In my recent post about my advertising survey, lots of people commented on some of the more irritating ads. I am not a big fan of ads that flash, or obscure text, or change size, or go against the mission of this site, or in other ways distract me from what I’m reading — I mean, of course any ad is distracting, but having Scarlett Johansson whisper in my ear is a different kind of distraction from having Donald Trump bellowing in it.
If you get my meaning there.
I have some control over what ads play and what don’t. If you find a particularly irritating one, post a comment in this thread. Let me know as much info as you can — what it is advertising, what spot it was in (the header, the sidebar…), any miscreant behavior — and I’ll look into blocking it (if I agree with you, of course).
July 26th, 2007 at 10:40 am
congratulation you won! you are the 999.999 visitor
appearing in the header and on the side bar. (moving flashing)
very irritating, really.
by the way, there is still the error message when I am posting even though the post gets through
Andre
July 26th, 2007 at 10:42 am
I think the ads on your site are rather unobtrusive compared to many. I hate flashy ads and I *HATE* ads that cover up part of the site you’re trying to read! And that hide the close button so it’s difficult to find before the ad folds back out of the way. I want to smash my computer into a wall every time I encounter one of those. Do designers really think it helps their client? If an ad annoys me that much, I make sure NEVER to frequent the company behind it. (Ditto for TV ads.)
July 26th, 2007 at 10:44 am
Yay! Let’s go against annoying ads! http://img366.imageshack.us/img366/1831/adqx1.jpg
This one annoys me a lot… Flashes red and everything. And sometimes there is one at the top that is shaking around saying that I have won their “hourly prize”.
July 26th, 2007 at 10:55 am
Firefox and the AdBlock plugin. Kiss them all goodbye – not a thing shows up. Loads fast, all regular content intact. Gotta love it.
July 26th, 2007 at 11:06 am
That quivering “congratulations” ad at the top of the page is very, very annoying and looks kinda cheap. I don’t mind the google ads between the blog and the comments, and ads down the side columns don’t really bother me either. But that one at the top … *shudder*
July 26th, 2007 at 11:14 am
I’m not a fan of the double-wide sidebar, and I’m REALLY not a fan of the full screen ad that just popped up when I clicked on the link to the comments.
Given the choice of one thing to change, I’d get rid of the interstitial ads.
July 26th, 2007 at 11:30 am
I got a page redirection ad the first time I went to the blog today. That is about as obtrusive as it can get!
July 26th, 2007 at 11:43 am
Yeah, the ad banner right under the BA site banner is distracting, and today was the first time I sawa redirect ad before I could get here. I always hit the “Skip this Ad” – because I don’t care about the ads.
Although Phil, I did click on the Roving Mars ad, just for the heck of it.
July 26th, 2007 at 11:44 am
I wrote to the BA a while ago about the “Is Jesus Real” adds that used to dominate the blog. I didn’t send links to my Christen fiends because I thought the adds reinforced the ‘Scientists/Skeptics are Atheists’ stereotype and would drive away the very people who need a daily dose of *real* science. But those adds seem to have vanished… a change in advertising policy?
Randy “Slowly but Surly” in Paso Robles, CA.
July 26th, 2007 at 11:45 am
Also Phil, I sent you an email about this, but perhaps your spam software caught it….
Ever since you changed the layout, I get an error message when I hit “submit comment.” What’s funny is if I do a refresh, the comment shows up though.
I sent you via email the particulars.
July 26th, 2007 at 11:56 am
I agree with Just Al; Firefox + adblock (or adblock plus).
July 26th, 2007 at 12:00 pm
Folks, just an FYI: I need as much info as possible, like the company name and such if it’s on the ad. That way I can figure out which ones to block.
July 26th, 2007 at 12:04 pm
Hmm, I hate to say it, but if someone sees that “You are the 999,999th visitor” one, can you please click it and tell me where it goes to? I haven’t seen it yet, and I have no clue which ad it really is!
Thanks.
