# Improper Advertisement **URL:** \ **Category:** About This Message Board\ **Created:** [May 28, 2013, 6:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/improper-advertisement/659566 "2013-05-28T18:34:31Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![gnoitall](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/bb73d2/32.png) [@gnoitall](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gnoitall)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2013, 6:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/improper-advertisement/659566/1 "2013-05-28T18:34:31Z")
(By “Improper”, I mean not in accordance with stated standards of The Straight Dope). On column archive rerun from 27 May 2013 (“[Is the south side always the baddest part of town?](http://www.straightdope.com/columns/read/1358/is-the-south-side-always-the-baddest-part-of-town)”), the inset advertisement above the “Recent Additions” list was an autoplaying, fully-animated, with-loud-sound advertisment for “Schiff Megared” on my recent viewing of the page. Completely autoplaying. My mouse pointer never came anywhere near it. No clicks, no mouse-overs, nothing at all until the voiceover started blaring (which was immediately upon page load). I don’t have a good way to post a screen cap, alas, but I hope this is enough information to squash this obnoxious nuisance. ---
**Author:** ![TubaDiva](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tubadiva/32/507_2.png) [@TubaDiva](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TubaDiva)\ **Post date:** [May 29, 2013, 12:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/improper-advertisement/659566/2 "2013-05-29T00:27:19Z")
Standards stated where? Keep in mind that even if something was said at one time, that was at least two owners ago and the current owners may do as they wish. ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [May 29, 2013, 1:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/improper-advertisement/659566/3 "2013-05-29T01:06:43Z")
Pay the money and become a member. ---
**Author:** ![SmartAleq](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smartaleq/32/163_2.png) [@SmartAleq](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SmartAleq)\ **Post date:** [May 29, 2013, 2:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/improper-advertisement/659566/4 "2013-05-29T02:10:15Z")
Firefox. Or Chrome. AdBlock with Easylist. Flashblock. Presto change-o, ads no longer exist on your internet. Or, y’know, keep bitching about them and do nothing and get the malware, your choice. I swear I should put this on a macro. ---
**Author:** ![spinky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/59ef9b/32.png) [@spinky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/spinky)\ **Post date:** [May 29, 2013, 2:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/improper-advertisement/659566/5 "2013-05-29T02:46:12Z")
> [@TubaDiva](#): > > Standards stated where? Here, by you, less than a year ago: > [@Auto-playing video ads in threads, again.](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/auto-playing-video-ads-in-threads-again/600192/18): > > Also … are you touching the ad in any way? (That might include accidentally mousing over it.) Those are supposed to be okay; it’s the ones that automatically start playing regardless of what you do that aren’t supposed to be happening here. And you can give us the snippy, bullshit excuse about new owners and imply that it’s silly of us to expect you to do what you said you’d do, but that’s seriously weak sauce: there was likely no intentional policy change, and you know it. These things just slip through occasionally, and the recent change in ownership has given you a convenient excuse to ignore the reports. I do hope the new owners are happy with the brilliant strategy of cranking up the obnoxiousness of the ads until everyone is convinced to use ad-blockers. I’ve literally never even come close to installing one for any other site, but here I am, blocking ads on your site. Smooth move! ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [May 29, 2013, 4:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/improper-advertisement/659566/6 "2013-05-29T16:32:55Z")
> [@Exapno\_Mapcase](#): > > Pay the money and become a member. I don’t think that’d help in this case, since the OP wasn’t talking about an ad on the Message Board. ---
**Author:** ![gnoitall](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/bb73d2/32.png) [@gnoitall](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gnoitall)\ **Post date:** [May 29, 2013, 5:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/improper-advertisement/659566/7 "2013-05-29T17:06:38Z")
> [@Thudlow\_Boink](#): > > I don’t think that’d help in this case, since the OP wasn’t talking about an ad on the Message Board. As if that made a difference. Unless it does. Which I don’t know, but if you have a cite, I’d welcome it. ---
**Author:** ![gnoitall](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/bb73d2/32.png) [@gnoitall](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gnoitall)\ **Post date:** [May 29, 2013, 5:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/improper-advertisement/659566/8 "2013-05-29T17:09:38Z")
> [@Exapno\_Mapcase](#): > > Pay the money and become a member. Thanks for your insight. Or maybe I browse with AdBlock. Or maybe I try to contribute without dollar signs by pointing out what I sincerely believed are inappropriate ads, in the sense that they violate previous statements about desirable advertising. Alas, if the column itself is inexplicably held to different advertising “acceptability” standards than the message board, I withdraw the notice. ---
**Author:** ![gnoitall](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/bb73d2/32.png) [@gnoitall](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gnoitall)\ **Post date:** [May 29, 2013, 5:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/improper-advertisement/659566/9 "2013-05-29T17:11:28Z")
> [@SmartAleq](#): > > Firefox. Or Chrome. AdBlock with Easylist. Flashblock. Presto change-o, ads no longer exist on your internet. Or, y’know, keep bitching about them and do nothing and get the malware, your choice. > > I swear I should put this on a macro. That’s fine advice if I had control of the situation. I don’t choose the browser, I don’t choose the addons. The employer’s IT department does. And they don’t listen to me. Since you wish to defer your thought processes to a macro, what would your macro say to that? ---
