Sleezy Downloads

Posts: 4 · Phred 28 Dec 2020, 03:23

Looking forward to using the software. It looks wonderfully simple and effective.
Always a bit surprised why open source downloads always surrounded by really sleazy download sites. Seems like a contest to see how many sketchy crappy downloads you can be tricked into downloading before you get the download you really want. It makes the whole process seem dishonest and corrupt which is a real pity as many of the open source stuff is pretty decent.

Posts: 8 · techtech 30 Dec 2020, 05:11

Wholeheartedly agree. Could not have said it better myself. I was surprised people are not bringing it up all the time. made me think I was the only one "overly moral".

Posts: 143 · Radish 31 Dec 2020, 11:56

Eh? Don't know where you're getting your download from but it sounds kind of dodgy to me. Here are the official download pages and no sleaze of any kind involved:

Download the Latest Version
Archive - Download Older Versions

Posts: 3592 · xCSxXenon 31 Dec 2020, 15:33

I can only think of two possibilities:
1. You aren't on the right url
2. You don't have adblocker

Easy solutions:
1. Go to the right links
2. Get ublock origin

Posts: 4 · Phred 1 Jan 2021, 22:58

I got the URL directly from Source Forge-which had a link to freefilessynch webpage (which was kind of odd in itself, but not uncommon). The app download page has 3 large sleezy download buttons which both say "Download Now" kind of thing, and you get some software you had not expected or wanted.
https://freefilesync.org/download.php
Are we talking Windows or Linux? As the Linux experience is probably quite different.

Posts: 3592 · xCSxXenon 2 Jan 2021, 15:40

This is what it looks like for me, disabled uBlock origin. Looks fine here.
You should install an adblocker

Posts: 7050 · Zenju 2 Jan 2021, 18:01

For everyone who donated a cookie is set that gets rid of all the ads on freefilesync.org. That explains why not everyone sees them (... who isn't otherwise using an ad-blocker).

But generally I agree the current ads are quite sleazy: They are the ones that probably pay the most on Google AdSense, so they are shown most of the time. To help in this regard I've manually reviewed the top few hundred ads and got rid of these "start now", "download now" type of misleading ads, even if it probably costs some amount of revenue (how much I don't know, but a less-sleazy website is hopefully something the FFS users will recognize over time, so I'm willing to take this bet).

Also got rid of the top header ad on download.php. This is by far the top performing ad and will definitively cost significant ad revenue. On the other hand it might take away from the "Support the Project" message, so ideally a few extra donations could cover that, which would be a win-win. Let's see how this works out.

Posts: 3592 · xCSxXenon 2 Jan 2021, 21:38

Always a tough decision on the ad/revenue balance! Hopefully donations can offset and ease the pain. The manual work to remove the misleading ads is a very awesome move, thanks Zenju!

Posts: 4 · Phred 3 Jan 2021, 02:32

Much impressed! I don't think anyone has every replied to my posts before so I'm in awe...!
I generally don't use the adblockers as I always feel like it supports the apps (however small). But if sleezy ads are the result, then I just may go down that path. I was going to wait a bit before making a donation and see if the software is up to snuff, but I think I already know the answer.
Cheers all and Happy New Year!

Posts: 3592 · xCSxXenon 3 Jan 2021, 15:51

I do agree with that! Luckily, uBlock can easily be disabled for a website and it remembers that choice for subsequent visits

Posts: 8 · techtech 5 Jan 2021, 09:32

First of all, I would like to thank Zenju for such an amazing quality software and extreme responsiveness. A solid action was completely unexpected let alone the timing of it. Awesome job, thank you!

By the way, I would not mind to see "DONATE" buttons and banners in more places on the web site. Put them everywhere. I sincerely wish and hope it might bring more revenue.

I just wanted to comment in response to other people's discussion about adblock, even though no longer much relevant, but i could not resist. Blaming the end user for not having ad blocker when they saw misleading ads is similar to someone shooting into a crows and then blaming victims that it is their fault for not wearing a bulletproof vest.

But thankfully Zenju to the rescue. And very honourable action.

All the best and happy New Year!