Ryan Block
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An open letter to friends and colleagues on keyword popovers

Thursday, August 30th, 2007 - 2:17PM

Vibrant Media ad
Dear every site advertising with keyword popovers,

You know who you are, and many of you are people I consider friends and colleagues in the industry. You’re smart, independent businesspeople carving out your niche in the new media landscape. You know how to connect with your audience. And yet you use keyword popover ads. You’re getting some of those ad revenue dollars from IntelliTXT / Vibrant Media and like ad services whose entire business depends on polluting your content, confusing your audience, and tricking them into clicking on ads that just won’t go away.

With all due respect to you, friends, fucking stop it. Seriously, stop supporting these shysters that advertise by generating fake links and popovers on your content. Obviously I’m all for giving your content away for free by advertising on your site, but there are limits. For example, on Engadget we have an extremely strict stance on popups (not allowed. Ever. If you ever see any, please email me ASAP.), what is referred to as “rich media advertising” (i.e. flash ads — they have to stay confined to their space, and can never interfere with content / nav areas. I know they consume a lot of CPU cycles, and I’ve been working on getting the ad teams to cut down on these a bit.), and in-column ads (ads that are shown in between stories — they have to be extremely clearly labeled as advertising, and not interfere with the content above above and below). It’s not perfect, but it allows us to stay in business and support our staff without completely ruining the reading experience (when not in RSS).

Treat your readers with a modicum of respect. These kinds ads are absolutely abhorrent, and just because you can run them doesn’t mean you should. The scary thing is keyword popovers are only getting more popular. I thought that after, what, a year since these ads started showing up, site owners would have started to realize that keyword popovers are possibly the most obnoxious and obtrusive form of web advertising around (no, spam isn’t web advertising, it’s email advertising). Yes, it’s even worse than popups, because at least those can quickly be cleared out with an alt-F4 / Apple-W. The keyword popover opt-outs are a joke, and often don’t work — and that’s IF you can find the opt-out page. (Surprise: they hide it!) But I guess all that hasn’t yet been made abundantly clear. So it’s up to you: exercise your choice to shut those ads off for your readers by not supporting that model of web advertising.

Here’s a pledge: as long as I’m in charge of Engadget you will NEVER see keyword popover ads on the site. And believe me, they’ve asked.

Will you make the same commitment?

Your pal, Ryan

Update: Digg here.

Update 2: I put together a short list of some end user solutions to disable IntelliTXT ads here.

Posted in Web

Comments

  1. Amen.

    Worst ad format ever.

    Comment by HR — Thursday, August 30, 2007 @ 2:29 pm

  2. Couldn’t agree more… annoys the crap out of me!

    Comment by Joshua S Hill — Thursday, August 30, 2007 @ 2:53 pm

  3. [...] So check out his open letter here! [...]

    Pingback by joshshill.com » Blog Archive » Keyword Pop Ups — Thursday, August 30, 2007 @ 2:55 pm

  4. http://digg.com/offbeat_news/Ryan_block_of_engadget_An_open_letter_on_keyword_popovers/blog dugg

    Comment by Dean Gray — Thursday, August 30, 2007 @ 3:05 pm

  5. I’ve actually stopped going to sites that use them will navigate away from a site if it does.

    Comment by Dev Gupta — Thursday, August 30, 2007 @ 3:10 pm

  6. [...] Ryan Block on keyword popover ads. Amen brother, they will have to fire me to get this code into Engadget. [...]

    Pingback by Ryan Block on keyword popovers - Matt Heerema : Web Design — Thursday, August 30, 2007 @ 3:28 pm

  7. Well said! Those ads are even worse than those talking SitePal things. It’s about time somebody said STOP IT!

    Comment by Colby Palmer — Thursday, August 30, 2007 @ 3:33 pm

  8. [...] An open letter to friends and colleagues on keyword popovers » Ryan Block [...]

