Popups Continue to POP Up

...but what do users think?

[Drastic]

New Online Ads Can't Be Missed [washingtonpost.com]
(thanks Mr. Mackin)

Interesting article about increasing use of popups, and how some users view them. It seems they can hurt your brand, not a good long-term strategy.
The barrage of X10 ads of late is also discussed.

I think popup-stoppers/banner-blockers will soon be much more prevalent.

[Brett_Tabke]

They say people don't mind popunders as much as popups. I think we are going to continue to see popups/unders everywhere.

[rcjordan]

If you have repeat traffic, I think PU's (unders or ups) are the kiss of death unless your site happens to have information your traffic just can't find somewhere else.

On my own reading list, I mentally log sites that start using pop-ups/unders. If I find it becoming routine (and only 3 or 4 times classifies it as routine), then I move it to my lesser-read bookmarks list. Over time, I replace them with something else if I can find a suitable substitute.

Yes, we're going to continue to see them, but -frankly- knowing what we know about the current ad market via WmW, I think their use is a tell-tale sign that the site is (A) dependent upon banner income and is (B) "revenue challenged." Many publishers that I know through other online forums will simply not allow them. In fact, several of us Engage publishers alert one-another when they slip through our zero-tolerance PU filters, as they sometimes do.

[rcjordan]

>I think popup-stoppers/banner-blockers will soon be much more prevalent.

A recent column about Internet pop-up and pop-under ads brought a wave of responses from readers. There seems to be a consensus that the ads are at an annoyance level somewhere between mosquitos and body lice.

Staving off Internet ads [nando.net] -Associated Press