Pop-Up Ads Lead to Consumer Revolt, Ad-Blocking 697
securitas writes "The New York Times' Saul Hansell reports on pop-up advertising and the consumer backlash against intrusive advertising. It's worth noting that pop-ups and pop-unders are the most effective, lucrative and annoying online advertising form. The article discusses the boom in ad-blocker software, with AOL, Yahoo and Google getting into the game. Microsoft says that it will include pop-up blocking in IE when it releases WinXP SP2. According to one pop-under ad agency, 20%-25% percent of Web users have pop-up blocking enabled, double the rate of a year ago - Earthlink's numbers bear that out, with 1 million of its 5 million customers using its ad-blocking software 18 months after release. DoubleClick says that it is 'developing technology that will enable pop-up ads to evade the blocking software.' Why isn't that surprising?"
Not just pop-ups (Score:5, Insightful)
Thanks to this, I've pretty much squashed the "Get 1,000 Smileys Free" advertisements.
Now if there were only a way to block certain Flash advertisements and still be able to watch Strong Bad [homestarrunner.com] answering his e-mail.
Re:Not just pop-ups (Score:4, Informative)
Replaces flash with a box of same size with words "click to play".
Occasionally I tweak the entry it creates in userContent.css to have an opacity of 0.1 too.
Makes it even less obtrusive.
Re:Not just pop-ups (Score:5, Informative)
It also can block flash, iframe and java, javascript as well...
see mozdev [mozdev.org] for install.
DISCLAIMER: MS IE (l)users need not apply!
Re:Not just pop-ups (Score:5, Interesting)
It also makes it possible to block annoying content using regular expressions.
I'm using these ones for getting rid of annoying ads:
And this one to not load those annoying 1px-spacer graphics nobody needs anymore:
Maybe they'll be useful for some of you fellow advertising victims. (But make sure to remove all the spaces which Slashdot automatically inserted.)
Re:Not just pop-ups (Score:5, Informative)
Maybe we can condense this down to a reg expr.
[Adblock]
*.ad-flow.com/*
*.ad.*
*.advertisi
*.banner.*.*/*
*.bluestreak.com/*
*.fal
*.fastclick.net/*
*.instacontent.net/*
*.qksrv.net/*
*.ru4.com/*
*.spinbox.net/*
*.v
*/*.advertising.com/*
*/CurrentB
*/ad/*
*/ads.*
*/ads/*
*/adserver/*
*/advert*
*/banner.*.*/*
*/banner
*/bannerads/*
*/banners/*
*/marketing/*
*/q
*://*.*/*468x60.jpg
*_banner.gif
*a
*atdmt.com*
*banner.swf
*chkpt
*doubleclick.*
*i.i.com.com/cnwk
*mediaplex.com*
*tribalfusion.com*
ht
http://pagead2.goo
http://rcm.amazon.com/e/cm?*
http://stats.cashring.com/ads?*
http://us.a1.yi
http://us.imdb.com/google/
http://www.distrowatch.com/images/kokoku/*.
http://www.resellerratings.com/price-direct-
Re:Not just pop-ups (Score:5, Informative)
The rest of my filters are just various adservers like doubleclick, etc.
It should be noted that it is a good idea to consolidate these filter lists in AdBlock as much as possible due to the way the algorithm works. The longer your list, the slower the page will load.
Re:Not just pop-ups (Score:5, Insightful)
It doesn't take any skin off my back if Mozilla never becomes popular. Your first mistake was thinking that it does. I agree with the parent. The web isn't new. If the average Joe can't figure that things like Avant and Mozilla greatly enhance their web experience then shame on them. They're probably the same people who never bothered to find out that you don't need to keep the same homepage that your ISP gives you.
I know some people will think that's a snotty comment, but come on now. You have to take responsibility for yourself at some point. Web browsing isn't rocket science.
Re:Not just pop-ups (Score:5, Insightful)
Amen! I'm perfectly happy to let the people who aren't smart enough to download Mozilla subsidize my web surfing.
Just say NO to pop-[up|under] ad blocking in IE.
Re:Not just pop-ups (Score:5, Insightful)
I used to think like that years ago after high school. The "screw everyone else" thing which was probably an effect of going to a college prep high school (school rule as explained by a Jesuit Brother: no wearing blue jeans because they're a symbol of the working class).