    Pingback by areyouageek (?) ~~a geeks thoughts, rambles & rants~~ » Blog Archive » links for 2007-08-30 — Thursday, August 30, 2007 @ 4:26 pm

  9. Right on
    Right on
    Right on
    Right on
    Right on
    Right on
    Right on
    Right on
    Right on
    Right on
    Right on
    Right on :-)

    Comment by Jason — Thursday, August 30, 2007 @ 4:38 pm

  10. Excellent! Thank you Ryan.

    Comment by JT — Thursday, August 30, 2007 @ 4:53 pm

  11. “And believe me, they’ve asked”

    really? wow, thats scary. Never, ever leave Ryan, It’s scary to think what AOL would do to my favourite site.

    Comment by jeff — Thursday, August 30, 2007 @ 5:17 pm

  12. Theres javascripts you can find online that will cancel the ads from displaying. I found one and made it into a favorites button for Firefox and when i see a page littered with those ads I just hit the button and they go away.

    >
    javascript:(function(){found=1;cnt=0;while(found==1){found=0;t=document.body.getElementsByTagName(’a');for(a=0;a]*>/gi,”);t[a].parentNode.replaceChild(n,t[a]);cnt++;}}}window.status=cnt+’ links removed’;}());

    Comment by Pat — Thursday, August 30, 2007 @ 5:35 pm

  13. They often use double underlining, so it’s not hard to tell the difference between a normal link and said “keyword popover ads”.

    I hate them just as much as the next guy, but they are easily avoidable, especially with a simple firefox plugin. ;)

    Comment by Itachi — Thursday, August 30, 2007 @ 5:36 pm

  14. AGREED!
    And Ryan, you need to work on your proofreading skills.

    Comment by DAN — Thursday, August 30, 2007 @ 5:36 pm

  15. This is why I don’t read Tom’s Hardware Guide anymore.

    Comment by Dave Markle — Thursday, August 30, 2007 @ 5:39 pm

  16. Here here.

    Comment by Kabren — Thursday, August 30, 2007 @ 5:40 pm

  17. Damn right! I am glad somebody used DIGG to bring this out to the masses!

    Those of us who scan with mice looking for real links HATE text ads.

    -= Greg =-

    Comment by Greg Horne — Thursday, August 30, 2007 @ 5:48 pm

  18. Could not agree more. I stand with you and will not use them either. Nice to see a sites as big as yours taking this stance.

    Comment by dude — Thursday, August 30, 2007 @ 5:48 pm

  19. Anyone remember when MS threatened to build something like this into IE? Not exactly, but close. We all had a good laugh/barf and they got the message. Seems their loss is our “gain” and I’m ready to turn the gain down to -11.

    Yes, they should stop and I wanna thank you Ryan for putting your foot down.

    Comment by Victor — Thursday, August 30, 2007 @ 5:53 pm

  20. Victor: Smart Tags! Oh man, sometimes you just have to thank the heavens for Mossberg.

    Comment by Ryan Block — Thursday, August 30, 2007 @ 6:00 pm

  21. Roger, roger.

    Comment by Brian Sugar — Thursday, August 30, 2007 @ 6:07 pm

  22. FUCK YEAH! Finally someone says something.

    I just stop reading from sites like that. It annoys me so much. Ads with no exit buttons, I’m gone. Pop-up keywords, I’m gone. No matter how much I want to read the content. And I’m certain I’m not the only one.

    Comment by DAVE ID — Thursday, August 30, 2007 @ 6:11 pm

  23. [...] 30th, 2007 at 9:17 pm (Corporate Greed, Internet Culture, advertising) An open letter to friends and colleagues on keyword popovers » Ryan Block Dear every site advertising with keyword popovers, You know who you are, and many of you are people [...]

    Pingback by An open letter to friends and colleagues on keyword popovers » Ryan Block « Darkly Dreaming David — Thursday, August 30, 2007 @ 6:17 pm

  24. @Dave Markle
    “This is why I don’t read Tom’s Hardware Guide anymore.”

    Funny…I was just thinking the same thing.

