Heart Attack thanks to ATS.

Can ATS please get rid of that stupid advertisement to do with downloading the ultimate smily faces?

I was just zoned out, reading some ATS and listening to some smooth jazz, when I clicked on a new thread and that stupid ad went "HELLO HELLO"

I thought there was somebody in my living room. It almost gave me a damn heart attack. Honestly, I almost jumped out of my skin.

This got me to thinking - advertising is ruining the internet, this is a fact. What is the conspiracy behind this? Would there be a way for the internet to run and maintain profitability without these ridiculous heart attack inducing advertisements?

Normally I'm not one to complain but I have to agree and speak up on this one! That ad has startled me on a few occassions and it's highly annoying.

Does ATS have a sound off/on button anywhere?

Jemison

I totally agree, in fact any ad that automatically plays sound is crossing the line as far as I'm concerned. I often listen to podcasts or the radio while reading ATS and some ad that plays sounds without being authorised by me is invasive and unwelcome! Advertisers take note!

reply to post by DrBones666


I just never turn on the sound. Also I am running Unix which cuts out some of the crap.

I personally have neither heard nor seen the ad you speak of, but then, I have firefox, with adblock plus, I don't see ads at all, maybe you should try another browser (firefox) and or a plugin (adblock plus) Just a suggestion (firefox also spell checks for you, Nice)

i know what you mean i also find that sound smiley so annoying... but i now run PeerGuardian so i think it blocks out that crap cause i dont hear it since i been running it

I never turn on my speakers unless I want to hear something I've selected. Plus, I'm almost deaf, so it'd be hard to get my attention anyway

I've seen other ads...... here and on other forums that have annoying flashy things and blinking and such. I find that very irritating. I think it's a function of a forum that doesn't charge for membership. One of my favorite weather places charges what I think is a nominal fee for "no ads". I'd be more than willing to pony up $10.00 or so for that here at ATS.

I must agree that soundtrack ads are the worst. However, I think the very fact of complaining about ad types is what drives them to be more obnoxious. It also drives service provider economy. Think about it.

First, ads were just links on pages. That was not too bad since it was mostly just links on the side of the page. They didnt garner too much attention either.
Then they made thumbnails that were hyperlinked. They are more prominent and draw more attention to the market linked. That added more download time to the already slow 56K modems that were the standard of the time. People complained about the net lagging. So, it was suffer or get faster internet. Of course, you are going to upgrade as soon as it comes available.
Lets ramp things up with shockwave and flash ads. Now your poor computer and network have to deal with animation ads and all the clutter that comes with rendering motion. Clunky crap computers on 1.5 meg DSL or 2 meg cable connections were lagged out by the graphical infusion.
Since this became such a sore subject of having static ads, the ever popular pop-up ad became all the rage. Wow, my screen no longer has to deal with constant video feeds on my slow connection anymore. Now, why not deal with 3-6 screens of crap, all taking their precious time hosing up bandwidth and bogging down the computer resources. "I would close them, but I cant until they finish loading." Solution? Get a faster computer and better 'internets'. DSL ramps things up to 3 megs, while cable flips them the "yew plucker" and takes things up to 5 megs. Pop-ups are still annoying, but they load faster now, so I can close them faster and get back to business.
And now, here we are. A culmination of all that is unholy in the world of online advertising. Links dont always work. Thumbnails get a bit of attention if they are designed correctly. Pop-ups are still the bane of virtual existence. Flash ads are so common that they barely get noticed, almost like online commercials that never go away.
Here we are. Some guy in some bathroom stall somewhere had nothing better to do while he was recycling his chili fries and double cheeseburger, so he thought about it. "What can we do to intrude our clients ads onto the virtual populace? There has to be a way to get their attention again." AHHA! he must have cried. Audio encoded Flash driven video banner ads that pop-out on startup.
Truly a masterful stroke in the online advertising world. Clients would pay millions to be the most obnoxious, most intrusive, founders of this type of technology. Not only does it take over the screen, but now even audio files are not safe from these monsters. Just like they code in commercials for television, just insure that the recorded volume is set to a higher than normal level so that it will mask over anything else that is playing.

Since this has nothing to do with the speed of the networks anymore (for most people), now lets see how many people will pay someone to develop the software and technology to combat these little devils. Remember, everything you get for free, you get twice as much of for cash.

Originally posted by thedigirati
I personally have neither heard nor seen the ad you speak of, but then, I have firefox, with adblock plus, I don't see ads at all, maybe you should try another browser (firefox) and or a plugin (adblock plus) Just a suggestion (firefox also spell checks for you, Nice)

Just an aside-

Terms and Conditions

4b) Ad Blockers: As AboveTopSecret.com is provided as a free service, in part through the income of our advertising, you agree not to use "ad-blocking" software or similar built-in web browser options while using the website(s).

Annoying as those ads are, they are neccissary to allow you to continue reading and contributing on ATS. You agreed to not block Ads.

To the OP- There is a specific place to lodge complaints against the Ads here at ATS and it's Worst Ads Ever! (SkepticOverlord's Ad Hitlist)

Hope I've helped,

Cuhail

Wheresthetruth ... lol ..here here .(wish I could give you a star)
That was awesome and funny and oh so true .
You should send that in to technology magazines online
Somewhere like Wired.com

[edit on 9-9-2008 by Simplynoone]

As previously mentioned...

Please add your comments here:

www.abovetopsecret.com...

Thread closed.