Your opinion on online ads?

[Macro]

Don't know about everyone else but I've had it with ads. Even on "trusted" sites like Yahoo my own dad was nearly infected by some malware popup, and it was giving him some fake phone number to call to fixed the supposed "infection". I'm beginning strongly see online ads as the great internet villain. I'm forced to use blockers like Adblock Plus to protect myself from nasty trojans and such.

So how about you guys? Ever found an online ad to be useful? I personally have not, they are completely worthless in my experience. If I want to buy something, I look for it myself. Same with TV ads. It's MUTE as soon as they come on, haha!

 

[HotfireLegend]

I don't find that they increase the likelihood of myself buying something or even looking at what the ad is about. I'd be interested to see actual results from them, to justify their continued usage.

 

[MinisterJay]

I am in sales, so I love ads. I watch the Super Bowl, for the new ads, not the game. If I am online, and I do not like the ad, I ignore it. If it gives me an attraction, I open it in a different tab. I have used them in social media, and kept track of it to see if there was increased traffic.

 

[HotfireLegend]

I have used them in social media, and kept track of it to see if there was increased traffic.

How effective are they really?

 

[Companion Wulf]

I voted NO, but I don't mind ads provided they're unobtrusive, relevant and aren't resource-hungry beasts! What I detest most of all about ads is that an increasing number of them lead to shady sites. Those bloody ransomware ones are the WORST kind, especially those demanding you install the latest version of Flash or DivX when watching videos online (even though you already HAVE the latest versions). Some even go so far as to create an alert loop to prevent you from naturally closing the browser.

If it wasn't for these unscrupulous types of untrustworthy ads, I'd be more likely to click on some of them and less likely to use things like Adblocker, Anti-Adblock Killer and Hide My Adblock.

I actually have no problem with ads. Some have proved to be very useful. I even use them myself and make a pittance from them. But bottom line: I don't trust them any more.

 

[Cunechan]

Ads sometimes make it impossible to reach a website or lead to things which make me despair. Like when this here happened, an ad opened a popup which opened a popup and a weird site. Long textwall so I put it in a spoiler XD

Spoiler

Never ever trusted yahoo myself. Actually dont even trust many sites, maybe even none. I use adblock and a software called adguard (but it's extern) and avira. I let avira run through my hardwares once or twice a month and it filters most viruses and kills them. I've been really scared of viruses since one site opened a site which was "by the government" and told me I watched illegal porn with childsren(??) and downloaded anything and that I've been buying drugs and weapons via internet. It said I should pay 100€ via paysafe and if I refused they'd send people to my house within 48 hours? They'd totally ignore the fact that "these things happened" when I was willing to pay which was weird too (I think..?). Everything that was written there was obviously a lie and I tried closing the site but it sent this weird pop up message which was spamming so I couldn't close the site. I panicked and started to cry and ran to my dad and I was like "PAPA HELP ME" and he was like "Don't worry that's fake XD". I panicked so much that I wanted to delete a few episodes of twd I downloaded a few days before and accidentally deleted all my songs of my iTunes too. Googled for hours how to close this damn site and it seemed to be a well known fake site. After three goddamn hours I FINALLY managed to close this weird website. God I was 13 back then and so naive.
Who's interested it looked like the first picture on this site, everything and what to do is explained there too https://blog.botfrei.de/2014/01/bundespolizei-ihr-browser-hat-gesperrt/

 

[MinisterJay]

How effective are they really?

The most effective ones that I ran were to catered audiences. In marketing, I still have found that word of mouth -that most special form of free advertising- is the best.

 

[Micro]

I don't like them, they are just in my way and I prefer to block em.

 

[Neotheny]

i can live with ads, as long as they don't have any audio.

but ofcourse i don't like them. maybe the question should be do you mind ads.

 

[Macro]

Just "Minding" something still implies some negativity. http://idioms.thefreedictionary.com/do+you+mind

I've just had it with online ads lately, and when I saw them pop up on here it was the straw that broke my back with the little "Oh I see you have Ad Blocker". Yeah, I have ad blocker and it's staying on all the time because all these random infections. I'm also using enhanced Ad Blocker to block that window telling me I have an ad blocker. No offense!