    Comment by brad77 — Thursday, August 30, 2007 @ 6:23 pm

  25. [...] Sites and Posts:Ryan Block - An open letter to friends and colleagues on keyword popoversEngadget - siteJim Krukal - Will Scratchback Help Everyone Make Money Online?Kontera - [...]

    Pingback by Off The Cuff: Advertising sucks | WinExtra — Thursday, August 30, 2007 @ 6:23 pm

  26. I agree, that is why I have never used them, but the sad truth is they make money…and until we find them better ways to monitize sites they will keep on shoving more anoying ads at us…

    Comment by Josh — Thursday, August 30, 2007 @ 6:27 pm

  27. I fully agree. It’s about time somebody said something.

    Comment by K.F. — Thursday, August 30, 2007 @ 6:58 pm

  28. Intellitext and Vibrant were among the first entries into Adblock, the Firefox add-on.

    Comment by Mac — Thursday, August 30, 2007 @ 7:26 pm

  29. Hrmmm, guess thats one downside to useing adblock…i dont even notice when a site uses them being fully blocked, so i dont know not to go there…ohh well…guess ill have to rely on others reports on what sites not to give traffic to over this issue. lolz

    Comment by Docidu — Thursday, August 30, 2007 @ 7:46 pm

  30. You guys are all idiots. I thought web savvy people were competent enough to not mouse over these links.

    Comment by Alex Zhao — Thursday, August 30, 2007 @ 8:05 pm

  31. Alex, so now everyone’s expected to treat browsing sites like navigating an advertising minefield? An ad-riddled DMZ is not a very friendly kind of internet.

    Comment by Ryan Block — Thursday, August 30, 2007 @ 8:07 pm

  32. I sure hope the sites listen…hey Softpedia…yeah you!

    Comment by Ryan Wagner — Thursday, August 30, 2007 @ 8:08 pm

  33. Good for you to do this, but it’s a bit hypocritical. YOur main thrust is that you are okay with ads but you don’t want them to interfere with and trample all over the content. Yet at the same time you seem to think that in-column ads are okay? They are the same thing. Advertisements that are:

    - unavoidable
    - right in the content
    - intended to fool people into thinking they are content

    This is hypocritical dood.

    Engadget’s main page is a plain column punctuated with pictures of gadgets and some plain text underneath.

    Putting an ad in (and you guys do this *all* the time), that is a picture of a gadget the same size as your article pictures is totally the same as an in-text link masquerading as a reference or regular link.

    Comment by Jeremy — Thursday, August 30, 2007 @ 8:08 pm

  34. Jeremy, I disagree. An unavoidable ad is not the same as an intrusive ad. The top banner on Engadget is unavoidable when you hit the page — that doesn’t make it intrusive.

    Our in-column ads are clearly delineated and marked as advertisements. 80% of those in-column ads are typically AdSense, but when there are larger ads, they are (or SHOULD BE) clearly marked, and don’t get in the way of reading. But most importantly, they don’t ever change or obscure the site in any way when moused over.

    I think what you’re mad about is ads that slip through look too much like editorial. Those make us mad too, and I complain to our sales team when that happens. If that’s what you mean, then I think we’re on the same page.

    Comment by Ryan Block — Thursday, August 30, 2007 @ 8:17 pm

  35. It has gotten so bad you can’t even use the mouse on some sites. I agree with you, and keep them off my site at all costs.

    Its another one of those formats that will fade as advertisers realize that people slip and click them, at them same time closing them just as fast (costing the advertiser money but getting them nothing in reality.)

    Comment by Levi Blackman — Thursday, August 30, 2007 @ 8:22 pm

  36. I think that everyone that hates the ads has a responsibility to let it be known. When I come to a page that has them, I always leave a short note on how I came to the site, but due to the ads I will unfortunately not be returning. If enough people did that so the webmaster knew how many people hate them, it would go a long way to helping them get removed from sites with good content.

