What?! A link to purchase a DVD about actor Bob Crane? "Auto Focus"

bonitap · 10-15-2019, 03:02 PM - **1 Like**

I didn't mean to notice "Shop related" at the bottom of a page, but an ad for the DVD "Auto Focus" did catch my eye. It was a real double take. I swear I heard BOINGGG as my eyeballs popped back into their sockets.

How did this depressing and scuzzy biographical TV movie find a place on Pentax Forums? Okay, there is that title, "Auto Focus." Of course, it might be inevitable that something called "Auto Focus" would get onto a busy website about taking photos with a particular line of cameras.

Does the 1960s sitcom "Hogan's Heroes" ring a bell? It was about US prisoners of war in a German stalag doing all they could to make fun of their German guards and their officers. I was in elementary school at the time -- back when a family would sit in the living room to watch one of the three family-friendly network shows that evening.

I watched "Auto Focus" during an interminably slow night of post-surgical recuperation…and regretted using two precious hours I'll never get back. It left me feeling slimed. I could have made it through life without needing to know about Crane's addictive behaviors that play a part in his death by beating. TV actor Bob Craine had at least two addictions: he just had to have the latest video cameras and equipment so he could record his other addiction -- countless sexual encounters (mostly with women) and solitary activities when a woman was not at hand.

Sadly, after his Hogan days, Crane had to do game shows and tour in dinner theater to earn money for alimony and children -- and video hobbies. Sadder yet, he was murdered in his motel room where his gear was set up to record every woman he got into bed. The investigators probably wished that his video camera had caught the attack: It took several decades before they thought they knew who the killer was.

His "best friend," often participating in the recordings as videographer, voyeur, and competitor was the salesman who kept Crane in the latest developments in the new and growing photo and video industry. Crane used that man who ended up wanting to claim Crane as an intimate friend. (After all, they'd watch old videos and try to remember the names of the women and the cities -- and each of the men would take matters into their own hands, so to say, as they admired the images of their prowess.)

Trust me: I'd feel better if the stray DVDs on Pentax Forums were about Ansel Adams, Photoshop hints, the history of Pentax / Ricoh, or "Winged Migration" with its fabulous camera work that sure has humbled and inspired this birding photographer.

MarkJerling · 10-15-2019, 03:17 PM - **1 Like**

Originally posted by bonitap

I didn't mean to notice "Shop related" at the bottom of a page, but an ad for the DVD "Auto Focus" did catch my eye. It was a real double take. I swear I heard BOINGGG as my eyeballs popped back into their sockets.

How did this depressing and scuzzy biographical TV movie find a place on Pentax Forums? Okay, there is that title, "Auto Focus." Of course, it might be inevitable that something called "Auto Focus" would get onto a busy website about taking photos with a particular line of cameras.

Does the 1960s sitcom "Hogan's Heroes" ring a bell? It was about US prisoners of war in a German stalag doing all they could to make fun of their German guards and their officers. I was in elementary school at the time -- back when a family would sit in the living room to watch one of the three family-friendly network shows that evening.

I watched "Auto Focus" during an interminably slow night of post-surgical recuperation…and regretted using two precious hours I'll never get back. It left me feeling slimed. I could have made it through life without needing to know about Crane's addictive behaviors that play a part in his death by beating. TV actor Bob Craine had at least two addictions: he just had to have the latest video cameras and equipment so he could record his other addiction -- countless sexual encounters (mostly with women) and solitary activities when a woman was not at hand.

Sadly, after his Hogan days, Crane had to do game shows and tour in dinner theater to earn money for alimony and children -- and video hobbies. Sadder yet, he was murdered in his motel room where his gear was set up to record every woman he got into bed. The investigators probably wished that his video camera had caught the attack: It took several decades before they thought they knew who the killer was.

His "best friend," often participating in the recordings as videographer, voyeur, and competitor was the salesman who kept Crane in the latest developments in the new and growing photo and video industry. Crane used that man who ended up wanting to claim Crane as an intimate friend. (After all, they'd watch old videos and try to remember the names of the women and the cities -- and each of the men would take matters into their own hands, so to say, as they admired the images of their prowess.)

Trust me: I'd feel better if the stray DVDs on Pentax Forums were about Ansel Adams, Photoshop hints, the history of Pentax / Ricoh, or "Winged Migration" with its fabulous camera work that sure has humbled and inspired this birding photographer.

You've lost me at ""shop related" at the bottom of a page". Sorry!

leekil · 10-15-2019, 04:35 PM

Originally posted by MarkJerling

You've lost me at ""shop related" at the bottom of a page". Sorry!

If you're logged in, I don't think you see any ads?

MarkJerling · 10-15-2019, 04:49 PM

Originally posted by leekil

If you're logged in, I don't think you see any ads?

