Poll: Do you ever click on internet ads?

[beema]

So what with the fervor over the Escapist's new half-page Flash pop-up ads, I thought this was an apropos question to ask.
I always find myself wondering, who actually clicks on these ridiculous things?
They apparently generate tons of money, but personally I have never intentionally clicked on one, or been persuaded to buy anything by one. I do my best to ignore them, and often find myself less inclined to like something because it's bombarding me with obnoxious ads.
On occasion I've clicked on one out of morbid curiosity just because it was so absurd or something.
So, how about you?

 

[Phlakes]

Oh, I didn't realise they had adverts or popups etc...

Adblock sure does make the internet a cleaner place, huh?

Mods and staff don't like Adblock. You should probably prepare for some mod wrath, I think they give out suspensions for it. Probably should've read the rules, huh?

Similarly, posts including, advocating, or linking to illegal or adult material are a very quick way to end your time as part of The Escapist community. An example of these are:

-Piracy
-Ad Blockers
-Illegal Drugs in the United States
-Illegal Acts in the United States
-Pedophilia
-Pornography
-Sexist, Racist or Perverted Remarks

OT: Never. They never interest me in the first place, and even if they did I know better.

 

[Suarga]

Its a difficult conundrum. Everyone needs funding, so they turn to advertising, but then that makes the site less appealing (generally), even if it is in the vein of the site. An alternative route to this is http://www.varolo.com/village/Suarga . A site like this could revolutionize how we treat advertising as a whole. Everyone knows that advertising is just like a necessary evil that only sometimes actually appeals to you, so I think deviation from the current state is inevitable(see: link).

 

[Daystar Clarion]

I've been the 1 millionth customer on like, 10 websites, and I have yet to receive my reward.

What gives?

 

[Bags159]

The only time I've ever clicked on ads is by accident. I usually immediately close the page.

 

[Lilani]

Only if it's something I'm very, VERY interested in or if I just happen to click it by accident. Otherwise I might just Google it myself. I distrust information that comes from Internet ads more than anything else.

 

[Shio]

I will sometimes click an ad (but never a pop-up - they are annoying and intrusive) to help a small site out. For example, one site I go to a lot is run by one person. It's very well made and has tons of stuff I enjoy. I sometimes just refresh the pages and hit all the ads so the guy running the show at least makes some money for his time and talent.

 

[katsumoto03]

The only time I've ever clicked on ads is by accident. I usually immediately close the page.

Oh my god your avatar...

OT: I sometimes click on them by accident and then yell a profane word or two and then click away. It doesn't bother me too much.

 

[Jordi]

I sometimes click by accident, and sometimes to support the website I'm visiting. It doesn't really hurt me to click on an ad a couple of times, and if it brings in revenue for the website that is providing me with free entertainment, I sometimes like to do it.

This only works if they get payed per click though, because unless I'm already planning on buying a product, I'm not going to do it just to support a site and give them their 1% cut or something.

 

[TriGGeR_HaPPy]

I've been the 1 millionth customer on like, 10 websites, and I have yet to receive my reward.

What gives?

http://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/new_car.png

Myself? The only time I click on them is by accident, and then I'm usually like "Ahh, fuck off", and close them as quickly as possible.

I can't attest to how bad the ads on this site are, though. The more I see topics like this which mention The Escapist's advertising, the more I enjoy being a Pub Club member.

 

[Baneat]

Oh, I didn't realise they had adverts or popups etc...

Adblock sure does make the internet a cleaner place, huh?

Mods and staff don't like Adblock. You should probably prepare for some mod wrath, I think they give out suspensions for it. Probably should've read the rules, huh?

Similarly, posts including, advocating, or linking to illegal or adult material are a very quick way to end your time as part of The Escapist community. An example of these are:

-Piracy
-Ad Blockers
-Illegal Drugs in the United States
-Illegal Acts in the United States
-Pedophilia
-Pornography
-Sexist, Racist or Perverted Remarks

OT: Never. They never interest me in the first place, and even if they did I know better.

May want to remove said option from the poll also.

 

[Jerome9157]

Oh, I didn't realise they had adverts or popups etc...

Adblock sure does make the internet a cleaner place, huh?

Mods and staff don't like Adblock. You should probably prepare for some mod wrath, I think they give out suspensions for it. Probably should've read the rules, huh?

Similarly, posts including, advocating, or linking to illegal or adult material are a very quick way to end your time as part of The Escapist community. An example of these are:

-Piracy
-Ad Blockers
-Illegal Drugs in the United States
-Illegal Acts in the United States
-Pedophilia
-Pornography
-Sexist, Racist or Perverted Remarks

OT: Never. They never interest me in the first place, and even if they did I know better.

I really disagree with the placement of ad-block among any of those, its condemning ad-blockers to be shunned to the same degree as the likes of pedophillia, also (as I bold'd), how does Ad-block constitute as illegal or adult material?

I would agree with handing out warnings to posts such as "Hey, everyone! did you know you could hide the stupid adverts the escapist puts up? just get (adblockers name)!", but nothing too severe, such as immediately banning.

 

[Owyn_Merrilin]

I occasionally click on Project Wonderful ads, but those are the only ones. For those of you who don't know what Project Wonderful is, it's a service in which people bid on ad space on a given website, and pay by the day. The only sites I know of that use it are webcomic sites, so if I see an ad for a webcomic that looks interesting, I'll click on it.

Incidentally, ads don't generally pay by the click anymore; the standard format is page views, where the site gets paid by the number of people who have seen the ad. Project Wonderful, as I said, pays the site owner by the day. If you think about it, these things wouldn't be very profitable for most sites if they only got paid by the click.

 

[Bags159]

The only time I've ever clicked on ads is by accident. I usually immediately close the page.

Oh my god your avatar...

OT: I sometimes click on them by accident and then yell a profane word or two and then click away. It doesn't bother me too much.

My milkshake brings all the posters to the yard.

On topic: I wonder if the mods are going to look at who voted for the last option.

 

[ThisIsSnake]

All the time.

<youtube=xsYoeoEE3ww>

I already have a massive yacht, winning lottery tickets for several lotteries, several luxury cars and a villa in the Caribbean all from web ads.

 

[TheYellowCellPhone]

Freaking never, I hate ads, why should I spend more time reading them than I do every time I'm on the site?

 

[Broady Brio]

Not normally.

Sometimes out of pure boredom.

 

[dancinginfernal]

Sometimes if I'm bored or am horribly curious because of the former.

 

[William MacKay]

if i'm bored. after reading that XKCD posted above i always check. plus, i like shooting iPhones for the crack (not actual crack, crack as in craic. dont want to get banned for drug referencing or whatever it is...)

 

[C95J]

All the time! Seriously I always seem to be the 1,000,000th customer on loads of websites!

I must just be really lucky =3