    Comment by come clean — Thursday, August 30, 2007 @ 9:17 pm

  37. [...] editor Ryan Block writes an open letter asking fellow bloggers to stop using IntelliTXT popover ads: “With all due respect to you, [...]

    Pingback by iAdvert.mobi » Engadget’s Ryan Block Againt Popover Ads — Thursday, August 30, 2007 @ 9:43 pm

  38. Yes. Those are the most horrible, trashiest ads out there. I am also getting sick on no “con”tent web sites that seem to get on the front page of a google search. Those ones that are nothing but ads and *gasp* the aforementioned popover ads. I mean people give us a break. Bring original content back. Hosting is so cheap, having a blog is not going to run you into the bank so quit trying to make money. Site with value first, then let the money come in. It does not work vice-versa. Le Fin.

    Comment by John — Thursday, August 30, 2007 @ 10:05 pm

  39. As the site owner for http://www.beskerming.com, I think that the way we do things is one of the right ways. Basically, we still feel the Internet should be like it was - if you can’t afford to run your site using legitimate content and out of your / your company’s pocket, then you need to look at just why it is you have a site up on the Internet. Even though we have routinely been /.’ed, Inq’d, Reddited, and had content featured on many sites (most of which have advertising alongside our content and don’t pay us for our content), we don’t allow advertising on our site (except small ads for our own services), and have been capable of weathering all traffic thrown at us. Anyway, the sort of site visitor we attract is probably going to be blocking ads by default.

    Comment by Carl — Friday, August 31, 2007 @ 12:30 am

  40. yeah next to interstitials theyre the worst! use adblockplus if youve got firefox duders for ad free surfing…

    Comment by mark rushworth — Friday, August 31, 2007 @ 12:56 am

  41. Agreed.

    Finally a wake-up call for people who think they know the best way to expose and develop their market when all they are doing is transforming their partners into a crappy trashy medium.

    Comment by Callum Jones — Friday, August 31, 2007 @ 1:32 am

  42. There is a difference between users ‘like us’ and normal users in regard of search engine mechanisms. Users like us will neither take them nor click on them as we know how to avoid them.

    Other users obviously seem to like the, and click on them. By not separating these user types websites enter the dilemma of handling different kind of ‘customers’ badly.

    In my case:
    I assume that like with most people who are the first wave of readers, we basically do have mental filters. We do notice them, but do not click them except by pure accident.

    But I do make a mental note giving minus points to such a site as well as make sure that if I have the choice to link to one site with such things (or layer ads) to actually prefer the one without.

    When I surf with stumble upon and have a site with layer ads, they do get an immediate negative, and so on.

    In the end, they can do with their site what they want - but I can choose if I nurture them.

    Comment by Nicole Simon — Friday, August 31, 2007 @ 2:22 am

  43. Thanks, Ryan. For taking a strong stance!

    Comment by Colin — Friday, August 31, 2007 @ 3:40 am

  44. Agreed, there is a fine line between proper online advertising and abuse. If we want the online advertising to retain it’s value to website owners, we have to be careful not to abuse the audience, which we are. If we do this, we are only cannibalizing ourselves so that in five years times, the advertising party will have lost it’s value.

    Comment by 10668844 — Friday, August 31, 2007 @ 3:52 am

  45. Preach on brotha!

    Comment by Andy — Friday, August 31, 2007 @ 6:36 am

  46. Yeah yeah yeayeayea … finally someone said something! I think the technology is supercool … the implementation is appalling. One popover and I never return. Thank you Ryan.

    Comment by dtrav — Friday, August 31, 2007 @ 8:40 am

  47. [...] Ryan Block who doesn't run ads on his site, wrote an open letter to other bloggers asking them …  The Problem Ryan, is that it is hard to make the money to do what we love if we give up the several hundred dollars a month in Ad Revenue.  I don't know if you have noticed but the way most of the content on the Internet is financed is Google Ads, and IntelliTXT, I run Kontera, but it is the same thing, only Kontera.com has less strict entry requirements. [...]