After getting a BA, I took a bunch of automotive mechanic classes at the local junior college which opened my mind to how close minded I was being. Working with people who could barely read/write but where able to engineer and build anything. I'm not saying most of the car geek students were illiterate.
Stuff that's basic for computer geeks, ends up being assumed that since it's easy for you to do, everyone should know how to do it. Try building an engine. There's people who don't know you can turn off the ISP homepage but can build engines in their sleep. But 90% of the time, if you ask them a question about it, they'll be extremely helpful.
I wonder if it works that way with computer geeks... maybe it's 90% of geeks who are helpful and you're just part of the 10% a-hole types.
Gasoline powered engines have been around since 1864. If you can't build an engine after they've been around 140 years, you must be an idiot.
Not an even comparison (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:Not just pop-ups (Score:5, Informative)
Re:Not just pop-ups (Score:4, Interesting)
I want that plugin to work for *all* forms of plugins. I mean, I love Java and Flash, but they are too damn easy to abuse.
I live in Calgary (Canada, eh?) and the city has Transit schedule information online. However, their main page has a small Java applet that displays the time. That's all it does. I don't want to load the JVM just to hit that page. And I don't think I should have to disable Java in my browser, either.
Make this work for Java, Flash and Quicktime and I'll be a happy camper!
Re:Not just pop-ups (Score:4, Insightful)
Re:Not just pop-ups (Score:5, Informative)
But for those of you that don't, or have applets popping up elsewhere (like AIM), I'm working on a java ad blocker that allows you to block specific classes from loading. So, if the JRE gets a request to load a class you don't want to load, it can be replaced with a null, or a junk applet, or any other class you like.
I'll put up my blocker (requires JDK 1.4 and the ability to set flags for your JDK -- anyone using the Windows Java Plugin should be fine) at http://tklancer.net/javablocker [tklancer.net] in the next few days. It's fairly basic right now -- just a class file, some preference files, and that's it. The process is pretty simple, though -- load a page, note that sucky annoying ad applet loaded, go through the log file I write to disk, and add the class name to the block file. Restart your JRE, and it should be blocked.
Flash Manager? (Score:3, Insightful)
There are legit Flash that need to be allowed to work.
Re:Flash Manager? (Score:3, Informative)
Re:Not just pop-ups (Score:3, Informative)
So depending upon whether the sites u visit use which tags, the plug-in may or maynot work.
Re:Not just pop-ups (Score:5, Informative)
I use Mozilla Firebird and the excellent Flash click to view [mielczarek.org] extension, which only downloads and plays flash content once you've clicked on a message replacing the original content.
No more of those ugly beasts for me, and I still get to see all legit flash sites.
Re:Not just pop-ups (Score:5, Informative)
Agreed, and at the risk of Slashdotting a good guy's website, I'd highly recommend this flash blocker [mielczarek.org]. I installed it a couple of weeks ago and now I don't have any more Flash ads. Its improved my web surfing immeasurably. The trouble with Flash ads is they (usually) have so much animation in them that they draw the attention from the text of the article I'm trying to read. Some sites are now so Flash-ad heavy they're unusuable. Flash Click-to-View is a wonderful tool that lets you view only the Flash content you want to see. Let's hope they incorporate it into the main Mozilla build soon.
Remove Flash (Score:3, Informative)
The reason is testing issues not anything to do with third party SW per se.
One benefit is that I had to reinstall Flash. I didn't get around to doing it for a few days and I realized I could live happily without it.
Try it you might like it.
Re:Not just pop-ups (Score:5, Interesting)
I can block any advertising that I choose. Edit the
Cookies? I don't need no stinkin' cookies except from sites that I choose. Granted it sometimes can be tough telling where the cookie is coming from, but I feel that it is a small price to pay.
I love those smilies (Score:3)
Not just browsers... (Score:5, Informative)
...but firewalls and AV software as well.
My hard drive blew up last week, and when rebuilding my system, I skipped ZoneAlarm and installed Kerio Personal Firewall [kerio.com] instead... an incredible piece of software if I do say so myself, but it also has built in ad blocking (and configurable to add more blocking).
Not that that matters too much since I am using FireBird, but a two pronged approach is better than one.
Re:Not just pop-ups (Score:5, Informative)
It also allows wildcarding, so instead of having to block every single fastclick server, you can just have "*fastclick*" in your preferences and you get 0 ads from fastclick (the one who serves the "1000 free smiley" ads).
