The MOST ANNOYING AD on DBR

[rthomas]

Has to be the talking emoticons that say "HELL-LLOOO" when you acidently roll your cursor across it.

Please make it go away!

[alteran]

Has to be the talking emoticons that say "HELL-LLOOO" when you acidently roll your cursor across it.

Please make it go away!

Agreed. The sound on all my computers is now turned off, which is not a viable long term solution.

This is the kind of ad that makes technically saavy people like myself consider an ad blocker, even though such actions violate the spirit of the "DBR provides a website for free, and you let us make money on ads" compact which makes this site (and many others) possible.

I understand that ads need to trick us to get our attention. But yelling at us is over the line.

[ohioguy2]

I agree. This one crosses the line. Turning the sound off is not a solution except for the short term.

[Lavabe]

This is now the subject in two threads (see the Longest Thread Ever). Hopefully, all we have to do is stop discussing those things, and maybe the ad will go away.

[allenmurray]

The ad will go away when the owners of the site decide they want it to go away - no sooner and no later. It is so annoying that I read and post less. My employer thanks them, but I do not.

[alteran]

The ad will go away when the owners of the site decide they want it to go away - no sooner and no later. It is so annoying that I read and post less. My employer thanks them, but I do not.

FWIW, I'd be shocked if the ads were not supplied wholesale. DBR probably has some control, but probably far less than you think.

[BCGroup]

Didn't they just post an "Our Call" saying the ads were generated by google and that if we had a specific concern to let them know? These are annoying, but not as offensive as one or two have been.

[allenmurray]

FWIW, I'd be shocked if the ads were not supplied wholesale. DBR probably has some control, but probably far less than you think.

From the DBR "Our Call" column: the ads are selected by the system, not us, and from time to time, there are ads here which some might find objectionable. If you find something objectionable, please send us the URL and we’ll address it. (emphasis mine)

Hey DBR - please address it! No more ads with sound. Please. Pretty please.

[rthomas]

From the DBR "Our Call" column: the ads are selected by the system, not us, and from time to time, there are ads here which some might find objectionable. If you find something objectionable, please send us the URL and we’ll address it. (emphasis mine)

Hey DBR - please address it! No more ads with sound. Please. Pretty please.

How do you send a URL for an ad?

[billybreen]

It's actually really difficult to send the URL for an ad, if you literally mean the URL for the content that appears in the ad banners for DBR. But it would work just as well to send the URL of the offending advertiser -- you can do that by clicking on the ad (I know, that part sucks) and then pasting the URL of the new page that opens.

[alteran]

From the DBR "Our Call" column: the ads are selected by the system, not us, and from time to time, there are ads here which some might find objectionable. If you find something objectionable, please send us the URL and we’ll address it. (emphasis mine)

Hey DBR - please address it! No more ads with sound. Please. Pretty please.

My bust! Glad to be wrong on this one.

[allenmurray]

My bust! Glad to be wrong on this one.

Yeah, but it only helps if they choose to do something about it. I HATE talking ads.

[Duke4Ever32]

Yeah, but it only helps if they choose to do something about it. I HATE talking ads.

Agreed. Something needs to be done about this ad. If I didn't have my own office, this ad might have caused problems at work.

[Exiled_Devil]

firefox with adblock saves me from so many of these concerns you have...

[billybreen]

firefox with adblock saves me from so many of these concerns you have...

It's at this point that I'm morally obligated (for whining about the same thing to hc5 a while back) to hop up on the soapbox. Blocking ads takes revenue away from DBR, and that revenue helps drive the site. Whether you block ads is a personal decision, but I don't think people should crow about their ad blocking achievements here. Just seems to be in poor taste.

Now, disabling Flash (either by uninstalling it, which would break Youtube and lots of other fun stuff) or using only the features of adblock that pertain to Flash-content is more of a gray area. For those that are having significant annoyance with Flash ads (and any ad that makes noise is by definition a Flash ad), I think selectively blocking Flash content is preferable to decreasing your visits to the board.

[2535Miles]

It's at this point that I'm morally obligated (for whining about the same thing to hc5 a while back) to hop up on the soapbox. Blocking ads takes revenue away from DBR, and that revenue helps drive the site. Whether you block ads is a personal decision, but I don't think people should crow about their ad blocking achievements here. Just seems to be in poor taste.

Now, disabling Flash (either by uninstalling it, which would break Youtube and lots of other fun stuff) or using only the features of adblock that pertain to Flash-content is more of a gray area. For those that are having significant annoyance with Flash ads (and any ad that makes noise is by definition a Flash ad), I think selectively blocking Flash content is preferable to decreasing your visits to the board.

BB is right, blocking is bad, not only here but at many other sites where people take advantage of the "free" services. I think the best course of action is to change the ad from the "inside."

So, let's start talking about everything but "the ad", as suggested earlier and in other threads. I, for one, would enjoy seeing advertisements for Duke products like t-shirts, hats, buttons, magnets, posters, calendars. If they could throw up an ad that leads me to an online retailer that can provide me with these products, I would be very happy.