Floaters are the New Pop-Ups

windowpain writes "A prior Slashdot article discussed the ever-increasing ability of pop-up ads to break through adblocking software. Now the New York Times (registration required) is reporting that pop-ups are pooped out, replaced by those annoying "floaters" that are even more resistant to conventional pop-up blocking software. From the article: 'Not to be confused with pop-up ads, which open new windows and clutter virtual desktops, these floaters, or overlays, or popovers (no one can agree on a name), can evade the pop-up blockers that many Web browsers have incorporated. In the last year, according to Nielsen/NetRatings, which collects and analyzes data on Web advertising, the frequency of these ads has risen markedly, by almost 32 percent from December 2003 to December 2004, while pop-ups in that period declined by 41 percent.'"

Solution

[dsginter]

Solution Here [browser.org].

Brand new, from what I hear.

Raise your hands

[bigtallmofo]

How many internet marketers would, if the technology were available, opt to have a physical hand come out of someone's monitor and slap them in the face until they read your ad?

I just wonder where some marketers draw the line.

Floaters

[MyLongNickName]

... should be flushed.

Who Clicks On These?

[ObsessiveMathsFreak]

I believe I speak for many when I say
"Who the Hell actually clicks on all the popups,popovers,floaters,ads and logos anyway?"

I can safely say the only time I click on an ad when online, is when my mouse slips?
I suppose it must be like spam. The percentage of suckers is incredibly low, but if ads are 10% of internet content, then you'll get a few hits.
Still though, I mean, what kind of person goes around saying "Oh! I do want a cheaper morgage!!" *CLICK*. Do any slashdotters have some amusing tales of such perpetually clueless lusers in their domains?

The name everyone would agree on

[nslu]

I'd say the word poopovers describes them the best.

Re:It is a good day for

[theparanoidcynic]

But I thought you could get arrested for using Lynx! Slashdot told me so!

Floaters?

[NardofDoom]

I hate floaters. You flush and flush and they never go down.

Re:Raise your hands

[Tackhead]

> How many internet marketers would, if the technology were available, opt to have a physical hand come out of someone's monitor and slap them in the face until they read your ad?
>
>I just wonder where some marketers draw the line.

"There's a line?"
- Some marketoon

I can only say this: Given that marketroids tend to surf with IE, Flash enabled, and Javascript enabled, and I tend to surf with Mozilla, Flash disabled, and Javascript disabled (through the use of the PrefBar extension), and have never seen a "floater" anywhere other than my toilet bowl, I'd very much like to see an over-the-Internet face-slapping technology developed.

OUTSTANDING idea!

[WinDoze]

All Marketing-related crap should be given sphincter-related names! Floaters, Sinkers, Double-Flushers, SBD's. Man, I wish they'd thought of this years ago.

Re:Floaters are not evil.

[sploo22]

Alternatively, you can think of them as popups that stay contained within your browser window. Just think, the tabbed browsing revolution has finally arrived in the world of popups! Thank you Mozilla!

Re:Not a problem

[danormsby]

Also not a problem with lynx [isc.org].

Re:Who Clicks On These?

[Talsin]

I support a group of almost 100 20 something women that work in the advertising business doing spot radio buys. I can honestly say any of them would happily double click a landmine just to see what happens.

There is no sig

Appropriate name

[entrager]

...these floaters, or overlays, or popovers (no one can agree on a name)...

I think "floaters" is a completely appropriate name.

Re:Solution

[Anonymous Coward]

Yeah, but the porn just doesn't have the same appeal in a text only browser.

Re:Floaters are not evil.

[j0e_average]

No, they are not evil.

Actually, they indicate that you're getting enough fiber in your diet!

My own stool, sir, are perfect. They are gigantic, and have no more odour than a hot biscuit" Dr John Kellogg (Anthony Hopkins)

The new ESTP protocol!

[cpghost]

[...] I'd very much like to see an over-the-Internet face-slapping technology developed.

Easy, if you replace face-slapping with electro-shocking.

• Sell new keyboards and mice that deliver electric shocks of varying intensity (ever seen Never Say Never Again?).
• Have the W3C implement the new ESTP protocol (Electric Shock Transport Protocol) specification and associated (XML-like?) tags.
• Marketers can now "shock" users that don't click on the ads.
• ...
• Profit!

If you thought that you could get away with using rubber gloves, you are dead wrong: this is a circumvention, and you'll be hit by the DMCA!

Re:games too

[benbean]

Yes, the dumb shooty things are better.

Re:games too

[tonsofpcs]

Are you trying to say that Wolfenstein 3D didn't have a story line????

BAD choice of name....

[arpoodle]

I always thought a floater was caused by inadequate flushing?

Re:Not a problem

[jo_ham]

Of course, you run the risk of being sent to prison under terrorism charges if you use Lynx, since the clueless web admin doesn't recognise the user agent and assumes you are hacking their site.

Adverts of Prison....

hmm, I'll take the risk, I can't stand web adverts.

Re:Raise your hands

[Threni]

> I think a lot of USERS would like to slap DEVELOPERS (including some users who
> are developers), for making truly stupid design/coding decisions.

But I'm a developer - I'm not interested in what users would like! ;)

The real solution....

[gr8_phk]

Just don't go to those sites that annoy you. For example, slashdot doesn't have these things. Nor does google news, the times, any of the other sites I visit regularly. The fact that so many people are annoyed by these things seems to point to the fact that they can't stop searching for [celebrity] porn. No one ever points out that the problems are with the dodgy sites.

Another possibility is that people are not good at finding the more legitimate stuff they want and end up clicking links to dodgy sites. That's just user error. You'd think with errors being so annoying people would learn.

How do you know your buddy surfs porn? Ask him if popups or floaters are a big problem for him.

how many times

[hawk]

One of our head tech guys related his buddy's experience from the corporate world.

After spending half a day disinfecting the Anna Kourknova (?) virus from a department, he was called back in a couple oh hours.

Same user.

When asked why, he explained, "I didn't get to see the picture"

hawk

Re:According to this Ad Executive, YOU're a THIEF!

[Anonymous Coward]

I actually e-mailed him concerning this article, and got a reponse from him equally as condescending.

POST IT!
POST IT!
POST IT!
POST IT!
POST IT!

Re:My cousin's example -- doorbells

[Anonymous Coward]

"Click YES to download our spyware!"
or "click NO and you'll still download our spyware and you won't know about it!"