A few weeks ago, one of my local papers, the Tribune-Review, implemented a little JavaScript magic to try to hide its advertisements from the ad-blocking software I use. That means my ad-blocker didn’t recognize some of the advertising cruft, so it let it pass through the filter, and the news pages suddenly started skipping and cavorting, blinking and wiggling in throes of mercantile ecstasy.
It took me about five minutes to see their new trick. So I looked around and found a more aggressive ad blocker, which, fortunately for me, blocks even more of the non-intrusive ads that I had been willing to put up with.
On Gameshelf, Andrew Plotkin offers a great discussion of flash ads. This line sums it up pretty nicely:
You cannot get me to start watching ads by making them more intrusive; you can only make me hate you more.
I will put up with text ads, or graphic ads that don’t blink. I won’t put up with things that reach across into the content area, that add paid hyperlinks in the content area, or that otherwise interfere with my ability to use my browser (popups, disabling the “go back” button, etc.).
There are millions and millions of pages on the internet, and if yours annoys me, I will leave.
Dennis, In fact those scripts are needed to run the fleeQ™ search. Without the scripts on many pages, the pages you are visiting become useless.
I am by no means saying that an abuse of my time with poorly placed ads is right. I am simply stating that JavaScript is in deed a necessary part of our Internet.
Cheers :)
Update… I just checked out adUup’s demo page, Fleeq.com (“Fleeq and you shall find,” which is a cute tag line), and — seeing the prompt to ask a question, entered “how do I install anti-advertising software”?
I got a page with just two results, with excerpts that presented the words “how,” “do,” and “I” in bold, but none of the subject-specific keywords that would actually be important to a relevant search.
I didn’t see any ads, but I did see that my NoScript browser plug-in had blocked 15 scripts.
A search for ad-blocking software turned up five sites that looked fairly good, but again, with 15 scripts. Nobody needs to run 15 scripts just to present search results.
I will stop reading any site that forces annoying ads onto my browser.
If the ads are text-only links, or static banners, I will probably put up with them but not link to the content on that site from my own blog; but if they take over my browser, reach across into the content area, etc, I will leave.
From what I gather adUup is an attempt to emulate what Google does — that is, dish out ads related to what you’ve just searched for.
I vow never to click on a blinking or moving ad, or a video or audio file that starts without me first giving it permission by clicking on it, but I would probably at least register text links.
I saw that adUup recently had an advertisement for a JavaScript programmer, and I’ve got a JavaScript blocker on my browser, that lets me run scripts one at a time if I choose to. So, good luck, Dylan, with your project.
“Thats a fact of life and it will remain that way if I have anything to say about it.” Okay, then… go ahead and keep trying to freeze the web in the late 90s, with the pop-unders and the disabled “go back” button, and the rest of us will move on.
I’d have to say that when I Google something, I’m intending to leave the results page to go somewhere else, and I haven’t yet shifted into “concentrate on just this one page” mode, so I’m probably more willing to scan ads that are delivered at that point. I’ve probably clicked a Google text ad maybe six times, but it’s also possible that people who bought ads that showed up on those results pages may have impressed their brand or product name on my brain.
Ad-Blocking is BAD!! You should read my article on this subject Anti-Ad Blocking
I happen to think ad-blocking is out of line. It costs the publishers thousands of dollars a year to accommodate for people who want to skim the content and refuse to provide the publishers with any value in return. Consuming content is part of modern living, you cant get a news paper or magazine without ads, nor can you get you TV shows without them, despite the use of DVRs which is made for replay, not for skipping ads.
I liken the ad blocking to stealing. I dont think anyone would want to be on the other side, trying to eek a living from our creativity. Why are actors and musicians entitled to make money from people consuming their artistic works and web masters are not?
I have collected a whole lot of information on this subject and have recently release a technology that bypasses ad-blocking software. Of course it is up to the web master to use this Anti-Ad blocking technology with caution. With the power to deliver ads at their whim it must be critical for the publisher to recognize what is a good mix of ads and content. If people come to your site and are bombarded with ads every time the visit they will soon quit visiting your website.
I enable the publisher to deliver ads, if they abuse the tool its not my fault. People will vote with their clicks in the end.
Thats how it should be. I think that people will figure that in order to consume good content they will have to deal with the ads. Thats a fact of life and it will remain that way if I have anything to say about it.
Ciao.
Dylan Rosario
adUup – President and Inventor