# IMDb, can you remove the goddamn popup that shows up every goddamn page? **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [September 19, 2003, 8:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/imdb-can-you-remove-the-goddamn-popup-that-shows-up-every-goddamn-page/202670 "2003-09-19T20:08:54Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 15\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Dunderman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ecb155/32.png) [@Dunderman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dunderman)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2003, 12:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/imdb-can-you-remove-the-goddamn-popup-that-shows-up-every-goddamn-page/202670/21 "2003-09-22T12:30:26Z")
Firebird. I had forgotten popups existed. ---
**Author:** ![lolagranola](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/ea5d25/32.png) [@lolagranola](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lolagranola)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2003, 3:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/imdb-can-you-remove-the-goddamn-popup-that-shows-up-every-goddamn-page/202670/22 "2003-09-22T15:14:13Z")
My browser is Opera, and I check the IMDb regularly. I don’t recall seeing any pop-ups. In fact, I was just there last night looking up an actress. ---
**Author:** ![Liberal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/848f3c/32.png) [@Liberal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Liberal)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2003, 3:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/imdb-can-you-remove-the-goddamn-popup-that-shows-up-every-goddamn-page/202670/23 "2003-09-22T15:48:58Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by GuanoLad \* > \*\*He’s not complaining about advertisements, he’s complaining about obnoxious persistent abuses of the internet. \*\* What about his obnoxious persistent abuses of his employer? He was bitching about the sound at work because it would give away the fact that he was goofing off. I reckon this is yet another crybaby liberal who believes that money grows on trees and that he should both (1) not suffer any pop-up ads while cheating his employer and (2) not pay to use the IMDB. ---
**Author:** ![yojimbo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yojimbo/32/232_2.png) [@yojimbo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yojimbo)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2003, 4:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/imdb-can-you-remove-the-goddamn-popup-that-shows-up-every-goddamn-page/202670/24 "2003-09-22T16:13:33Z")
How do you manage to sit down with that stick up your arse **Lib**? ---
**Author:** ![spinky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/59ef9b/32.png) [@spinky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/spinky)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2003, 5:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/imdb-can-you-remove-the-goddamn-popup-that-shows-up-every-goddamn-page/202670/25 "2003-09-22T17:25:24Z")
Can anyone address the fact that the “I am a death dealer” (which I hadn’t **ever** seen on IMDB until maybe yesterday, by the way) ads in question **aren’t** really “popups”? They’re flash-based animations which fly around in the page you’re looking at, not in a new window. Does a popup stopper really stop these? Note: it’s difficult to test, as IMDB seems to have taken the ad in question away at the moment. ---
**Author:** ![Liberal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/848f3c/32.png) [@Liberal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Liberal)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2003, 5:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/imdb-can-you-remove-the-goddamn-popup-that-shows-up-every-goddamn-page/202670/26 "2003-09-22T17:37:02Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by yojimbo \* > \*\*How do you manage to sit down with that stick up your arse **Lib**? \*\* Hey, it’s the Pit, Yo! I can say “liberal” here. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Larry\_Mudd](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f14d63/32.png) [@Larry\_Mudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Larry_Mudd)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2003, 5:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/imdb-can-you-remove-the-goddamn-popup-that-shows-up-every-goddamn-page/202670/27 "2003-09-22T17:42:07Z")
> [@](#): > > I reckon this is yet another crybaby liberal who believes that money grows on trees and that he should both (1) not suffer any pop-up ads while cheating his employer and (2) not pay to use the IMDB. Come on, **Lib** , that’s a weak _ad hominem_ – if you plant it so close to that excluded middle, it’ll get choked off at the roots. A sound-and-animation pop-up that plays ten times during a typical session is good for no-one, except those very few provide pop-up-blocking software at a profit. It’s bad for the IMdB, because people come to associate their site with being very, very irritated. It’s bad for the sponsor because people come to associate their product with being very, very irritated. Of course, it’s bad for the visitor, because they’re very, very irritated. A non-obtrusive but visible banner ad works for everyone without devaluing the service. If there was no way to avoid being exposed to noisy ads (even if they weren’t repetitive beyond all reasonable scale) on the IMdB, you can bet your ass that I’d have a more recent version of _Leonard Maltin’s Film and Video Guide_ sitting on my desk – and the little star next to the IMdB in my bookmarks would lose its cheerful green “recently visited” lustre, fading away to the forlorn red of a website in the autumn of its usefulness. ---
