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

[Bruce Smith]

> 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.

Well, there you go.  Anyone who doesn't like pumpkin pie doesn't have
any credibility here!  ;->

> 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.

If they get mad, then they should go to one of the hundreds of other web
sites offering similar products or services.

> 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.

But there is a difference.  I've already PAID my hard earned MONEY to
rent or purchase the DVD.  That fee should exempt me from having to
watch the advertising too.

When I go to a free web site to search for useful information, or be
entertained, or be informed, or ... those sites need a form of income.
I may not like it, but I like ads better than giving them my credit
card, or having them go out of business.

> >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.

Then start looking!  That'd be great!

> >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.

That's fine if I really go to the trouble of blocking it, and I have run
some blocking software in the past.

But what happens when the next release of Mozilla/Netscape/IE/Opera/...
comes out and all people have to do is click a preference to block ads?
Or what if that option is set ON by default?

The people who write the software to block the ads are trying to change
the look of the web site from the way the owners and webmasters designed
the site.  And that's FINE!  And it's also fine for the webmasters to
try to prevent people from modifying the look of their web site if they
feel that strongly about it.

It's going to be a constant battle between the ads, and the ad blockers,
and the ad blocker blockers, and the ad blocker blocker blockers, and 
that's fine too.  Gives them something to do and employs more people. :)

> >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.

That may work for some sites, but I doubt it'd work universally.

--------------------------------------------
Bruce Smith                bruce@armintl.com
System Administrator / Network Administrator
Armstrong International, Inc.
Three Rivers, Michigan  49093  USA
http://www.armstrong-intl.com/
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