If you read a site and care about its well being, then you should not block ads (or you subscribe to sites like Ars that offer ads-free versions of the site). If a site has advertising you don’t agree with, don’t go there. I think it is far better to vote with page views than to show up and consume resources without giving anything in return. I think in some ways the Internet and its vast anonymity feeds into a culture where many people do not think about the people, the families, the careers that go into producing a website. People talk about how annoying advertisements are, but I’ll tell you what: it’s a lot more annoying and frustrating to have to cut staff and cut benefits because a huge portion of readers block ads. Yet I’ve seen that happen at dozens of great sites over the last few years, Ars included.
A weblog about urbanism, technology, & culture.
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This is a weblog about urban issues, technology, & culture published by Jordon Cooper since 2001. You can read about me and the site here and if you are looking for one of my columns in The StarPhoenix, you can find them here. If you've got questions, concerns, or an interesting link for me, let me know
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All right, but here’s the problem. Not everyone is on Broadband. There are still a few hardy souls on dial-up. I myself am on DSL. For the time being, it’s the best I can do. In the meantime, for all intents and purposes, some sites advertising practically bans me from their pages. I was on a site today, some entertainment news site-specifically, it was BuddyTV-that took forever to load, mainly because of intrusive advertising. I have actually had my computer crash on me. They consume memory with a seemingly voracious appetite.
I put up with it to a point. AdBlockers by and large consume memory in their own right. However, once bitten twice shy. I rarely go to such a site a second time. Webistes that run these kinds of ads might want to consider how many viewers they are actually losing, as well as how many viewers are blocking their ads.
The worse offender I have ever known of is an advertising company that runs a service called Jaildog something or other. I went to their website (I forgot the name of the parent company, sorry), and they actually brag about their ability to grab and hold a customers attention. Translation-they are stealing computer energy, including memory. Unfortunately, in my case, often times I am unable to get away from the page without shutting down my computer.
It would seem to me that this type of advertising would be counter-productive. Maybe it’s just me, but if I were the CEO of a major company, the last thing I would want is to pursue a policy that would serve to royally piss off large numbers of potential customers.
Techdirt had a great reply article “Don’t Blame Your Community: Ad Blocking is Not Killing Any Sites” http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20100306/1649198451.shtml