Taboola and that ilk are seriously the devil. I can think of no other development in the last couple of years(or: that became popular over that span) that has done more to degrade the qualitative experience of web browsing.
I try to boycott as many sites that use Taboola as possible... this can leave very few sites left to visit without hating myself... Them and Outbrain have to be the absolute worst that I see on "reputable" sites. You begin to truly understand a site's revenue integrity when you see these in their "Sponsored Content" sections.
This is why I personally don't like using an ad-blocker.
If I have ads blocked, then I'm blind to the problems that the average internet user faces. I end up viewing, reading, tweeting, talking about sites that are flat out reader-abusive in their advertising. As a web developer, my sense of the state of the internet is warped.
With ads turned on, I end up avoiding those sites and seeking quieter places. I have a better understanding of what normal people see.
I noticed the same problem when I sent a link to a friend. All this flashing blinking crap all over the page.
Re:Does Sponsoring Daring Fireball Work?
by Sophistifunk on Monday January 26, 2015 @10:53PM
(#8951149)
I would like it if that were a tenable position, but it's really not IMO. There's too much cross-site tracking, and most importantly, too much malware distributed as advertising.
Ah, I'd been noticing more and more Taboola ads on my mobile phone, but I hadn't chased down the source. I suppose I should find some ad-blocks for the phone.
Re:Does Sponsoring Daring Fireball Work?
by kachnuv_ocasek on Monday January 26, 2015 @02:59PM
(#8949206)
How you dragged "bloatware loaded Windows installs" into this I don't understand.
Re:Does Sponsoring Daring Fireball Work?
by code_duck on Tuesday January 27, 2015 @12:41AM
(#8951418)
I believe the comparison is that a website loaded with useless, distracting junk that functions is a similar situation to Windows laptops that come with distracting, useless software that pretends to be something desirable. In each case, the user experience is significantly degraded in exchange for the vendor receiving payment. This comparison make sense to me.
> Speaking of revenue and pageviews, true story: I got an email yesterday from a sales rep at Taboola, pitching me on running their ads on DF. It included this line: “I see your site is not monetized at present, and I think there is room to do so in a non-intrusive manner that can still make you money.”
> I don’t know what I love most about that. I think it’s that from the eyes of someone who sees Taboola ads as “non-intrusive”, what I’m doing at Daring Fireball doesn’t look like “monetization” at all. Needless to say, I find Taboola ads to be highly intrusive. (You may not be familiar with the “Taboola” name, but you’ve seen their ads. They look like this[2].)
I really like what he does, and it makes the rest of the web remind me of the bloatware loaded Windows installs on every PC that isn't sold directly by MS. Short term money at the cost of a slower and more annoying experience that users hate in the long term.
[1] http://daringfireball.net/linked/2014/10/09/more-df-rss-feed...
[2] http://daringfireball.net/misc/2014/10/not-intrusive-at-all....