I am having the same trouble. It's ridiculous.

I never used to have a problem, but about three/four weeks ago that started happening to me. It's very irritating...

Same problem on my iPad.

I was about to report the same thing. These pop-ups have become so intrusive that the forum posts are now almost unreadable. GW has been a great source of inspiration and advice, but now it feels like every "conversation" is being repeatedly interrupted.

Use firefox and download Adblocker Plus (or get Adblocker for other browsers). it's free, and you'll never see another ad. If it works, give them a donation to thank them - it's run only by donation. (no affiliation, just a very satisfied consumer).

Here's a post copied from another thread telling you how to disable the vibrant ads...

"I got a reply from GW people this morning to do the following to stop the ads. It involves the green underlined words we sometimes see, but it stopped the obnoxious ads.

"I apologize for any inconvenience these ads as have caused you. We appreciate getting feedback from our members, and I have reported the pop-up issue to our community manager.

In the meantime, you should be able to opt-out of the in-line (green underlined) texts by following these instructions:

1. When you're on a GardenWeb page, hover your cursor on the double-underlined word, but don't click it. You will see an advertisement open in a pop-up box.

2. In the upper-left corner of the box, click the 'V' logo. A new browser window will open the Vibrant in-text advertising page.

3. Scroll partially down this page, and click the 'Disable' tab. Click 'Click here to disable.' The page should update to now say 'Click here to enable.'

4. Close the Vibrant in-text advertising browser window, then once you refresh your main browser window the Vibrant in-text advertising should disappear."

I was just reading how these ads and banners are a primary source for becoming infected with malware. I would be hesitant to click on the site to disable them.
Even clicking the close button could launch malicious code.

They sure are one more source of the annoying frequent interruptions and intrusions we run into by sales & marketing people. They are constantly in your face. It is getting ridiculous.

Did they turn them off? I am not seeing them tonight.

olychick, I always use Firefox on my Mac. I'm not a very techy person, so can you tell me where I would go to download Adblocker Plus? Since snookums says the other way could cause further problems, I'd like to try Adblocker.
Thanks!

OMG, thank you thank you thank you thank you.

They're highly annoying. Instead of the site providing instructions on blocking them, perhaps they could switch their advertising revenue to something less obnoxious. I used to visit this site multiple times a day, but have pulled back because of how annoying I find these ads.

i, too, do not post or visit as often as I used to. As snookums mentioned, my computer began exibiting strange behavior on this site and I notified GW about possible malware. When clicking on windows within gardenweb, I would be redirected to other sites that would try to get me to download "critical" updates.

If you are using a mac and prefer Safari, just go to the safari preferences>extensions>get extensions and download Safari adblock.

Thanks 'olychick', that worked great!

It's been horrible. I was also getting redirects for a while which, it seems hard to believe, were even worse! Today it's better though, maybe they're off?

olychick, followed those instructions and they are GONE! Thank you!

I've used AdblockPlus/Firefox for several years. I'm not seeing ads, but occasionally I see the green hyperlinks. When I scroll over one, or hover, nothing happens. It's not every thread--I don't know why it's happening.

Edited to correct sp.

This post was edited by mama_goose on Wed, Jan 28, 15 at 18:59

There is no harm in following the instructions olychick posted. Despite their ads being annoying, Vibrant is a legit company and not out to infect people with malware. If they discovered that one of their customers was infecting people with malware through their websites, they would be terminated. Also, Gardenweb would not do business with an ad provider that redirected people to malware. Where you have to be careful of malware is spam email and those random sketchy websites.

The VibrantAds disable option posted above did the trick. Many thanks!

My inclination is to avoid Gardenweb until the ads are removed as I'm having difficulty removing the pop ups.

Same issue. I was cursing out loud earlier today!

Yay, it worked! Thanks olychick!

Ok, I must try the instructions by Olychick! Thank you!

Ok, I opted out of 78 companies pop-up ads and had to report two companies that would not let me opt-out!

bicycle girl, and others, here is the safe site for adblock plus. If you use a browser other than firefox, just click on the icons to the right of the green bar that says "install for firefox" to find the right browser.

https://adblockplus.org/

Please understand that the correct name is Adblock plus not adblocker or any other sound alike name you want to be sure to get the correct and safe one.
This is an add on to the browser so you need to select the version for the browser you are using.
The real adblock plus will have a red stop sign with ABP in it.
Available at adblockplus.org

I often see similar names being used and that has led to improper programs being installed and dealing with that.

ABP is an excellent add on. In the settings area you should uncheck the option to allow certain ads. Also make sure you have the easylist filter added to the filter preferences in settings.

The opt out trick is short lived, if you clear the browser cache, cookies, history etc it must be reset.
It never worked for me.

Thank you, olychick and ravencajun! I've been cussing these green underlined ads ever since GW started adding them. I have opted out of Intellitext so many times, each time clearing cookies and cache. Initially, it worked but then it didn't and no matter how often I went to the Intellitext opt-out site, I couldn't get it to work again. So, like nanj, I kept my cursor to the side to keep them at bay but that trick failed me in recent weeks as the ads popped up on their own. Grrrrrr!

I thought I had Adblock Plus already installed but either I didn't or what I had was outdated. I just installed it again and, oh, happy day, the wretched green underlined ads are *finally* gone!!! Thank you, thank you!

I will NEVER buy from companies that use this type of obnoxious advertising.

adblock plus worked for me,,

thanks so much....

FYI: just read on cooking forum that GW has joined Houzz, its under a thread about the pop-ups, its still on first page as of now...

Yes it could have something to do with all the bad ads suddenly.
Garden Web is indeed now owned by Houzz here's a link

Here is a link that might be useful: Garden Web Has joined the Houzz family

thanks ravencajun for posting the link :)

Well, that's disappointing. I remember when GardenWeb was a li'l ole website that was just great! Now it's so full of ads. And yes, for the past week, I've been unable to read posts because there are so many pop up ads. I was thinking of just abandoning GardenWeb. It got very add-y after iVillage bought it, with those floating things that zoomed across the screen, but I haven't noticed those recently.

Today, though, I haven't seen a single pop-up ad!

Wonder what happened? Perhaps they heard us complaining!

Nope, I think Gardenweb may have just been bought by HOUZZ, therefore no ads necessary. Money stream elsewhere.