Just recently when I opened the fine woodworking website, immediately a large advertisement popped up, with the word START. I didn’t realize at first that this was an advertisement, because it came up repeatedly every time I clicked on any part to the menu at the top of the bar. Any attempt to close or rid the space of that add was frustratingly met with failure. This is new, and I don’t like it at all. The fine woodworking website is allowing more and more ads and content that adds extra expense to its site.
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Replies
Who does like these things, but they are the way almost all websites do business. I've never been sure whether they actually produce additional business or not, but the user's choice is to either just put up with it if the site is useful or just not go there. However, just not going to the site likely means you won't go to any sites because it's everywhere. Annoying, but something that we either accept or ignore or not use the site.
I get why they advertise but it's getting a little weird. The tracking algorithms have gotten so good that it seems as though they have figured out what your going to want or what your going to think about or do before you do. An ad for a chain saw and 15 minutes later a tree blows down in your yard.....
Or get an Ad Blocker.
The add blocker in my iPad does not work. Seems like there should be an alternative to just put up or shut up.
If you do find something enjoyable in the web it will always have some sort of annoyance. Commercial TV is almost at a 50:50, commercial to content ratio. Eventually commercials will overtake content. I haven't watched live TV in 20 years. I record everything to avoid commercials.
I'm guessing that, unless you subscribe to an ad blocker that is installed in addition to your operating system features, ads will not be blocked. Microsoft has no real interest in blocking adds since their operating system permits things like coupons. In effect, they are contributing to the effectiveness of the sites using pop-up adds (essentially all sites these days).
Right now, no one is looking out for the user and all retail sites make money off of the pop-ups in varying amounts.
I think one reason that FWW has become more aggresssive with pop-ups and advertising is that they have been struggling on the edge of financal viability for awhile. Anything they can do to generate more business helps resolve that. Plus, the company that bought them is also making every effort to make the several woodworking publications and sites profitable.
For me, I assess going back to sites based on overall usefulness and value to me; not on whether there are pop-ups. If the ads bother you and you're not getting what you need from the site, just don't go there. The quickest way to get companies to move away from this sort of thing is loss of customers. In the end, if they don't interpret the signs of people being dissatisfied, they just go out of business when the aren't financially viable anymore. It's a shame but the US and, for that matter, the whole world is driven by profit rather than interest (at least for-profit companies are). It would be a shame to lose access to all the valuable articles and videos on FWW's site but, in the end it's really just driven by the company's ability to make money. I'm sure that people at FWW would possibly disagree with me but . . .
Yes, I’ll write a letter to the editor, then I’ll end my online subscription. That’s my only vote.
Hi,
I'm sorry that the pop-up ads are enough to bother you to end your subscription. In my experience with the site, I've had one pop-up ad on the homepage, and once closed, I can navigate the site with ads on the page, but no pop-ups. As editors, we don't control the ad spaces on pages, only the content within it, and we will continue to work hard to make sure that content is worth your visit to our page.
-Amanda, Associate Web Editor of FWW.com
For myself, the question is really only whether I get something useful from the site. Pop-up ads are a fact of the current online world. I certainly wouldn't continue paying a yearly subscription fee if I wasn't getting what I needed from the site. FWW's Unlimited subscription has always provided me with what I need when I need it. It continues to be a great resource for techniques, finishes, overall woodworking knowledge, and tools for me. It's all in one site. While the pop-up ad at the beginning about Unlimited subscription and possibly classes is annoying it's easily wiped off the screen. I do think that, if a user's login is associated with a current subscription to Unlimited, that pop-up shouldn't be there for those people, but I'm certainly not coing to end my subscription for that reason alone.
I use Duck Duck Go exclusively as my internet browser. I don’t get any pop ups of any kind. Plus, in theory, companies aren’t getting my personal info.