papabaer - 5:15 am on Apr 8, 2002 (gmt 0)

Marcia, you hit on perhaps the key issue regarding many negative feelings towards Flash: the sense of entrapment, being funneled into a situation not of our choosing. I can recall a number of Flash authored sites I have surfed into, only to discover a situation much as the one you describe. Obviously it is the "designer" who is at fault and not the tool (Flash), but the end result is annoyance with the software that provides the means for such audaciousness.

Through varied "bad" experience with Flash authored sites, many of us have become as predictable as "Pavlov's Dog" - though instead of salivating at the tone of a bell, we have been taught to cringe at the site of "loading... loading... loading..." Brrrr! Gives me the shivers!