I used to use adblock/flashblock/noscript etc, but browsing this site was nigh impossible since it required javascript to do paging(I do believe this has be described as 'the Real WTF' before.) and such. One of the main reasons I did it was that the flash ads and javascript would frequently spike my laptop's (meager 400Mhz) cpu which made browsing very sluggish and utterly killed battery life. Like others in the thread have expressed, I even would whitelist certain sites that I visited frequently if they were not annoying. One particular example for me was penny-arcade (except flash). The ads were topical (a web comic about gaming, with ads targeted for gamers), did not blink or flash excessively, and sometimes were even drawn by the artist of the comic. Contrast
that with a site such as IGN. The ads are all over the place, place themselves over content, show up on those click through pages, and were generally not things I would be interested in (I /know/ that Franchise X11: The Last Redemption is coming out and I do not want a McGriddle). Another issue that irked me was, as alluded to, the threat of malware and such being distrubuted by ads (not Bonzai buddy, but through ActiveX exploits and such... I got bit by one that redirected all search engines to theirs through %WINROOT%/etc/hosts or whatever it is just by viewing the ad).
I think it is incorrect to blame <change in advertising technique> on <technological measure used by some consumers>. Why does only TiVo share the blame for the TV "popups"? Hell, they were around /before/ TiVo was around. Is Picture and Picture also not to blame? People (I know I do sometimes) could put the ads in the pip and channel surf until the program is back on. What about people that get up or just do not pay attention to them?
There is a never-ending cycle of evolution of ads, but it is driven by the users instead of technological measures.
Example:
First there were banner ads.
People get used to them and start to tune them out.
Then, there are banner ads that blink.
People get used to them and start to tune them out.
Popup ads.
People start using popup blockers and furious closing popups.
Popunders
Repeat.
Next, they add sound (this also drives me crazy!).
People get used to them and start to tune them out.
Ads are placed in line with content.
People get used to them and start to tune them out.
Ads /cover/ up content and on clickthru pages.
How many of these can you honestly blame on technological measures (i.e. on TiVo)? The only one that I can think of that is really widespread is popup-blocking (how many ads for ISPs say "free popup blocker" and such? I know I have seen a good many.)
Ads being integrated with content isn't a new thing anyways. Product placement has been around since the 80s, it is just becoming more overt (instead of the implicit "Okaleys are cool" because Tom Cruise wears them in Mission Impossible, Tom Cruise's character in Mission Impossible mentions his cool Okaleys).
I don't see how you can honestly think "Oh those nasty <something I don't do> are to blame!" Companies want money (imagine that?), they will do anything they can to get it. Advertisers will know that their ads are not having as much effect and foist more invasiveness on content producers. Where is the tivo that 'forced' the unskippable ads and trailers on DVDs? How about the commercials (not just trailers) shown before movies for the last few years? Were these due to some magic goggles that people bought that blocked out 3 minutes of pre-movie rubbish? Is CallerID to blame for telemarketers, or the other way around?
/a linux commie that doesn't believe in patents (software in particular), copyright (as it exists now in every growing or infinite duration), etc
//Thinks RMS is insane and that the gpl is horrible
///My code is MIT, advertising-free BSD, beerware, or public domain where possible--but I'll still contribute to gpl projects
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RE: Curious -- who blocks Ads, and Why?