Re:Not just pop-ups (Score:5, Interesting)
Re:Not just pop-ups (Score:3, Informative)
cLive ;-)
Re:Not just pop-ups,and not just on the web either (Score:3, Interesting)
On the web, you can at least do something about most of these animated pop up ads. But I've seen them on TV as well! They haven't appeared here in Europe yet, but I've seen them on some episodes of Southpark and Futurama that I downloaded. In the middle of the show, a small blue backdrop appears in the lower right corner, and in front of it a man in a suit promotes the next show that will be on. It's soundless but animated and extremely annoying. You can't click him away, or even skip
Re:Not just pop-ups (Score:4, Interesting)
As for the flash, it has a flash killer that will replace a flash animation with a link to the flash animation that lets you see the animation when pressed.
And throw it up on a p2p app if you do find a download. It's in need of hosts and bandwidth.
Re:Not just pop-ups (Score:5, Insightful)
I do not believe in supporting any bussiness model thats sole purpose is to annoy me. PERIOD. I believe advertising does nobody any good if it is not targeted to the right audience. Most advertising on the web is closer to spam than product placement and if the advertisements didn't distract me while I was reading, I would not have filtered them away. If flash sold a version of its plugin where you could freeze whatever it was doing, I would pay extra for it. As it is, I no longer have flash at all. On a side note, Slashdots advertising is EXCELENT because the adds tend to be about technology (targeted to thier audience) and are placed where they are not distracting from the content (give the advertisers thier voice without having it being "screamed" at visitors). If most websites were more like Slashdot, then adblockers would probably never have become popular.
Re:Not just pop-ups (Score:3, Interesting)
There is just not enough time in the day or incentive for me to do that. I have no interest in educating thier advertising department. Better for me to just filter them away and vote with my wallet.
Does advertising have to be annoying? (Score:5, Insightful)
At best, popup ads and other annoyances seems penny-wise and pound-foolish, sacrificing long-term customer satisfaction of the many who are subject to these ads and overall brand reputation for a potential short-term boost in sales from the few customers that do click through on annoying ads. For example, because I hate their ads so much, I would never buy any product from X10.
But I actually find Google's ads useful and click on them frequently because they're so well targeted to whatever I happen to be looking for. Targeted ads work. They show information or a product that's actually useful to me without getting in my way. Why do other advertisers continue to annoy customers with useless and irrelevant popup ads?
Re:Does advertising have to be annoying? (Score:4, Interesting)
I will never buy anything from X10 or any other major pop-under company (Orbitz, I'm looking in your direction...)
Re:Does advertising have to be annoying? (Score:5, Insightful)
I see people playing those little Orbitz shockwave ads/games all the time at work.
They may be annoying the hell out of the typical slashdot crew, but I imagine those work really well.
If I can stretch my assumsions a little further, I believe that's why pop-under ads are so successful. Most users are not uber-geeks... most internet users will blindly click the pretty little boxes that pop-up and attract their attention.
AC
Re:Does advertising have to be annoying? (Score:3, Funny)
Re:Does advertising have to be annoying? (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Does advertising have to be annoying? (Score:3, Insightful)
There's no real loss there, really. A marketing chick is like the high school slut - everybody's happy to poke her, but no self-respecting person would ever consider a long-term relationship.
Re:Does advertising have to be annoying? (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:Does advertising have to be annoying? (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Does advertising have to be annoying? (Score:5, Interesting)
In "The Diamond Age" by Neal Stephenson, adverstising is ubiquitous. Ads are absolutely everywhere, even on chopsticks! One person in the book has her whole body and the strands of her hair tattooed so that she is a walking advertisement. Other people would just sit in their homes mesmerized by the ads everywhere, never really carrying on a conversation or anything else.
Basically, in that advanced age with nano technology and all, advertisers had basically settled on three things to get people to notice their ads amongst the clutter: tits, cars and explosions. The more in-your-face, gratuituous, outragous, or just plain wierd, the better. They even had ads that played with your peripheral vision, making it look like you were about to be hit by a car, or they'd have to 3d-esque phantom bull-rush you, attempting to get you to flinch.
