I've suddenly started getting a VERY annoying black drop-down box thingy at the top of pages giving me links to Share the page on FB and Twitter etc.

NO I DON'T WANT TO! Go away!

How do I get rid of it permanently?

I'd like to know too JG, it wasn't there this morning. It's dead irritating.

same hear i have clicked on the cross to stop it but it still keeps reapearing very annoying get rid of it

Annoying is definately the word for it and I have no intentions of tweeting anything.  As David Cameron once said, too many tweets make a tw....... .

> Annoying is definately the word for it and I have no intentions of tweeting anything

Ditto :(

Goodness, yes it wasn't there last night!!  Blinking annoying

Just seen what your talking about - it happened whilst reading this post!

It really is irritating- I strongly dislike the way it 'slides' down. It seems worse to me than even an annoying 'popup'. Hope it goes away as quickly as it appeared!

> I've suddenly started getting a VERY annoying black drop-down box thingy

Thank goodness it's not just me, I was begining to wonder what I had done to my computer. It wouldn't have anything to do with having been asked the other week if any of us used, facebook, twiter etc?

It's very irritating, I don't even use twitter or blog.

I think it is called moving with technology and social media so think you need to accept the change !

What would be good is if people were told about it before it happens and the reasons why as I am sure communication rather than nothing would be appreciated :-)

flying in the face of public opinion and saying i rather like it... it means i can share a thread on facebook that I think might be useful to people, e.g. the sticky one of "should i breed my bitch?" who would not otherwise read the forum.

Wouldn't mind if it stayed closed when I close it, but everytime I move to another thread it's there again!!!!!!

I didn't have it ( felt left out!) read your post moved on to the next topic and there it was. I find it most annoying, almost as bad as Face Book Time Line! Grrrr
:(

> so think you need to accept the change

I thought that it used to be at the bottom of the page ?? I'm certainly not accepting the change to an annoying 'menu' at the top of the page. If it doesn't go, I shan't come on CD any more - that horrid black thing HAS TO GO :) :) :)

I don't really see a problem, it doesn't interfere with anything.

> it means i can share a thread on facebook

I don't think that anyone is disagreeing with that - it's just the manner of 'its' appearance :)

> If it doesn't go, I shan't come on CD any more - that horrid black thing HAS TO GO :-) :-) :-)

oh come on, you'll get used to it!

>> I don't think that anyone is disagreeing with that - it's just the manner of 'its' appearance

i do see that, but i am not finding it annoying. that being said perhaps i will in time :)

> it doesn't interfere with anything

It does - it comes and goes as you scroll up/down the page, so it can obscure the top line of a post. The fact that it 'moves' is what is so annoying - apart from being black :( Horrible :(

Try clicking on the red + sign, then clicking on the 'Privacy' at the bottom of the menu - interesting reading ...... :(

If you are on a net book as I am it takes up part of your page and it is at an annoying eye level. If you have a full size screen probably not as bad, but I rarely us my PC now. 

> you'll get used to it

People get used to many things - doesn't mean to say they're an improvement :)

> I think it is called moving with technology and social media so think you need to accept the change !
>

Do we? 
Not sure that we have been judged as the right demographic for this sort of malarchy.

> then clicking on the 'Privacy' at the bottom of the menu - interesting reading ...... :-(

:-(

Hi Daisy which bit of the 'Privacy' statement bothers/worries you?  I didn't read anything that alarmed me so wonder if I'd missed a bit! :)

> Not sure that we have been judged as the right demographic for this sort of malarchy.

Oh yes we are/were. Remember the poll a week or so ago asking if we use FB, Tweet or something else?

I find it distracting as it covers the top of the screen when I'm trying to read something. But thankfully, it's not working on my mobile. Maybe I will stick to using CD just on my mobile, and you will all heave a huge sigh of  relief as it's not easy to post from it! LOL

> Oh yes we are/were. Remember the poll a week or so ago asking if we use FB, Tweet or something else?
>

Yes, I remember but not sure it showed us to all be great social networkers.  What percentage of board users responded? 
I think I said I used facebook occasionally because I do but only to look at family members photos etc. 
Would never bother with Twitter. 

I too find it really annoying - I have gone for the opt out option having read the privacy information. The thing I really hate about the internet is how one gets bombarded with adverts for things one is really not interested in.

I also find it disconcerting how people can just accept the cold calling invasion just because it's on a computer - when it used to be companies cold calling by telephone almost everyone found it really annoying. Now they invade our computers instead and people think it's okay - sorry but this grumpy old woman doesn't think it's acceptable at all :-(

Oh there was me thinking - I haven't got one of those and suddenly there it was - what do we need that for I wonder?
Now a simple 'like' button may be nice - it would be good to show support for a view, comment.

I too find it really annoying - I have gone for the opt out option having read the privacy information. The thing I really hate about the internet is how one gets bombarded with adverts for things one is really not interested in.

