• James (unregistered) in reply to Alan
    Alan:
    Personally I think ad-blocking software is only slightly less-evil than communism - but then I write digital advertising software for a living.
    SUB pot
      CALL kettle(black)

    Seriously, I think the only thing advertising people can call "evil" would be lawyers (or maybe Hitler).

  • James (unregistered) in reply to SysKoll
    SysKoll:
    No Flash or animated ad please. Nothing makes me reach for my AdBlock button faster than a Flash ad that's trying to grab attention.

    You can do what I did: whitelist TDWTF for Adblock, but leave Flashblock installed.

    Flashblock is actually gaining on Adblock as my favorite/most necessary FF plugin.

  • Guido (unregistered)

    I don't mind Ads. I would, if I'd see them, but that's what AdBlockPlus is for.

  • Anon (unregistered)

    Just added this site to my Adblock whitelist. Now don't be letting us down is all.

  • Guido (unregistered) in reply to Alan
    Alan:
    Personally I think ad-blocking software is only slightly less-evil than communism - but then I write digital advertising software for a living.
    Well ... considering Ads pay out with click through ratings, and the people who are annoyed enough by Ads to disable them with such an addon wouldn't click anyway, it doesn't make the slightest bit of a difference.

    If anything, seeing an Ad makes me more averse to visiting the site that the Ad is for. As such, blocking Ads is, in my browsers, a boon for advertisers.

  • tinner (unregistered)

    Well, I don't mind your ads - as a matter of fact for the past 6 months or so I haven't actually noticed them at all (you kind of get this filtering mechanism evolving in your eyes with age :) but I got a question for you all... Since we "have all agreed" that ads on TDWTF are not annoying... What is the purpose of them? Is it a substantial part of the hosting cost or is it a space filler? Or perhaps "those that have talked to you" nicely asked that you could have them and you have agreed? Please do not understand me wrong - I'm simply curious whether online advertising is a matter of "great business", "supporting the TCO of any given site" or "just a filler"...

    Thanks in advance. TDWTG fan. tinner

  • Nat Budin (unregistered) in reply to Steve

    Seconded - I unblocked ads on this site as a result of this post, but I think I'm going to block them again since the only ad that seems to be showing up is a really annoying animated GIF from "Screencast.com by TechSmith". I don't mind looking at targeted ads, but animated ads make the rest of the page difficult to read.

  • (cs) in reply to Mikkel
    Mikkel:
    ...a lot of ad-rotation systems have been serving up viruses, so please Alex, keep the banners hosted on your own system...

    The banners are served and hosted internally*; obviously the Google AdSense ones are from Google.

    • The TechSmith ads in the "Sponsored By" section are from the BlogAds network; however, BlogAds will only run for three more days, and then it's all direct (aside from the text-ads)!
  • Jasmine (unregistered)

    I like ads. I've got them on my blog. Ads are the reason I don't have to pay to watch re-runs of Seinfeld. They provide the same free-ness to the internet, and I really like that. I've got ads on my blog, but I wish I could figure out how to make them come only from the companies I want. I don't mind the inappropriate ads, I just ignore them - but there's no chance I'll click one... well maybe the Pokemon cursors :)

  • Mike (unregistered)

    You're actually right this time--I don't mind ads, per se, I just hate those flashing, blinking, obnoxious ads. (And the complete non-sequitors don't help--why would anyone use an animated Ogre to sell mortgage refinances?)

    I feel the same way about TV ads. I really wish show ("content") producers could vet the ads that will be shown. And, the FCC needs to being back the regulation that required broadcasters to not make commercials louder than the shows.

  • fountainer (unregistered)

    I've been using AdBlock, so I missed out... but (no kidding), I just sent myself an email telling me to get Pokemon Cursors. That's pretty awesome (as long as they're the first 150, the ones after that are for kids).

  • BobB (unregistered)

    Thanks Alex! I'll take you off AdBlockPlus for this!

  • jeff the axe murderer (unregistered)

    If using firefox, paste this into the address bar, all one long line:

    javascript:u=['http://2.content.bustedtees.com/d1/bt/a/4/bustedtees.ea2fd9bac6b86a832ca2ddb4c4dbb460.jpg','http://5.content.bustedtees.com/d1/bt/1/7/bustedtees.e457d461a1eaaa71b8a91ad7f1de7559.jpg','http://7.content.bustedtees.com/d1/bt/f/8/bustedtees.f0f0158f5a0671a2d89d49081df37d27.jpg','http://9.content.bustedtees.com/d1/bt/d/a/bustedtees.7b1f501d205e2d0bc0c7581a1f6234c5.jpg'];i=0;e=document.getElementsByTagName('img');for(var%20j=0;j<e.length;j%2b%2b){e[j].src=u[i%2b%2b%254];}e=document.getElementsByTagName('iframe');for(var%20j=0;j<e.length;j%2b%2b){e2=document.getElementsByTagName('img');for(var%20j2=0;j2<e2.length;j2%2b%2b){e[j2].src=u[i%2b%2b%254];}}undefined;

    Note from Alex: That is disturbing....ly awesome

  • Steph (unregistered)

    I Approve of this. Honestly AdBlock is great because it blocks ads servers from ad farms. But I really support if you are supported by real companies who offer relevant services. its the same reason why I have ads unblocked at penny arcade because its not shit they are offering me.