I'm seeing people get hacked and then even sage losing his Skype and me getting an email about my own long dead Facebook account having my name changed to someone from Costa Rica. I feel like I have to lock down my internet as much as possible these days.

Internet in general just seems so unfun lately with so many mean people trying to ruin the fun. :( I never used to "mind", but now I have personally witnessed people even being infected on Yahoo.com. I don't trust ads anywhere anymore. -_-

 

[Myzt]

Some are good ads and bad ads IMO...
As a multimedia college student who knows about advertising(since it's related to my course)...
Good ads should be unobtrusive some sites like FB(wherein the ads are not blocking the view / or popping up to another window) and just stays on the right side corner and just peeks your attention.
While bad ads tend to be...well the exact opposite to
Good ads as I've said before...(geez I just wanna download that video >.<)

 

[Demonboy75]

My qualms with ads are less with the ones that give you malware (because I know how to avoid those) and more with the ads that are on YouTube that have become self aware that they take up our time. For example, GEICO. Oh my god, GEICO. "You can't skip this ad because it's already over" doesn't work when the ad still drags on for fifteen more seconds on a thoughtless short GEICO thinks I'll enjoy. The ads are never funny, so this self-awareness just feels like a kick to the "gentleman's area" to those of us who watch YouTube for entertainment.
That's not to say malicious internet ads are good, however. The fact that they are there to fool people is just maddening. "Why have these sorts of things?" is a question I ask myself every time I hear about malicious software claiming to be a product; every time, the answer is the same: "Some people are stupid, which causes them to make others unhappy to try to get rich quick."
Ads, as much as I'd rather find a product myself than have my entertainment interrupted, do fund the entertainment I receive and inform me of a product I might like that I could never hear about anywhere else. I get their purpose, I just don't like them. Ads have been a thorn in my side before, but I feel their whole purpose has now become null and void when the mere thought of them is so annoying or dangerous that most simply assume them all bad.

 

[Bizarre Monkey]

Don't like em, but don't have a problem with them.
Adblocker = winning all the game

My qualms with ads are less with the ones that give you malware (because I know how to avoid those) and more with the ads that are on YouTube that have become self aware that they take up our time. For example, GEICO. Oh my god, GEICO. "You can't skip this ad because it's already over" doesn't work when the ad still drags on for fifteen more seconds on a thoughtless short GEICO thinks I'll enjoy. The ads are never funny, so this self-awareness just feels like a kick to the "gentleman's area" to those of us who watch YouTube for entertainment.
That's not to say malicious internet ads are good, however. The fact that they are there to fool people is just maddening. "Why have these sorts of things?" is a question I ask myself every time I hear about malicious software claiming to be a product; every time, the answer is the same: "Some people are stupid, which causes them to make others unhappy to try to get rich quick."
Ads, as much as I'd rather find a product myself than have my entertainment interrupted, do fund the entertainment I receive and inform me of a product I might like that I could never hear about anywhere else. I get their purpose, I just don't like them. Ads have been a thorn in my side before, but I feel their whole purpose has now become null and void when the mere thought of them is so annoying or dangerous that most simply assume them all bad.

dawg just get an adblocker you'll never have to wait for an ad on youtube

 

[Demonboy75]

Don't like em, but don't have a problem with them.
Adblocker = winning all the game


dawg just get an adblocker you'll never have to wait for an ad on youtube

Adblocker stops the channels I watch from getting ad revenue, and I want to keep seeing the content come out at the same rate and quality. As a result, I don't use it. I don't have a problem with waiting five seconds to skip an ad or 30 to "watch" an ad; my problem is with the ads that are aware they are taking up people's time (ex. GEICO) and don't even try to be entertaining or eye-catching in any way. Ads are already a bit of a nuisance if they take up my time before the video, but I'm willing to put up with it. Self-awareness of wasting my time with no purpose of actually getting me to buy the product is crossing the line; GEICO might as well have an employee come to my door, ask me to see his product, splash me with a bucket of water, and run in the opposite direction while giggling like a hyena.

