Fighting Ad Blockers With Captcha Ads 450
krou writes "Living in an ad-free internet thanks to ad blockers? That could be a thing of the past if software firm NuCaptcha has their way by making captchas into ads. 'Instead of the traditional squiggly word that users have to decipher, the new system shows them a video advert with a short message scrolling across it. The user has to identify and retype part of the message to proceed. Companies including Electronic Arts, Wrigley and Disney have already signed up.'"
Too many moving parts. (Score:3, Informative)
This will backfire. Too many moving parts to do it's functional job effectively. If a video captcha was a good solution it would already be in use. Making the video an advert won't help. It probably won't hurt but that's beside the point. People will try a few times then give up and start complaining. Captchas are annoying enough already.
Stupid move (Score:2, Informative)
If the owners of a website are willing to get paid for using a CAPTCHA system, then I guess they're also willing to lose most of their users because of it.
There are other methods [xkcd.org] to keep your website clean.
Intrusive ads.. (Score:3, Informative)
I block video ads because the ones that make sound are far too intrusive (and hard to track down if you have lots of tabs open) and pop-up ads...
I don't really mind small graphical or text based ads, and still have ads on slashdot despite being given the option to turn them off.
The more intrusive ads become, the more likely i am to block them and avoid the sites which show them.
I especially hate the video ads that are on failblog these days, they force you to sit through the same advertisement for every video you watch, and the ads are full videos 30 seconds to a minute in length wasting your bandwidth and quite often are for a product not even being sold here.
Good luck with that (Score:4, Informative)
My general rule is that if I have to take my hand off the mouse to view your content, I'm going elsewhere. I'll even put up with short interstitials, but I don't do quizzes.
Re:fine (Score:3, Informative)
They might be perfectly happy with that. A user who uses resources (bandwidth) without providing income (ad/payment) may be one they don't really care about losing.
I've built a couple of websites that block ad-blocking users. They are comparatively low volume, and low profile unless you are working in the specialised area. They are however in fields where advertising is comparatively profitable. It would be much easier to get past my method than a proper captcha system like this, fortunately the low profile has stopped anyone putting a work around out there.
Re:ads don't make you buy stuff... (Score:2, Informative)
Re:Gee. Another website I can live without (Score:5, Informative)
whenever i encounter these javascript underlining thing adds, i will stop at NOTHING untill all relevant hosts have been included in my hosts file, pointing to good ol 127.0.0.1
it usually takes a few minutes/tries to find all relevant add-servers in the resources list for a web-page, but i find it is worth the effort
Re:A sure-fire way to make me HATE your product (Score:2, Informative)
I think the grandparent means the films themselves are just adverts for all the toys, books, stationery, clothes, games and other branded crap that Disney sell.
Re:Accessibility? (Score:4, Informative)
Re:A sure-fire way to make me HATE your product (Score:3, Informative)
The amount of money I have, mostly, and my long term plans. For instance, do I see myself using public transport every day and only using the car ocassionally, or will it be a workhorse?
Price/performance ratio, my own testing.
Do I need AC? Living in a place where 35C (95F) is a common temperature, yeah, I do. The heat turns my brain to mush.
Do I need leather seats? Well, that's more debatable. I'd look at how much that costs, try to figure out about how long each kind normally lasts, and if the comfort provided is worth the price.
Sure, I don't exist in a vacuum. That doesn't mean that just because I see an ad for something that'll make me more likely to buy it. It's more likely that I'll get interested in the concept itself (like an affordable plug-in hybrid) than the specific model being advertised. And I'll still research before buying, so I'll probably find about things like that at that point anyway.
Re:A sure-fire way to make me HATE your product (Score:5, Informative)
Re:A sure-fire way to make me HATE your product (Score:5, Informative)
IMO, Disney is worse than Nick.
The devious angle of Disney is that it is absolutely and entirely "Family Friendly", i.e. no sex, no drugs, no violence, no blood, no gore, no ... ok, almost I'd have said no fun. But you get the idea. It is something you can park your kids in front without fearing the question "Daddy, what's that red stuff coming out of kitty's ears?" Disney managed to get a reputation as a company offering non-threatening entertainment, suitable for children. You can hand over your kids and we'll take good care of them. Ages 0 to god-knows.
And parents do just that.
With Nick, at least halfway responsible parents (today an oxymoron, I know, I know...) will review once in a while just what kind of junk they broadcast. Let's be honest here, some of the Anime I get through Nick is anything but "suitable for kids", whether you look at the content or the topics, it's not really something a person younger than 8 could understand. They also don't pretend to be your perfect babysitter, they just offer kids' entertainment.
IMO, the Disney angle is worse.
Re:A sure-fire way to make me HATE your product (Score:3, Informative)
My budget, which is basically my income minus expenditures (which includes savings, charitable contributions etc).
Research, which includes reading manuals and spec sheets, reviews from a variety of sources, physically appraising the quality and workmanship of the product I'm interested in and speaking with people I know who have made similar purchases. Watching paid advertisements is not performing research.
Decisions are also being affected by bias, experience, and personal preference. All of the advertising in the world won't convince my dad to buy a car that wasn't made by Ford.
But not everyone makes purchasing decisions based on "I aways buy brand x" like my dad, nor does everyone base major purchases on marketing materials provided by manufacturers. As a starting point, to find out what they have on offer, sure. But your job as purchaser doesn't begin and end with watching an ad with a catchy jingle.
If that's how you manage your money, you're not doing it very well.
Re:A sure-fire way to make me HATE your product (Score:2, Informative)
Enough people do it to make it worthwhile for Lexus to run the ad. Of course, those same people also say "Advertizing doesn't effect *me*."
Go ahead... (Score:3, Informative)
Re:A sure-fire way to make me HATE your product (Score:3, Informative)
And mafiosos can be seen as parasites or they can be seen as honest businessmen refusing to bow down to oppressive Government-maintained monopoly on taxes, violence and coercion.
Marketers, you are scum. Sorry. That's just a fact.