Notice to online newspapers

[ksmith]

Those ads that drop down/unfold over/obscure the area that I am trying to read? Those animated ads that chase after me even when I page down down down in order to escape them? I don't read them, other than to hunt for the blasted Close tag. I don't click on them. I sometimes avoid visiting your site because of them. I HATES THEM!

Pop up surveys? KILLKILLKILL!

I don't know how online newspapers and news aggregators will make money. Micropayments, maybe, with an area of the internet becoming a sort of toll road. A penny here, a penny there. But intrusive LOOK AT ME! ads just don't cut it.

Comments

[barbarienne.livejournal.com]

I highly recommend Firefox, and its plugins NoScript and AdBlock Plus. I had completely forgotten about that noxious form of advertising until you mentioned it. I never see it. I also never see the flashing banner ads.

[kristine-smith.livejournal.com]

I use Firefox. It blocks the pop-ups--do I need to tweak settings to block the other stuff?

[kristine-smith.livejournal.com]

Never mind--I just found them and downloaded them. Thanks for the tip!

[michaeldthomas.livejournal.com]

*g*

I am in complete agreement.

[kristine-smith.livejournal.com]

The Tribune has gotten really bad. I usually only check the front page and the weather these days, but they love that intrusive advertising.

[michaeldthomas.livejournal.com]

I figured that was the paper you were referring to. It's getting to the point that I just skim the headlines. It also seems that the paper is leaning more to the right again.

[kristine-smith.livejournal.com]

Leaning right? Yeah. Just a little.

::insert hard right turn sign here::

[mithriltabby]

I block as many ads as I can in my browser and make a point of paying for subscriptions to news sources I like. One proposal I’ve seen is to make the first $200 per year that people spend on news sources deductible from your taxes, so people can support the portions of the Fourth Estate that they like without the government picking winners.

[kristine-smith.livejournal.com]

Any subscriptions would be deductible for me anyway. I try to hit the Paypal donation button for blogs I like, but I don't know if that's what the End of Newspapers crowd had in mind.

I can't think of a nationally-known newspaper that I would willingly pay for.

[auriaephiala.livejournal.com]

AdBlock Plus is your friend.

I do subscribe to the local newspaper, so I don't feel guilty if I also use their website.

Figuring out a way of ensuring that good news sources will continue to exist to cover city hall and legislatures and the police and other beats that require experience & time to do properly is a problem. We need to find a solution, but I'm not sure what it is yet.