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But I *am* a winner... that's what my mom tells me.
Seriously, that was annoying. Thanks to EagleKeeper for reminding me to add that to my hosts file. That seems to have stopped the problem.
 
>> They claim "you are a winner"

Well, you gotta admit - that's a much better way of attracting people than if they were to post a banner saying "You are a loser".
rolleye.gif
I doubt many people would bother clicking on that. 😉

Subscriber

 
This is enough to make me not want to visit.

Actually, it is annoying enough so that I CAN'T STAY HERE WHILE THAT STUPID THING IS FLASHING !!! BYE !!!!!!!!!
 


<< This is enough to make me not want to visit >>

There have been several options given to alleviate the pain 😉

1 - Subscribe
2 - Edit the hosts file
3 - Use an alternate browser and/or ad-blocker
4 - Get in touch with the ad company to voice a complaint about the ad.

Plenty of stuff to keep you busy and keep the ad away from ya.
 


<< >> They claim "you are a winner"

Well, you gotta admit - that's a much better way of attracting people than if they were to post a banner saying "You are a loser".
rolleye.gif
I doubt many people would bother clicking on that. 😉

Subscriber >>



Effective it may be.
It's also misleading and deceptive. It reads: "WINNER If flashing, you've been selected! claim your prize!"
This explicitly states that I was selected. From a drawing? From a pool? Randomly chosen server hit? It doesn't matter. No one has won anything and no one has been selected. There is no sweepstakes or contest, they are simply trolling for people gullible enough to give their address out to get spam.
This is remarkably similar to the trouble many mail-order sweepstakes got into awhile back. They'd tell you you were a winner and had been selected to receive a prize, but it was just an affront to collect data, or worse to get CC #s, cash, whatnot.

Subscriber or not, remember that these forums are funded in part by advertising. Do you want our forum to be associated with this scam?
 
Please! What is the host file? Where is it? I AM A WINNER. How do I get to it? CLAIM YOUR PRIZE. CLAIM YOUR PRIZE.
I AM A WINNER. CLAIM YOUR PRIZE. I AM A WINNER. CLAIM YOUR PRIZE. I AM A WINNER. CLAIM YOUR PRIZE. I AM A WINNER. CLAIM YOUR PRIZE.
All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy. All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy. All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy. All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy. All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy. All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy. All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy. All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy. All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy. All work and no play...

I feel you will have to deal with this matter in the harshest possible way, Mr. Torrance.
There's nothing I look forward to with greater pleasure, Mr. Grady.

 
Also, a sticky in ATOT and possibly other forums telling people to stop Neffing about the daggon thing might be in order.



<< 4 - Get in touch with the ad company to voice a complaint about the ad. >>


I think this is a great idea. I went to realmedia.com, however and I could find nowhere to lodge a complaint about an ad.....
 
I can't believe people are clicking on this... Never click on banners... Esp annoying flashing ones... If you hit escape it stops flashing at least. Almost makes you want to look for a new forum... Yeah, subscribing... I would ... I thought about it. But, No these red flashing banners are not going to make me subscribe they are going to drive me away...

 
Personally I think it is fun to give them tons of info. None of it mine - or real for that matter. I hope that root@aptimus.com - the "owner" of this great banner enjoys the junk mail he wanted to send me. Oh, and I hope that corporate headquaters enjoys all the mail too.
 
The strange thing is, it's the ONLY banner ad going, just like the "freeze the Polyps" campaign before. Someone might mention the "rotation" concept to this banner co 🙂
 
feel free to hit the stop button or the escape key to stop the banner from flashing/strobing/animating..

that goes for any other animated lame ass gifs.
 


<< feel free to hit the stop button or the escape key to stop the banner from flashing/strobing/animating..

that goes for any other animated lame ass gifs. >>

Thank you very much😀

Now why didn't I think of that!?😱
 


<< But, No these red flashing banners are not going to make me subscribe they are going to drive me away... >>

Just to reiterate. Anand doesn't like the ads. He requested that absolutely no strobing ads come into the rotation. Naturally these things take some time to correct. Trust that the Anandtech folks have made their concerns known to the ad company. This is in no way part of some ploy to convince folks to subscribe, it's simply another case where an annoying ad made it into the rotation.

Checked out the realmedia site for a moment. They -do- have a "Responding to our Ad?" link that I believe takes you to a "request more info" page. I just treated this as a comment/feedback page. Gave enough info so that my feedback would be taken seriously (read: no obscene fake addresses) and made it clear that a) I didn't want to be contacted and b) that the "winner" ad was not only annoying, but it also was highly misleading.
 


<< Thanks for the heads up. Anand has instructed the ad company not to insert strobing ads. Occasionally a few slip into the rotation. I have notified him about this.

AnandTech Moderator >>



Whoa! Gotta love the mods 🙂! My brain was about to go in to a meltdown after having to look at that banner.
 


<< They -do- have a "Responding to our Ad?" link that I believe takes you to a "request more info" page. I just treated this as a comment/feedback page. Gave enough info so that my feedback would be taken seriously (read: no obscene fake addresses) and made it clear that a) I didn't want to be contacted and b) that the "winner" ad was not only annoying, but it also was highly misleading. >>


I did see that, but the link suggested to me that it meant "Responding to an ad for realmedia" and the resultant page suggested that it was a request for details.
Hopefully they'll take your comments seriously. If not, props for trying.

 
Last time that company put those flashing banners into rotation, I thought Anand told them to stop. Alot of good that did.
 
Originally posted by: carmann
Last time that company put those flashing banners into rotation, I thought Anand told them to stop. Alot of good that did.
Click to expand...

Its probably a simular situation to when you hit 'unsunscribe' to all those spam emails 😉
 
Anand has left standing instructions with our ad agency not to show flashing banner ads. Sometimes, they do not listen. 🙁

I have reported this to him.

AnandTech Moderator
 
Have you ever seen this banner come up saying, "Sorry, you're not a winner this time."

Or maybe they could just show a BLANK banner for all those non-winners or one with some insightful advice like, "Be nice to others," or "Consider giving blood today."
 
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