Forum Moderators: martinibuster
What does this mean for the future of internet advertising?
If the problem becomes widespread, either the ad networks will find workarounds or publishers that depend on Internet advertising will block users who block ads.
As it stands, I believe only certain AdSense ads are blocked, due to either specific words in the URL path, or specific domains used by may affiliate programs. Unless they have recently updated, it didnt seem to be blocking all AdSense/Adwords, but usually just the ones that fit the above criteria.
NIS blocked the hotlinked ad headlines, but the "Ads by Google" box and the body text of the ads were still visible.
The same thing happened when I visited Washingtonpost.com, an AdSense "Premium Partner."
Oddly, I can't see About.com's Google ads (called "Sponsored Links" in Internet Explorer even with the ad blocker disabled, although I can see them in Opera. In IE, they display as white space.
If the problem becomes widespread, either the ad networks will find workarounds or publishers that depend on Internet advertising will block users who block ads.
I know I'm asking you to speculate, but do you think that it's possible if ad blocking became mainstream, that Google would offer publishers the option of special code which had this feature (block users who block ads)?
(I ask this because I certainly don't have the technical know-how to figure out how to block such users myself. I'm hoping that if it ever came to that, Google would offer us code that would do it for us.)
It already is widespread - Norton Internet Security is the program installed as a trial on many new PCs.
I guess it all depends on what "widespread" entails, but imho the ability is widespread, but the implementation is not. Norton has the feature disabled by default.. correct?
I know I'm asking you to speculate, but do you think that it's possible if ad blocking became mainstream, that Google would offer publishers the option of special code which had this feature (block users who block ads)?
It'd be very difficult for Google to throw out a piece of code to accomplish such a thing. The easiest way as of now (that I know of) is server-side, and watching for those adblockers that display their presence in the headers. Of course, if such a method were to catch on, the blockers would simply go "underground" and remove the header identifiers.
I'm of firm belief that most users have no problem with banners, text-based ads and anything that has a static position on the page. So unless such blockers are forced (ie. Norton turning onthe blocker by default, etc), there is little to fear.
If said companies did effectively force blocking of all ads, I belive the Yahoo's, Google's, etc of the world would (peacefully) ensure it wouldn't last long. There are already several instances of companies reversing their decisions to block ads across the board, due to webmaster protests... so if the Yahoo's & Google's didnt' the webmaster community could.
I know it's a cliche, but if we all treat our visitors as we'd want to be treated... it'll all be fine.
Heck, several years ago a bandwidth-hog site of mine was in risk of going under due to the costs involved. On the front page I explained that I would be using popups only to a level that covered the costs, and would cut back when costs were coverd each month. I also included links to popup blockers & explained the usage of cookies to limit how many popups one would see.... my repeat visitors came back in the same amount as always, with not a single complaint.
In case you are wanting a "how not to handle the situation" example, here it is, found posted on the front of a website. A quick glance at his extreme tracker shows a steady decline in visitors over the past 18 months, now getting about 1/3 the traffic he did then... coincidence?
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[edited by: MrAnchovy at 9:27 pm (utc) on Aug. 8, 2004]
[edited by: Jenstar at 10:50 pm (utc) on Aug. 8, 2004]
[edit reason] TOS # 10, no copyrighted content in posts, please [/edit]
I don't know if I'd use such a code. (Haven't made up my mind yet.) It's an interesting issue, ethical and otherwise. For someone to block ads on an ad-supported site seems . . . wrong . . . somehow. But we all know that we don't always like to see ads (pop ups, anyone?) so I can't blame people for wanting to zap the ads.
On the other hand, those who pay to maintain sites are not unreasonable in wanting to be compensated for that. Not everyone can afford to pay for web hosting and bandwidth and all that. (We all here know that, don't we? ;-) )
Norton has the feature disabled by default.. correct?
It was on by default when I bought Norton Internet Security last winter. I don't know if that's changed in the interim, or if the demo versions on new PCs are set up differently. Maybeother members can chime in with a more up-to-date answer.
NIS blocked the hotlinked ad headlines, but the "Ads by Google" box and the body text of the ads were still visible.
My husband's computer does the same thing. It makes the ads look really odd but they are still clickable. I have Norton as well but it doesn't happen on mine. Maybe they had a different default set up when he bought his antivirus.