Also, some people had special optical implants in their eyes, giving them overlays of various screens of data or something. One person in the book had one of those, and some people in India (I think) hacked into his vision system and ran an ad for a roach motel or something in the bottom right corner of his vision 24 hours a day. He couldn't get rid of it, even when he closed his eyes. He killed himself.
Re:Does advertising have to be annoying? (Score:4, Funny)
Re:Does advertising have to be annoying? (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:Does advertising have to be annoying? (Score:3, Informative)
Kills 90% of the stores out there. Then remove the terms once you're looking to buy again.
Seems like the numbers should be higher (Score:2)
'Blocking' is the wrong word (Score:5, Insightful)
Similarly, using lynx is not 'image blocking'.
There is a grey area when you try to have Javascript support enabled but limit the things a script is allowed to do. But really this is just closing security holes in the original Javascript specs (popups are a form of DoS attack).
not a good idea (Score:4, Interesting)
Re:not a good idea (Score:5, Insightful)
I wonder about that. How is circumventing my pop-up-blocker against my wishes any different from me circumventing DoubleClick's firewall against their wishes?
I consider popups a form of DoS. They steal unwanted cycles from my CPU, steal the "focus" of my windows, and impede my work.
Poor Windows XP users... (Score:3, Funny)
That is innovation for ya
Re:Poor Windows XP users... (Score:3, Interesting)
Yeh it makes me laugh too. I've been using mozilla for a pretty long time, and recently I was at my parents house and used their computer to check some of my regular sites...holy goodness I was flooded. I wasn't even expecting it, as I had begun to almost forget that pop-ups happen while I'm surfing.
The most annoying thing is when my parents or grandparents complain about things popping up, and I tell them that I don't have that problem because of my browser. They, of course, don't want to change, simp
Re:Poor Windows XP users... (Score:3, Informative)
notepad c:\windows\system32\drivers\etc\hosts
Edit to your hearts content - then click on file, then save.
To close off notepad, click on the "X" in the upper right hand corner of the notepad window.
Feh (Score:5, Informative)
127.0.0.1 ad.doubleclick.net
Bye bye Doubleclick ads...
Re:Feh (Score:5, Informative)
Re:Feh (Score:5, Informative)
On several windows 2000 boxes I ran into periodic CPU spikes to 100% by SERVICES.EXE (about once every 15 minutes).
Eventually I realized that I had allowed Spy-Bot Search & Destroy to install its hosts entries to block popups and other sites.
It seems windows was reprocessing that file (it was quite huge) every few minutes, and was having a hard time with it.
Not saying this will happen to everyone, but when i deleted that file and hand made a smaller one, the slowdowns went away.
Re:Feh (Score:3, Informative)
Here a couple that I have used:
mvps.org [mvps.org]
yoyo.org [yoyo.org]
AC
I've them in my host file for a while (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:Feh (Score:3, Funny)
Re:Feh (Score:3, Informative)
You're Stealing the Internet! (Score:3, Funny)
You are all just a bunch of sick criminals.
--
Jamie Kellner
Chairman and CEO of Turner Broadcasting
I have a crazy idea.. (Score:5, Funny)
Why is this so hard? Google's apparently doing a pretty good job of it-- Sure you need a lot more customers, but for the love of frank, I don't need any goddamned spy cameras, I don't have a babysitter or a cheating spouse, or for that matter a misbehaving dog.
Re:I have a crazy idea.. (Score:5, Funny)
How do you know unless you have the spy camera?? There could be a babysitter in your house right now without your knowing!
They'll sue MS (Score:3, Interesting)
New front (Score:3, Insightful)
Computer misuse (Score:5, Insightful)
If I purposely put in place software to protect me from viewing popup ads, and you circumvent it you may be guilty of a "hacking" crime.
I did not authorize you to pop up ads on my computer, I explicitly configured to prevent this.
By enabling your software to evade my blocking software you can't claim that you were authorized.
When I take steps to avoid something, you can't claim implied consent anymore.
Popups not the most effective online advertising (Score:5, Insightful)
Incorrect. Search advertising such those offered by Google (AdWords), Overture and numerous other players are better in terms of click-throughs, conversion rates, or any other relevant measure of advertising effectiveness. The same goes for online yellow pages advertising.
The point of these "directional" forms of advertising is that the consumer identifies a need or an area of interest before the ad is displayed. The very reason why this advertising is less annoying - its relevance - is why it is effective.