**Author:** ![Liberal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/848f3c/32.png) [@Liberal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Liberal)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2003, 9:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/imdb-can-you-remove-the-goddamn-popup-that-shows-up-every-goddamn-page/202670/28 "2003-09-22T21:39:14Z")
I’m not sure you understand just how the IMDB, the many font sites, lyrics sites, and so forth work. These aren’t large coorporations who are building their sites with hired professionals paid from investment capital. If someone comes along and offers them a few bucks to show their pop-ups, they’re going to jump at it. As the guy explains at one of the best lyrics search engines on the web, [http://lyrics.astraweb.com/](http://lyrics.astraweb.com/) > [@](#): > > Recently I received a whole lot of emails saying “Get rid of those pesky ads!”. > > I’d get rid of them if I could. But this site costs money to run. I have to purchase hardware and pay for costly bandwidth fees to keep it free for YOU and everyone to use. > > […snip…] > > After all, it is essentially the sponsors that pay for this resource, keeping it free for you and me. ---
**Author:** ![Revtim](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/revtim/32/1042_2.png) [@Revtim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Revtim)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2003, 9:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/imdb-can-you-remove-the-goddamn-popup-that-shows-up-every-goddamn-page/202670/29 "2003-09-22T21:45:05Z")
Aside: Wasn’t the IMDB originally an university project that got purchased (maybe by AOL)? ---
**Author:** ![Liberal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/848f3c/32.png) [@Liberal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Liberal)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2003, 10:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/imdb-can-you-remove-the-goddamn-popup-that-shows-up-every-goddamn-page/202670/30 "2003-09-22T22:04:24Z")
I think they’re owned now by Amazon. It’s also clear that they’re headed toward becoming a pay site. And good for them. It’ll get rid of all the riff-raff and whatnot. ---
**Author:** ![Revtim](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/revtim/32/1042_2.png) [@Revtim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Revtim)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2003, 10:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/imdb-can-you-remove-the-goddamn-popup-that-shows-up-every-goddamn-page/202670/31 "2003-09-22T22:11:45Z")
You’re correct Lib, it says “an [Amazon.com](http://Amazon.com)” company at the bottom of the page. ---
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2003, 10:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/imdb-can-you-remove-the-goddamn-popup-that-shows-up-every-goddamn-page/202670/32 "2003-09-22T22:24:10Z")
Large bandwidth sites clearly need capital to keep themselves running. But advertisements are not going to be clicked on (which is why they’re there) if they hover over the text you’re trying to read, or if they make noises without your permission, or if they keep coming up after you try to remove them. However, if they’re amusing, or advertising something relevant to the subject matter you’re perusing, and are unobtrusive, then they have far more likelihood of being clicked. Advertisers have to learn that the internet is not television, and it’s not animated magazine-space for them to abuse at their whim, it’s a whole new medium with different expectations, and them being obnoxious is not a step forward. ---
**Author:** ![Morbo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/morbo/32/389_2.png) [@Morbo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Morbo)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2003, 6:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/imdb-can-you-remove-the-goddamn-popup-that-shows-up-every-goddamn-page/202670/33 "2003-09-23T18:50:46Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Libertarian \* > \*\*What about his obnoxious persistent abuses of his employer? He was bitching about the sound at work because it would give away the fact that he was goofing off. I reckon this is yet another crybaby liberal who believes that money grows on trees and that he should both (1) not suffer any pop-up ads while cheating his employer and (2) not pay to use the IMDB. \*\* Whoa - did you get whiplash from that overreaction? FTR, I wasn’t complaining about the sound b/c I can get in trouble for my “obnoxious persistent abuse of my employer” (God, that’s funny), but b/c the sound was repetitive and annoying and it was bothering me and my coworkers. Suffice it to say that you know nothing about my employer and are way off base to presume that my web surfing is in any way “cheating” them. As for the “money grows un trees” thing, I haven’t the slightest idea what you’re talking about. I was annoyed b/c the ad showed up over and over and over again. But thanks for the ridiculous overreaction and blind judgement. ---
**Author:** ![Liberal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/848f3c/32.png) [@Liberal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Liberal)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2003, 6:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/imdb-can-you-remove-the-goddamn-popup-that-shows-up-every-goddamn-page/202670/34 "2003-09-23T18:54:36Z")
Me? Overreact? This from the same person who wrote the OP? Precious… 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Morbo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/morbo/32/389_2.png) [@Morbo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Morbo)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2003, 7:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/imdb-can-you-remove-the-goddamn-popup-that-shows-up-every-goddamn-page/202670/35 "2003-09-23T19:04:59Z")
You clearly didn’t actually have to deal with it Friday (it isn’t up anymore) or you wouldn’t have considered the OP an overreaction. 🙂 [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/imdb-can-you-remove-the-goddamn-popup-that-shows-up-every-goddamn-page/202670.md?page=1)