This guide covers our old ProBoards v4 software. Click here for the ProBoards v5 Help Guide.
Ad-free credits are purchased from ProBoards to remove advertisements from the forum. The Ad-Free page shows how many credits are left. If there aren't any credits left, you'll see a message stating You do not have enough credits... please go to our purchase credits page. Click purchase credits to purchase more credits.
If you have credits available, you'll be shown the balance along with two drop-down menus. The first drop-down is for selecting a month to apply credits to. This menu will only include the current month and the following two months.
Also, message boards will only be ad-free for the remainder of the month. Credit does not roll over into the next month. For example, if you add credits on the 10th of the current month, they will only be good until the end of that month.
The second drop-down is where you select the number of ad-free pageviews to purchase. Options start at 7 Credits (50,000 Pageviews) and go up to 140 Credits (1,000,000 Pageviews).
Pageviews are based on the number of pages loaded on the discussion forum during the ad-free period. If you're unsure of how many pageviews your forum receives during a month, select the minimum option and see how long it lasts. You can always add credits at a later time.
Once you've selected the month(s) and the amount of credits you would like to use, click the Apply Credits button.
If you re-visit the Ad-Free link while the forum still has credits, you'll see a new area near the bottom of the page providing ad-free statistics for that month. The statistics will show the number of credits used, the number of ad-free pageviews used and, the number of ad-free pageviews still available.
Also on the Ad-Free page, you'll see 3 other links explained below:
Ad-Free History: This page lists the months ad-free credits were applied to the forum as well as how many pageview credits were used that month.
Ad-Free Preferences: This page provides the option to enable ad-free for guests. When set to Yes, advertisements will not be displayed to anyone on the forum. Set to No, only visitors not logged into a member account will see advertisements.
Note: if ad-free is disabled for guests (see above), ad-free pageviews will only be counted for forum members logged into their accounts. This prevents ad-free credits from being spent on guests.
About This Service: This link provides a general FAQ about the ad-free service.
Purchase Credits: Here you'll be provided with an overview of the ad-free credits system and a drop-down menu to select the number of credits you'd like to purchase. Ad-free credit options range from 1 credit for $1 USD to 140 credits for $140 USD.
Since 7 credits is the minimum amount that can be applied during a month, you can have multiple members pitch in to reach the 7 credit minimum. For example, 7 members could each contribute 1 credit with the Click Here To Make This Board Ad-Free link found at the very bottom of the forum. Credits do not expire and will remain available until you use them.
Once you've selected the number of credits you'd like to purchase, click Continue to Secure Server and you'll be taken to a confirmation page to verify the number of credits and the purchase amount. Once verified, click Buy Now to continue to the Google Wallet page to complete the transaction.
If you already have a Google Account, you can use it to process your payment. If you do not have a Google Account, you can create one by filling out the provided form. Once the transaction is completed, you can apply the credits and make your discussion forum ad-free by clicking the Ad-Free link in the admin panel.