July 26th, 2007 at 12:15 pm
The shaking “you’ve won” one is probably the only one that bugs be a bit. Not because I can’t ignore it or it irritates me, but because it’s not advertising anything as such. It’s utter jive. Just now I clicked it (oh for shame) just to see what it leads to and it pitched some sort of $1200 vacation giveaway. I didn’t call them (despite the timer insisting I had three minutes and counting to do so) but I’m sure this would be wading into quite a swamp if I did. It’s like it’s almost pre-screened, if you’re so unused to the net that you’ll click this, perhaps you’ll just possibly be ripoffable. I’m not sure why this site would even be feasable for this, but then perhaps the skeptic talk brings in the dark side, if you believe in the moon hoax theories then why wouldn’t you think someone is going to hand you $1.2k point blank because you saw their ad?
I usually don’t ad block, at least not on sites I like. Yeah, it’s easy. I have adblock installed to kill off stuff I simply don’t like loading all the time. I usually leave ads on simply because it pays for the site. It varies by service if that’s logged right off but however you slice it, someone bought my eyeball on their content and it’s only fair they get it rather then riding the wave of those it has actual effect on.
July 26th, 2007 at 12:15 pm
“Hmm, I hate to say it, but if someone sees that “You are the 999,999th visitor†one, can you please click it and tell me where it goes to?”
It goes here http://www.freelotto.com/register.asp?skin=FlashWinner2&partner=1014721
July 26th, 2007 at 12:18 pm
I use an RSS reader so avoid most of the distraction.
July 26th, 2007 at 12:26 pm
I read this blog via RSS Live Bookmarks in firefox, so I miss the front-page stuff too.
July 26th, 2007 at 12:29 pm
Didn’t even know you had ads, and I check the blog 1-2 times per day.
/I love Firefox and AdBlock Plus.
July 26th, 2007 at 12:29 pm
Just block ads with firefox + adblock plus. That way you’re not taking away any money from phil, and you don’t see ANY ads. None whatsoever.
I sometimes forget ads even exist.
July 26th, 2007 at 12:32 pm
I filled out the survey.
I’ve also not had a problem with ads, but I think my company installs a pop-up blocker on their PCs. Anyway, just do what you need to do to keep the site going, Phil.
July 26th, 2007 at 12:47 pm
OK, I filled out the survey, so now I’ll give you some unsolicited semi-random comments (since the survey had no essay questions…):
1) I have to agree with a number of previous posters — the double-wide sidebar is not that helpful, and kind of cluttered. If you’re using “SeaShore” as your theme, I think a straight-forward edit would make it a 2-column theme — drop me a line if you’d like me to help you with this.
2) In terms of eye appeal, here’s how I’d rank ad placement (my personal take):
Top ad — least appealing
Interstitial ads — so-so
Sidebar ads — not at all annoying
Footer ads (don’t believe you’ve tried these yet) — not annoying
While I know you need (or at least, want) ads to pay the hosting bills, I’d argue that content is key to the site — from this perspective, the ads should be visible, but not intrusive. If some newbie is discouraged from visiting the site because they have to work around the ads to get to your content, then the ads have become counterproductive.
My $0.02,
Lorne
July 26th, 2007 at 12:50 pm
BA,
FYI — just (attempted to) post a comment, and got these error messages (Mac OS X 10.4.9 / Safari):
Regex ID: 18281 () appears to be an invalid regex string! Please fix it in the Blacklist control panel.
Regex ID: 18369 () appears to be an invalid regex string! Please fix it in the Blacklist control panel.
Regex ID: 23317 (jacob_25) appears to be an invalid regex string! Please fix it in the Blacklist control panel.
Regex ID: 18261 () appears to be an invalid regex string! Please fix it in the Blacklist control panel.
Warning: Cannot modify header information – headers already sent by (output started at /home/badastro/domains/badastronomy.com/public_html/bablog/wp-content/plugins/SK2/sk2_util_class.php:208) in /home/badastro/domains/badastronomy.com/public_html/bablog/wp-comments-post.php on line 67
Warning: Cannot modify header information – headers already sent by (output started at /home/badastro/domains/badastronomy.com/public_html/bablog/wp-content/plugins/SK2/sk2_util_class.php:208) in /home/badastro/domains/badastronomy.com/public_html/bablog/wp-comments-post.php on line 68
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July 26th, 2007 at 12:50 pm
OK, FreeLotto is gone.
