I sent this e-mail to Fodors. Maybe other will do the same if they agree.

Fodors,
If you please, please stop the annoying-as-can-be "poop ups" (not to be confused with a "pop up"). The latest one I see is Goofy, the Disney character, cooking something. AND HE CAN'T BE CLOSED!

Really, it's annoying as hell.

Thanks,
Tim
St. Charles, IL

CubFan,

Go to your browser preferences, check block pop-ups box. Done deal. No more pop ups.

Between Firefox and my firewall from Norton I don't see those poopy things.

What I cannot yet figure is how to block them with IE. I have scanned everything on the drop down boxes and I cannot find an entry to check off, or to click on to activate. The help index says nothing that I have yet found.

What words of wisdom do you have for me?

Goofy can be closed - but they have hidden the "x" and keep moving it. It used to be in upper right corner near the message title banner, but of late it is on the upper left.

The maddening thing is that they keep moving it so you have the search the ad for the "x" so you have to look at frying pan guy while searching.

I'm using IE ( but on a Mac) and I've never seen these "Goofy" or "Dumbo" things that people complain about so bitterly. Not sure how I managed it. I do access the boards through a "Favorites" (bookmark) that goes straight to the US board, rather than starting out higher-up in the Fodors website . Also, I do get pop-unders sometimes, but I never get any popups anyplace; maybe another family member installed a popup blocker software for us.

'morning, gail! Wasn't the dawn beautiful today?

Knute,

Thanks for the advice. Like bob_brown, I can't find the specifics in IE.

I even have two pop up blockers (Google and Panicware), but they don't stop the "floaters" like Goofy.

I've heard people with Firefox don't see these annoying things. Unfortunately, I can't change my browser as my computer is owned by my company.

I'm an Apple user and we never have to deal with those annoyances. We may have to pay more for our computers but it's well worth the extra cost.

I'm in the same situation as CubFanAlways (except that I am a CubFanNever) but I have stopped them completely at home.

Do they have any idea how counter-productive those pop-ups are to their businesses! They are.

If they had any notion whatsoever that the pop-ups were counter-productive to the money they would disappear very quickly I am certain.

I despise popups, but becasue of my browser settings, haven't seen any in a long time.

I just hope that Fodor's doesn't start using those nasy slide-ins.

Keith

Keith - tell us your browser settings.

I've had no problems with either IE or Foxfire. All I'm going to state is to look into what the "hosts" file is, and how to use it to take care of a lot of web-browsing problems.

If you cannot "get to" the "X" to close the box, look down on the task bar for the icon that represents the pop-up. Right click on it, then choose "Close". Faster & easier than trying to position the mouse on the "x".

Keith, I think we're talking about the same thing? Goofy might be a "slide in". (Just got a "slide down" from Nature Valley as I was typing this!)Your IE settings might be helful to us. Rb, there is no box at the bottom; I know what you mean by that, but it's not there.

Hey, if a lot of us send Fodors the email, maybe they'll cease these annoying things.

Check this out:
http://www.mvps.org/winhelp2002/hosts.htm

Will writing Fodors accomplish anything? I doubt it. We're all going to still be here. Admit it. We're travel-board junkies and must have our fix. I'm sure Fodor's marketing has confirmed that, and we're not generating the revenue for Fodors that the popups do. After all, this website is free. Popups are a cost of being free.

Check the above, or do some research and stop these problems, not only when reading Fodors, but at other websites too.

I don't use Internet Explorer, except for the rare website that I can't use otherwise. Take a look at using firefox.

You will also reduce your problems with spyware and other harmful programs. They are mostly written to harm people using IE.

Keith

Don't seem 'em with Safari either. I know nothing about the field of advertising, but these ads must be effective or they wouldn't appear here. To the advertiser, negative reaction from the target (us) to the ads is evidently preferable to no reaction at all. Notice how much attention Disney has gotten in this thread.

"I know nothing about the field of advertising, but these ads must be effective or they wouldn't appear here."

I'm in advertising. A common comment is that only 10% of advertising is effective, and we don't know which 10% it is.

Keith

LOL poop ups

And I absolutely agree, that Goofy on drugs is very annoying.

I use Firefox and I get the Goofy popups.