  • AC (unregistered) in reply to jeff the axe murderer
    jeff the axe murderer:
    If using firefox, paste this into the address bar, all one long line:*snip*

    You, sir, are a saint.

  • eff-Five (unregistered) in reply to boomzilla
    boomzilla:
    And now on this page, google is showing ads about...ads!

    Its probably because this post is about ads.

    I wonder if google includes the comments in the algorithm. I guess we'll know if we start seeing ads for meeting irish girls.

  • jeff the axe murderer (unregistered) in reply to jeff the axe murderer
    jeff the axe murderer:
    If using firefox, paste this into the address bar, all one long line:

    javascript:u=['http://2.content.bustedtees.com/d1/bt/a/4/bustedtees.ea2fd9bac6b86a832ca2ddb4c4dbb460.jpg','http://5.content.bustedtees.com/d1/bt/1/7/bustedtees.e457d461a1eaaa71b8a91ad7f1de7559.jpg','http://7.content.bustedtees.com/d1/bt/f/8/bustedtees.f0f0158f5a0671a2d89d49081df37d27.jpg','http://9.content.bustedtees.com/d1/bt/d/a/bustedtees.7b1f501d205e2d0bc0c7581a1f6234c5.jpg'];i=0;e=document.getElementsByTagName('img');for(var%20j=0;j<e.length;j%2b%2b){e[j].src=u[i%2b%2b%254];}e=document.getElementsByTagName('iframe');for(var%20j=0;j<e.length;j%2b%2b){e2=document.getElementsByTagName('img');for(var%20j2=0;j2<e2.length;j2%2b%2b){e[j2].src=u[i%2b%2b%254];}}undefined;

    It works on other websites besides this one, too. Fucks up gmail though.

  • Charles (unregistered)

    I see no ads here. Thank you, Firefox + noScript.

  • (cs) in reply to Nat Budin
    Nat Budin:
    Seconded - I unblocked ads on this site as a result of this post, but I think I'm going to block them again since the only ad that seems to be showing up is a really annoying animated GIF from "Screencast.com by TechSmith". I don't mind looking at targeted ads, but animated ads make the rest of the page difficult to read.
    Think yourself lucky. All I've been able to see for the last three days is a really annoying couple of polaroids trying to sell me "StartLogic: The Trusted Name in Web Hosting."

    This features a couple of co-eds (I believe that's the phrase -- one of each gender) presented as a Mr & Ms Potato-Head with somebody else's expensive dentistry inexpertedly glued on. I got so confused by the combination of web hosting and the clearly marketroid-derived "StartLogic" that my brain went into a Wittgensteinian frenzy.

    But I'm all better now. And yes, I can see TechSmith on the left hand side. I think the left-hand side of my brain has imploded. Let's see:

    "Screencast.com: Share video, share anything. Screencast.com is ideal for the academic and business professional. Share documents, images, presentations and more – just create, upload publish and deliver. You control the rights; you decide who sees it."

    What does that MEAN?

  • Steph (unregistered)

    to add the daily wtf to your white list in Adblock Plus you may add this filter:

    @@|http://thedailywtf.com

  • (cs) in reply to tinner
    tinner:
    What is the purpose of [ads]? Is it a substantial part of the hosting cost or is it a space filler? ... I'm simply curious whether online advertising is a matter of "great business", "supporting the TCO of any given site" or "just a filler"...

    In general, I think it's a mix of "TCO" and "good business". The costlier it is to run a publication, the more ads you see. Trade publications - who often have a full time staff of several people, pay writers for articles, etc - are covered with ads to cover the costs.

    As for TDWTF, the TCO isn't nearly as high, and that's why there's only two ad spaces. It would probably be "good business" to put in those intersitial ads, double-green underlines, etc... but then again, that's probably why I'm not a very good businessman.

  • (cs)

    I read this site in NetNewsWire, with scripts disabled (to get rid of Flash). I don't mind ads, except the ones that distract from the content (i.e. Flash, any thing flashy or moving). What gets my goat though, is that since a couple of days, an "a.aspx" file gets downloaded every time I load the page. WTF is that about?

