On-line ads with a heart.

[trekkiedane]

A company called AidOnline is developing a small piece of software that will put their ads in place of whatever ads might be on the sites a computer running this software is viewing.

The idea is that instead of having to watch ads for the purpose of supporting the sites you visit you can choose to watch ads in support of 'worthy causes'.

Pretty cool, right!-?

Or is it? - Obviously the normal ad revenue will drop as software like this takes over the net, no one will want to pay to have ads placed anywhere if people just block them and watch the ads that make them feel good about themselves... and blocking ads.

Your thoughts please. -Would you use this sort of software if it feeds the hungry, saves the whales, cures the sick and whatnot -just by you watching a few banners on sites you visit anyway? Would you still use it when sites (like The T-BBS) loose their only source of income?

 

[wamdue]

so people are going to download a bit of software (buy ? ) which will replace ads they see online, with other ads? what would be the point? those feel good ads are only going to work, if the viewer supports the worthy cause, which I assume means charity?

 

[trekkiedane]

Yeah, charity is what AidOnline is developing this for.

Fundraising is normally very expensive, making only double the cost of the campaign in actual donations isn't unusual, but with something like this you can steal ad revenue from websites forever after.

The ads on a website usually pay something to whomever owns that site, but when you block those and replace them with ads from somewhere else -someone else will be paid. But you could -in theory- be watching an ad for the very same thing though.

The software will of course be distributed for free by whatever charitable organisations might back the idea.

 

[SinglePurpose]

If you're annoyed by ads you can already block them with the adblock extension in Firefox. If you really care about charities you could just go to a site like Charity Navigator and look for charities you would like to support. This just seems like a way to deprive websites that you enjoy of their ad revenues because you'd rather be sold to than look for a charity yourself. I suppose it might make sense if you were running a computer lab or something and wanted to do some good but otherwise it just seems utterly pointless.

 

[RJDiogenes]

Indeed. This is just a more sophisticated kind of ad blocker. And discussion of ad blockers is not allowed on TrekBBS.

 

[RJDiogenes]

After giving this some thought and consulting with a fellow Mod, I am re-opening this Thread at trekkiedane's request. Please remember, no linking to Ad Blockers and keep the discussion on Topic, i.e. the ethics and economics of this new software. Thank you.

 

[wamdue]

Yeah, charity is what AidOnline is developing this for.

but why bother downloading this bit of software when its easy enough to give money to charity, all this does it suggest who to give it to. There should be better ways, ways that do not cost websites revenue than this.

 

[tharpdevenport]

I don't support this. Boards have a right to collect ad revenue, even if they use lfying dragons and electrical superstorms (though technically I won't support any revenue that uses such EVIL ads). And what's the point of frequenting a board like this? IF such a program caught on and many people used it, it could drive boards exstinct, or even decrease free features and amounts of boards because server cost/repair/upgrade don't have financial backing.

And plus, as a rule of internet thumb (something that's kept me from NEVER getting a virus), you never download and install something you don't need. You don't need this. Many friendly programs have spyware installed in them. And you should always be suspicious of a charity that needs you to download software to watch it's ads and donate. If you gave a shit, you could donate without viewing the ads. And many charities HAVE the money to pay for ads online, like on UGO.

 

[trekkiedane]

Yeah, charity is what AidOnline is developing this for.

but why bother downloading this bit of software when its easy enough to give money to charity, all this does it suggest who to give it to. There should be better ways, ways that do not cost websites revenue than this.

I suppose I haven't been explaining it right.

What this software does is substitute ads on websites, ads that the owner of the site is paid to have on their site, with ads that pay to a third party -in this case a charity.
The ads themselves could be the very same; soft drinks, dating services computer games...

It is kind of like sneaking into the van and gluing your own ads all over the ones in the paper before it hits the stand; making the ones that pay to the paper worthless and the ones you're gluing in there the only ones the customer sees.

 

[wamdue]

What this software does is substitute ads on websites, ads that the owner of the site is paid to have on their site, with ads that pay to a third party -in this case a charity.

The ads themselves could be the very same; soft drinks, dating services computer games...

I see, so money only goes to charity if you click on those new ads, why not support the forum/website you are visiting, even if its only by not blocking their ads (im not saying anything about actually clicking on them)

this is just silly

Tharpdevenport I dont disagree, I would not download anything that effects my browser like this.

 

[Amaris]

I'm against it. I don't like ads, but if you pay to have your ad on a website and someone uses their own ads overtop yours, you just paid for them to steal your space and you benefit nothing. Businesses will lose revenues, and it's silly because there are many ways to give to charity without doing something so overtly unethical. and that's not even touching the idea of a piece of software being allowed to manipulate my browser and what do and do not see at it's discretion.

J.

 

[Mallory]

I agree with you J. If advertising hits were to drop then it would be more difficult for UGO to find advertisers for the board. And that's not a road I'd like to start down.

 

[trekkiedane]

What this software does is substitute ads on websites, ads that the owner of the site is paid to have on their site, with ads that pay to a third party -in this case a charity.

The ads themselves could be the very same; soft drinks, dating services computer games...

I see, so money only goes to charity if you click on those new ads, why not support the forum/website you are visiting, even if its only by not blocking their ads

Most people that are too lazy to go to the post office and make a donation (or doing it by phone) are also not the brightest, they might not realise exactly what they are doing. The people developing this sort of thing must also not be aware of what they are doing.

/../ and it's silly because there are many ways to give to charity

There are, but in a country where most of what you might consider giving to charity is handled over the taxes people tend to forget about all the other worthy causes that need their money, and therefore this one monthly check to charity in the bottom of the to-do list tends to become forgotten more often. This tech was thought as a convenience -nothing more.

 

[Scout101]

out of curiosity, does this board make money just by displaying the ads, or is it more tied to people clicking on them?

Just wondering, as I don't think I've ever actually kicked on an ad here. Of course, making them abnoxious isn't a good way to make me want your product or website...

 

[wamdue]

the problem with banner ads is that many of them seem to be advertising dodgy scams, its no wonder people dont click on them, or some people just dont even bother with them.

 

[RJDiogenes]

Since ads on a website are paid for, I wonder if there are any laws prohibiting this sort of hijacking of space and bandwidth; it's sort of like a pirate radio station broadcasting on a frequency owned by somebody else.

 

[trekkiedane]

As the idea is that the owners of personal computers should install the program themselves, they are fully aware that their bandwidth is being used whenever they're browsing with this add-on.

No bandwidth is being stolen, only ad placement -and from that; revenue.

I like the stolen frequency parallel though.

When the news about this program broke yesterday, it took less than four hours before news of web page operators enraged about it made the front page though. I'm pretty sure no charitable organisation would want to be called thieves and following that, that no one actually will be using it the way described.

But now that the genie is out of the bottle I'm pretty sure the cyber criminals will want to use the idea though.

 

[Hermiod]

Despite the good intentions of the ads themselves, quite frankly this is theft. Advertisers on sites pay to have their message seen, not replaced with someone else's. If, by some miracle of circumstance, use of this software became common, sites that depend on advertising revenue would lose a lot of money.