I’ll be installing an ad-blocker, thanks to audio ads on this site. I don’t mind seeing ads, which I can pay attention to or ignore based on my interest in the subject, but I will not tolerate ads which blast audio.
Ads help pay the bills. I’m all for that, but not if they’re obnoxious.
I always use whatever computer I am using with the sound turned off. If I come upon something that I want to hear, I turn on the sound for as long as I need it, then turn it off again. Would that work for you?
Sound is such an essential part of the workstation working environment that turning it off is no more a good solution than turning the monitor off whenever you don’t happen to be looking at it, or unplugging the mouse if you don’t happen to be pointing.
AdBlock. Subscription. Stop complaining.
Wow. Thanks for explaining that to me.
No problem. Since it’s Christmas Eve, I will forego sending you a bill.
Seriously, I find online ads about as obnoxious as any thing can be. Nuke 'em and move on.
Reported.
For what, to whom?
Honestly, that’s unacceptable option to me (I use adblock on my home computer so it’s moot though).
I’m not going to turn off my sound because one website I like has rogue ads and then have problems with all my other websites because of it.
My parents keep their sound off for some odd reason and it always takes me a second to figure out why a random video or youtube page I’m looking at doesn’t have any sound.
IOW, I’m not going to cripple all the sites I like because there’s a problem with one*. I’m going to install adblock on the site that can’t keep their ads under control.
*Youtube needs sound. Facebook needs sound (for uploaded videos). Giraffeboards needs sound for one of the forums. Amazon has video reviews of products. TMZ has videos. News sites have videos, etc… I’m not turning the sound ON everytime I want to watch something there just to make sure The Straight Dope doesn’t start blaring audio at me when I’m on a phone call or away from my desk.
Likely to the company that provides adds - as I think they are not supposed to be sending adds with audio.
If so, Tuba, THANK YOU!!! These have been making me crazy!
I sent notice of this thread to Ed. None of your moderators or administrators can do anything to affect the ads in any way.
That was once true back in the solely owned by the Chicago Reader days. Back then we had more input into ads. With the Straight Dope being owned by Sun-Times Media, this is no longer the situation and has not been for some time. They’re going to run what they want to run and that’s all there is to it.
Thanks for the response. I really didn’t understand your post, mainly because I thought that ads playing spontaneously and loudly was an ongoing problem. But good to know you’re on it.
OK, thanks. But, if there’s any way to provide feedback to the owners, let them know that ads with audio cause people to install ad blockers, defeating the purpose of the ads. Just in case it sinks in … which I admit isn’t likely.
Normally you all ask for alot of details before not doing much about the problem. You must have come to the conclusion that that effort isn’t worth it either.
While you can’t do anything about it yourselves… could you perhaps go over the history of efforts to address it by anyone? Take your time and get back to us after you enjoy the holidays!
Become a member here. You support the place AND no ads. Win win.
I keep my sound muted until I want to hear something, but not because of the this place since I’m a proud member and don’t get ads, but because of all the ads on you tube and other sites. It’s not a big deal to turn off and on, just another key stroke.
The moderators and administrators have no way of accessing how ads get on to the page. There’s no switches, there’s no function, we see them (or not) just like Members do.
There is nothing that any of the staff can do about ads except make an email to Ed. We can also notify Jerry if there is a rogue ad/malware in the system and of course we’d let Ed know about that as well.
Every time there’s one of these threads about ads that sound off – or any complaint about what goes on here – if it’s something I cannot advise on/fix myself I send Ed email about it.
I don’t know what else to tell you.
All the audio ads are Flash based. If you use Firefox, there’s an add-on called Flashblock that gets rid of flash, while leaving the link-based ads intact. It also leaves you a button you can click on (for YouTube vids, for example), if you actually want to see the flash content. I’ve been using it for years, mainly because flash sucks up CPU cycles unbelievably, but since I’ve started using it, I’ve gotten no sound ads at any site.
Welp, that surely convinces me that this was a good decision.
P.S. Adblock. Live it, love it.