    Pingback by Ryan Block, Blogging for the Love of It, A True Non-profit — Friday, August 31, 2007 @ 8:44 am

  48. [...] Welcome to the who needs “Web site advertising with keyword popovers” club, Ryan! I have been calling attention to the nefarious nature of IntelliTXT and Kontera all summer. [...]

    Pingback by Insider Chatter by Donna Bogatin » Advertising Evil Honors: IntelliTXT, Kontera, Google CPA Ads — Friday, August 31, 2007 @ 8:49 am

  49. [...] Here Ryan of Engadget talks about the annoying keyword-targeted pop-up ads which spoil the navigation experience over the websites. He talks about the IntelliTXT / Vibrant Media advertisements which are all about confusing the visitors. [...]

    Pingback by A guide for advertisement over websites | Net 2.0 — Friday, August 31, 2007 @ 9:15 am

  50. great little post. i spend less time on sites that have pop-overs for sure- i find them really annoying.

    Comment by stan — Friday, August 31, 2007 @ 1:09 pm

  51. I decided to do some research and “name names” at blogcosm. Here’s a short list of some mobile blogs that use IntelliTXT.

    Comment by Scott Lawton — Friday, August 31, 2007 @ 4:49 pm

  52. It’s so easy for you to take this stance when Engadget makes more money in a month than normal people will make in 5 years. You could say you’d have done this anyway if Engadget wasn’t big, but how would you know?

    If I’m ever making as much money as you guys at Engadget make, I’d gladly take down Vibrant ads, but until then, I’d like to pay rent.

    Comment by Larry — Friday, August 31, 2007 @ 5:13 pm

  53. Larry, I can’t say I blame your comment given our size nowadays, but you weren’t there with us early on at Engadget. We scraped to get by, Peter and I and the first writers all worked for free for a long time. It was months and months until my my first paycheck, which, if I recall, was less than $200. Eventually I quit my job to work for scraps hoping Engadget would take off. And guess what, I didn’t want obtrusive ads then, either.

    We may have added more ad slots since 2004, but our advertising policy hasn’t changed a lick from we were bootstrapping it. And so long as I have anything to say about it, it won’t in the future.

    Comment by Ryan Block — Friday, August 31, 2007 @ 7:52 pm

  54. [...] An open letter to friends and colleagues on keyword popovers — Short version: Cut it out, it’s irritating (language [...]

    Pingback by Linkpost | 31.8.2007 - TechPortal - Your Daily source for Tech news, views, reviews, tutorials, gadgets and lots more… — Friday, August 31, 2007 @ 9:12 pm

  55. I agree. I actually find these intellitext ads extremely annoying. They make people (originally myself included) click on them thinking there is a valid link only to find that I’ve been taken to an advertisement. I find some sites that I visit often have that and really try hard to disable the scripts with Adblock because they really annoy me. I do have ads but they’re mainly affiliate ads and post some in my post but I refuse to add additional feedburner ads to my feeds since I also find them annoying too. Not that my own personal affiliate ones are any better though.

    Comment by May C — Friday, August 31, 2007 @ 10:00 pm

  56. We’ve been asked by Vibrant to advertise on our site, and we refuse to put them on because 1) they are so aggrivating to me personally, 2) our readers hate them.

    You won’t see them on GottaBeMobile.com ever .

    Thanks for the post, Ryan.

    Comment by Rob — Saturday, September 1, 2007 @ 1:21 am

  57. You’ve hit it right on the head! These are a bane on my internet existence!

    Comment by Tim — Saturday, September 1, 2007 @ 3:11 pm

  58. #47 The problem is people who run ads tend to abuse them. If your content/ad ratio is not controlled then what is the point of your site? I have no problem with a site with ads, but when you visit a site that seems to be nothing but ads, that is a problem. I have been doing a bit of learning on C# .net recently and it’s been a roller coaster ride of ad sites and sites that offer real content. Ad sites are lame. They offer no real value to the internet, but manage to get front page placement on search engines.

    Pop over ads make these ad only web sites despicable.

