Insidious Marketing on The Escapist

[Murmillos]

Wait.. so asking to type in something that is clearly indicated is WORSE then something that is extremely difficult to understand and takes 10 times longer; with a good chance you'll still get it wrong?

Who fucking cares if its an add, at least its easy.

As for whats your opinion ones, typing in 'i dont care' works every single time for every single one.

 

[dyre]

While it's pretty annoying, I don't think it's a huge problem for me because, well, frankly, I already know about all these companies and have an opinion on their products. Typing "citibank is awesome" or w/e isn't going to make me believe so. And I have no interest in getting Little Caesar's pizza. I don't really think there's some inherent purity in captcha that shouldn't be tarnished by advertising. It's just that I have to go through an ad before I post, just like I have to watch a commercial before I watch zero punctuation.

Still, the simple, easy to read, non-advertising captchas I get once in awhile, with nice phrases like "word for word" or "happy times" or w/e are the best.

 

[AnotherAvatar]

I just hate it when the ads end up making the captcha unnecessarily long. I don't think I should have to type an extra sentence for ad revenue.

 

[DEAD34345]

Nah, I'd be annoyed if it really was "underhanded" in any way, but it isn't. It's clearly an advert, and one you have to see if you wish to use the site. If you don't want to be subjected to them, you can always choose not to visit the site.

Personally, I just put "No" when it asks my opinion on things. I can't imagine how all this data being gathered is useful to anyone, because no-one puts what they really think in those things. I wonder if someone over at Solve Media actually reads what we've wrote...

 

[EternalFacepalm]

I don't really care. Whenever the captcha asks for my opinion on a company or product my response is usually 'skdjdjsvxh' or 'fuck you' and those seem to work fine. So it doesn't bother me.

The problem with that is, passing the Captchas can easily be done by a spambot. >.>

 

[Dr Jones]

My reaction to the ads?

Spoiler

My reaction to this thread?

Spoiler

I don't mean to be rude, but this has been talked about a lot, tbh. There were a few threads of it throughout March, and the latest one (other than this one), was just 6 days ago..

On topic, though: I never really dig this kind of advertising, but I understand why it's there. The Escapist needs money to keep running. This is a source for money, and, well if you just come here without paying anything, is just a small opinion on a company really so horrible? Think of it, as if you are supporting The Escapist financially (or you could REALLY support em financially, get publisher's club, and join the master race that don't need no captcha!)

 

[NightHawk21]

If it asks you to describe the product just swipe your fingers across the keyboard:
zsrxdvygubhinjomkp,l

^ It doesn't understand the difference.

 

[ThePS1Fan]

I'm for advertising so I don't really care. People want to advertise let them.

 

[Macgyvercas]

Hmm? Captcha? Haven't seen those in forever. No siree.

On an unrelated note, do you how awesome Pub Club is?

 

[Dastardly]

Forgive the sensationalist title, but this has been irking me.

To ask a website to stay up for free is like asking a store to stay open without asking people to buy stuff. It costs them money to keep the site up and running with the quality of content that people have come to expect.

Ads help pay that, as do those of us who choose the PubClub route. Would you rather have to pay $1 to download each article/video on iTunes or something?

As to the captcha, it's one of those things tons of forums do to avoid spamming by adbots -- you know, the actually annoying type of advertising that contributes nothing to keep the site going? And if you're going to have a captcha, might as well have one that also generates a little revenue for the site.

For a lot of the people behind this site and their content, it's their full-time job. A lot of the folks behind a lot of ads (and the products)? Same deal.

And advertisers have adapted to the internet -- they know that simple banner ads alone don't get the job done anymore than plain old fliers do in the real world. If the ad is too easy to ignore, it doesn't generate traffic for them. If it doesn't generate traffic, they're not going to pay money to post it.

It's a transaction, and advertisers are the "middle men." If you don't like the middle men, get rid of them - pay for the content yourself.

 

[Hazy992]

I don't care. I'd rather it say 'describe Dr Pepper with one word' and type in 'fuckballs' or something, than the incoherent dead languages the old captcha used to make you fill in.

 

[Hazy992]

Every time I see one I chuckle, because LittleCeasars are actually paying someone to advertise their brand to me when I live in Germany and they dont have any restaurants here.

Yeah Little Ceasars, real foolproof marketing plan you have going on.

I got a Bank of America captcha and I live in the UK. Explain that

 

[MelasZepheos_v1legacy]

I like marketing and advertising. It is my job after all.

The problem is that if you want the companies that you take for granted to stay in business, then they have to keep selling things, how do they make sure that people are going to keep buying? Marketing.

Basically any company that doesn't market fails. A lot of people think that if a company already has a good rep then it will sell on that alone, but it's completely false. Companies need to put out new marketing campaigns in cycles, some as fequently as monthly, otherwise their competitors will.

And with the digital age, stuff like this is a brilliant way to market. We do it, and we use all sorts of other digital media to promote ourselves.

 

[Mr.Squishy]

Can't say I've noticed it, but I have had the captcha go from the usual nonsense to more coherent stuff.

 

[lolreaper]

i get revenge against it by not buying anything that is advertised in the capatas

 

[kaizen2468]

Oh yeah that's pretty insidious lol

 

[SEXTON HALE]

This seems like some kind of conspiracy to me.
Though I am not exatcly sure what is going on.
I need to look into this some more.

 

[Broady Brio]

It doesn't affect me in the slightest. It's just verification that you're human. If I was Solvemedia I would also make it as useful to me as possible.