People who dont watch ads are theives.

Now i feel guilty going to the dunny during the ads...

[chiyo]

OK you theives who turn off js, use pop-up blocking software, surf without images, change web sites when you get tired of waiting for ads, click away pop ups without looking at them, go to the dunny during tv commercials, or just simply dont spend a certain proportion of your time studying the ads on web pages - you are theives... and breaking the "social contract" with site owners...

CEO of Turner Broadcasting -

"[Ad skips are] theft. Your contract with the network when you get the show is you're going to watch the spots. Otherwise you couldn't get the show on an ad-supported basis. Any time you skip a commercial or watch the button you're actually stealing the programming."

More here.. [research.yale.edu...]

Is there something about being an Ad exec that makes you lose touch with reality? I mean these are the guys that responded to the fact that people were not clicking on banner ads by making the bloody things bigger and changing their names.

[Kaspian]

While pop-up blockers and such get these folks wriled up, I can't wait until TiVO (sp?) hits it big. The advertising world will really have something to worry about then.

[mcguffin]

I'm not a thief, I'm a fugitive on the lam from "t.v. social contract" justice.

In March of 1999, I decided there really wasn't anything worth watching on t.v., so I unplugged it and plugged myself into the 'net. I'm waiting for those neat cyberpunkish 'trodes that I can use to jack myself in.

However, that means that I'm not doing my part as a citizen to support the well-being of the t.v. economy.

Can I be sued for breach of contract? And if so, is it a criminal or civil case that will be filed against me?

Yet another issue to lose sleep over....thanks chiyo! :)

[tbear]

Hey,
I ain't no thief!!
Those guys offer to give money 'just in case' I choose to watch their commercials. IMHO
If they made interesting and honest commercials, for worthy products, I'm sure I'd be a customer. While they serve up pap, trying to sell rubbish...... sorry, can't handle that.
:)

[sean]

Can't we all... just... get along? Sure, sites and advertisers need to do a better job of reaching people the right way, but their best efforts will be wasted if people blindly dismiss the good with the bad. As the saying goes at elections, a non-vote for the best candidate is a vote for the worst candidate. Similarly, a non-vote for a relevant text ad is a vote for a dozen pop-ups... or walled-garden subscription services. My contention is that your current actions should be consistent with your desired future.

for example
I like Google. I like their engineers' commitment to providing superior search results. I like their 10,000 servers' commitment to providing those results in a fraction of a second. I pay attention to the text ads and click when a result is relevant to my needs. Sometimes I buy. Or link. Or tell a friend. Or all three. Hopefully, this contributes to an increased demand for (a) relevant ads (b) text ads (c) Google ads (d) all of the above.

sincerely,
the economics hippie