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back to article Pop-up ad man: SORRY we made such a 'hated tool', netizens

It's been said before that if all porn was removed from the internet, only one website would remain: with the url wherehasalltheporngone.com. But while smut may be at the pulsating heart of the online world, corporate advertisers have for a long time tried their best to ignore the boobies to help protect the brands of their …

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  1. Peter Simpson 1
    Happy

    Karma remains balanced

    Someone else invented AdBlock.

    21 0 Reply
    1. Ken Darling
      Reply Icon

      Re: Karma remains balanced

      "Someone else invented AdBlock."

      And someone else invented the AdBlock detector so pages won't display unless it is disabled.

      4oD is just one example (not that there's anything worth watching on C4, or any televsion channel these days.)

      3 3 Reply
      1. Anonymous Coward
        Reply Icon
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: Karma remains balanced

        So we just need a plugin that can feed false responses to the bit of Javascript that detects AdBlock. An AdBlock-blocker blocker, if you will. An arms race indeed...

        12 0 Reply
      2. Lyndon Hills 1
        Reply Icon

        Re: Karma remains balanced Channel 4

        4oD is just one example

        I got a link to page that said something about ad-blocking, clicked ok and went on watch the episode of Utopia I'd missed. <-- something that i thought was worth watching on Channel 4.

        0 0 Reply
        1. present_arms
          Reply Icon

          Re: Karma remains balanced Channel 4

          Yeah I watched Utopia, I did have to kill my adblock and gave me a countdown timer before the accept button was lit, I tried a few times without turning off adblock but it just did a "if, then, else" loop on me until i crippled adblock, I notice CBS do it to (i have hola installed)

          0 0 Reply
      3. Anonymous Coward
        Reply Icon
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: Karma remains balanced

        C4 is one of the few channels that produces programming worth watching these days

        1 0 Reply
      4. Tom Maddox Silver badge
        Reply Icon
        Thumb Up

        Re: Karma remains balanced

        "And someone else invented the AdBlock detector so pages won't display unless it is disabled."

        Making it very easy to avoid the page altogether.

        7 0 Reply
      5. Jonathan 27
        Reply Icon

        Re: Karma remains balanced

        I've yet to find an Adblock detector that actually works properly. Even if they do you can selectively unblock the URL from the Adblock detector making it worthless.

        As a webmaster most of the "Adblock detectors" produce more false positives than anything and drive users crazy.

        1 0 Reply
  2. plrndl

    Maybe he could atone by creating an ad blocker that works.

    0 0 Reply
    1. Anonymous Coward 101
      Reply Icon

      Works well enough if you ask me, though adblocks for mobile devices should work better.

      1 0 Reply
  3. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Authorship

    Claiming credit for the "invention" of the popup ad is ridiculous. It is an absurdly obvious idea that occurred to hundreds of people.

    Besides, the concept probably falls under several US patents along the lines of "information showing method for showing information".

    11 0 Reply
    1. Captain Scarlet
      Reply Icon

      Re: Authorship

      Ah so he will be taken to court soon and forced to pay a few billion pounds.

      4 0 Reply
      1. Ted Treen
        Reply Icon
        Holmes

        Re: Authorship

        No doubt encouraged by pop-up ads from PPI claims firms looking for a new niche:-

        "Have you been pissed-off by pop-ups?" etc. ad infinitum, ad nauseam.

        2 0 Reply
  4. Ventilator
    Joke

    Ad Hoc

    Pop-ups on porn sites? Well, who'd have thought it!

    4 0 Reply
    1. Anonymous Coward
      Reply Icon
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Ad Hoc

      You should have at least one pop-up if the porn site is any good...

      9 2 Reply
  5. cracked

    Bad, broken, corrosive and the only one in town?

    Advertising follows eyeballs. The eyeballs went online once there was enough cool stuff to view. There is only enough cool stuff because it is free to use. But it isn't free to serve.

    Anyway, shame for him that he forgot to patent the idea ...

    1 1 Reply
  6. Primus Secundus Tertius

    Who else is gonna pay?

    So Zuckerman regrets that the Internet is run by advertisers for advertisers.

    But tha'ts how TV in most of the world is run.

    Maybe one day we shall all have to pay an Internet licence/license fee to the NSA. Not that that will stop the rubbish adverts, of course.

    0 0 Reply
  7. ecofeco Silver badge

    Sorry?

    Oh you're not sorry at all.

    As for being the first, love the hubris. Is that a job requirement?

    0 1 Reply
  8. Henry Wertz 1 Gold badge

    Ugh.

    Pop-ups are of course the most evil advertising ever invented; since the pop-up is actually not held within the page in any way, one can sometimes not even know which web page to blame for forcing pop-ups. May Zuckerman burn in hell for even thinking it was a good idea to use them.

    1 0 Reply
  9. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    If something is free...

    ...you are the product being sold.

    1 0 Reply
  10. Scroticus Canis
    Terminator

    If he was truly sorry ...

    .... he would commit seppuku and have his second post the video on YouTube. Then I would believe him.

    1 0 Reply
    1. Darryl
      Reply Icon

      Re: If he was truly sorry ...

      ...after sitting through the 30 second Toyota ad before you can watch the video.

      2 0 Reply
  11. Paul Hovnanian Silver badge

    Pennance

    And Pol Pot is cleaning latrines at orphanages.

    0 0 Reply
  12. IGnatius T Foobar
    FAIL

    Villify Zuckerburg, not Zuckerman

    Facebook is *much* worse than pop up ads.

    0 0 Reply
  13. Dan Paul

    @ Authorship - No one else wanted to take credit?!

    Those same "hundreds of people" have not already taken credit because - Millions of people would already hunted them down and run them through a meat grinder?

    0 0 Reply
  14. thomas k.

    Could have turned that to their advantage

    "Stop the butt-hurt of your daily commute with a new <car model> - it's like lube for your sore arse!"

    1 0 Reply
  15. Mike 16

    Pop-Unders are worse

    Although Xroach is clearly prior art.

    And how about those _LOUD_ auto-playing video ads that ElReg serves us?

    0 0 Reply
  16. Clive Galway
    FAIL

    "our intentions were good"

    Good for the car manufacturer.

    It was not, in any way shape or form, good for the user - some poor guy was trying to choke the chicken and he had bloody pop-ups covering the porn browser.

    How are you meant to close the pop-up pre ad-blockers without getting the mouse icky?

    0 0 Reply
  17. AbeSapian

    Sorry My Ass!

    There isn't a room in hell small enough for this guy.

    0 0 Reply

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