 

[Xyphien]

Ads help cover the cost of lots of sites. Without ads, most free sites would simply have to shut down. Ad revenue brings in a lot of extra money to most sites. Sites like Facebook, google, etc. wouldn't be as big without their advertisements. It's what funds the site, and allows everyone to be able to do everything for free online. Most sites cannot make it on donations alone, and ads help to fill that gap. I have one ad display, on this site, which helps to generate enough money to keep us having the best tier hosting available for my host, as well as continuous updates, and to help fund giveaways, etc. It's one of those things where yes, they are annoying, and you may not want to see them, however, without them, we wouldn't have as many sites that we do.

 

[Bizarre Monkey]

Adblocker stops the channels I watch from getting ad revenue, and I want to keep seeing the content come out at the same rate and quality. As a result, I don't use it. I don't have a problem with waiting five seconds to skip an ad or 30 to "watch" an ad; my problem is with the ads that are aware they are taking up people's time (ex. GEICO) and don't even try to be entertaining or eye-catching in any way. Ads are already a bit of a nuisance if they take up my time before the video, but I'm willing to put up with it. Self-awareness of wasting my time with no purpose of actually getting me to buy the product is crossing the line; GEICO might as well have an employee come to my door, ask me to see his product, splash me with a bucket of water, and run in the opposite direction while giggling like a hyena.

Lol then enjoy your suffering I guess?

If I cared enough about people I subbed too on youtube I could just make an exception for their channel, but I figure they can manage without my 2 centers per view or whatever.

You can hardly complain about how not-entertaining ads are if you are making the choice to watch them in the first place, muttonhead. :P

Personally I'd recommend just having adblock allow exceptions if you really care that much about your subs, because it still scrubs away ads from most boorish sites and if you wanna give money to said places it's more meaningful to donate an amount per month, which most sites allow.

Ads help cover the cost of lots of sites. Without ads, most free sites would simply have to shut down. Ad revenue brings in a lot of extra money to most sites. Sites like Facebook, google, etc. wouldn't be as big without their advertisements. It's what funds the site, and allows everyone to be able to do everything for free online. Most sites cannot make it on donations alone, and ads help to fill that gap. I have one ad display, on this site, which helps to generate enough money to keep us having the best tier hosting available for my host, as well as continuous updates, and to help fund giveaways, etc. It's one of those things where yes, they are annoying, and you may not want to see them, however, without them, we wouldn't have as many sites that we do.

Don't get me wrong, they are great for stuff like that, but I'm within my rights to use an adblocker, and most places I give enough of a shit about I donate to as a means of compensation, see: here.

And I doubt I'd be giving you five dollars a month if I just had my adblocker off.

 

[Xyphien]

Don't get me wrong, they are great for stuff like that, but I'm within my rights to use an adblocker, and most places I give enough of a shit about I donate to as a means of compensation, see: here.

And I doubt I'd be giving you five dollars a month if I just had my adblocker off.

This is very true, and that's why for most sites when you donate they take off ads for you, so you don't even need adblocker.

 

[Bizarre Monkey]

This is very true, and that's why for most sites when you donate they take off ads for you, so you don't even need adblocker.

The other end of the stick means getting malware or anything from a popups when browsing casually is virtually impossible and i can use sites like clipconverter.com and have their adds autoclose. And ad.fly hahahaha oh my god it's amazing.

Just a white screen, with a skip button after five seconds.

I advise anyone who surfs the net on a regular basis to use an adblocker, it just makes life magic. There's a perverted sense of joy each time you see somewhere advertise 'NO ADS' as part of their premium feature (mediafire being a good example) where as I get that for free with a nifty addon that I payed nothing for at all.

The biggest thing is truly no ads on youtube, though. Like 8 seconds or more of my life is no longer being wasted each time I watched a video.

Also it means shitty youtube celebs don't get a fuckin dime from me when my friends link me shit, and that also gives me a perverted sense of joy.

 

[HotfireLegend]

Can anyone even remember the last time they bought something due to an ad?

 

[Micro]

Can anyone even remember the last time they bought something due to an ad?

never lol. it's usually just annoying xD