In an increasingly user-friendly digital world, the concept of circumventing inconveniences has become a commonplace. Microsoft Word’s Paper Clip bothering you? Turn it off. Hate Windows Firewall? Turn it off (and install something else). But there is something more important and a slightly controversial practice going on. Specifically, to those many who browse the internet on a very frequent basis, it is perhaps more pertinent to mention the observance of ad-blocking as somewhat a given lately. Webmasters all around the net have issues with end users blocking these ads, referencing issues of ethics? Is blocking ads ethical?
Let me be clear – my primary affiliation in this respect is as an end user. I am into web development, but nowhere considering myself to be a web publisher. Of course, I’ve been writing here at PC Mechanic for well over the past two years, given the tremendous opportunity the editors and David have presented to me. Beyond that, I am also a web instructor, perhaps developing the next generation of web publishers of which I speak. All that aside, this gives me a rather unique perspective that I thought I’d share – something that, I believe, will complement PC Mechanic owner David Risley’s take on the subject.
Advertisement: Getting your Attention
For those of you who have been avid web surfers since the first influx of the ad-based web economy, you realize, much to the chagrin of everyone new or old, that web advertisements have become not only more of a ubiquitous presence, but also more intrusive. Pop Ups, Flashing banner ads, voice-ads, event-handler ads – new innovations seem to free-flow into the minds of advertisement artists and commercial coding gurus. However sad the reality may be, the more intrusive the mechanism is, the happier the ad-coders are. That means it caught your attention on whatever ad the ad agency wants you to see. Now, granted, an overwhelming majority of ads, as David pointed out, are subtle and non-intrusive. Google AdSense, in particular, does a nice job distributing listings that are in-line with the content of the page. Those were fine, but a few greedy web coders developed intrusive ads that are simply not OK. And when the line is crossed, people block ads, ethical or not.
Balancing Web Publisher’s Prerogatives and End User’s Interests
A select few web publishers have come up with the “implied contract” between the end user and the visitor of the site: that is, in exchange for free-flowing content and the service and resources required to maintain that, the end user will tolerate advertisement. I have a problem with that concept and it isn’t because I am not moral. Sure, its good for the users to support the site. And while the end users, or the readers in most cases, should help out within reason, it is ultimately the responsibility of the web publisher to keep the site going. The onus shouldn’t be placed on the users. Justifying ad-placement by stating that the end users have the implicit responsibility to uphold the site is not within reason.
Ads as Part of Site? A Web 2.0 View
For those of you who draw parallels to any static media (newspapers, written materials, even television), you could say that advertisement, however annoying they may be, is part of the package. So a webpage, say ESPN, includes the content, as well as the advertisements and annoyances. The content, by the very nature that its not “free” to the web publisher to publish, requires the backing of the ads to stand.
After looking through technological trends and more specifically the concept of the new media-based Web 2.0, I offer this suggestion: Perhaps its NOT that we should draw from older media for the ethics of keeping ads – rather, its an evolution of the web to keep ads at a minimum. That perspective lends credence to the web’s tendency towards a more user-friendly environment. Bombardment of advertisement, no matter how attractive they become, is not the answer. Rather, if the content of the site, from its base, is formidable and engages the user to a large extent, you don’t need a barrage of pop up ads and inappropriate advertisement asking the user whether they would like to claim their free Apple iPhone pending full market participation.
Question of Morality? Just Adjust.
Just like technology we talk of today, it is absolutely vital for websites to stay in touch with trends and innovations today. Its not a good idea to stick with one source of revenue and jump up and down when it doesn’t suffice; rather, that should be a lesson. Look for more creative sources of revenue, whether you use your traffic to channel effective sales, or whether it be offering services for a fee. Mass advertisements may create some revenue, but anything beyond subtlety will most definitely drive important traffic out of your site. Its not a question of morality. It should be about stepping back and solving a problem, just as entrepreneurs do every day.
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Who cares? Advertisers and marketing people are all scum and do not care about people. They only care about money.
The key here is did you agree to the adds to get the web page? If so you may be obligated to let the adds run. If there is a way to block the adds that is permissible by the site, then block all the adds as far as I am concerned.
I asked that a page be forwarded and if there is advertising on the page that is OK BUT
I did not cede control of my machine to the site and do not tolerate the opening of windows, the running of scripts or other piddling on my machine.
Failure to load text before requiring cookies and there are no eyeballs for rent here, unless I have been there before.
dl
I agree with the author 100%. If ads get way out of hand obviously the end user will adapt by blocking them. Old media advertising is not the way to go and in fact old media never had 10 advertisements + 10 in-line (text) ads like PCmech and every other tech site has. It ridiculous.
My old media free newspapers like “Metro” and “AM NY” don’t bombard me with advertisements, and they print and ship everyday.
When it comes to adblocking I block text-ads and pop-ups since they are the worst of all the ads I’ve encountered. Sound ads are more annoying, but they don’t seem to exist any longer; probably because everyone including myself would just X out of those sites at the very first sound.
You don’t need a bombardment of ads to make money, you need good content that brings traffic that gets you good advertisers. Sites like Newgrounds.com used to have tons of ads/popups. But as they added more quality content, they got more traffic, and reduced their ads. Now they have no pop ups, 2 ad banners, and 2 more subtle ad-sharing that actually look like content. Their site is so successful they have enough money left over to give cash prizes to web artists for submitting content and to visitors for viewing their content. Haha.
Adblock plus for Firefox FTW!!! i hate ad scum especially the flash ones or the ads that stop the whole site from loading (ads with slow servers). Google adwords is fine and dandy (not annoying). ads are too much when they put it right in the middle of an article. web hosting is cheap ($15 for 3000 gigabytes of bandwidth, come on now!)
Back when “pay tv” was introduced we expected no commercials. After a few years the commercials came. Now there are relentless load, blaring commercials every 2 minutes. More than half of the channels are paid programming late at night.
Even before a Movie in a theater, there are 30 minutes of commercials. Just look at how many are now on your ISP home page.
No one has ever protected the consumer from this attack. If we pay for a service we should have the right to limit the advertisements, or pay extra to have them omitted.