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The Successor To Popunder Ads?

Posted by ryuzaki0 on from the testing-your-patience dept.

Croaker writes: "So, apparently, boston.com is trying out these new ads called "Shoshkeles" (the marketeer who came up with that name was on crack, no doubt). The result is an incredibly annoying experience of having crap run around the page you are reading, along with sound. And you thought banner ads sucked. The company responsible for the technology, United Virtualities says these are 'browser driven, platform agnostic, sound enabled, free moving forms that marry total creative license to a whole new level of effectiveness.' Effective in annoying, I guess." The site says "the ads only appear when using an Internet Explorer browser," though. Darn.

16 of 510 comments (clear)

  1. marketeers.... by _Marvin_ · · Score: 5, Funny

    "platform agnostic" and runs on IE only... those marketeers never fail to amuse me.

    --
    "We won't use guns, we won't use bombs, we'll use the one thing we've got more of and that's our minds" - Pulp
    1. Re:marketeers.... by Speare · · Score: 5, Insightful

      "platform agnostic" and runs on IE only... those marketeers never fail to amuse me.

      Well, the literal meaning of "agnostic" is "in a manner without knowledge." A- gnostic. The dictionary lists "professing ignorance."

      Perhaps running on IE only really is being agnostic. :)

      --
      [ .sig file not found ]
    2. Re:marketeers.... by Glytch · · Score: 5, Funny

      Didn't you know? "Platform agnostic" means it works on Windows 95, 98, NT, 2000 and even XP!

  2. origin of "Shoshkele" by Frothy+Walrus · · Score: 5, Funny

    the Shoshkele is a traditional Polish dance in which the dancers move around the space a lot. interesting it got used, but i wish it were for something less annoying. :)

  3. Amazing by squaretorus · · Score: 5, Insightful

    It really is amazing the length some sites will go to to get you to stop using them. If you visit Lycos or Yahoo with IE you get Pizza Hut pizzas flying around the screen more often than not.

    At work I don't notice them, but at home on my cruddy 56kbps they cause a significant slow down - the result? Google gets even MORE of my traffic.

  4. Re:NOOOOOOOOO!!!!!! by SpiritualRemains · · Score: 5, Informative

    The best way to kill them is to go into your IE security settings and change Download Signed ActiveX controls, Download Unsigned ActiveX controls, and Run ActiveX controls and Plugins from Enabled to Prompt in the Internet Zone.

    Spiritual Remains

  5. IE won't die, but sites will by bildstorm · · Score: 5, Interesting

    As much as I would Microsoft to up and go away, well, these ads are not going to kill IE. IE is just too easy to get, runs all the stuff people want, and it comes on their Windows boxes.


    However, sites that use these features are likely to lose users. Yeah, they'll keep their techy users who use Mozilla, etc., but their joe-average users will disappear. (Why should I read Boston.com when I can read CNN.com and get none of those crappy ads?)


    Case in point is that I almost never visit C|Net or ZDNet anymore. The ads are lousy. The content doesn't justify the annoyance. I use to read Builder.com all the time. Now I just visit Molly.com and see where her latest articles are.


    Reality is that advertising is only tolerated as long as it's justified. I click on the ads on Slashdot because they're well targetted. I read BBC News because there are no ads. I used to watch Sci-Fi because there were fewer ads. If it really comes down to it, eventually I'll only visit government sites and my paid subscriptions because like many a business user, I don't have time to wait the 5 seconds on a page while checking to see if an article is worth reading.

    --
    The power of accurate observation is commonly called cynicism by those who have not got it. - G.B. Shaw
    1. Re:IE won't die, but sites will by jonbrewer · · Score: 5, Insightful

      These ads are not targeted at you, nor at consumers who fit your profile. The tech-saavy user who is bothered by intrusive ads does not register on the radar screen of the advertisers and ad firms buying these ads on sites such as boston.com and weather.com.

      I like to think these ads are targeted at my parents. Mom is not going to stop visiting weather.com because an ad for allergy medicine dumped a bunch of colored leaves on her web page for a few seconds. In fact, she likes the ad. (If you haven't seen this ad, get on an XP system with IE 6 and watch. It's actually pretty cool.)

      While it probably annoys dad, he's not going to go back to watching the weather channel on TV, because the web site gets him the weather instantly compared to waiting for the local forecast on TV. And it would take quite an interruption for him to make him seek out another website for his weather.

      Bottom line is that "joe-average users" don't give a shit about ads, and aren't going to alter their media consumption patterns to keep them away from what you may consider "lousy ads." The advertisers know this, and so are keeping up with technology in the name of competition.

      JB

      (IANAA, but I do have a degree in Advertising.)

