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The Man Responsible For Pop-Up Ads On Building a Better Web
An anonymous reader writes Above all, Ethan Zuckerman wants you to know that he is sorry. In the mid-1990s, Zuckerman was working as a designer and programmer for Tripod.com when he wrote the code for the first pop-up ad. He says: "At the end of the day, the business model that got us funded was advertising. The model that got us acquired was analyzing users’ personal homepages so we could better target ads to them. Along the way, we ended up creating one of the most hated tools in the advertiser’s toolkit: the pop-up ad. It was a way to associate an ad with a user’s page without putting it directly on the page, which advertisers worried would imply an association between their brand and the page’s content. Specifically, we came up with it when a major car company freaked out that they’d bought a banner ad on a page that celebrated anal sex. I wrote the code to launch the window and run an ad in it. I’m sorry. Our intentions were good."
As soon as the tools were added for a web page to open a new web-page, I'm sure pop-ups were "invented" simultaneously across numerous ad agencies.
A very expensive patent that was litigated aggressively...
VLC Remote for iPhone and Android
[quote] Our intentions were good. [/quote]
FVO "good" meaning "to make money". Not unsurprising in the Capitalist America, but still a bit too easy.
Not that I care much, if not him someone else would've thought this one up. Pop-overs, pop-unders, pop-ins, insertions, insertions by your own ISP, unbidden playing of something VERY LOUD, possibly with video attached, what-have-you. There's something about advertising that invariably brings out the most obnoxious in the advertiser. Or even outright evil, like advertising toolbars and other malware.
It's what commerce does, it what it must do if it's effectively a religion to you.
... which led to the pop-under, etc. On the bright side, this led to higher adoption rates for browsers that supported ad-blockers, noscript, etc. So if it weren't for this guy, Firefox would probably never have gained the traction it did, and the vast majority of people would be stuck on IE.
"Transparent" is a shit show that trades on every stereotype going. A man in drag is NOT a transsexual.
the intention was to show advertising to people. Steal their bandwidth and hide real content without getting approval. The intentions of advertising on the web were never good, they were evil. And all that because some companies want to line their pockets.
No one can understand the truth until he drinks of coffee's frothy goodness.
--Sheikh Abd-Al-Kadir, 1587
NEVER has good intentions. EVER
Your apology will never be enough to excuse what you wrought
Why sweat it? This was the obvious next step in advertising. If he hadn't of done it, someone else would have done it a few days/weeks/months later.
We finally have it confirmed that pop-up ads are the result of anal sex. Makes sense to me.
i appreciate the apology. i imagine steve buscemi crossing his name off a list with a crayon and then smearing lipstick all over his face.
... it's blocked by a pop-up.
"Transparent" is a shit show that trades on every stereotype going. A man in drag is NOT a transsexual.
But I have to admit that if my intentions were ever good, I wasn't actually marketing anymore. I'm glad that he's apologetic, but he was in marketing. You don't swing a pitchfork in Hell and pretend you don't work there.
>>"ad space available -- low rates!!!"
This technology sounds totally cool. I'd like to see them use it to make pop-up ads on the shitty Slashdot Beta site. They could make pop-up ads to counter the user's extreme boredom as this user waits for the shitty Beta site's page and all its shitty JavaScript and CSS crap to initially load. Then they make pop-up ads on to record the exact back-button click when the person notices that it's the shitty Beta site rather than the Classic site, and the person's anger starts to grow. The pop-up ads would progressively cause the user's anger to turn into madness, and then finally utter and complete disappointment and despair once the shitty Beta site has finally loaded. The pop-up ads could also cause the formation and flow of the very first of many teardrops to cascade down this poor victim's cheeks as the user struggles in vain to read the stories' small text with poor contrast. The total anguish could be examined in excruciating detail, so the awful nature of the Slashdot Beta site could be truly comprehended.
Agreed. Advertiser's intentions are never good. Their intention is to manipulate people at a subconscious emotional level in order to get their money. "Good" is when you donate to charity, not when you manipulate people.
And then he went on to write Facebook. I'm not sure I like this guy.
I followed your link, and then clicked random comic, and got this... http://ars.userfriendly.org/ca... Also, appropriate
There are no such things as good intentions, at least not for users.
Marketing is about manipulating and about out-shouting the competition. This is not at all restricted to the internet. The obvious progression on the internet was stationary ads, animated ads, ads that pop up over content, ads that were indistinguishable from content, ads that bypassed adblockers, ads that started playing sound, ads that start playing videos, and now ads that pop up in the middle of videos.
We saw the same thing with TVs, ads in the ad breaks, louder ads in the ad breaks, longer ad breaks, ads popping up at the bottom of the screen during content, ads featured in content (not all actors like drinking Coke).
Oh and on billboards which were painted on the side of buildings, then free standing, then free standing with lots of lighting shining on them, and now a back lit video billboard which is blindingly bright at night.
Sorry buddy but you never had "good intentions".
You're factually right, of course, except for the religion part. Indeed, it's worse than religion, because you can always free yourself of religion, while on the other side and for the time being, capitalism is the one currently available world operating system, wherein the only thing keeping everything going (including the world itself) is profit – until the world finds another, better operating system.