    Comment by John — Sunday, September 2, 2007 @ 2:44 am

  59. I’ll back up the Amens as a convert to this thinking. I used to run these ads, enjoyed the money, but actually started to loathe my own site. Now these (and other ads) are gone, and while I may make less I really don’t care!

    Comment by Jason — Sunday, September 2, 2007 @ 7:58 pm

  60. [...] though fellow bloggers like Ryan Block asked in a post for other bloggers to stop using the keyword popup ads the vast majority of the top blogs are awash [...]

    Pingback by Biting the hand that feeds you | WinExtra — Monday, September 3, 2007 @ 10:33 pm

  61. I’d like to replace IntelliTXT with something less intrusive, but us small time bloggers often have a hard time routinely/regularly sourcing banner ads. I don’t have a sales team or person like Engadget, B5, etc and I don’t have the time, interest, or connections to do it well myself.

    Having said that, I provide full text in my RSS feeds so folks aren’t forced to wade through my less than ideal site design. Also, by default IntelliTXT places like 7 highlighted words per page - but I’ve reduced that to 3 per post and on the main page. Potentially less revenue, but hopefully less annoying too.

    Comment by Dave Zatz — Wednesday, September 5, 2007 @ 8:34 am

  62. Here here! Thank you for expressing my own thoughts!

    Comment by Chris Blackburn — Wednesday, September 5, 2007 @ 8:54 am

  63. [...] Block from Engadget has a small rant about keyword popup advertising, which he says pollutes the content and confuses readers. Couldn’t agree more. And while [...]

    Pingback by Keyword popups suck - Ryan speaks - The Red Ferret Journal — Friday, September 7, 2007 @ 11:24 am

  64. [...] and external links that aren’t necessarily true. But it’s an interesting topic given my stance on keyword popovers and the like, and it’s definitely worth [...]

    Pingback by On backlinking (or “internal linking”) » Ryan Block — Wednesday, September 12, 2007 @ 11:51 am

  65. [...] Earlier today I implemented a WordPress plugin which allows me to remove ads from this site based on whether or not you’re a “regular” to the site. Now, if you leave a comment on the site you should no longer see any Google Adsense & Vibrant Media ads. I still have a couple of other ads being displayed for regular users however, I thought it would be nice to reward regular users by removing these ads (especially the Vibrant Media ads which can get annoying). [...]

    Pingback by TiVo Blog » TiVo Blog Now Has ~50% Less Ads! — Wednesday, September 12, 2007 @ 7:38 pm

  66. If you’re wondering what a user revolt against IntelliTXT looks like, have a look at airliners.net:

    http://www.airliners.net/discussions/site_related/read.main/63395/

    It ain’t pretty.

    Comment by Ed — Friday, September 14, 2007 @ 9:47 am

  67. [...] An open letter to friends and colleagues on keyword popovers » Ryan Block [...]

    Pingback by rewdy.com » An open letter to friends and colleagues on keyword popovers » Ryan Block — Monday, September 17, 2007 @ 3:16 pm

  68. Well written Ryan. Couldn’t agree more! The discussion on the airliners.net site is very instructive Ed, thanks.

    Comment by Shanx — Friday, September 28, 2007 @ 5:56 pm

  69. I found my enjoyment of the internet increased exponentially when I added *.intellitxt.com and *.vibrantmedia.com to my Firefox’s adblock. Now I never get any of those crappy double-underlined green links. Maybe it’ll help you fellas as well. Never a more compelling reason to switch to firefox, imo.

    Comment by Gas Bandit — Friday, November 30, 2007 @ 3:37 pm

  70. [...] as a nuisance not far removed from their pariah cousins, the popup ads.  Some, like Engadget’s Ryan Block, declare them to be even worse because “at least [popups] can quickly be cleared out with an [...]

    Pingback by Center for Citizen Media: Blog » Blog Archive » Citizen Media Business Issues: Ad Space — Thursday, January 10, 2008 @ 9:19 am

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