  6. Re:Not clickable by brunes69 · · Score: 5, Insightful

    CLickthroughs are a perverse form of measuring an adds effecity, and adopting this is why Internet advertising revenues have dropped so sharply. Ads are about increasing mindshare, getting word of your product out, and convincing people to try it. They're not suppose dto be "Hey look! Ford sells cars! I'm going to go buy one right NOW!". When was the last time you saw an ad on TV, to immediatly hop in your car and drive to the mall to purshase the item? CHances are, next to never. But maybe later, when you want something in that area, you will remember the ad. This is how advertising is supposed to work. All this clickthrough nonsense as a measure of how effective an ad is is retarded.

  7. No, it's "Shoshkele ™" by Kozz · · Score: 5, Insightful
    Well, it appears that United Virtualities has trademarked the name "Shoshkele". Maybe if we're lucky, that means they've attempted to patent the advertisement method and will hence enforce it, resulting in fewer companies overall that would use this type of obtrusive advertising? Ha - we could only wish. From their webpage,
    "Please note that the demos showcased on this page are Flash 4 based. This is done for confidentiality reasons. If you need to test the functionality of final release Shoshkeles (TM) please contact us."
    So they're showing us demos in Flash 4 so that people can't "view source" to rip off the code? Meaning that the ads are actually NOT Flash 4 but something else, perhaps, as they say that the ads don't actually require any plugin.

    I'm thinking that sooner or later, people will start ripping off this ad style, and they're not going to call it a "Shoshkele". Unless UV patents this ad method, (and IANAL) I don't see how they can keep others from ripping them off. Besides, I've already seen annoying ads like these on weather.com.

    Now all we need is a filter for this sort of crap in Mozilla and I'll go back to using it.

    --
    I only post comments when someone on the internet is wrong.
  8. Re:"Platform agnostic" by rjamestaylor · · Score: 5, Funny

    It means, while they do not deny the existence of a platform other than Windows/IE, they have no knowledge of such a platform and doubt it would possible to find it.

    --
    -- @rjamestaylor on Ello
  9. Actually, I like them by david_g · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Ok, they're really annoying, but at least they're creatively made. And let's face it. Ads are the main driving force of all the media. Why should the net be any different? There is no such thing as a 'free lunch' as everyone knows...


    Not that I like ads, but I understand sites need to have a way to survive. What I would like to see, though is:



    1. An alternative to seeing those ads: some kind of subscription method for people who are regulars to a site and don't mind contributing. In exchange, they get to turn the ads off, and maybe some other goodies.
    2. For people who don't want to subscribe, and since they'll be seeing the ads anyway, at least give them a way to choose what kind of ads they want to see.
    3. For everybody else, tough. The world doesn't revolve around you and people have to eat. If you don't like it, go find other sites to see.


    People really should stop being so selfish. I'm starting to believe that the 'geek' title so many people here are proud to use is nothing more than a certificate of insensitiveness, egocentrism and selfishness...


    How about... growing up?

  10. Re:It works in Konqueror 2.2.1 by rjamestaylor · · Score: 5, Funny

    I'll submit this as a bug to the KDE team...

    --
    -- @rjamestaylor on Ello
  11. Here is a good practice for IE users by weave · · Score: 5, Informative
    Go into Tools -> Internet Options, click on Security tab, then Custom Level. Scroll a wee bit down and change "Run ActiveX Controls and plug-ins" and "Script ActiveX controls" from enabled to prompt.

    It not only kills this kinda crap, it also protects you from the malicious IE/activeX hole of the week.

    Now, since all plugins are installed as an activeX control of sometype (including java and flash), you need to say Yes when prompted for those. You'll quickly learn when to say yes and no from practice. You can't make a mistake since you're basically always saying yes by default. If you say No and some page functionality you WANT to see is lost, reload and answer Yes.

  12. Re:mozilla default settings by Hal-9001 · · Score: 5, Informative
    That might be a good idea if ads were the only reason to use popups.
    Fortunately, the Mozilla team is one step ahead of you and has created a specific parameter for disabling new windows from popping up on page load or exit, which pretty much can only be used for ads or unsolicited redirects. From the Customizing Mozilla page which every Mozilla user should bookmark or know how to find (it's as easy as going to mozilla.org, clicking "Search", and searching for "Customizing Mozilla"), here is the appropriate line to add to prefs.js or user.js :
    // More important, disable JS windows popping up a new window on load
    // (as lots of porn and spam sites do):
    user_pref("dom.disable_open_during_load", true);
    --
    "It take 9 months to bear a child, no matter how many women you assign to the job."
  13. Persistent problem with Slashdot by crucini · · Score: 5, Informative
    Attention!
    1. The 'demos' are shockwave.
    2. The real shoshkeles are DHTML, not shockwave.

    A lot of the comments have been based on not understanding this. People post "it works in $browser on $OS."
    More fundamentally, this is a persistent problem with Slashdot. Neither the story submitter nor the editor takes the two minutes to dig up and answer the most obvious question or confusion that will arise from the provided links. Therefore instead of an informed discussion we get lots of people blundering around in the dark, powered by misconceptions.