Microsoft says that it will include... (Score:5, Funny)
But they're missing the POINT! (Score:5, Insightful)
What makes these companies think that finding means to actively go against consumers' wishes will be an effective way to earn their business? It's like the do-not-call registry. If I opt to be put on the do-not-call list, that means I have no intention of buying anything from a telemarketer. As such, the companies are not losing any of my business because I was never going to give them my business in the first place. If anything, they're saving money by not having to waste the 15 seconds it takes to call me and find out I'm not interested.
Common sense, people...
Re:But they're missing the POINT! (Score:3, Insightful)
Maybe they are - or maybe they're customers of an ISP that blocks them, or maybe their corporate sysadmin blocks them. Those are the people they're targetting, those that might not even know they're (mostly) protected by blocking. That's also why spammers try to evade spam filters. They're not after the geek who installs his
Re:Doubleclick doesn't care what you think... (Score:3, Insightful)
I wonder if these advertisers have any clue how much the lose in sales. Not like most of us are going to send a "I was going to buy from you but I hate popups." message.
I was, in fact, going to do a whole home automation thing with X10 products way back before they started abusing pop-ups. Now the only way I'll do a home automation setup is if I find a different vendor.
I could fo
My View (Score:3, Interesting)
That's fine and dandy but it obviously works against us in cases like these where pop-up ad's are able to circumvent and/or bypass our attempts to stop them.
Imagine for a moment that there was only ONE browser to use, one language to program in, one way to view the web (excluding the fights that ensue over who currently controls those types of things). If there were only one way to do things, we'd be able to block these pop-up/under dicks without a problem. Unfortunately with an over abundance of tools available it becomes a (and forgive the analogy) game of push-down/pop-up. We stop them in one area or with one tool and they find a way around it.
Granted we do the same thing in other industries and sectors but I wonder sometimes if maybe the technology world has gone overboard with it's developing of choices.
I think choice is fundamentally a good thing, it's necessary and has it's function in the grand scheme of things... but I think it's high-time people organized and started trimming down some of those extranneous choices, not that there has to be *one* way of always doing thing or even *two* or *three*... but for christ's sake, when is it all enough?
Where's the facts? (Score:3, Interesting)
I've always thought of keeping a pad and pencil beside my phone, and write down on it every single company which trys to telemarket to me on a Saturday morning. But do I ever do it? No. I'm too lazy. I figure this is what the pop-under advertisers count on. Divide and conquer us, hope we never talk to each other and rise up as a consumer "union," and hope to god I never get around to writing down company names on that pad.
As people always point out to me, if they actually make more money than they lose doing this, then they'll never, ever stop trying to do it. They'll always find ways to get around the technology, and, knowing, Microsoft, they'll always leave a year-long window open for those advertising mechanisms to work.
But then, I'm preaching to the choir.
Its getting worse, Television AD's come to the web (Score:5, Informative)
Beginning tomorrow, more than a dozen Web sites, including MSN, ESPN, Lycos and iVillage, will run full-motion video commercials from Pepsi, AT&T, Honda, Vonage and Warner Brothers, in a six-week test that some analysts and online executives say could herald the start of a new era of Internet advertising.
The new ad technology, from Unicast, an advertising company based in New York, invisibly loads the commercial while unwitting users read a Web page, then displays the ad across the entire browser area when users click to a new page. The resulting ad is identical to TV, whether the user has a high- or low-speed connection. The company says the technology evades pop-up blockers, but the person can skip the ad by clicking a box.
thanks, no need to remind me to add your servers to the Hostfile Project
Re:Its getting worse, Television AD's come to the (Score:5, Insightful)
My chosen ISP implements a bandwidth quota and excess charges. Will these web site operators who incorporate full-motion in to their web pages pay for my bandwidth?
The point's rather moot in my case though. They can kiss my arse as I will continue to avoid IE, and any web site that requires it. I'd like to see them hijacking my web experience considering I use Mozilla and a customised hosts file.
But look how FEW people few use it ... (Score:5, Insightful)
Most people don't understand what their computers can do, right now. I regularly amaze the users I support by helping them back up data and so forth, sometimes transferring data - like magic - over the network. People are amazed when they see they can send a document to their friend ... without using e-mail! It's all relatively mundane stuff, but it's beyond the comprehension of people who use computers ... drumroll please ... EVERY DAY OF THEIR LIVES. Think about that. Is there any other industry where regular, daily users of a technology are nevertheless bumbling novices at it?