Aha. I don't see any ads.

**JimS_256** · 10-15-2019, 04:56 PM

Originally posted by leekil

If you're logged in, I don't think you see any ads?

I’m logged in and seeing ads. It wasn’t always that way. Maybe a new "feature".

**boriscleto** · 10-15-2019, 04:57 PM - **2 Likes**

Originally posted by leekil

If you're logged in, I don't think you see any ads?

Donate some money and you don't see any ads...

stevebrot · 10-15-2019, 05:15 PM

Originally posted by MarkJerling

Aha. I don't see any ads.

They can be quite intrusive...

Name: pf_ad.jpg
Views: 343
Size: 61.9 KB

Above is what one sees if not logged in. Homepage content shows similar inline ads even when logged in as a supporter, assuming one's browser does not have an ad blocker.

Steve

Last edited by stevebrot; 10-15-2019 at 06:17 PM.

**clackers** · 10-15-2019, 05:43 PM - **1 Like**

Originally posted by bonitap

Trust me: I'd feel better if the stray DVDs on Pentax Forums were about Ansel Adams, Photoshop hints, the history of Pentax / Ricoh, or "Winged Migration" with its fabulous camera work that sure has humbled and inspired this birding photographer.

I've not seen 'Autofocus', Bonnie, but I'm interested. It's a Paul Schrader film … he wrote the screenplays for Taxi Driver, American Gigolo and Raging Bull.

**JimS_256** · 10-15-2019, 05:45 PM - **1 Like**

The mobile view is particularly bad.

**clackers** · 10-15-2019, 05:52 PM - **2 Likes**

Originally posted by JimS_256

The mobile view is particularly bad.

But if you pay up to support this website, you don't get the ads, Jim.

Tolerating them is one level of keeping the forum going.

stevebrot · 10-15-2019, 06:04 PM

Originally posted by clackers

But if you pay up to support this website, you don't get the ads, Jim.

Tolerating them is one level of keeping the forum going.

What is disturbing is that the flavor of the ads presented to the general public and potential members is particularly low-class and more typical of click-bait sites. The homepage earlier this evening featured a large (400x1000px) ad proclaiming that Trump would be cutting another Obama program and that I should get a special loan while it is still available.

For sure, I have no skin in the game and don't have to pay for hosting and other expenses, but I was still surprised.

Steve

**JimS_256** · 10-15-2019, 06:17 PM

Originally posted by clackers

But if you pay up to support this website, you don't get the ads, Jim.

Fair enough, maybe I'm imagining but it seem like a new thing that I just noticed this summer. Admittedly I haven't been as active recently as in the past.

FWIW, I'm not seeing the ads on my laptop and if I switch to "Full Site" on my iPad they (mostly) go away too. With the mobile view though they're very intrusive.

**clackers** · 10-15-2019, 06:27 PM

Originally posted by JimS_256

Fair enough, maybe I'm imagining but it seem like a new thing that I just noticed this summer. Admittedly I haven't been as active recently as in the past.

FWIW, I'm not seeing the ads on my laptop and if I switch to "Full Site" on my iPad they (mostly) go away too. With the mobile view though they're very intrusive.

It's not recent, Jim.

I can't speak for your individual setup. I see the ads if I logout. Obviously if you run any form of ad-blocker it can affect the experience.

**manishved** · 10-15-2019, 06:29 PM - **1 Like**

OMG - is this the first time the OP noticed that Big Brother is watching you

**JimS_256** · 10-15-2019, 06:50 PM

Originally posted by clackers

It's not recent, Jim.

I can't speak for your individual setup. I see the ads if I logout. Obviously if you run any form of ad-blocker it can affect the experience.

But I am logged in and generally browse the forum on the iPad. In the past the ads were an alert that I needed to log in...not so now.

I'll add that it isn't so much ads that I object to, it's the specific (gross, offensive) ads like my example above that bother me. If they were photography related, I wouldn't mind. As stevebrot said, "What is disturbing is that the flavor of the ads presented to the general public and potential members is particularly low-class and more typical of click-bait sites"