July 26th, 2007 at 1:11 pm
Chalk up another vote for Firefox + AdBlock.
July 26th, 2007 at 1:16 pm
That ad on the right with the smiling guy in the NASA hat really bothers me.
;P
July 26th, 2007 at 1:16 pm
I have the ads blocked as well.
You know, if hosting costs are really a problem, it’d probably be more profitable to just set up a Paypal account for donations. I know I personally am more inclined to just send people I like some money than to click on random ads, and from my own experience with user donations, so are a surprising number of other people, apparently.
YMMV, though.
July 26th, 2007 at 1:25 pm
I think I fixed the problem with the comments. I can’t be sure because I never get that error! But hopefully it’s gone.
July 26th, 2007 at 1:26 pm
The only reason I completed the survey is because of Firefox and AdBlock+ – I feel like BATFINK- “your bullets cannot harm me, my wings are like a shield of steel!”
July 26th, 2007 at 1:42 pm
The ad size and what it says are generally pretty moot points — they are ads and what are you really going to do? What is irritating is flash ads. Unfortunately, Flash is not compatible with 64-bit browsers, and among other things, if you are running a 64 bit version of Vista, you always get the activex control dialogue or a UAC prompt.
Alas, Adobe, you can’t just release an updated version of Flash, can you …
July 26th, 2007 at 2:21 pm
Phil, I have foxfire and adblock so I never knew that you had ads on your site.
I have no problems with the donate buttons like Paypal. I have a couple sites like http://www.toolhaus.org that I donate every once in a while.
Even if I didnt have adblock…. I don’t click on the ads… at all.
Sheryl
July 26th, 2007 at 2:27 pm
Honestly, I’d rather have ads than a donate button. I don’t want my readers to pay me for anything (except to buy my book and such when available). Why bother, when others are willing, and have wheelbarrows full of cash?
July 26th, 2007 at 2:45 pm
I hate these ads out of my guts (the first one flashes like crazy):
You are the 999,999 visitor: Congratulations you WON! Click here to claim [if this is the free lotto ad, it's not gone yet]
You have 1 message waiting for you OK
As for where they lead, I’m not going to click any of them even with a 1 km pole. But I have copied the link of the second one by right clicking it with Firefox and selecting Copy Link Location, and this is what I get:
http://ad.adtegrity.net/click,CQ8EAIj2AgDiEAIAzdAAAAIADAAAAP8AAAAFFwIABAMvmAMAcxkAAExcAQAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAOUFqUYAAAAA,http%3A%2F%2Fwww.burstnet.com%2Fads%2Fad15743a-map.cgi%2FBCPG75825.106059.111751%2FSZ%3D468X60A%7C728X90A%2FV%3D2.3S%2F%2FREDIRURL%3D,http%3A%2F%2Fwww.badastronomy.com%2Fbablog%2F2007%2F07%2F26%2Fad-subtract%2F,
July 26th, 2007 at 2:51 pm
This is what I get when I right click the “You are the 999,999 visitor: Congratulations you WON! Click here to claim” ad (still up and running) with Firefox and select Copy Link Location:
http://ad.adtegrity.net/click,CQ8EAIj2AgA0wQIAUx0BAAIAHAAAAP8AAAAFFwIABAIvmAMA588BAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAANEIqUYAAAAA,http%3A%2F%2Fwww.burstnet.com%2Fads%2Fad15743a-map.cgi%2FBCPG75825.106059.111751%2FSZ%3D468X60A%7C728X90A%2FV%3D2.3S%2F%2FREDIRURL%3D,http%3A%2F%2Fwww.badastronomy.com%2Fbablog%2F2007%2F07%2F26%2Fad-subtract%2F,
July 26th, 2007 at 3:38 pm
As I mentioned in the main BAUT forum in the thread dedicated to this blog, whilst looking at this blog one of the ads, closed the browser and then started opening some kind of pop up offering some solution to cleaning your PC (Look up Winfix2005) it was that revisited!!
It was a race to kill them by clicking the x in the top right corner and not the “close” box it offers. It seemed like it was trying to plant something on my PC.
