Text link ads

...snip

Example page, where?

 

http://www.bit-tech.net/news/bits/2009/02/11/patch-tuesday-brings-critical-updates/1

There's a pop-up text ad somewhere on this page (varies from PC to PC of course).

 

Yep, I know and I'm sorry - it was taken totally out of my control hence the blog post linking to this thread to gather more feedback.

 

In the first post: http://enthusiast.hardocp.com/article.html?art=MTYxNSwxLCxoZW50aHVzaWFzdA==

 

its as if all taste has suddenly fled, intrusive advertising, very loud noises and adverts that get bigger when you try to close them (the CSI one for instance in chrome expands as soon as you try to hit the x to close it making the thing hugh and noisy before you can close it). I'm now having to block ads on Bit can't have the chance of that amount of noise suddenly blaring out whilst I'm in the office, and I'm not willing to try setting up home and work advert preferences. for the love of <insert deity> please get the sound turned off at the very least

 

Can you please tell me which ads are playing sound so I can at least pass the complaint onto the ad team so that they can address it? It should be off by default on all ads unless the user interacts with it and enables sound (at least, that is my understanding and - at least to my knowledge - that policy hasn't changed post acquisition).

I'm certainly pushing from my side (as both Editor and as a reader on behalf of you guys) to keep advertising tasteful on bit-tech - it's something we've done and preached about for years; that's why you haven't seen text link ads before now. I am hoping that reader feedback on things like IntelliTXT will be taken seriously though because I'd hate it for someone to undo all of the hard work we - as in the bit-tech team - have put into making advertising relevant and non-intrusive over the years.

If anyone has any reasonable complaints relating to advertising (IntelliTXT in particular) that want to be heard louder than just this thread, please do email me (tim.smalley@bit-tech.net) and I'll make sure it is passed onto the relevant parties. I will also be passing on the feedback in this thread as well, for what it's worth.

 

You can block intellitxt ads and still whitelist the site by adding the following (on new lines) to your hosts file. After 127.0.0.1 localhost, add:

127.0.0.1 intellitxt.com
127.0.0.1 vibrantmedia.com

Edit, I have mixed feeling posting this. I know ad blocking is bad for sites, but intellitxt is a serious PITA.
Delete if inappropriate.

 

well, there's my good faith gone. sorry guys, you only get one chance with crap like this. unless i see an announcement when they're gone, all of bit-tech's ads are blocked from now until forever.

it really makes me fear for the future of the site that a decision like this was taken away from the bit-tech team, and that dennis cares for their readers so little that they are willing to do things that they specifically know will piss us off.

 

Tim: Prewarning for an email I'll send to you tomorrow that you can give to the right people

 

that's pretty slick.. thank you, sir.

 

Yep, I'm afraid I have to do the same.

 

I thought my sister has installed some kind of adware on my computer and started to get pissed and freak out... only to find it was placed there by Bit-Tech!

I HATE those adds, I find them pointless and intrusive.

I LIKE Bit-Tech sponsored ads.. They are relevant and non intrusive.

I also keep in mind those companies that bought adverts on bit-tech. (Its more subconscious I think)

I voted... Get rid of em or "I would block them and blacklist all other adverts on bit-tech" and I really don't want to do that.


-edit-

I just realized the ads bothered me so much I hadn't actually finished reading the review of the AMD processors.
That intrusive enough for ya Dennis?

 

Ditto. Two mouseclicks and no more ads from this site in Firefox. Thank you, Adblock Plus!

 

Set up a petition:

http://www.petitiononline.com/noITXT/petition.html

Maybe it'll help, Tim. Thanks for trying to push them.

 

Don't do it for the love of god. They SUCK!

 

maybe we should come to london and burn ourselves in front of the bit-tech offices...

no, serious, no ads in the text please

 

Well, you gotta do what you gotta do. It's not super, I often scroll over them by accident then get all confused. If you do use them it would be good if they closed after a short time when you hover away from the ad/link, ~ 1 sec.

On a level I find them interesting though, hovering over 'server' on one page brings up an add for some sort of whitebox - I don't even know what that is. The random links that come up amuse me.

 

Guess what Riyad had to say

 

Both intellitxt ads i encountered played sound as soon as my pointer flashed past them they were for CSI and PS3. The only plus side to these ads is that it has once more strengthened my resolve over not buying a PS3, it was starting to edge level with buying a new lens and down it falls once more

 

Did it involve swearwords?