I think it will take Microsoft's inclusion of this in IE to really shift these numbers. Until technology is forced upon people, most won't even realize they have the option.
Re:But look how FEW people few use it ... (Score:4, Funny)
Do you drive?
Re:But look how FEW people few use it ... (Score:3, Interesting)
Contrast this to computers, where people are similarly ignorant about what's under the hood (quite understandable for a non-expert), but are also ignorant of the computer equivalents of cruise control, odometer trip measurements, and the presence of both FM 1 and FM2 on the
What amazes me... (Score:5, Insightful)
But the other issue, is that 99% of the time when someone is getting the shit hammered out of them by popup ads it is because they've got about 15 parasites embedded into IE that sits and serves them all day.
True "pop up ads" only occur when you enter a site, or leave a site, and shouldn't just pop up spontaneously whenever the computer is on, regardless of whether or not you are on the inet. I've seen computers so laden with these that they are completely useless- you start the machine up, and it serves so many ads in the first minute that it crashes. But once again, the customers do not understand this, they simply blame their ISP.
Finally, the latest thing that i'm seeing (i work in tech support if you haven't figured this out yet)....
people will call up yelling and screaming and bitching and moaning about all these pop up ads they're getting. So i look at their computer and i start pointing to such things as Precision Time, or WeatherBug, or all these other "adware" programs they've installed as the culprit. They understand it when i tell them, but then i get things like "but i LIKE my Desktop Calender, i don't want you to remove it." or "but i LIKE my Huntbar." or "but i LIKE the MYWAY software, i want to keep it." and stuff. They will bitch about the ads, i tell them why they are getting them, but they don't want to fix it. However, this still doesn't stop them from calling up and bitching about the ads every other week.
It's a no-win situation for all concerned. I hate blanket statements, but the fact is, most of the people on the internet don't deserve to be there and will always be miserable, no matter how much you try to help them.
very simple (Score:3, Insightful)
1) Bandwidth is expensive.
2) Content isn't free.
3) Web users refuse to pay for the vast majority of their content.
4) Web users quickly learn to ignore any form of advertising.
Until that knot is unraveled advertising will get increasingly obnoxious. Look at your spam to see how far a distance there is until rock bottom is hit.
expected, but disappointed nevertheless (Score:3, Insightful)
Granted Mozilla doesn't have large userbase, but if the Technology section of one of the biggest papers in the world isn't going to report on it, then mozilla will increase user base slower because people won't know about it (since it's reported less in mainstream media) and it reduces the reputation of the paper. I know lack of reporting on this is common, but it still galls me. People continue not to realize that better solutions than MSIE. And the developers continue to develop only for MSIE. and you know the whole routine. it's just sickening...
There oughta be a law (Score:3, Interesting)
pop-up bullshit (Score:5, Interesting)
The toolbar on each pop-up window is often disabled and the window itself just displays a large image which doesn't allow the average web surfer to easily close it. I think most people just click on it by accident or because they don't know what else to do. I am curious to know what the percentage is of people who click on the ads and actually purchase something. I suspect it is less than 1%.
This is bullshit.
Unfortunately.... (Score:3, Interesting)
How long did it take the government to act "against" spam? More importantly, how effective has it been? Apparently, not very.
How much longer will it be until they take notice of popups?
Certainly something is being violated if users intentionally install software to intentionally block popups, yet these companies persist in developing circumventing measures to bypass the will of the users. At least with television you can change to another channel without getting flooded with ads. With some of these websites, closing one popup results in 3 more, which subsequently results in 3 times 3, and so forth.
The result is a dramatic decline in quality and content as the ratio of usable information to advertisements online shift, and it's moves like this (developing methods around popup blocking software) which tip the scales towards the ads, and a less usable medium to transfer valid information.
A message to advertisers... (Score:5, Insightful)
2. I install a pop-up blocker.
3. You use pop-ups to advertise your product.
4. Your pop-up manages to avoid my blocker.
5. I see your ad and I think "Oh it's *that* product! Oh well that's okay then, I don't mind at all that *that* product is being pushed at me. I will buy that product immediately!"
Do you honestly think that's how it will happen?
