I Am Thankful for Ad Filters

[silveronsilver]

My cable modem service is down so I am online through modem by necessity.

And it is actually tolerable!

Of course I can't download mp3's movies etc etc but I can surf just fine.

I don't even WANT to imagine how much slower it would be if I had to download all the crap banner ads.

I am thankful for ad filters and mine in particular.

That is all.

 

[ProviaFan]

What ad filter do you use?

 

[silveronsilver]

I use Proxomitron it is great.

It takes about a week to learn its pattern-matching language but then you can write filters for EVERYTHING including banner ads, javascripts, popups, you name it.

You can also block ad servers outright. You can block cookies.

And it is freeware.

It is more of a smart man's ad filter. If you want something easy get Siemens Webwasher.

 

[JoeKing]

yeah, but dude how do you expect webmasters to pay for their server fees?

--Just another webmaster trying to figure out how to keep his site afloat.

 

[Antisocial Virge]

<< yeah, but dude how do you expect webmasters to pay for their server fees? >>


If you never click them anyways then whats the diff?

 

[JoeKing]

not everyone is paid through clicks. Though rare CPM (paid per thousand impressions) are still out there. The state of online advertising is soooo bad right now, the prevalient use of "anti-adware" can only make it worse.

 

[silveronsilver]

<< yeah, but dude how do you expect webmasters to pay for their server fees? >>



It is their hobby. If it is worth it to them, they can finance their own website. If the financial cost outweighs the emotional value of their hobby, they can shut the website down.

 

[JoeKing]

It would have to be a really kickass hobby if a person is willing to spend hundreds (bigger sites thousands) of dollars a month to keep a site up. Wouldn't waiting a few more seconds to let an ad load be worth it in exchange for helping out a website you visit? Use their information? Resources? For Free?

 

[silveronsilver]

Besides which, even people who do not use ad filters have learned to ignore banner and popup advertising.

People have developed a close-the-popup reflex, scroll-down-just-a-little-bit-so-the-top-banner-goes-offscreen reflex, and a bunch of other reflexes.

An ad filter simply automates the ignoring of ads that people do on their own.

Here is the real problem.

BANNER ADVERTISING IN ITS CURRENT STATE DOES NOT WORK.

You need to have ads that are targeted to specific interests and demographics, that do NOT lie about the contents of their targets, and that do NOT take up lots of bandwidth / use lots of color and animation. Google's adwords are a great example, they are short, text-based, precise and truthful. I do not block Google adwords.

 

[JoeKing]

actually that is a huge trend in current marketing. Analysis shows that text based advertising where "you" the wemaster is talking to his visitor helps a whole bunch in raising a campaigns CTR.

There is a counter argument to the above post however, where even while you are ignoring the ad, just seeing it will begin install branding to the visitors. Like next time they go to buy a product they will somehow recognize the brand and therefore go for brand X (spent more on branding) vs Brand Z(spent less). However those days are over, to many page impressions over the whole internet, and decreased ad spending = poor internet ad market.

 

[silveronsilver]

<< It would have to be a really kickass hobby if a person is willing to spend hundreds (bigger sites thousands) of dollars a month to keep a site up. >>



Dude, like I said, if it is not worth it to you, shut the damn thing down.

I do not owe you anything and you do not owe me anything. My assumption when I see a non-corporate website is that the website is the webmaster's hobby. I am thankful that he put it up, but I do not expect him to keep it up, and I do not owe him anything.

 

[JoeKing]

whoa a little ungrateful there huh? So I guess you just take the whole free aspect of the internet for granted? I predict if current trends continue a large shift in the way websites are presented will occur. Already many other webmasters are moving toword subscription based services. I myself will never do that, hell I've never really turned a profit on my website (yeah it was a hobby now it looks good on the resume). But I know many people on the net that make their livelyhood off of it, and seeing what they have to do vs what they would perfer to do is a little sad. Just try to keep the internet Free.

 

[silveronsilver]

Trying to guilt trip your customer into supporting you financially is a terrible business plan.

Either set up a subscription system, or shut down the website, or be very forthright with your viewers and ask for donations. Penny Arcade did this, and obviously enough of their viewers are donating enough money to keep it going, because Penny Arcade is surviving just fine. Without any banner ads I believe.

I, and I predict millions of people like me, see your website, and other non-corporate websites, as the webmaster's hobby. It is great if you keep it up, and we will come by and take a look, but you can't force a provider-customer relationship upon people who did not ask for nor agree to such a relationship in the first place. We are not responsible for financing your hobby.