**Author:** ![TubaDiva](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tubadiva/32/507_2.png) [@TubaDiva](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TubaDiva)\ **Post date:** [May 29, 2013, 6:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/improper-advertisement/659566/10 "2013-05-29T18:13:37Z")
> [@spinky](#): > > Here, by you, less than a year ago: > > And you can give us the snippy, bullshit excuse about new owners and imply that it’s silly of us to expect you to do what you said you’d do, but that’s seriously weak sauce: there was likely no intentional policy change, and you know it. These things just slip through occasionally, and the recent change in ownership has given you a convenient excuse to ignore the reports. > > I do hope the new owners are happy with the brilliant strategy of cranking up the obnoxiousness of the ads until everyone is convinced to use ad-blockers. I’ve literally never even come close to installing one for any other site, but here I am, blocking ads on your site. Smooth move! Neither snippy nor bullshit. It is reality. This is a business, one that is not owned by the staff nor the users. The owners of this site can place whatever content they want on these pages. It’s worrisome and annoying when an ad sounds off at an unwelcome time and in an unwelcome place – especially in your office. But there is nothing that we can do about it. It’s why I keep headphones hooked up to my computer all the time – I have people on different sleep schedules in my house that object to noise. I don’t always hear everything but I’m not unpleasantly surprised neither. I’m sorry if it sounds off in your office or if it wakes the baby. I’d do something about if I could. I don’t know what else to tell you. ---
**Author:** ![gnoitall](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/bb73d2/32.png) [@gnoitall](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gnoitall)\ **Post date:** [May 29, 2013, 7:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/improper-advertisement/659566/11 "2013-05-29T19:06:42Z")
> [@TubaDiva](#): > > Neither snippy nor bullshit. > > It is reality. > > This is a business, one that is not owned by the staff nor the users. The owners of this site can place whatever content they want on these pages. > > It’s worrisome and annoying when an ad sounds off at an unwelcome time and in an unwelcome place – especially in your office. But there is nothing that we can do about it. It’s why I keep headphones hooked up to my computer all the time – I have people on different sleep schedules in my house that object to noise. I don’t always hear everything but I’m not unpleasantly surprised neither. > > I’m sorry if it sounds off in your office or if it wakes the baby. I’d do something about if I could. I don’t know what else to tell you. So, just to be clear: no ads are off limits as long as they bring in the money? (I’ll assume The Reader isn’t in favor of pushing malware unless the money is very very good.) Still, a little honest heads-up would have been nice. The unannounced change from “advertisers shouldn’t be bombing you with loud autostarting ads” to “we just want the ad impression dollars; shut up and color” is pretty significant. ETA: in the interest of preventing undesired reports of advertising that, in your words, “there is nothing that we can do about”, I recommend a sticky in ATMB indicating that the sky’s the limit as far as whatever advertising you broker throws at us. If you do it right, you can make it a polite subscription recruitment pitch. As long as you don’t make the reader feel like a whining retard in the process. ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [May 29, 2013, 7:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/improper-advertisement/659566/12 "2013-05-29T19:51:25Z")
> [@gnoitall](#): > > Thanks for your insight. It’s mandatory for someone to say in any thread about ads. I didn’t have any control over my fingers. It was still fun. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [May 29, 2013, 7:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/improper-advertisement/659566/13 "2013-05-29T19:55:37Z")
> [@gnoitall](#): > > So, just to be clear: no ads are off limits as long as they bring in the money? (I’ll assume The Reader isn’t in favor of pushing malware unless the money is very very good.) > > Still, a little honest heads-up would have been nice. The unannounced change from “advertisers shouldn’t be bombing you with loud autostarting ads” to “we just want the ad impression dollars; shut up and color” is pretty significant. > > ETA: in the interest of preventing undesired reports of advertising that, in your words, “there is nothing that we can do about”, I recommend a sticky in ATMB indicating that the sky’s the limit as far as whatever advertising you broker throws at us. If you do it right, you can make it a polite subscription recruitment pitch. As long as you don’t make the reader feel like a whining retard in the process. In an ideal situation, what would you have the mods and admins do about the advertising problem? ---
**Author:** ![VinylTurnip](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/b2d939/32.png) [@VinylTurnip](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VinylTurnip)\ **Post date:** [May 29, 2013, 8:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/improper-advertisement/659566/14 "2013-05-29T20:08:41Z")
> [@gnoitall](#): > > That’s fine advice if I had control of the situation. I don’t choose the browser, I don’t choose the addons. The employer’s IT department does. And they don’t listen to me. If you approach your employer and explain the situation— that their browser restrictions are adversely affecting your ability to read Internet discussion forums on your work computer, and may cause noisy ads to play that could distract your colleagues while they are working— I suspect they’ll be anxious to work with you on a solution. ---
