Archive of UserLand's first discussion group, started October 5, 1998.
Re: Ad blocking
Author: David Weingart Posted: 5/9/1999; 7:58:39 AM Topic: Check your pages in iCab... Msg #: 5875 (In response to 5835) Prev/Next: 5874 / 5876
Here's my two cents:Advertising is doomed as an internet business model. As Jakob Nielsen keeps pointing out, clickthrough rates are falling dramatically as users stop paying attention to banner ads. Ads have gotten more obtrusive to combat inattention, but there is a limit to how much users will put up with.
The net is not TV, and users have more control over the advertising they see. There are always low-tech ways to block ads. such as turning off images, or using a text-only browser.
Advertising-supported media has always been a dangerous way to get something for "free". In a way, the major browsers themsleves are advertiser-supported and they lack features that might make user's lives easier. You'll never see ad-blocking in IE or Navigator. But iCab can do this because iCab is a commercial product. iCab serves its customers, not advertisers, so there is a better chance of iCab implementing features that make sense to users.
Anything that is advertiser-supported serves the advertisers first, and the customer second. It has to be that way, because the advertisers are paying the bills.
That being said, I support sites that are important to me by viewing their ads, because there is currently no alternative.
-dave
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