I'm Blind to Ads
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I just realized something. As I was reading a news article that had about 2 paragraphs per page, and about 5 pages ... filled with ads on the top, bottom, left and right ... I realized after reading the article that I did not see 1 ad. OK, obviously they were there, however I have become 'desensitized' to any type of ad on a page. It doesn't matter if it blinks, flashes, makes noise, or pops up. I simply have become accustomed to 'not seeing' ads. Kind of a liberating feeling actually. Maybe companies should be aware that all that ad crap may not be helping their bottom line. Any else out there 'desensitized'?
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I just realized something. As I was reading a news article that had about 2 paragraphs per page, and about 5 pages ... filled with ads on the top, bottom, left and right ... I realized after reading the article that I did not see 1 ad. OK, obviously they were there, however I have become 'desensitized' to any type of ad on a page. It doesn't matter if it blinks, flashes, makes noise, or pops up. I simply have become accustomed to 'not seeing' ads. Kind of a liberating feeling actually. Maybe companies should be aware that all that ad crap may not be helping their bottom line. Any else out there 'desensitized'?
For those who don't have Paul Brower's gift of ad-blindness there's always Firefox and Adblock Plus. I was astonished the first time I used it to see how totally effective it was. This was most useful for Indian news and sports websites which are otherwise contaminated with multiple popups, popunders, hover-over-fullscreen flash ads and the rest of that crap.
Regards, Nish
Nish’s thoughts on MFC, C++/CLI and .NET (my blog)
C++/CLI in ActionFly on your way like an eagle Fly as high as the sun On your wings like an eagle Fly and touch the sun
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I just realized something. As I was reading a news article that had about 2 paragraphs per page, and about 5 pages ... filled with ads on the top, bottom, left and right ... I realized after reading the article that I did not see 1 ad. OK, obviously they were there, however I have become 'desensitized' to any type of ad on a page. It doesn't matter if it blinks, flashes, makes noise, or pops up. I simply have become accustomed to 'not seeing' ads. Kind of a liberating feeling actually. Maybe companies should be aware that all that ad crap may not be helping their bottom line. Any else out there 'desensitized'?
yes. I largely clean my home system by using a HOST file to null route doubleclick et al; but I'm almost completely oblivious to them at work. The biggest issue I have here is with spastic blinkers while I'm working on the other monitor and they start spazzing in the corner of my eye.
-- CleaKO The sad part about this instance is that none of the users ever said anything [about the problem]. Pete O`Hanlon Doesn't that just tell you everything you need to know about users?
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I just realized something. As I was reading a news article that had about 2 paragraphs per page, and about 5 pages ... filled with ads on the top, bottom, left and right ... I realized after reading the article that I did not see 1 ad. OK, obviously they were there, however I have become 'desensitized' to any type of ad on a page. It doesn't matter if it blinks, flashes, makes noise, or pops up. I simply have become accustomed to 'not seeing' ads. Kind of a liberating feeling actually. Maybe companies should be aware that all that ad crap may not be helping their bottom line. Any else out there 'desensitized'?
Yes you did see them. Tell me again after your next shopping spree! ;)
-- Raaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!
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I just realized something. As I was reading a news article that had about 2 paragraphs per page, and about 5 pages ... filled with ads on the top, bottom, left and right ... I realized after reading the article that I did not see 1 ad. OK, obviously they were there, however I have become 'desensitized' to any type of ad on a page. It doesn't matter if it blinks, flashes, makes noise, or pops up. I simply have become accustomed to 'not seeing' ads. Kind of a liberating feeling actually. Maybe companies should be aware that all that ad crap may not be helping their bottom line. Any else out there 'desensitized'?
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I just realized something. As I was reading a news article that had about 2 paragraphs per page, and about 5 pages ... filled with ads on the top, bottom, left and right ... I realized after reading the article that I did not see 1 ad. OK, obviously they were there, however I have become 'desensitized' to any type of ad on a page. It doesn't matter if it blinks, flashes, makes noise, or pops up. I simply have become accustomed to 'not seeing' ads. Kind of a liberating feeling actually. Maybe companies should be aware that all that ad crap may not be helping their bottom line. Any else out there 'desensitized'?