10-15-2019, 03:02 PM - 1 Like	#1
bonitap Junior Member Join Date: Jan 2009 Photos: Gallery \| Albums Posts: 33	What?! A link to purchase a DVD about actor Bob Crane? "Auto Focus" I didn't mean to notice "Shop related" at the bottom of a page, but an ad for the DVD "Auto Focus" did catch my eye. It was a real double take. I swear I heard BOINGGG as my eyeballs popped back into their sockets. How did this depressing and scuzzy biographical TV movie find a place on Pentax Forums? Okay, there is that title, "Auto Focus." Of course, it might be inevitable that something called "Auto Focus" would get onto a busy website about taking photos with a particular line of cameras. Does the 1960s sitcom "Hogan's Heroes" ring a bell? It was about US prisoners of war in a German stalag doing all they could to make fun of their German guards and their officers. I was in elementary school at the time -- back when a family would sit in the living room to watch one of the three family-friendly network shows that evening. I watched "Auto Focus" during an interminably slow night of post-surgical recuperation…and regretted using two precious hours I'll never get back. It left me feeling slimed. I could have made it through life without needing to know about Crane's addictive behaviors that play a part in his death by beating. TV actor Bob Craine had at least two addictions: he just had to have the latest video cameras and equipment so he could record his other addiction -- countless sexual encounters (mostly with women) and solitary activities when a woman was not at hand. Sadly, after his Hogan days, Crane had to do game shows and tour in dinner theater to earn money for alimony and children -- and video hobbies. Sadder yet, he was murdered in his motel room where his gear was set up to record every woman he got into bed. The investigators probably wished that his video camera had caught the attack: It took several decades before they thought they knew who the killer was. His "best friend," often participating in the recordings as videographer, voyeur, and competitor was the salesman who kept Crane in the latest developments in the new and growing photo and video industry. Crane used that man who ended up wanting to claim Crane as an intimate friend. (After all, they'd watch old videos and try to remember the names of the women and the cities -- and each of the men would take matters into their own hands, so to say, as they admired the images of their prowess.) Trust me: I'd feel better if the stray DVDs on Pentax Forums were about Ansel Adams, Photoshop hints, the history of Pentax / Ricoh, or "Winged Migration" with its fabulous camera work that sure has humbled and inspired this birding photographer.

10-15-2019, 05:15 PM	#7
stevebrot Otis Memorial Pentaxian Join Date: Mar 2007 Location: Vancouver (USA) Photos: Gallery \| Albums Posts: 42,007	Originally posted by MarkJerling Aha. I don't see any ads. They can be quite intrusive... Above is what one sees if not logged in. Homepage content shows similar inline ads even when logged in as a supporter, assuming one's browser does not have an ad blocker. Steve Last edited by stevebrot; 10-15-2019 at 06:17 PM.

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10-15-2019, 03:17 PM - 1 Like	#2
MarkJerling Moderator Site Supporter Join Date: May 2012 Location: Wairarapa, New Zealand Photos: Gallery \| Albums Posts: 20,406	Originally posted by bonitap I didn't mean to notice "Shop related" at the bottom of a page, but an ad for the DVD "Auto Focus" did catch my eye. It was a real double take. I swear I heard BOINGGG as my eyeballs popped back into their sockets. How did this depressing and scuzzy biographical TV movie find a place on Pentax Forums? Okay, there is that title, "Auto Focus." Of course, it might be inevitable that something called "Auto Focus" would get onto a busy website about taking photos with a particular line of cameras. Does the 1960s sitcom "Hogan's Heroes" ring a bell? It was about US prisoners of war in a German stalag doing all they could to make fun of their German guards and their officers. I was in elementary school at the time -- back when a family would sit in the living room to watch one of the three family-friendly network shows that evening. I watched "Auto Focus" during an interminably slow night of post-surgical recuperation…and regretted using two precious hours I'll never get back. It left me feeling slimed. I could have made it through life without needing to know about Crane's addictive behaviors that play a part in his death by beating. TV actor Bob Craine had at least two addictions: he just had to have the latest video cameras and equipment so he could record his other addiction -- countless sexual encounters (mostly with women) and solitary activities when a woman was not at hand. Sadly, after his Hogan days, Crane had to do game shows and tour in dinner theater to earn money for alimony and children -- and video hobbies. Sadder yet, he was murdered in his motel room where his gear was set up to record every woman he got into bed. The investigators probably wished that his video camera had caught the attack: It took several decades before they thought they knew who the killer was. His "best friend," often participating in the recordings as videographer, voyeur, and competitor was the salesman who kept Crane in the latest developments in the new and growing photo and video industry. Crane used that man who ended up wanting to claim Crane as an intimate friend. (After all, they'd watch old videos and try to remember the names of the women and the cities -- and each of the men would take matters into their own hands, so to say, as they admired the images of their prowess.) Trust me: I'd feel better if the stray DVDs on Pentax Forums were about Ansel Adams, Photoshop hints, the history of Pentax / Ricoh, or "Winged Migration" with its fabulous camera work that sure has humbled and inspired this birding photographer. You've lost me at ""shop related" at the bottom of a page". Sorry!

10-15-2019, 04:35 PM	#3
leekil Pentaxian Join Date: May 2016 Photos: Albums Posts: 2,003	Originally posted by MarkJerling You've lost me at ""shop related" at the bottom of a page". Sorry! If you're logged in, I don't think you see any ads?