**Author:** ![TubaDiva](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tubadiva/32/507_2.png) [@TubaDiva](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TubaDiva)\ **Post date:** [May 29, 2013, 8:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/improper-advertisement/659566/15 "2013-05-29T20:12:35Z")
No legitimate company would knowingly subject their users to malware. We have had a few incidents where malware was injected into seemingly legitimate ads. They were removed as quickly as they could be found. Management tracked down the bad actors and also, I do believe, stopped doing business with the agents that booked the ad. It doesn’t mean this might not happen again; it’s an ongoing problem in cyberspace. For all the rest, don’t know what to tell you. Glad and grateful The Straight Dope is still here and still doing business; it’s great that we have had a place to play for all these years. I’m as supportive of the site and our users as I can be and so is the rest of the staff. They give a meaningful amount of their time and energy to do so. It’s our place – made by Cecil and staff and users – byt not a perfect place. It is the place that it is. Not every place in cyberspace is perfect for everyone, not every experience is sufficient. That’s why there’s so many places in cyberspace. Nice that there’s something somewhere good for most everyone. ---
**Author:** ![Saint\_Cad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/saint_cad/32/18907_2.png) [@Saint\_Cad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saint_Cad)\ **Post date:** [May 29, 2013, 8:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/improper-advertisement/659566/16 "2013-05-29T20:20:40Z")
The problem as I see it is that anytime there is an advertising issue such as malware sneaking in (I’ve been hit three times on the SD), the blame is place on the ad vendor or whatever it’s called. I don’t think I’ve heard of one case where the Straight Dope took responsibility for an advertising kerfuffle on their site. It’s always somebody else’s fault. I vaguely recall some time ago it was policy to not have auto-starting ads but then again I thought it was policy to not have ads that totally fuck up your computer with malware. Maybe Tubadiva is right and maybe the policy has changed or maybe it is another example where the SD staff has no clue what ads are getting through and are just covering their ass by saying “Not my fault.” or “What do you want me to do about it.” ETA: Simulpost with Tubadiva addressing the malware issue. ---
**Author:** ![TubaDiva](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tubadiva/32/507_2.png) [@TubaDiva](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TubaDiva)\ **Post date:** [May 29, 2013, 8:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/improper-advertisement/659566/17 "2013-05-29T20:45:30Z")
The steaff has no jurisdiction whatsoever over ads. Never have. ---
**Author:** ![Fiendish\_Astronaut](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fiendish_astronaut/32/3295_2.png) [@Fiendish\_Astronaut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fiendish_Astronaut)\ **Post date:** [May 29, 2013, 9:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/improper-advertisement/659566/18 "2013-05-29T21:10:56Z")
Hang on, in numerous past threads the attitude of the you mods has been totally different to autoplay adverts. Has policy changed from “sorry this is happening” and “My understanding is that they’re not supposed to just start playing automatically.” in this thread: [I keep hearing ads play, in Spanish - About This Message Board - Straight Dope Message Board](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=634591) to ‘there’s nothing we can do’ here. If you’ve worked out there’s nothing that can be done then fine, but seeing as you’ve tried to publicly address this problem in the past, I’m puzzled by the shrug of the shoulders today as if it’s ridiculous that anyone should even dare to report this. For the record I’ve got an autoplay ads for Optrex in this very thread. ---
**Author:** ![Fiendish\_Astronaut](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fiendish_astronaut/32/3295_2.png) [@Fiendish\_Astronaut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fiendish_Astronaut)\ **Post date:** [May 29, 2013, 9:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/improper-advertisement/659566/19 "2013-05-29T21:20:18Z")
> [@TubaDiva](#): > > Keep in mind that even if something was said at one time, that was at least two owners ago and the current owners may do as they wish. Though this is a fair point… ---
**Author:** ![TubaDiva](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tubadiva/32/507_2.png) [@TubaDiva](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TubaDiva)\ **Post date:** [May 29, 2013, 9:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/improper-advertisement/659566/20 "2013-05-29T21:27:29Z")
> [@Fiendish\_Astronaut](#): > > Hang on, in numerous past threads the attitude of the you mods has been totally different to autoplay adverts. Has policy changed from “sorry this is happening” and “My understanding is that they’re not supposed to just start playing automatically.” in this thread: [I keep hearing ads play, in Spanish - About This Message Board - Straight Dope Message Board](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=634591) to ‘there’s nothing we can do’ here. > > If you’ve worked out there’s nothing that can be done then fine, but seeing as you’ve tried to publicly address this problem in the past, I’m puzzled by the shrug of the shoulders today as if it’s ridiculous that anyone should even dare to report this. > > For the record I’ve got an autoplay ads for Optrex in this very thread. There was a time when we were so little and local that Jerry (our tech guy) had jurisdiction over ads. If we had a problem we could ask Jerry about it. That’s not been true for a long time. In the CL days we didn’t know the ad people but there was a contact and they were amenable to pulling stuff. And there was a sort of understanding that we wouldn’t have ads that made noise and we went on like that for a while. With the sale to STM that was no longer true. We have no control over what ads show up. Now all they pull for is malware. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/improper-advertisement/659566.md?page=2)