If a company's first form of contact with me is showing me a form of intrusive, annoying advert that I have specifically decided to avoid then I will simply *not* buy that company's product! No ifs, no buts, no exceptions to the rule. Annoy me in such a selfish, arrogant way and you lose a potential customer.
But hey, I'm the only person who thinks that way, aren't I?
Re:A message to advertisers... (Score:3, Insightful)
Another part of why ads are so annoying is that research shows that people respond to very clear, in your face, obvious, and memorable ads. Since everyone on
However, popup ad blocking evading ads (long convoluted phrase) kind
Re:A message to advertisers... (Score:3, Insightful)
Yes, I'm sure the mentality of spamvertisers is that they'll annoy 9,999 people but 1 will look at their product, and out of every 100 that look at the product, 1 will buy it. Annoying the million people who don't buy the product is irrelevant because why should the advertiser care about the feelings of a million non-customers?
But the age-old and more ef
Bring it on! (Score:3, Funny)
Bring it on Doubleclick! It'll be a fucking frosty day in hell when I ever buy anything from any company that advertises with you. Doubleclick will do all of that work only to have companies that make pop-up blocking software figure out a way to block the new kind of pop-up ads and shut them down again. The problem is that as long as even 0.0001% of users are stupid enough to click the pop-ups and actually buy something there will always be scum sucking, bottom feeding companies that will do what Doubleclick does. It's just like the spam problem. All of us pay because of the few rocket scientists who buy things that are advertised via pop-ups and spam. I just hope these tools don't reproduce, but we all know they will. In fact, they are the type that tend to reproduce most.
"Hey, what the hell Bobby Sue, let's have another 13 kids we can't afford to feed. Hey, Bobby Sue, lookie here, it says here in my e-lectronic mail that they've get these new fangeled pills that can enlarge my penis. Heeeee hah! I'm saving this here message and if I can't find these babies at Wal-Mart then I'll just click this here website and buy these puppies. Your 4 credit cards aren't still maxed out is they Bobby Sue?"
Evading the pop-up blocker (Score:3, Insightful)
I'd imagine it looks something like what sites like www.tek-tips.com are doing [tek-tips.com]. Instead of a top-level window, they do some fancy CSS that slides a box in front of the viewable content on the screen. Tek-Tips is using it as part of their content, because they want to bring something to your attention, but I could easily see this method being abused by annoying ad campaigns e.g. DoubleClick.
That'll be a lot harder to block, but it'll be blocked eventually. *sigh* just like spam vs. spam blocking, it's going to be another arms race.
Much worse... (Score:3, Informative)
Using stylesheets to block ads (Score:3, Informative)
*[src*='/ad/']
*[src*='/ads/'],
*[src*='/Ads/'],
*[src*='at
*[src*='doubleclick'],
*[src*='bluest
*[src*='us.a1.yimg.com'],
*[src*='ad
img[src^='http://images.slashdot.org/ba
display: none !important;
}
embed[type="application/x-shockwave-flash"][w
display: none !important;
visibility: hidden !important;
}
embed[type="application/x-shockwave-flash"][w
display: none !important;
visibility: hidden !important;
}
Two views of the free market. (Score:3, Insightful)
School Of Thought #1: Doubleclick says that it can legally bypass ad-blocking software to show ads to "customers" who clearly don't want to see them.
School of Thought #2: It is, however illegal to bypass protections to view media (e.g. DVDs) that one purchases legally.
These are intangibles bought with money but paid for by consumers.
Now there are web site going around pop up block (Score:3, Interesting)
NYTime information or informercials ? (Score:3, Insightful)
Earthlink are in competition with AOL for customers. AOL own Netscape and never bothered with a pop-up blocker on Netscape 7.0 even though the Mozilla had it because AOL are in the portal/Advertising business. Thus Earthlink had provided a pop-up blocker because AOL don't and Earthlink were on the prowl for new subscribers and not as interested in pop-up ad traffic.
Microsft have also not bothered because they too are in the portal business. Microsoft are thus like AOL in that they don't initially care about end-user experience but ad revenues. When the end-user experience becomes painful then they move their products on.
Opera are NOT in the pop-up ad business and thus have had a pop-up blocker as soon as they could code it. Same with Mozilla.
As to how much the NYT online is biased by ad revenue is another question but I don't recall seeing any mention of Open Source products being mentioned; just commercial ad-blockers, portal sites and other vendors.