 

[JoeKing]

How can you guilt trip visitors when they are usually unaware of whats going on behind the scenes? I actually think begging for donations is more unproffesional than simply putting up an ad. But my point is that while yeah ad bocking software is convienent it has the potential of damaging an already hurting market.

Why do you think a webmasters put up banners on their site in the first place? Just to take up space? Look cooool? How do you explain television ads then? Even if your watching the boob tube from a pair of rabbit ears you still will see commercials. And those commercials keep the entertainment/information rolling. Only channels I can think of that are ad free are the likes of HBO, Skinamax, ect where you pay a monthly subscritpion.

Appreciate don't defficate.

 

[perry]

<< actually that is a huge trend in current marketing. Analysis shows that text based advertising where "you" the wemaster is talking to his visitor helps a whole bunch in raising a campaigns CTR. >>



Something coughporncough webmasters have known for a while now.. You have to entice the visitor to click on your ad. Make them want to click. Make them feel like they are missing something by not clicking. Slashdot has some cool banners that have gotten me to click before, but, in general, well written text will make someone want to click a whole lot more than any banner. People have trained their eyes to look over the standard sized/shaped banner, but they still read the text of the webpage.



<< We are not responsible for financing your hobby. >>


Webmasters are not responsible for financing your hobby either. It's a two way street. Nothing in life is free.

 

[silveronsilver]

<< How can you guilt trip visitors >>



You are guilt tripping me right here right now.

There was a discussion some months ago on Zophar's Messageboards (Zophar is the most famous emulation site on the net) as to whether Zophar should start using popup ads. Some people mentioned that they were using ad filters, and the webmasters started trying to guilt trip them. It was pathetic.

Dude, it doesn't work. The net is a pull medium, not a push medium. I will pull what I want and I will not pull what I deem unnecessary. If I deem ads unnecessary, I will not download them. There is nothing you or anyone else can say that can change this fundamental nature of the net. You cannot guilt trip people into downloading useless crap that they do not need nor want.

 

[JoeKing]

Uhmmm ok so all of my traffic comes from you then

--edit--
and in any case were not talking about my site, I turthfully could care less since I'm able to support the operations for my website. I'm speaking on behalf of the many webmasters out there that depend on advertising as a source of revenue.

 

[Raspewtin]

I think not using ad filters to prop up the Internet is the wrong thing to do. Internet web sites need to think of new ways of generating income. It's much like in the 70s when people encourage Americans to buy inferior American cars b/c they were American. American cars are better today b/c of the people who did not buy them, not those who loyally stood by. Taking a step backwards may help the short run in some industries, but never the long run IMO. If there are programs like ad filters, people should totally use and force web sites to deal with it IMO. Also really Internet is struggling mainly b/c of the rediculous economics of it even when it was a "success" (ie making money is not important, let's spend investor capital like water on buying ourselves a new sportscar while our company collapses) .

 

[silveronsilver]

<< I'm speaking on behalf of the many webmasters out there >>



Same difference. You, them, you're all running hobby websites, and I will filter all of your ads because it is not my responsibility to support your hobbies.

If you don't want to pay to have a website up so other people can read stuff that you write or produce, then take down the website. Your costs disappear, but your 15 minutes of fame disappears as well.

Or start charging subscriptions and see how many people stick around. Not too many.

 

[JoeKing]

Raspewtin,
problem is technology works both way. Many web publishers are already developing ways of denying service to visitors that employ the use of adblockers. I'm personally against denying service to anyone, but I admit I do look forward to a new market type emerging on the internet. What type I supose only time will tell. Interesting stuff seeing the growing pains of a new medium.

I'm actually writing a paper on this titled "Emerging trends and future possibilites of Internet Advertising" The problem is underneath every form of medium an infrastructure to finance it is nessacry. And the ways that are being set forth about turning a profit from the internet audience threatens the Free Internet we've all grown to love. Perhaps its a time to cherish this frontierlike time of cyberspace.

 

[silveronsilver]

I am aware of content denial scripts. I have seen some, and I have written a Proxomitron filter to defeat one of them.

The main problem in content denial is that you depend on the client to truthfully report to you whether it downloaded and is displaying an ad. If the client lies about this, the server has no way of knowing. So it is back to square one.

And by trying to hijack the viewer's right to pull any content he wants and to not pull any content he deems useless (the essential characteristic of the net) you simply engender ill will.