Kemayo ([info]kemayo) wrote,
@ 2007-08-16 23:24:00
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Why is Firefox blocked?
I saw this.

It's a website that explains how website owners can block Firefox. Because some people using Firefox also use AdBlock, which strips ads from websites that you view.

I doubt that anyone would actually be dumb enough to do this. Because, let's face it, people who install AdBlock are probably not the sort of people who would have clicked on your ads anyway, and you're causing an actively bad experience of your site to 30-ish percent of the audience, which they might tell others of.

(I grabbed the 30% figure from FicWad. It varies depending on your site's audience, naturally.)

For what it's worth, I don't block ads. I just don't notice them any more, unless they're those annoying ones with sound of rapid flashing... in which case they just annoy me.

(Incidentally, they're using a JavaScript-based user-agent sniffer which relies on a PHP script running on your server. This is so retarded it's hard to believe. Genuinely incomprehensible. Yes, it's difficult to comprehensively detect all versions of all browsers in JavaScript... but if all you're looking for is one browser then it's trivial.)

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[info]itlandm
2007-08-17 07:24 am UTC (link)
Well, this obviously depend on the model of advertising. I agree if you are paid per clickthrough (or worse, per purchase). If you are paid for ad exposure (as makes perfect sense for branding, for instance*) then it is logical to ban people who use your bandwidth but don't contribute to paying for it.

The technical implementation may be suboptimal, perhaps, but the idea itself sounds sane.

*)You may have seen advertising billboards along the roads. I assure you that the number of people who click on them is miniscule, and yet they have been a mainstay since my youth.

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[info]broccoman
2007-08-17 12:47 pm UTC (link)
This is very similar to the record industry and its "image problem". It's people trying to preserve an outdated business model. Website ads are becoming outdated.

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[info]kemayo
2007-08-17 06:08 pm UTC (link)
I'd disagree about the idea, as distinct from the implementation, being sane. Even if you could filter out only those users with AdBlock installed, it would be a bad idea.

Why? Because those users would be annoyed at you. This would mean that they probably wouldn't say good things about your site to other people, so those other people wouldn't have a chance to click on your ads.

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[info]itlandm
2007-08-17 06:52 pm UTC (link)
Actually, because birds of a feather tend to flock together, a disproportionate number of the friends would probably be bandwidth leechers as well. Not all of them, but certainly well above the marketplace average. So while the absolute number of clickers would fall, the clicker-to-leecher ratio would improve. Depending on your bandwidth cost compared to your advertising scheme, this might not be a bad thing. Most notably, a graphics-heavy flashy site with lots of glittery ads aimed at the none too bright customer would probably do well to optimize for Internet Explorer. I am not sure where the tipping point is, but there are probably consultants calculating this already.

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[info]kyoshou
2007-08-20 08:28 pm UTC (link)
There are ads on the internet?

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[info]kemayo
2007-08-20 08:29 pm UTC (link)
Shut yo' mouth.

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