I had to spend nearly an hour in a nail biting virus scan afterwards.
This never happened with the old format and I do not feel comfortable visiting the blog if it is going to put my computer at risk.
Sorry I did not catch names, as I was in a mad panic to shut things down before any damage was done.
July 26th, 2007 at 4:23 pm
Any ad that flashes is really annoying
I will try the addon to firefox
Pete
July 26th, 2007 at 5:58 pm
Adtegrity is gone.
Sticks, are you sure it was from this site? The ad agency checks such things VERY carefully before letting them run.
July 26th, 2007 at 8:32 pm
There’s a certain logic to that, but in my opinion our culture is allowing advertising to become too ubiquitous. By permitting them everywhere simply because the advertisers want to spend the money is kind of an ends-justifying-means situation. The problem is… how many regular people are actually willing to spend the money to make up for lack of advertising?
July 27th, 2007 at 12:45 am
Thank you for removing the flashy-jumpy ads. I sure hope the ad agency is not playing the site owners by not showing the most obnoxious ones based on cookies set while registering your site…
I’ll go take that survey now. At least that way the ad agency knows more about me than I do.
And I have that $25 for you, so where is that paypal link? I’m not ever going to actually click any of those ads anyhow, so that is about the only way you’re ever going to see revenue from me…
You really should not feel bad about taking donations. People, me anyway, donate money because they want to support a cause and/or have (slightly) too much of the stuff. But I’ll buy your book instead, if you want the publisher to have some money too.
July 27th, 2007 at 12:46 am
Oh and the error/warning is still here:
Regex ID: 18261 () appears to be an invalid regex string! Please fix it in the Blacklist control panel.
Warning: Cannot modify header information – headers already sent by (output started at /home/badastro/domains/badastronomy.com/public_html/bablog/wp-content/plugins/SK2/sk2_util_class.php:208) in /home/badastro/domains/badastronomy.com/public_html/bablog/wp-comments-post.php on line 67
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July 27th, 2007 at 1:30 am
Jesus’ face scares me.
July 27th, 2007 at 1:38 am
Phil
It was on the blog when this happened
The main browser shut down and a browser in the shape of a dialog box appeared which was very similar to Winfix2005. When I clicked the top right hand corner close box another browser opend up trying to sell some “anti-spyware”.
It was a mad panic to close things down and then run Avast to do a sweep of my system, which at 5years old is very nerve wracking.
I do not recall being on any other site at the time other than this blog.
July 27th, 2007 at 2:13 am
Quite frequently ads for Astrology related sites appear next to this blog. At times I don’t whether to laugh or cry.
July 27th, 2007 at 4:44 am
http://www.freelotto.com/register.asp?skin=FlashWinner2&partner=1051176
Free lotto isn’t quite gone. This morning I had a couple eye searing images buzz and hurt my lazy eyes at the top of the page. There’s an ultra annoying one that flashes white and green rapidly…
July 27th, 2007 at 5:47 am
It would be nice to just have text-ads.
July 27th, 2007 at 6:53 am
@Sticks
quote
It was on the blog when this happened
The main browser shut down and a browser in the shape of a dialog box appeared which was very similar to Winfix2005. When I clicked the top right hand corner close box another browser opend up trying to sell some “anti-spywareâ€.
unquote
Whoa mule! Immediately google Firefox. Download and install. Next go back to the firefox site and check out addons. Grab the one called Adblock Plus. Install. Next time you see an annoying ad, right click on it, select Adblock Image from the list to get adblock’s dialogue. It will display the address it’s trying to get to, something like this:
http://www.LovelyAds.net/promo/fdgeghdcghy.gif
simply edit it to say
http://www.LovelyAds.net/*.*
click ok
et voila, no more ads from them, on any site, regardless, ever.
Finally go to Lavasoft and download Ad-aware SE Personal. It will scan your machine and rip out anything untoward that those ad people saw fit to dump on your machine. You don’t have to take it. Similar job is done by ‘Spybot Search and Destroy’.