  • (cs) in reply to eff-Five
    eff-Five:
    boomzilla:
    And now on this page, google is showing ads about...ads!

    Its probably because this post is about ads.

    I wonder if google includes the comments in the algorithm. I guess we'll know if we start seeing ads for meeting irish girls.

    Ads are for selling you something you didn't know you wanted, don't know you want, think you can do entirely without, and are 95% correct in that supposition.

    Irish girls fall into none of those categories, and are therefore immune to advertising.

    Erica doesn't even drop the 5% to reach statistical significance. (Even though she's not actually Irish, btw.)

  • Yakko (unregistered)

    Recommend to your advertisers not to use flash ads (or to substitute a GIF when flash is blocked.) I don't block ads intentionally, but i use a flash blocker - ads with movement/sound are really annoying.

  • Bobbo (unregistered) in reply to Alan
    Alan:
    ... but then I write digital advertising software for a living.

    As opposed to analogue advertising software?

  • (cs) in reply to EnterUserNameHere
    EnterUserNameHere:
    I believe Paris Hilton visits The Daily "F", not The Daily "WTF".
    Normally you're right, but sometimes she gets the URL wrong, and wonders why the stories are rather (more/less*) boring than expected.
    • take your pick.
  • Lurker (unregistered)

    Bring back foosball girl!!!

  • Nick (unregistered)

    I'm not going to add a rule to AdBlock to this site because a) I'm lazy and b) I don't like ads hosted on SLOW servers.

    The main reason I use adblock is because I can view a site without waiting for adserver.com or whatever. Sometimes I'll wait a long time for the content b/c my browser is trying to contact some stupid ad server.

    Here's my simple solution for you: Host the ads on your server.

    This fixes my two issues, b/c now I don't have to add a rule to adblock and the ads will load with the same speed as the page.

  • notme (unregistered) in reply to jtl
    jtl:
    jeff the axe murderer:
    You can see the Irish girl any time at http://www.bustedtees.com/irish.

    oh man, that's awesome.

    Well, after you click on 'female'...

    But then there's like 10 pics of her, much better than the original ad. I wonder if we can find out her name.

    creepy stalker!

  • Erlingur (unregistered)

    Thank god you added that 100x Zoom... I couldn't see anything on that other 100x Zoom.

  • Patrick (unregistered)

    X-Mas - always best to start early

    Pokemon - a WTF in itself

    The IQ test - it does have a right answer if the green one just bounces left to right on the bottom row and the black one goes clockwise around it

    Get the Facts - after the success of Microsoft's Get the Facts campaign, it's clear that Scientology wants to cash in on that too. And their facts are probably just as in touch with real life as Microsoft's were.

  • BlueCollarAstronaut (unregistered)

    A little more warning next time, please. I'm just glad I got my Pokemon cursors before that window of opportunity closed. Just in time for 'X'Mas, too!

  • The Scientologist (unregistered)

    As it turns out, if I'm the single Scientologist he was referring to, I'm from NH not NE.

    captcha: gravis (I still have a couple of those gamepads somewhere)

  • Alan (unregistered) in reply to Guido
    Guido:
    If anything, seeing an Ad makes me more averse to visiting the site that the Ad is for. As such, blocking Ads is, in my browsers, a boon for advertisers.

    Wow, reverse psychology advertising, I think you may be on to something there.

  • Anon Fred (unregistered)

    So "Magic: The Gathering" is good enough for TDWTF, but Pokémon isn't? It's not even good enough for you to properly spell with a é?

    I hyper-beam all of you!

  • Alan (unregistered) in reply to Bobbo
    Bobbo:
    Alan:
    ... but then I write digital advertising software for a living.

    As opposed to analogue advertising software?

    Yes, as opposed to analogue advertising software. My company does digital advertising and analogue advertising - tho we usually call it ambient or print instead of analogue. And we do have software that manages the logistics of booking campaigns and calculating occupancy for our ambient media.

    So we do have analogue advertising software - smartass.

  • cellocgw (unregistered) in reply to Joel

    A nice clean jpg w/ no ad link; and we'll all be so busy staring at bean bag girl (>>irish girl) that the subliminal flash ads will go straight to our subconscious.

  • Braden (unregistered)

    Another vote for "I use Flashblock and NoScript. I'll leave AdBlock off until there are animated gifs."

  • Mateo_LeFou (unregistered)

    Technically, irish girl is not offering any services that I am very interested in (I asked); she's merely a catalyst for services that I provide myself

  • rit (unregistered)

    I'm all for ads if they'll pay the bills. My general rule regarding AdBlock & the ilk is this (and I think it's a fair one):

    Flash is disabled always [because on Mac/Linux it causes nasty absurd memory leaks] and if i think I really need to see the flash I click to turn that widget on (alot of sites use obnoxious flash banners).

