So I visited dilbert.com today and had a rather surprising screen presented.  Their ad script appears to allowed two "top" ads to be used...one of which is much larger than it should be.  It then placed one on top of the other...both of which are "on top of the page". The real kicker is that there is no way to close the ads.  The only way to actually navigate the site...not that many people do...would be to refresh the page.

 

When AJAX attacks!  Next on Fox!

 

http://adblockplus.org

http://dailystrips.sourceforge.net

asuffield:

http://adblockplus.org

Yeah exactly. And certain people wonder why so many of us are turning to things like adblock.

When the only way to make your site useable is to cut off the revenue stream, nobody wins. Dogbert would not approve of that.

RayS:

asuffield:

http://adblockplus.org

Yeah exactly. And certain people wonder why so many of us are turning to things like adblock.

When the only way to make your site useable is to cut off the revenue stream, nobody wins. Dogbert would not approve of that.

Yeah exactly! The thing that made me get and use adblock plus where these damn overlying ads,and even worse, these goddamn movie and/or sound playing ads. What jerk invented these? Get him shot (as in "shot to death") for an ad against these ads please! Oh, and it has to be a flash movie with sound of course, so I'll never see it. Thanks.

I've found that NoScript has a good side effect of blocking most of those crazy ads.  Usually blocks the decent non-intrusive ads too, but I'm not shedding any tears because a banner ad doesn't NEED JavaScript.

 

The big Dilbert ad got through today though.

vt_mruhlin:

I've found that NoScript has a good side effect of blocking most of those crazy ads.  Usually blocks the decent non-intrusive ads too, but I'm not shedding any tears because a banner ad doesn't NEED JavaScript.

 

The big Dilbert ad got through today though.

Use adblock plus, and you will never see any ad again. Disable adblock on pages you want to support of course ! My policy is to disable ads on sites I visit on a regular basis, BUT if these ads disturb my reading of a site, they are cut away! 

I generally try to keep the ads visible, as long as they're polite.  The way I see it, any site I visit is worth supporting... If it wasn't ad-supported, I wouldn't be able to see it to evaluate if it was worthwhile.  Another good one for situations like this is Nuke Anything.  Just rick click on the ad and remove it from the page.  Would be nice if it would remember what you'd nuked upon your next visit to the page though.

vt_mruhlin:

IAnother good one for situations like this is Nuke Anything.  Just rick click on the ad and remove it from the page.

Or Opera's equivelant - The "Kill" button (you may find it at http://operawiki.info/PowerButtons). Press the Kill button, click on what you'd like to remove, and it's gone :)

Daniel15:

vt_mruhlin:

IAnother good one for situations like this is Nuke Anything.  Just rick click on the ad and remove it from the page.

Or Opera's equivelant - The "Kill" button (you may find it at http://operawiki.info/PowerButtons). Press the Kill button, click on what you'd like to remove, and it's gone :)

I want you inside me. I've never heard of this until now, and I was always at a loss for a good way to get rid of those stupid things. I think I just came.

Actually, if you setup your host file properly, you just never load them. It's quite nice. http://www.mvps.org/winhelp2002/hosts.htm

 Though that kill button can be fun. :D 
 

zero5zero:

<snip> ...My policy is to disable ads on sites I visit on a regular basis, BUT if these ads disturb my reading of a site, they are cut away! 

 

Viewing ads is doing nothing to support sites, it's clicking the ads that supports them.

Plus, I'm a selfish bastard - Adblock is always on, unless it truly screws up the layout and navigation of the site. 
 

DaemonWTF:

Viewing ads is doing nothing to support sites, it's clicking the ads that supports them.

I've always thought it was unfair that way.  Sometimes they pay for clicking on the ads; other times you only get paid if the visitor makes a purchase.  I rarely make online impulse buys.  Even more rarely do I make one at the behest of a banner ad.

Sometimes I may see an ad "New hard drives, 20% off!" and start thinking that I really could use a new hard drive.  But I'll still spend the time to research that vendor and make sure 20% off is actually a good deal.  Sometimes if I'm going to buy something I'll go back to a site that I've seen advertise it, and buy through their banner ad.

Would like to see site owners get paid per ad view, but I guess ad blocking and cheating in general would make that an unprofitable business.
 

vt_mruhlin:

  Another good one for situations like this is Nuke Anything.  Just rick click on the ad and remove it from the page.

So,it's like a manually operated version of adblock with no memory then?

vt_mruhlin:

   Would be nice if it would remember what you'd nuked upon your next visit to the page though.

That's exactly what adblock is and does.  So I reckon "Nuke Anything" is actually a lousy one for "situations like this".