Been here probably >10 yrs, now I'm leaving

[agissi]

I've got Oasis playing, and some full screen HP ad pops up playing music while I'm trying to read the news. Sorry, but not happening. I've been loyal to TS since I was a kid; primarily out of habit & familiarity. Gotta say I'm making the switch to Anandtech, forever more. I posted a while ago that the HP ad is ridiculous. Just thought Julio should know why at least one visitor has left the building.

 

[Julio Franco]

I know of a "full page" HP ad that we have running right now, but as far as I'm aware:

1) It should have a cap so it only displays once to the same user in ~24 - 48 hours
2) It replaces the dark background, but doesn't interrupt browsing or make you wait to load content.
3) Auto play audio is out of the question, that should never happen unless the user enables sound.

Those have been part of our ad guidelines for as long as I can remember. Now, as you may be aware, we don't run ad sales on TS but work with a couple great partners/agencies to offer advertising while we remain focused on editorial. The occasional intrusive ad has been known to slip, but once we hear about it we take care of it. This should be no exception.

@---agissi--- I appreciate your honesty, and I'm sad to have you go, but rest assured we'll be taking care of the intrusive ad (the audio part in particular) regardless.

 

[agissi]

The ad covered the entire screen so I couldnt read the comments to one of the news articles here, and the autoplay audio was functioning perfectly I can tell you that. I didnt see an X at the top or bottom of the ad either, so I closed out of the entire window (because it was messing up a good Oasis song I had on).

 

[hellokitty[hk]]

I think techspot does a good job with their ad policies and their forum interface is relatively light, which I like too.

I know which ad you're talking about. I think the audio has auto played for me before but I can't remember for sure.

 

[Julio Franco]

Thank you @hellokitty[hk], I've reported the ad already and received some feedback but the one the agency sent me is not auto-play (requires you to scroll over it) and does have an "X" to shut it down. A screenshot would be appreciated if you see this ad again.

 

[Row1]

I do appreciate attention to the intrusiveness of ads. I like getting "free" content in exchange for being exposed to ads, but "good" sites have to make it work right.

--I gave up on my otherwise-favorite local news station website because of the flying ads and dancing chickens all over the place, and sent them a good-bye note - and have not gone back.

I am old and set in my ways, so I hate any website to change in the least. And get off my lawn!

But I can handle this - especially since I have finally ported over to the tablet/android devices as of January 2014, and this re-design should work better on the android device.

I would hate to give up on Techspot. Julio, please keep listening to feedback. Thanks!

 

[Row1]

Agissi has been here for a while - profile says '02 - that's longer than me, at '05. Back in '02, I was building my AMD 3800!