, I read through the TV offerings for the evening, and there are stacks of channels devoted ONLY to marketing things to buy with one click - they don't even list the entertainment you could watch in between the ads, just the latest must-have money drainer being eulogised, because there isn't any entertainment.

I wonder whether we would have been in a better place in the economy if there had been no commercial channels ever, if there were only a dozen channels with different kinds of programmes, to be watched by those who had chosen to pay a subscription fee, as they would have paid for a season ticket to their football team or their seat at the theatre or the cinema, or whatever the themes of the channels were.

Charleygirl5

I have a very good call blocking system so I have not seen an advert for yonks.

Yes, and those advertising blocking systems are the reason so many forums are now being forced to bring forward subscription membership structures.

Advertisers wish to have their adverts seen or they do not give revenue to forums such as this. Without that revenue forums, such as this cannot survive unless they bring in subscription membership.

There is no such thing as a free lunch.

I have a very good call blocking system so I have not seen an advert for yonks.

Well, I believe with all the discontent GN should bring forward a straightforward membership subscription system.

Fifty-five pounds per year should enable those that have invested in GN to end advertising on the site and therefore the need to agree to cookie information etc.

The above would obviously keep all forum members perfectly content well into the foreseeable future.

Perfect solution. ??

I only had to move ne button once. I have no idea what is going on.

NotSpaghetti

Had to do this wretched form AGAIN today. Turned off 46 permissions.
I don’t care what you say Laura I have done this NOWHERE else.

I have now repeated this exercise FOUR times

I use my mobile more and more for google and that means GN.

I'm fed up with every time having to give my consent! I don't want to every time untick the "Legitimate interest" ones. 32 of them

I don't want to leave them blue - meaning on. After doing it 32 times I submit the update but when I go back on at a later time that same day, there they are BLUE again. Day in day out.

So GNHQ I'm not smiling. Why can't you make it just one box (Consent Yes/No) or once preferences are updated, take our word for and don't keep on asking. Why is it just my mobile. It doesn't happen when I use my laptop.

I too have not had to do this anywhere else on my mobile. Once preferences have been updated they stay like that.

Noe that I have stopped fighting the "legitimate interest" sliders and left them blue at "on" I still have to tick that I am "happy" every time I log in.

I don't have to do this at any other site where I have stated my choices.

Had to do this wretched form AGAIN today. Turned off 46 permissions.
I don’t care what you say Laura I have done this NOWHERE else.

I have now repeated this exercise FOUR times

We are always going to have adverts unless we pay for Gransnet - I'm OK with that. The issue here is opting out of unnecessary intrusion and data collection and marketing.

On the "Official" thread, Lara says they HAVE to do much of it this way -
She said:
a lot of that is dictated by the IAB so is out of our hands

However Gransnet is the ONLY website where I have to move around 40 sliders to "opt out".

So this is clearly not true.
Even on the IAB's own website they have ONE opt out button!
www.iabuk.com/

choice? There is no choice!

Hi all,(this is copied )

As of this afternoon many of you will have noticed a new consent form pop up. Apologies for the late notice - we'd hoped to get a post up earlier to give you advance warning but our resources were focused on getting it up and running as quickly and efficiently as possible.

As a responsible publisher we follow the recommendations of the Internet Advertising Bureau (IAB UK) - here's a bit more information about them.

The IAB asks that we allow users to say if you consent to your data being used or not. We've been doing this for quite a while now and this is the pop-up you would have previously seen when you came to Gransnet.

What's happened is that as of tomorrow the IAB is brining in a new standard that publishers have to comply with. The new standard gives the user even more choice over the data that can be collected and used - which is why you are now seeing a new pop-up with far more privacy options.
Whilst it may look a bit OTT it's actually been designed by the IAB to make it better for users and give you more control.

So please don't be worried about this new pop-up - it will in fact give you more information and choice over your privacy.

Hope this helps smile
GNHQ

there is no such thing as a free lunch"

Then be honest about it! Be open and above board and say "You've chosen not to pay a subscription fee to access this site so we have to raise revenue via advertising. This is not optional". Instead, it's been presented as something that can be opted out of. But you can't.

Bobbysgirl19

Many sites can only survive from advertising revenue. I suppose the alternative maybe to charge a membership subscription, so it’s a tricky one!

I believe if my memory is correct that GN "floated" the idea of subscription membership some months back.

A significant number of forum members advised in very strong terms that they would not pay such a subscription and they would leave the forum.

So, it would seem that consent for targeted advertising is not wanted along with subscription membership which leaves the answer as to what?

Remember the old adage that states " there is no such thing as a free lunch".

When I opened my Yahoo mail this morning I was greeted by another (similar) misleading post about the same thing.
I went through it, didn't understand it, and put every option into NO and clicked Submit.
So far everything seems normal.
Is this going to be on every site now?
(I agree about the disappointingly shoddy clothing adverts)

Wouldn’t mind the adverts if they were not mostly for substandard clothes from dodgy Chinese manufacturers which on arrival look nothing like the publicity photo!!!!

I'd just like to know what the "Legitimate Interest" is?

I usually just agree to everything as my memory is too bad to have secrets, but now I want to know!

It's about GN turning a profit for its owners and in that surviving.

Nothing is worse for the owner of a business than finding that you have worked very long hours overcoming all manner of problems but then find that you and that business have made no profit out of all that effort.

Simple as that.

Many sites can only survive from advertising revenue. I suppose the alternative maybe to charge a membership subscription, so it’s a tricky one!

A “fait accomplis” ☹️