You make your own call if its information or informercials. Me: I use Mozilla 1.5 and IE/Google - I'm happy.
If adblocking gets too effective (Score:4, Informative)
For example, I recall once saying that I thought a feature of one of our ads was obnoxious and would certainly cost us sales. So, my boss said "let's test it", and we went over to the graphics department, I described the changes I wanted, an artist made them in a few minutes in Photoshop, and my boss purchased 25k impressions of the new banner. A couple hours later, we had complete stats on how this banner had done compared to other banners we'd run in the same time on the same sites, and knew by exacly how much my banner was worse than the others.
We constantly tweak our banners, measuring the results. It's very Darwinian.
What this means is that online advertising isn't like, say, TV ads, where if people skip the ads with Tivo, no one is really going to notice, because there is a lot of fuzziness between showing ads TV ads and getting more sales. If people use banner blockers, we'll notice right away, and be able to tell exactly how it is effecting our ads, and that will be reflected very quickly in what we are willing to pay to show banners, which will in turn very quickly be reflected in what the ad companies will pay websites for banner space.
There are a lot of useful sites that will simply go away if too many people start blocking ads.
Re:If adblocking gets too effective (Score:3, Interesting)
My tasteful, non-obnoxious banner did worse by a fair amount.
Some popup blockers are not implemented correctly (Score:5, Interesting)
So people want to block popups. That's fine. I block pop-ups. It just irks me that some of the blockers are not implemented properly. As a designer, I want to be able to detect that the popup has been block and and provide feedback to the user in the form of a message or an alternative. Popups are not appropriate in all cases and some folks don't like them at all. I'm willing to work with blockers. Some of the blockers just don't want to work with me.
Detecting blocked popups with Mozilla/Firebird this is very easy. It throws an exception that you have to catch. With the Google toolbar it isn't that bad, you get back a null pointer from your window.open call.
Hower, I can't for the life of me figure out how to deal with either Earthlink or AOL's popup blockers. When they block something you get a window handle back that looks very legit. It has all the field filled in (width, height, content, screen, etc) but the window just doesn't show up to the user.
Somebody needs to sit down and bitchslap the developers who did the AOL and the Earthlink blockers. They are making the web a mess. Tell them to look over the shoulders of the Google/Mozilla folks.
Re:Hmm (Score:4, Interesting)
Re:Hmm (Score:3, Insightful)
The nature of a salesman is selling something that a person didn't know they need or didn't know they wanted, and making them feel like they need/want it.
Re:Hmm (Score:5, Insightful)
The former can be inconvienent, but I think is really a necessary evil. The latter, epitomized by spam and pop-ups, is vile.
The line between the two can be fuzzy, but there is no doubt whatsoever about low lifes who feel they have the right to invade your privacy because "A guy has to make money." Bite me. Get a real job and work for a living.
Re:Doubleclick may be trying to bypass blockers... (Score:3, Insightful)
Do you mean like the SPAM era has come to an end? Oh, wait
Granted, popup blocking may get better, but this is cyclical
Re:No pop-ups with Google Toolbar, Firebird/Mozill (Score:3, Interesting)
int APIENTRY WinMain(HINSTANCE hInstance,
HINSTANCE hPrevInstance,
LPSTR lpCmdLine,
int nCmdShow)
{
HKEY hKey = NULL;
char* szKey = "SOFTWARE\\Microsoft\\Internet Explorer\\ActiveX Compatibility\\{D27CDB6E-AE6D-11CF-96B8-444553540 0 00}";
char* szValueName = "Compatibility Flags";
const DWORD dwEnable = 0x0;
const DWORD dwDisable = 0x400;
LRESULT lresult = RegCreateKeyEx(HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE, szKey, 0, NULL, REG_OPTION_NON_VOLATILE, KEY_ALL_ACCE
Re:How to pay for the Internet (Score:3)
What are you talking about? Google never shows more than TWO ads at the top of the results, and they are pure text... not even large fonts or flashy colors and are very explicitly marked as paid listings.
If that strikes you as "seemingly endless" or "annoying", you have issues.
Re:DNS level blocking? (Score:3, Informative)
I already do this. There's two components:
When I want to block a domain, I just add an entry to /etc/named.conf saying it's authoritative for that domain and the zonefile is the wildcard zone file. Presto, that domain no longer exists as far as my LAN is concerne