[KLUG Advocacy] Re: And the Spam Wars continue...

[Robert G. Brown]

>I switched this to advocacy since this could turn into a debate.
Debate? Nah! :)

>>Okay, I don't remember if only email ads are spam, but the title was too
>>cute to resist. Anyway, I thought you guys might find this site amusing:
>>http://www.antiadblocker.com/
>Personally I don't have a problem with banner ads, and I don't even care
>if they try to force visitors to their site to view them.
There are two levels on which this discussion that can be pursued: personal
experience or something more along the lines of public policy. The point 
that I had made is more along the latter lines, with a bit of business 
pragmatism thrown in.

Suppose I'm selling T-shirts, and I choose (or my ad agency chooses) some
the Internet as a medium for at least some of these ads (I find this to
be rather odd for other reasons, perhaps a different topic). Contracts
are signed, designs are done, webmasters web (or mast, or webmast), and
fairly soon banner ads start to appear on browsers hither and yon.

To some people, this is the last straw, and they block banner ads. This
implies something: The reader don't want to read this content, they're
not interested in buying T-shirts, or even seeing banner ads. Now, what
is the chance of my selling them T-shirts if I "force" them to see my 
banner ads? About zero, I'd say.

By blocking, people have ALREADY made a choice.

It reminds me of a friend of mine, who makes pumpkin pie around this
time of year. She would always offer me some, and I'd say, as politely
as I could, that I don't like pumpkin pie. Her answer was amusing:
"But it really is very good pumpkin pie!" The fact is, as I finally 
explained to her, is that it didn't matter how good her pumpkin pie was; 
I was sure it was excellent, but I still would not like it, since I didn't
like pumpkin pie.

It is the same here. Advertisers ought to take the hint and not try to
over-ride blocking on the part of nominal members of their audience. They
won't sell to these people, they'll simply make 'em mad.

Moreover, counting these people as members of the audience does a disservice
to the seller, becasue I would claim that the audience members are falsely
inflated. This distorts the market for audiences, which is the field on
which advertising agencies play.

I take Bruces point about DVD players as something very much in the same
spirit of being force-fed stuff. Commercials don't play much of a role in
deciding what I buy, in any case. I'm cetainly not going to sit and watch
something like a DVD add, popup, or banner and have that become a crucial
part of buying anything.

>I've always figured this is better than the alternative.  I don't want
>to pay a subscription fee to every web site I visit for information. 
>I'd MUCH rather see a banner ad on their web pages.
I agree, but hold out that while banner ads are not great, they are better
than paying for every site. Still, we can look for better models for 
this.

>Popup ads are much more annoying, but I can still live with them, given
>the alternative.
An irritant, but you're not taking steps to block them. Imagine if you 
felt strongly enough to do and were "forced" to see them anyway.

>And for people who don't like ads on sites, DON'T GO TO THOSE SITES!!!
>Or buy a subscription from sites that offer ad-free browsing for a fee.
>(ala slashdot)

What /. is doing is in essence providing an alternative, while preserving
their economic interest. The devil's in the details here, and poses something
of a policy dilemma as well.

Many broadcast media stations (Pacifica Foundation, some local univerity and
NPR stations) have opted for a "listener sponsored" approach to financing;
it is usually done for non-profit groups. How this works for a profit making
organizations is a but more nebulous. However, it is on the whole more sensible
and less annoying.

Comment on Bryan Smith's posting: The battle to maintain and increase our 
liberties is perpetual, and must be fought in every new medium. That this
conflict goes on is an indication of the health of this system. Here, people
have the freedom to pursue their own interests, sometimes what others may
think of as overly so, and the system is not "perfect", but on the whole
is working. We seek extreme changes at our peril.

							Regards,
							---> RGB <---