Why is there an off-topic add at the top of each imagemagick.org page?

[Jean-Pierre Coulon]

Is imagemagick really free or sort of semi-free?

[fmw42]

What do you mean by "add"? Do you mean "ad" as in advertising?

Imagemagick is totally free. It does not cost you anything. And you are free to do with its use as you want.

I think advertising helps pay for hosting the web site.

[Jean-Pierre Coulon]

What do you mean by "add"? Do you mean "ad" as in advertising?

Yes. Perhaps "banner" is better. At present it fills the space between "ImageMagick Convert, Edit, or Compose Bitmap Images" and Quick links, FAQ at the top of this forum page.

[snibgo]

I used to get those banners, but not any more. I don't know why, perhaps an adblock setting or something.

As Fred says, I guess it is advertising to help with costs. Yes, the software is free.

[glennrp]

I see them if I visit as guest but not while logged in. Lately the ad has contained a huge green DOWNLOAD button which installs some sort of crapware, not ImageMagick.

[Jean-Pierre Coulon]

When I log into this forum and move back to either Imagemagick documentation page there is still an ad. Do you mean anything else when you say "logged in"?

[Jean-Pierre Coulon]

Sometimes in this discourse server I see an ad in French. So certainly not a link to Imagemagick!

Is Imagemagick a member of the Free Software Foundation, GNU Project or similar? I could'nt find its copyright status on the imagemagick site.

[snibgo]

"convert -version" shows you the copyright status, eg:

Copyright: Copyright (C) 1999-2015 ImageMagick Studio LLC

This also gives the link to the licence, which explains the copyright in more detail.

[Jean-Pierre Coulon]

Thanks.

[Jean-Pierre Coulon]

If I write my own package including Imagemagick "A few other clarifications include[...] the license is compatible with the GPL V3". But Imagemagick is not GPL. Perhaps a question for a GPL forum

And who or what decides which ad I see at every visit?

[fmw42]

ImageMagick is likely using Google ads. So Google decides which ads you see. You can clear your cookies to help start over.

[Bonzo]

And who or what decides which ad I see at every visit?

A funny thing happened on another forum; a female member was complaining about the forum displaying lingerie ads. It took a lot of work to explain to her it was due to her browsing habbits saved by Google.

Basically every time you search for anything on Google it remembers it along with presumably any Google+ groups you belong to etc. It then serves up adverts that it thinks would be of interest to you.

So you may see different adverts to other forum users although the adverts can be restricted by the site owner to family friendly or not. Also the companys running the advert can specify what sort of site theire adverts apear on for the best results. So it would be unlikely there would be motorcycles for sale on a dance website.

[Jean-Pierre Coulon]

I make many Google searches about music and here I see ads about banking, savings etc. What is Google's logic?

[fmw42]

I make many Google searches about music and here I see ads about banking, savings etc. What is Google's logic?

You will have to ask Google. They track your searches.