Forum Moderators: martinibuster
"People have two choices enable javascript and suffer the ads and popunder or go elsewhere and pay $9.95-$29.95 for similar software. "
Somebody else CAN charge for the software but YOU cant?
Or does *similar* mean *superior*?
Do you offer software downloads as a bait to show ads?
I see the same thing coming with television if DVRs really catch on. Stations will see a decline in ad revenues and will increase fees accordingly.
You cannot use my website if your javascript is not enabled. I have lots of javascript on my site and by disabling it, you are simply not getting what I am offering to you. Therefore, I expect people to have their javascripts enabled.
As somebody already mentioned (I believe it was Roldar), some websites require flash, other websites require javascript etc, and it's perfectly normal to expect visitors to meet minimum requirements before viewing any website. Different websites are designed for different technologies and you need to meet minimum requirements (e.g. browser version, java, javascript, flash etc) before viewing any website - and you can't dispute this fact. Therefore, requiring users to meet minimum requirements to view website(s) is not in any violation of Adsense policies
I can understand people who block pop-up ads. Pop-up ads really suck. However, I don't see a reason why would anyone block contextual text advertisements? They are blended into content and even hardly noticable. They are absolutely non-intrusive.
You only have a right to see what the person paying the bills says you can see, while you're on his/her server. Just because Google spiders a site that doesn't mean it's a public facility.
Balam needs to understand that my server is my internet territory. If you are on my territory, you are under my control. If you don't like it or if you don't meet minimum requirements, you are welcome to leave. Same with citizenship of any country.
As miguelito already pointed out:
you are a vistor in someoneīs home, you have to respect the rules in that home and if you donīt like it then donīt come....easy!
We've got some people here saying hey, I've got a right to bar you from using my facilities if you refuse to pay the entrance fee. Then we've got other people saying hey, if you don't let me in free then I won't go to your place, so hah. What's the argument here? It sounds to me like we're in agreement -- if everything on the menu at a restaurant is overpriced, you leave. What are you going to do, sue them?
The problem arises when software developers decide to block everything as a default. Norton and other people have demonized ads as if they're on par with spyware and virii. They're not. To suggest that a contextual text advertisement, or even a pop-up, is in the same league as spyware is ludicrous.
So now you've got these software companies who haven't done a very good job of defining threats for lay people, using a shotgun approach to protect their customers. Norton doesn't run an ad network. Norton makes its money when it convinces people that by removing AdSense it's in some way making them safe. They make their money convincing consumers that they're just one ad impression away from having their identity stolen.
Anybody on WW will understand how to use such software. You'll know how to navigate the preferences, understand the difference between spyware and contextual advertising, etc. Unfortunately your average person (majority of users) does not. Building these things into widely used browsers as a default, or as a shotgun option that blocks everything, is going to hurt advertisers and publishers.
What it comes down to is would you rather put up with a few ads or be forced to pay for everything you view on the Internet? When publishers are forced to charge admission to their sites then the WWW will be dead.
1. Is JavaScript enabled on your browser?
2. Are you running any ad-blocking or antivirus software?
3. Can you see ads using a different browser on the same computer? (i.e., is the problem Firefox specific)
5. Have you tried clearing your browser cache?
6. Have you tried deleting your browser cookies?
You might also want to visit [google.com...] which covers some of these issues in more detail.
Hope that helps! -ASA "
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Thanks for your help ASA! Sorry for the delayed response.
I just did a test and opened up Firefox and an old version of IE side by side.
Using IE, I Googled for "travel" (chuckle!) knowing I'd find Adsense ads.
I found some right away. They don't look obtrusive to me,
none of the in-your-face stuff most people object to.
Calling the same exact page from FF, all the adsense was gone, but some other ads remained.
Its definitely FF related, and probably the ad-blocker extension I plugged in.
Now I know what Adsense ads look like. Thanks much!
I wanted to see some Adsense before I consider it for my site.
-Larry
@ others: Blocking folks without javascript from your site seems silly to me. Such web-savvy users may happen to be owners of other sites, who could be likely to create links to your site. Surely you don't want to shut them out.
A visitor without javascript could also be a spider - none of them interprets javascript. Surely you don't want to shut them out.
A visitor without javascript could also be working at some company or government institution with a sysop who thinks that javascript is evil. The visitor might be interested in buying stuff from your site. Surely you don't want to shut them out.
I personally believe ads are here to stay. If necessary, there are technical solutions to avoid blockers, like serving the ads from the same server as the content.
On the internet you cannot compete with price, as there will always be someone who offers the same for free. You can only compete with the quality of your site's content and usability. So in most cases, making your site subscription-only just won't work. My advice: concentrate on creating a good site. Forget about the free riders - the vast majority of my AdSense site's visitors do not click on the ads, and still I'm making money.
For the most part the only reason the content is made available, is in the hope people will click on the adsense ads. Are we saying publishers have all of a sudden become public spirited and want to help the world by providing free information? Cobblers all they are interested in is generating traffic in the hope of making a profit from adsense, and in many cases the publisher does not even understand the subject matter of the content being published. As far as paying the hosting each month is concerned.....For the price of a packet of cigarettes one can get hosting per month, so lets not exagerate everything.
My advice: concentrate on creating a good site. Forget about the free riders - the vast majority of my AdSense site's visitors do not click on the ads, and still I'm making money.
Exactomundo! And you'll sleep better at night too ;)
@ others: Blocking folks without javascript from your site seems silly to me. Such web-savvy users may happen to be owners of other sites, who could be likely to create links to your site. Surely you don't want to shut them out.This thread [webmasterworld.com] is an example (msg #5)
A visitor without javascript could also be a spider - none of them interprets javascript. Surely you don't want to shut them out.To block the adblockers requires that they have js enabled. It depends on what happens when a cookie is set in a file with a popular adserver name. At least the one I know of does.
A visitor without javascript could also be working at some company or government institution with a sysop who thinks that javascript is evil. The visitor might be interested in buying stuff from your site. Surely you don't want to shut them out.
I personally believe ads are here to stay. If necessary, there are technical solutions to avoid blockers, like serving the ads from the same server as the content.You also have to avoid the typical banner sizes for your images, if you use something like phpAdsnew you would have to rename all the files. And that still wouldn't do anything for Adsense.