    AdBlock is disabled by default for 'always'. If a PARTICULAR site becomes obnoxious with the ads, I turn adblock on with it. So as long as you don't have any buzzing mosquito ads, punch the monkey, or an interactive "Shave Paris Hilton's Snatch and win a new ipod" ads, or 8000 ads crammed around the content, I'll leave adblock off ;)

  • (cs) in reply to Joel
    Joel:
    Just bring back the Irish girl and all will be well.
    You are a truly sad human being. But OK, here we go: [image]

    Now, how does that differ from an advertisement?

  • Your Friendly Neighborhood SP (unregistered)

    Alex,

    Be very careful when talking about Scientology. You are playing with fire.

    The "Church" of Scientology (cult) has framed people for bomb threats.

    They will show up in your neighborhood with flyers; those flyers will have your picture on them and say all sorts of slanderous things on them. They'll decorate your neighborhood with them.

    Then, they'll show up any place you work, and decorate the parking lot and surrounding businesses with them.

    If you work out at the Y... etc.

    Know this: Scientology has a "with us or against us" mentality and they play for keeps. If you get declared an SP (Suppressive Person); you will be an enemy of the "church" and a target for the rest of your life.

    You may want to read the Fair Game forum over at: http://forums.enturbulation.org/122-fair-game/

    You may need the help offered there before it's all said and done.

    Friendly Neighborhood SP

  • ... (unregistered) in reply to Your Friendly Neighborhood SP

    Nah, don't worry 'bout it.

    All Alex needs for protection is to show them an MFD comic when they come knocking on his door.

    CAPTCHA: transverbero.

  • jeff the axe murderer (unregistered) in reply to cellocgw
    cellocgw:
    A nice clean jpg w/ no ad link; and we'll all be so busy staring at bean bag girl (>>irish girl) that the subliminal flash ads will go straight to our subconscious.

    BBG was too skinny and her feet were kinda wrinkly.

  • Havvy (unregistered)

    Alex Papadomulous, there's a good chance you recognize my name, and if you don't, myadventuregame.com should give you some memory. I can't seem to remember the /new/ name of the site.

    Anyways, just came here cause you were linked by a blog post in Planet Mozilla, and the site registered as something you owned.

    So, have it be known to you: People who read the blog roll shall be coming.

    --Havvy

  • Brent (unregistered)

    The thing that killed me was the load time. After some careful HTML analysis, I found out that TDWTF takes just under a second for me to load, but it didn't load, because it was waiting on 7 different adverts, each of which took several seconds. So all those domains got added to my hosts file to help aid in the DNS resolution. i.e. they all resolve to 0.0.0.0.

    Seriously, I am not going to see page load time increase by an order of magnitude just to wait to see some stupid ads. BTW, let me say that it took a while to parse the HTML code and figure this out. An indication of not only how much I like TDWTF, but also how annoying the situation was. I thought there was something wrong with my internet connection, and was about to start complaining to Comcast.

  • (cs)

    adds name to the list of people now whitelisting TDWTF

    If you'll go to the effort of hand picking the ads, I'll go to the effort of looking at them.

    It's only fair.

  • IrshGrlFan2008 (unregistered)

    as long as there's more of the cute irish girl i will make any configuration changes you request

    captcha: irishgirl

  • #aaron (unregistered)

    I appologize if this was already posted (only glanced through existing comments), but have you considered only offering ad space for companies and/or products which have previously been mentioned in DailyWTF in some way -- by CodeSOD, Error'd, Tales from the Interview, or Feature Articles?

    I mean, you wouldn't out them or anything (except perhaps for Error'd) -- the DailyWTF posts all have fake names, and the ads the real names.

    Or better yet, just put a disclaimer above the ads anyway -- we all know that every company or product, small or large, has some WTF in its present, past, or future. "Disclaimer: Ad featured bellow has appeared in [randomly choose CodeSOD, Error'd, or Tales from the Interview] on past occasion. Use at own risk."

  • Jess (unregistered) in reply to Steve
    Steve:
    I'm not sure what control you have over this, but the "animated" ads are the ones I hate most. If AdBlock had a way to block only those ads, that would be how I would use the tool. text ads, and non-animated image ads are fine with me.
    I wholeheartedly agree! If you got rid of the animated ads, I would be so much more inclined to look at, and even click on, the remaining ads.

    To be honest, I would never -dream of- clicking on an annoying animated ad. Even this one from StartLogic rotating around now is starting to get to me. I'll probably be adblocking that pretty soon. The other stuff is probably safe.

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