Are you looking at the same thing? There's no adverts. It's quite a useful feature I'd say. You have the option of sharing the topic via any social network you are a member of, OR e-mailing a link to somebody OR printing it out. Seems to me to be more of a convenience feature.

Marianne if you read the  privacy policy it explains that your details will be used for targeted advertising - I assume that is on social networking sites - but you can opt out of having your details used in that way.

Some info from the privacy link

You can easily stop AddThis from collecting any information about you for online behavioral advertising by opting out. This will prevent advertisers from receiving any data that could be used to tailor advertising for you. This will also prevent websites that use AddThis from learning about your interests in order to personalize their content or services for you.

and

We do have access to a certain amount of non-personally identifying information about you.

All web sites, including those with AddThis installed, receive information such as which web page you came from, which type of browser you are using, and your general geographic location. When you and others use our tools to share content, we aggregate data about what pages are shared, when, and how. We also assign your web browser a unique identifier. This ID doesn't, and can't, say anything about you, it's just a random series of numbers and letters we use to distinguish users from each other.


Whatever form of ID they use for my browser I would far prefer they didn't use it at all.

Seems to me to be more of a convenience feature It's very convenient for them because they can then target their advertising at you depending on which things you choose to share - on here it will most likely be sent to companies that are involved in the dog world in one capacity or another. I can think of nothing worse than to constantly have adverts for Cesar Milan or other "experts" showing at the side of my FB page.

If it has to stay, I just wish it wasn't black, can't it be changed to the same light blue as the rest of the page, we know it's there so if we want to share we can, but being black it really feels heavy and your eyes are too aware of it.

Can the design team change the colour, it makes me feel depressed. It's like a black cloud hovering, that's probably why we all want it to go away it's not a nice feeling........... :-(

> I too find it really annoying - I have gone for the opt out option having read the privacy information. The thing I really hate about the internet is how one gets bombarded with adverts for things one is really not interested in.

Depending on which browser you use, look into AdBlock which can be added as an extension. Not only does it block ads, but if you use an ancient and snails-pace computer like this one, it can speed up pages loading.

In theory AdBlock could and should be able to stop the new black strip appearing, but I confess I'm not quite that adept to have sussed it out as yet!

And on the 1st April, AdBlock inserted photos of cats into the spaces on web pages where the ads would have been... people liked CatBlock so much that it is now being developed as an genuine add-on!

It's very convenient for them because they can then target their advertising at you depending on which things you choose to share - on here it will most likely be sent to companies that are involved in the dog world in one capacity or another. I can think of nothing worse than to constantly have adverts for Cesar Milan or other "experts" showing at the side of my FB page.

That's already happening though without CD. I can always tell what I have been Googling from what I see on my FB ads, it never fails. My junk e-mail is also directly related to what I have Googled recently. I just ignore it.

I thought, like FB and twitter etc, that you had to add addthis for it to be able to access your info.  Basically, if you email someone, they then have your and the addressees' details but you would need to e-mail something from this site? That's how I'm reading it anyway.  I only read and post champdogs, I don't share so I don't think it'll make any difference to me.
And, Champdogs listened!! Our addon is now BLUE and lovely.  And TBH, it would've been OK in a day or so but I do like the new colour and it doesn't bother me at all.  I just don't scroll the page up as much.
Nice work, Champdogs!!

>And, Champdogs listened!! Our addon is now BLUE and lovely.

Nope, still black. Bah! (And it doesn't matter if you scroll up or not - it appears when you post.)

Mine's blue, it makes it a lot less noticeable. I'm happy- until the next thing! :)

Pop-ups, pop-downs (and those horrible trail-things when you move your mouse on some websites) really turn me off a site.

> Nope, still black. Bah!

Subtle blue here, blending in with the surrounding blocks.

Blue here!  :)

Black here, and I don't like it much either. Have to keep closing it or scrolling back down to get the top line of a post.

>  sorry but this grumpy old woman doesn't think it's acceptable at all 

Nor this one here :(

> Hi Daisy which bit of the 'Privacy' statement bothers/worries you?  I didn't read anything that alarmed me so wonder if I'd missed a bit!

Apart from what Harley has posted (which, as usual, she has phrased so much better than I could), I object to these amendments being made (I can't see that this banner is an improvement either) and it is left to the individual to 'spot' the privacy statement and it's meaning.

Much less offensive in blue - but still irritating when it covers the top line of text of a thread I haven't yet read. Better than it was tho' ...

It's black in Firefox, blue and with adverts in IE.

I'm jealous because it's not appearing on my computers LOL!

Just another exasperation - suppose it is to widen the number of visits - think it may not achieve that or at least not keep the regulars coming back.

It's still black for me on firefox but I opened the page in explorer and it was a subtle blue shade.... hopefully the meddlers can make it blue for every browser as it is slightly less offensive :-)

Mines still black and it's even more irritating on my mObile :-/