10-15-2019, 04:49 PM	#4
MarkJerling Moderator Site Supporter Join Date: May 2012 Location: Wairarapa, New Zealand Photos: Gallery \| Albums Posts: 20,406	Originally posted by leekil If you're logged in, I don't think you see any ads? Aha. I don't see any ads.

10-15-2019, 04:56 PM	#5
JimS_256 Loyal Site Supporter Join Date: Nov 2013 Posts: 1,107	Originally posted by leekil If you're logged in, I don't think you see any ads? I’m logged in and seeing ads. It wasn’t always that way. Maybe a new "feature".

10-15-2019, 04:57 PM - 2 Likes	#6
boriscleto Loyal Site Supporter Join Date: Dec 2009 Location: North Syracuse, NY Photos: Gallery Posts: 16,475	Originally posted by leekil If you're logged in, I don't think you see any ads? Donate some money and you don't see any ads...

10-15-2019, 05:43 PM - 1 Like	#8
clackers Otis Memorial Pentaxian Join Date: Jul 2013 Location: Melbourne Photos: Albums Posts: 16,397	Originally posted by bonitap Trust me: I'd feel better if the stray DVDs on Pentax Forums were about Ansel Adams, Photoshop hints, the history of Pentax / Ricoh, or "Winged Migration" with its fabulous camera work that sure has humbled and inspired this birding photographer. I've not seen 'Autofocus', Bonnie, but I'm interested. It's a Paul Schrader film … he wrote the screenplays for Taxi Driver, American Gigolo and Raging Bull.

10-15-2019, 05:52 PM - 2 Likes	#10
clackers Otis Memorial Pentaxian Join Date: Jul 2013 Location: Melbourne Photos: Albums Posts: 16,397	Originally posted by JimS_256 The mobile view is particularly bad. But if you pay up to support this website, you don't get the ads, Jim. Tolerating them is one level of keeping the forum going.

10-15-2019, 06:04 PM	#11
stevebrot Otis Memorial Pentaxian Join Date: Mar 2007 Location: Vancouver (USA) Photos: Gallery \| Albums Posts: 42,007	Originally posted by clackers But if you pay up to support this website, you don't get the ads, Jim. Tolerating them is one level of keeping the forum going. What is disturbing is that the flavor of the ads presented to the general public and potential members is particularly low-class and more typical of click-bait sites. The homepage earlier this evening featured a large (400x1000px) ad proclaiming that Trump would be cutting another Obama program and that I should get a special loan while it is still available. For sure, I have no skin in the game and don't have to pay for hosting and other expenses, but I was still surprised. Steve

10-15-2019, 06:17 PM	#12
JimS_256 Loyal Site Supporter Join Date: Nov 2013 Posts: 1,107	Originally posted by clackers But if you pay up to support this website, you don't get the ads, Jim. Fair enough, maybe I'm imagining but it seem like a new thing that I just noticed this summer. Admittedly I haven't been as active recently as in the past. FWIW, I'm not seeing the ads on my laptop and if I switch to "Full Site" on my iPad they (mostly) go away too. With the mobile view though they're very intrusive.

10-15-2019, 06:27 PM	#13
clackers Otis Memorial Pentaxian Join Date: Jul 2013 Location: Melbourne Photos: Albums Posts: 16,397	Originally posted by JimS_256 Fair enough, maybe I'm imagining but it seem like a new thing that I just noticed this summer. Admittedly I haven't been as active recently as in the past. FWIW, I'm not seeing the ads on my laptop and if I switch to "Full Site" on my iPad they (mostly) go away too. With the mobile view though they're very intrusive. It's not recent, Jim. I can't speak for your individual setup. I see the ads if I logout. Obviously if you run any form of ad-blocker it can affect the experience.

10-15-2019, 06:29 PM - 1 Like	#14
manishved Loyal Site Supporter Join Date: Mar 2008 Location: N. Calif Photos: Gallery \| Albums Posts: 3,651	OMG - is this the first time the OP noticed that Big Brother is watching you

10-15-2019, 06:50 PM	#15
JimS_256 Loyal Site Supporter Join Date: Nov 2013 Posts: 1,107	Originally posted by clackers It's not recent, Jim. I can't speak for your individual setup. I see the ads if I logout. Obviously if you run any form of ad-blocker it can affect the experience. But I am logged in and generally browse the forum on the iPad. In the past the ads were an alert that I needed to log in...not so now. I'll add that it isn't so much ads that I object to, it's the specific (gross, offensive) ads like my example above that bother me. If they were photography related, I wouldn't mind. As stevebrot said, "What is disturbing is that the flavor of the ads presented to the general public and potential members is particularly low-class and more typical of click-bait sites"