# Congratulations!! You have WON! Click here to claim your prize! **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [July 14, 2003, 4:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/congratulations-you-have-won-click-here-to-claim-your-prize/188313 "2003-07-14T04:33:40Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Max\_Torque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e9bcb4/32.png) [@Max\_Torque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Max_Torque)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2003, 10:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/congratulations-you-have-won-click-here-to-claim-your-prize/188313/21 "2003-07-15T22:43:48Z")
Just alter your hosts file. Hosts files that block ad sites are plentiful, can be found all over the internet for free, and they’re easy to implement. And once you have 'em in, ta da! No more ads! ---
**Author:** ![World\_Eater](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/f04885/32.png) [@World\_Eater](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/World_Eater)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2003, 11:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/congratulations-you-have-won-click-here-to-claim-your-prize/188313/22 "2003-07-15T23:02:33Z")
I hate those siezure inducing ones with all the pretty colors. Let’s not even mention “Gator” Grumble grumble. ---
**Author:** ![Ferret\_Herder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e47774/32.png) [@Ferret\_Herder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ferret_Herder)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2003, 11:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/congratulations-you-have-won-click-here-to-claim-your-prize/188313/23 "2003-07-15T23:08:35Z")
Spybot’s a free download - probably available via Tucows, etc. ---
**Author:** ![Polycarp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/82dd89/32.png) [@Polycarp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Polycarp)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2003, 3:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/congratulations-you-have-won-click-here-to-claim-your-prize/188313/24 "2003-07-16T15:17:05Z")
I want to register a complaint about **samarm**. He posted a misleading thread title. I clicked on it, and all I “won” was an opportunity to read this Pit thread! 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2003, 4:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/congratulations-you-have-won-click-here-to-claim-your-prize/188313/25 "2003-07-16T16:06:29Z")
So I clicked. Where’s my prize, you lousy spamstard? ---
**Author:** ![Planet\_of\_the\_Shapes](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/b77776/32.png) [@Planet\_of\_the\_Shapes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Planet_of_the_Shapes)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2003, 4:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/congratulations-you-have-won-click-here-to-claim-your-prize/188313/26 "2003-07-16T16:08:15Z")
Use [Mozilla Firebird](http://www.mozilla.org/projects/firebird/). Since i started using that instead of IE i haven’t seen a single unwanted popup! ---
**Author:** ![Podkayne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/edb3f5/32.png) [@Podkayne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Podkayne)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2003, 6:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/congratulations-you-have-won-click-here-to-claim-your-prize/188313/27 "2003-07-16T18:11:37Z")
I got tricked into clicking on an ad. It was at a college-oriented commercial website (okay, okay, I was checking myself out at [ratemyprofessors.com](http://ratemyprofessors.com), okay?) and it was formated to look just like the rest of the website. It was made to look like a poll, that said, “My least favorite part of taking a class is:” and then there was a (supposed) pull-down menu, showing “Writing papers.” I was curious, so I clicked on the (supposed) pull-down menu to see what the other choices were, and I was whisked off to a fucking PLAGIARIST CHEATER MONKEY-DICK-SUCKING term-papers-for-sale site. If I was running a website, and an advertiser formated their add so that it _decieved_ readers into thinking it was a legitimate part of _my_ site, I would be _pissed_. ---
**Author:** ![Dijon\_Warlock](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a9a28c/32.png) [@Dijon\_Warlock](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dijon_Warlock)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2003, 9:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/congratulations-you-have-won-click-here-to-claim-your-prize/188313/28 "2003-07-17T09:59:09Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by cuauhtemoc \* > \*\*Last week I was bored and I clicked on one, and an absolutely staggering number of advertisements followed. I filled out about a dozen of them, with obscenely fake names and addresses - _Hank Suckmydick, 102 Fuckyourmother Ave., Detroit, MI… etc._ Extremely juvenile, I know, but the thought that one of these companies might automatically print up an address label and send a mailer to Arthur W. Bitemyass in Cuntface, Iowa made me smile. \*\* I think I’ve got some of your mail. Dijon Bitemyass ---
**Author:** ![Bongmaster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/6a8cbe/32.png) [@Bongmaster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bongmaster)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2003, 4:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/congratulations-you-have-won-click-here-to-claim-your-prize/188313/29 "2003-07-17T16:23:16Z")
I’d really love to gather all the idiots that knowingly click these ads and then purchase stuff, put them on an island, and then fill their lives with all the porn, penis enlargment, and viagra ads that plague the rest of us. After all there must be some small group of people out there sustaining the interest in this style of obnoxious marketing. ---
**Author:** ![Eats\_Crayons](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/278dde/32.png) [@Eats\_Crayons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eats_Crayons)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2003, 5:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/congratulations-you-have-won-click-here-to-claim-your-prize/188313/30 "2003-07-17T17:27:19Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by AHunter3 \* > \*\*Macintosh. There _is_ life without spyware and viruses. \*\* That’s one of the reasons I got an iMac for my mom. I just introduced her to the internet and her own e-mail (and she has learned _very_ quickly). My relatives are not so computer savvy and are bound to send her a virus, plus and with the: _"Warning! Your computer is broadcasting . . . "_ messages with comfusing dialogue boxes, I figured that a hideous iMac colour-scheme would help prevent her from clicking on a bad ad. (So far, so good – knock on wood.) I HATE the warning ones that try to look like Microsoft error messages. Hate, hate, HATE 'em! ---
**Author:** ![Uncommon\_Sense](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/f9ae1b/32.png) [@Uncommon\_Sense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Uncommon_Sense)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2003, 5:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/congratulations-you-have-won-click-here-to-claim-your-prize/188313/31 "2003-07-17T17:31:48Z")
Alt + F4 Closes out the unwanted adds without the possibility of screwing it up. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/congratulations-you-have-won-click-here-to-claim-your-prize/188313.md?page=1)