Yeah, most people are blind to them most of the time, but it is that fraction, which happens to see them, I think the companies count on. When you pause to think about something and happen to glance at the ad, or it just happens to be a slow monday and you look over there, that is what they are counting on. It is not even that they expect you to click on the ad, you just happen to some point see it and maybe that some point will happen a few times. Enough times you might store that in the back of your mind until you have a need and often that is the first tought brought back to your attention, "Didn't I see that ad for (x) on Code Project a while back". While 99% of the time you may not remember any, it is again that little fraction they count on for revenue. Personally, I think I would rather have a page of offering when I first hit the site that I can click by and move on to a site without any flashing ads. Do not mind text ads or ones that just site there but the flashing ones drive me away (with CP I just have to suffer through them :) ). This sponsor page that would come up when I first hit the site would probably be more effective at least for me.
Rocky <>< Latest Code Blog Post: OpenID - C# project! Latest Tech Blog Post: Got 5 more Joost Invites!
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I just realized something. As I was reading a news article that had about 2 paragraphs per page, and about 5 pages ... filled with ads on the top, bottom, left and right ... I realized after reading the article that I did not see 1 ad. OK, obviously they were there, however I have become 'desensitized' to any type of ad on a page. It doesn't matter if it blinks, flashes, makes noise, or pops up. I simply have become accustomed to 'not seeing' ads. Kind of a liberating feeling actually. Maybe companies should be aware that all that ad crap may not be helping their bottom line. Any else out there 'desensitized'?
Nope, I don't see them either. I do see the ones on the left-hand side here on CodeProject if I'm just reading the forums, but that's because Chris hasn't gone overboard with where the ads are placed. That said, I never see the ads at the bottoms of the articles, just above the article threads. At some point you just get used to where the ads are and the brain filters them out. It's not a malicious behavior; it's the same reason that rubbing a spot of skin for a long time causes it to go numb - the brain figures it's not important so it stops consciously being aware of it. And for the few websites that try to do those pop-in ads that overly themselves over the page and don't let you close them for several seconds, well, I just close the entire web page and never come back.
------------ Cheers, Patrick
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I just realized something. As I was reading a news article that had about 2 paragraphs per page, and about 5 pages ... filled with ads on the top, bottom, left and right ... I realized after reading the article that I did not see 1 ad. OK, obviously they were there, however I have become 'desensitized' to any type of ad on a page. It doesn't matter if it blinks, flashes, makes noise, or pops up. I simply have become accustomed to 'not seeing' ads. Kind of a liberating feeling actually. Maybe companies should be aware that all that ad crap may not be helping their bottom line. Any else out there 'desensitized'?
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Paul Brower wrote:
Any else out there 'desensitized'?
Yep, I'm also desensitized to ads while reading magazines and newspapers. :-> Life is good.
"I'm a great believer in luck, and I find the harder I work the more I have of it." - Thomas Jefferson
Mike Mullikin wrote:
'm also desensitized to ads while reading magazines and newspapers.
I'm painfully aware of the bound in cardstock ads. In magazines that use them, the first thing I do is rip them all out because they completely ruin the ergonomics by being much stiffer than the normal paper. :mad:
-- CleaKO The sad part about this instance is that none of the users ever said anything [about the problem]. Pete O`Hanlon Doesn't that just tell you everything you need to know about users?
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I just realized something. As I was reading a news article that had about 2 paragraphs per page, and about 5 pages ... filled with ads on the top, bottom, left and right ... I realized after reading the article that I did not see 1 ad. OK, obviously they were there, however I have become 'desensitized' to any type of ad on a page. It doesn't matter if it blinks, flashes, makes noise, or pops up. I simply have become accustomed to 'not seeing' ads. Kind of a liberating feeling actually. Maybe companies should be aware that all that ad crap may not be helping their bottom line. Any else out there 'desensitized'?
Here's an experiment you can conduct at home. Next time you're watching TV with someone, after the ads are done playing and your show comes back on, ask the other person what adverts they have just seen. You'd be surprised how much of that crap just gets filtered out, to such an extent that even immediately after watching them, it takes a concerted mental effort and several minutes of thinking to recall most of what you have seen.
Sunrise Wallpaper Project | The StartPage Randomizer | A Random Web Page
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Here's an experiment you can conduct at home. Next time you're watching TV with someone, after the ads are done playing and your show comes back on, ask the other person what adverts they have just seen. You'd be surprised how much of that crap just gets filtered out, to such an extent that even immediately after watching them, it takes a concerted mental effort and several minutes of thinking to recall most of what you have seen.
Sunrise Wallpaper Project | The StartPage Randomizer | A Random Web Page
Miszou wrote:
Here's an experiment you can conduct at home. Next time you're watching TV with someone, after the ads are done playing and your show comes back on, ask the other person what adverts they have just seen.
But then I'd have to not fast forward through them.
Using the GridView is like trying to explain to someone else how to move a third person's hands in order to tie your shoelaces for you. -Chris Maunder