Paying for the Web

[Shatinator]

Robert,

You seem to be suggesting that the whole infrastructure will collapse like a house of cards, unless users don't start clicking and purchasing these ads and abandon the blockers.
You also seems to point to by comparison that if a person is viewing a TV program on TV, that unless they are sitting through that advertisement=commercial that the viewer is some how "stealing" the revenue of, said program.
While it may be true that if you build it they will come, it does not necessarily follow that if you advert it they will buy. There is an element of free choice in this. And BTW the consumer is not responsible for the agreements producers or proprietors of sites makes with the advertisers.

-The Shatinator

 

[Robert Maxwell]

The infrastructure will not abruptly collapse--and notice that I never said people have to click on the ads, either.

Rather, it is the act of blocking them from view entirely that is causing problems.

I also never said anything about TV ads, so don't put words in my mouth. It's a different medium, and it costs no more to deliver a TV show to 50 million people as it does to deliver it to 50,000. Each additional person tuning in costs nothing.

On the Web, however, each additional person hitting your site is costing you money in terms of bandwidth and computing power. Large sites have to recoup this somehow, and I am concerned that hobby sites like TrekBBS will go the way of the dodo because they rely on ad revenue to get by, and don't have a large corporate backer to help absorb the costs.

You are right, there is an element of free choice--you are free to visit a site or not. You are free to protect your computer, too. You are not free, however, to wantonly block all ads and then make use of sites that rely on them to survive. It's not illegal, of course, but it is at least unethical: you are enjoying the content of the site while deliberately refusing to provide what the owners ask in return for said enjoyment.

 

[Mr. B]

TrekBBS hardly qualifies as a 'hobby site.' It's under the UGO umbrella, which is owned by Hearst Corporation, a major media conglomerate.

 

[Robert Maxwell]

But it's not owned by UGO in any way, shape, or form. It's not as if Hearst Corporation is going to prop up TrekBBS when ad revenues are down. It is very much a hobby site, run almost entirely by volunteers.

Being part of an ad network is not nearly the same thing as being owned by it.

 

[LunarYoma]

I don't mind ad's that are not intrusive. However the ad's you speak about, the ones that cover content and muck up your surfing are really irritating. I have on several occasions considered not coming to TREKBBS because of the intrusive ad's. I consider these ad's just like the little booths in malls, you know the ones who have lotions and heating pads. They assault you as you walk thru the mall, I hate that. So when they approach me, I ask "When are you going out of business?" If I was interested in your product I would come over to you, otherwise leave me alone. This is how I feel about the obnoxious ad's. Even if I was interested in the product, I would never click on the link. I would just google it and proceed. I want to hurt that website as much as possible.

I agree. I don't mind banners and other static ads. It's the flash ads that cover the content that really piss me off. I think such ads are counter-productive because, like you, I'll refuse to click on the ad even if I'm interested just because it pissed me off. I also hate the ads that pop up when you move the cursor over the highlighted text. I tend to somewhat follow along what I'm reading with the cursor, so when those pop up right over what I'm reading, it really pisses me off.

I really think that if advertisers want people to click on the ads, they should try not to aggravate the potential customers.

everytime i see an add cover up what i am reading, i either look away or un-focus my eyes on said add untill i hit reload button. i will NEVER click on those float adds. damn annoying as hell


adds on the top, sides, or bottom of screen i look at, i ocationally check them out. float adds, i will NEVER click on.

 

[Jadzia]

There are a few websites I've abandoned because they started to use floating ads.

Before they would have gotten ad impressions from my visiting. Now they get nothing from my visiting because I don't visit!

It's sad that the owners have to screw up their own site like that and drive away their users.

I attribute it to the diminishing quality of the web.