Advertisements, part deux

[OperaTenor]

I tried searching for the "Advertisements" thread & couldn't find it (Lliam, I think you're right, it'd be nice to have a topic search engine,if that were possible).

My question: Are we now starting to see region specific pop-up ads? I seem to be getting one for a used car sale here in San Diego, and it seems to come from B.com.

[dkm32]

Were you per chance thinking of the thread "Pop-up Ads on Beethoven.com????" started by our long-lost-friend Ethan???

Where is Ethan??? Still riding that tractor?

<small>[ 07-06-2003, 07:22 PM: Message edited by: dkm32 ]</small>

[OperaTenor]

Maybe he's taking a little sabbatical. Just as long as he doesn't stay away.

That might've been the thread. Donna, are you getting the "San Diego Used Car Tent Sale" ad, too?

I think it's pretty slick if they're actually able to regionalize their pop-ups.

[dkm32]

I don't get popups. So I haven't seen them.

[OperaTenor]

I just found the original "advertisements" thread. It's under Musical Notes. Oh, well.

[BenODen]

Anybody else having troubles with b.com popup ads refusing to go away?

I'm concerned about the computer/net performance popup. Today I clicked on the close window x of the popup but the ad didn't go away. Instead a full screen window came up advertizing another product of theirs. This happened not once, but twice more with two almost full screen popups before I was finally able to get rid of the ad. (Hmmm, this was the offender the first time wasn't it!? Playing fair not good enough for them?) I've clicked on the ad in the past, decided it's not what I wanted, so I'm not being an anti-advertizing bad guy by dismissing it here, just excersizing my choice as a consumer.

Anyone else see this behavior, or did I accidently click in the box? (Still bad behaviour though, since close means close, not show me more. Leave it to microsoft to give stick us with something like this. The buttons should function as usual, especially from untrusted sources!)

-Benito

<small>[ 07-17-2003, 05:53 PM: Message edited by: Benito Of Denver ]</small>

[Serenity]

I get mostly the Weatherbug Taskbar and the infamous SYSTEM PERFORMANCE WIZARD (still)! As Haggis would say.....AAAARRRGGH!

[BenODen]

Oh, yeayea, system performance wizard. Keep an eye on it... See if does dumb things next time.. Maybe it was just me, or maybe just my browser. I'm running IE 6.0...

-Benito

[Shapley]

I have had similar difficulties with the system performance wizard ad. twice yesterday it refused to go away. The first time I did a "refresh" on the screen and it disappeared. The second time the "refresh" moved it to the background, but it still wouldn't go away. I had to close the internet explorer to get rid of it.

I have had similar experiences with a couple of pop-ups on MSN. Clicking on the "X" either does nothing, or it takes you to another website. One particularly annoying ad has a small "close window" button hidden in the lower end of the screen. If you don't close using it, you don't get out of the screen. The "x" in the upper corner maximizes the screen.

V/R
Shapley

[Shapley]

Well, the "System Performance Wizard" attacked again. It popped up a few moments ago, and would not close. I tried the usual methods, nothing worked. Finally had to reboot.

It may be a wizard, but I'm afraid it has crossed over to the dark side.

V/R
Shapley

[BenODen]

Ah ha! Ok. I have a non-rebooty way to do it. You should be able to do a ctrl-alt-delete to get the task list, then kill internet explorer from there.

I'll shoot the web master a note saying he's got badly behaving ads again.

-Benito

[Shapley]

I did the ctrl-alt-del thingy and it didn't work. I got a (explorer - not responding) and clicked cancel, but nothing happened. After a brief pause the "program not responding" window came up and I hit "close program" on it, then everything stopped. Rebooting was the last available option.

I hate it when that happens.

[BenODen]

You must be still running Win '98 or Win Me. Ah well, I mailed the web master saying that it's got me tempted to put in a popup blocker, which should be a wake up call, since I said that I'm otherwise OK with ads, as they pay for everything for me. We'll see. I don't get it that often, since the cookies seem to do keep popups from coming up too often for me.

-Benito

[dai bread 1]

The machine that I'm using now is hooked up to a very swept-up network using a 300kbps pipe and all the bells & whistles needed to run streaming video from field cameras and overseas networks. Yet the "increase your speed" ad still pops up. I am very tempted to run it and see what happens.

And then report the result to our I.T. dept!

[Kevin]

An established "trick" some advertisers use on banners and popunders is to make the image on the ad look like a Windows window. The first "X" is then actually part of the linked image and opens the ad link. You have to make sure to click on the outer "X" to actually close it.

I don't like these types of ads, frankly, but we've had to take what we can get within reason. We use a service that sells remnant inventory for us to gain revenue to keep us afloat. I already try to block some of the most annoying or innappropriate ads from displaying on our site - things like any adult ads, hyper-flashing or jittery banners and the like. If we block too many, however, then the ad serving companies flag our site and stop sending any ads our way (kind of like being help hostage).

We'll continue to try to limit this type of advertising as much as humanly possible, but within reason of allowing Beethoven Radio to survive and continue streaming classical music to you. We do hope you understand our situation.

If you ever have questions about ads on our site or station, please feel free to email me at advertise@beethoven.com.

Regards,
Kevin

[Shapley]

Kevin,

Most of aren't opposed to advertising. We're mostly all capitalists here (which is why we don't listen to the radio that has an attitude).

We just don't like malicious ads. We'll bring 'em to your attention when we find 'em. I know you'll continue to do your best to fix 'em when we do.

Thanks for your assistance.

V/R
Shapley

[BenODen]

I concurr with Shapely. Ads are a neccessary thing. I'm not 100% sure, but for a small period it seemed like the outermost x also brought up a different popup, that also refused to go away. It's certainly not doing it now though. Thank you for dealing with all the real and persistent ickyness!

I have a way to stop the misbehaving windows now, as well. Simply go to 'Work Offline' in the file menu, close the offender and then go back to working online. Not sure why it took me so long to think of this.. It's worked so far, but maybe it can be hijacked too.. Dunno.

-Benito

<small>[ 08-25-2003, 03:41 PM: Message edited by: Benito Of Denver ]</small>

[lliam]

I never have a problem with popups, I use pop this, It's free software(I think it should be shareware), Easy to use Lightweight (a single file), Does not include any spyware,
Does not create annoying Windows tray icons or toolbars Stops 99% of all popups. Just load it into your Browser. You can get it at:

http://www.mathies.com/popthis/

Lliam.

[Nicole Marie]

Be careful with Pop Up Blocking Software. Some can block the Beethoven Player from loading.

[piqaboo]

McAfee has a pop-up blocker.
Have to turn it off to post replies etc on B.com.
Nice to have the rest of the time tho. (not free, but the icon alone is almost worth the price)