At the end of the day -- you are still a worm Zuckerman
... is paved with good intentions.
The mere fact that they had purchased the ad on that particular page shows their intentions weren't good at all but strictly profit motivated. A "good" response would have been to remove the ad, not create a pop-up. On the other hand, the car company should have fired them.
Well you asked for the site, and the site is funded by ads so in some sort of way you did ask for the ads.
No it simply means that he is aiming for a position at Apple.
First we hang you and your kind.
Then we'll work something out.
We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
Look at the bright side of online ads. If you don't like something and want it changed, instead of uselessly complaining to the site owner, you can complain where it really hurts - the advertisers. Works in the real world all the time. Popups suck, no question about it, but a banner or sidebar, if it's paying for the site, I'm not going to complain. Noisy video ads, on the other hand ... can't close the tab fast enough.
"Transparent" is a shit show that trades on every stereotype going. A man in drag is NOT a transsexual.
Only gay people have anal sex? I better tell my wife.
Get free satoshi (Bitcoin) and Dogecoins
Not that I care much, if not him someone else would've thought this one up. Pop-overs, pop-unders, pop-ins, insertions, insertions by your own ISP, unbidden playing of something VERY LOUD, possibly with video attached, what-have-you. There's something about advertising that invariably brings out the most obnoxious in the advertiser. Or even outright evil, like advertising toolbars and other malware.
Don't worry, the free market will fix it!
Don't waste your vote! Vote for whoever you want, unless you live in a swing state it won't matter anyways
And is it the preferred brand of, well, drivers or passengers?
Have gnu, will travel.
User Friendly is never appropriate.
"They were pure niggers." – Noam Chomsky
**of course**
that's the narrative for most tech companies that we see in the media being depicted as "successful"
that's the model and everyone knows it...this guy was a fool if he didn't see it (but i accept his apology!)
seriously, /. the above quotation explains quite a bit of conflict in tech today...it's about **incentives**
with the above business model, the incentives all go in the wrong direction: towards 'big brothering' a person as an internet profit model
we must end this notion forever!
Thank you Dave Raggett
What's wrong with Battlefield Earth? That movie is freaking hilarious. I am rather angry that they removed one of my favorite scenes from the DVD -- the one where they are debating if humans can fly and they drop a guy off a cliff to find out.
You knew that at Slashdot.org, you'd find "news for nerds". You intentionally loaded Slashdot to get what is on Slashdot (news, discussion).
You knew that at Slashdot.org, you'd find ads. You intentionally loaded Slashdot to get what is on Slashdot (ads).
So yes, you did ask for the ads, just as much as you asked for the discussion - you intentionally requested a page that has those things.
If you want a discussion without ads, nntp or IRC is for you. You are welcome to pay Dejanews directly rather than paying Slashdot indirectly.
If you choose to come here, to a site with ads, knowing that the service provided to you is provided by ad revenue, don't bitch about receiving exactly what Slashdot offers - news and discussion financed by ads. If you don't want what Slashdot offers, don't come to Slashdot. Simple.
Bless ye my son. After your confession, write 10 quicksort algorithms and ye will be absolved of thy sins.
You married her (and her strap-on).
John McAfee 'It was like that time I hired that Bangkok prostitute; to do my taxes, while I fucked my accountant'
I knew she wasn't referring to my brain when she said I was always behind.
Get free satoshi (Bitcoin) and Dogecoins
They put about as much consideration into it as you put into paying for your tripod hosting!
Just my $0.03 (At current exchange rates, my £0.02 is worth more than your $0.02)
Now that a quad-core 2 gigahertz 8 gig ram laptop is under $400 nobody' worried about "slow browsers." 1990 called - they want their 386 back.
"Transparent" is a shit show that trades on every stereotype going. A man in drag is NOT a transsexual.
When I bought this machine a couple of months ago at the local pharmacy (8 gig ram, quad core 2 ghz, hdmi out, etc) I didn't want to spend much because I was afraid I might still not be able to use it ... it took a while, but I adapted. Kind of a surprise, but I'm not going to complain.
But like always, you failed to address my point - that today even the el cheapo laptops are so overpowered that there's no problem running a browser, etc., without problems. It's not the 20th century any more. Your "solution" is obsolete.
"Transparent" is a shit show that trades on every stereotype going. A man in drag is NOT a transsexual.
As for my running for Parliament in the next federal election, there are plenty of people who are depending on me to continue to fight for their rights and against projects that are a waste of money and have results contrary to their stated goals. There IS life after programming, and the same problem-solving skills apply to "debugging" political problems.
But you can continue to "solve" a problem that nobody cares about any more. And now that I'm back you can continue to try to bug me. After all, like I said before I started going blind, someone has to keep you busy so you don't get distracted and start chewing more paint chips.
"Transparent" is a shit show that trades on every stereotype going. A man in drag is NOT a transsexual.
Fatness is associated with Type 2 diabetes, not Type 1, aka Juvenile Diabetes. Genetic, not related to diet or calorie intake, and untreated leaves you skinny as a beanpole. Educate yourself, APK
"Transparent" is a shit show that trades on every stereotype going. A man in drag is NOT a transsexual.