Bob (big)
July 27th, 2007 at 6:58 am
BigBob
Thanks for your comments
I am already on the latest FireFox and due to comments on the forum, when I can tonight, I will try and find this add on plus another that was mentioned.
Interms of anti-spyware, I am running Avast and Windows Defender.
I was wondering if the all clear I got last night from Avast was because I was running FireFox instead of IE.
July 27th, 2007 at 6:59 am
In addition to the aforementioned gripes, some of the ads load slowly, maybe because the ad-server is overloaded. Doubleclick seems bad in this regard. The Google text ads at the top are the least intrusive. I like that many Google ads are relevant to the topic.
Mostly I’ve tuned out the ads, it was just this post that made me look at them.
The price of a “free” Internet arena is ads. I filled out the survey, and wouldn’t even mind filling out another survey on what stuff I’m looking to buy in next year, if that would help select the ads relevant to my needs.
July 27th, 2007 at 8:06 am
Sticks
Not familiar with Avast. I use Ad-aware and Spybot as a belt and braces approach. Never a problem, all free of charge, amazing.
BigBob
July 27th, 2007 at 10:13 am
All the ones I am using are free as well
Have now added Adblock Plus and NoScript to my firefox as well now, on my desk top at least.
July 27th, 2007 at 11:10 am
Ugh! I just got one of the “redirect” advertisements. That has to be the most irritating and offensive form of avertising since the invention of telemarketing.
When I enter a URL, I expect to go to that webside and not have my browser hijacked to go to some schlock “contest” that exists only to collect and sell personal information.
http://a1.interclick.com/Transition.aspx?requesturl=http%3A//www.badastronomy.com/&wsid=7635&ind=
July 27th, 2007 at 11:12 am
Ugh! I just got one of the “redirect” advertisements. That has to be the most irritating and offensive form of avertising since the invention of telemarketing.
When I enter a URL, I expect to go to that webside and not have my browser hijacked to go to some schlock “contest” that exists only to collect and sell personal information.
The URL of the redirect destination was …
http://a1.interclick.com/Transition.aspx?requesturl=http%3A//www.badastronomy.com/&wsid=7635&ind=
July 27th, 2007 at 11:13 am
Ugh! I just got one of the “redirect” advertisements. That has to be the most irritating and offensive form of avertising since the invention of telemarketing.
When I enter a URL, I expect to go to that webside and not have my browser hijacked to go to some schlock “contest” that exists only to collect and sell personal information.
http://a1.interclick.com/Transition.aspx?requesturl=http%3A//www.badastronomy.com/&wsid=7635&ind=
July 27th, 2007 at 12:02 pm
Adblock Plus and NoScript are now on my laptop
However there seems to be an issue with NoScript and embedded wma files, I spotted it on one of my own websites.
July 27th, 2007 at 1:28 pm
There was a another freelotto ad I missed, but it’s blocked now. I can’t seem to find the redirect one. Interclick isn’t listed, nor is the ad that was inbetween. I’ll keep looking.
July 27th, 2007 at 2:10 pm
Sticks old buddy
> However there seems to be an issue with NoScript and embedded
> wma files, I spotted it on one of my own websites.
Don’t mind us everyone … just talk amongst yourselves for a while.
I wonder if the embedded wma thing is to do with NoScript. I have that addon too and it works wonders, but you have to teach it to execute stuff on a per site basis, so for example, I go to a new site where a script is meant to function but of course it doesn’t. So I click on the NoScript ‘S’ icon (bottom right) and click on ‘[Temporarily] allow xyz.com’. The page then refreshes and the script fires on every subsequent visit. What I didn’t realise for a while was that noscript expects Firefox to have scripts enabled for all sites – (Tools/Options/Content – tick both enable javascript and java), and let NoScript take care of the rest, then if Firefox appears to be hiding something, you have to educate it as above.
As you were.
Bob
July 30th, 2007 at 7:49 am
@BA
I had the same problem as Sticks. After not beeing able to post since friday, I was today the first time on your site.
It happens to times that the blog closed and the windows which offers “device cleaning” and “anti spy software” opened which were only to close by closing the cross to the upper right.
My Computer is protected by AntiVir (with daily updates) and this is the very first time I encounter the problem.
Andre