"Three of the top Net-nerd forum/discussion sites, Metafilter, Plastic.com and Slashdot, have threads discussing ways to block these ads."

June 7, 2001 7:46 AM

"Three of the top Net-nerd forum/discussion sites, Metafilter, Plastic.com and Slashdot, have threads discussing ways to block these ads." Ouch. I don't know which I resent more: "Net-nerd" or being grouped with "Plastic.com".
posted by Steven Den Beste (23 comments total)

Well at least we all know where to get a tiny hidable camera, if we need one.

Hmm, think of the possibilities! Hey, if you're a prison warden, you could even put one in a jail. How cool would that be!?
posted by wackybrit at 8:03 AM on June 7, 2001

Hey, MeFi is first in that list! That makes Plastic and Slashdot pale imitations. I don't think you can ask for more than that.
posted by kindall at 8:18 AM on June 7, 2001

As someone who's visited plastic.com a handful of times, I've never understood why it's bashed so often here at Metafilter. I guess I didn't pay it close enough attention, but I saw many of the same articles covered here and many similar conversations going on. But like I said, I just skimmed. Anyone got scathing opinions on Plastic's weaknesses or inferiority?
posted by Karl at 8:35 AM on June 7, 2001

i haven't visited plastic that much, so i can't really comment... but slashdot... i dunno. it's too saturated with pretentious posters and there's just... way too much to try and read on top of that.... as a new poster here, i feel this community is a lot more "comfortable."
posted by lotsofno at 8:51 AM on June 7, 2001

Net-Nerd sites

They obvious misspelled "yummalicious hyper-intelligent gorgeous super-geek sites"...

How silly of them...
posted by fooljay at 8:54 AM on June 7, 2001

> scathing opinions on Plastic's weaknesses or inferiority?

It has a nasty name.
posted by jfuller at 9:02 AM on June 7, 2001

> scathing opinions on Plastic's weaknesses or inferiority?

it's a mainstream copy of metafilter. it's soft rock. it's light jazz.

rcb
posted by rebeccablood at 9:08 AM on June 7, 2001

Plastic only has a comparable vibe to MeFi in the discussions that used to be hosted in the "Loop" section of FEED. Otherwise, there's no depth to the discussions, and none of the moderating influence that comes from having a distinct community of posters with their recognised (and complex) perspectives. Slashdot is just too damn big, unless you browse at +2, highest scores first.

MeFi still manages without mechanical moderation, in spite of its occasional spasms. That's quite a compliment.
posted by holgate at 9:14 AM on June 7, 2001

Plastic.com doesn't have a Matt Haughey to nurture the community members in the way our fearless leader nurtures us. I hear care packages and birthday wishes will be a part of the next MetaFilter release.
posted by Hankins at 9:28 AM on June 7, 2001

They obvious misspelled "yummalicious hyper-intelligent gorgeous super-geek sites"...

Hey Matt, we have a new tag line!
posted by CrazyUncleJoe at 9:50 AM on June 7, 2001

They are just jealous that they have such a bland, plastic name like Inside. Of course, they are in bed with Plastic anyway.

But they certainly think highly of themselves. Sign up with them for $199 a year! It makes Salon's $30 a year more palatable.

Since plastic is using slashcode then I guess you could draw a big circle around all of them. They all have advertising. Mefi gets people to donate hosting space and has people send in money for scholarships. They have people getting paid to work on their sites. Matt currently does not have a job. They have a crazy moderation system. We moderate ourselves while Matt cleans trims the ugly bits.

Metafilter, powered by karma.
posted by john at 10:06 AM on June 7, 2001

Quick question ...

Anyone know of a Mac version of the Pop-Up Stopper program mentioned at the end of the Wired piece. There seem to be so many annoying pop-ups when I visit ... um ... wholesome, family-oriented sites, it sure would be swell not to have to hit command-w every three seconds. (nothing on versiontracker, etc.).

Thanks.
posted by foist at 10:37 AM on June 7, 2001

Metafilter, powered by karma
New tag line #2?
posted by daver at 10:42 AM on June 7, 2001

Anyone know of a Mac version of the Pop-Up Stopper program mentioned at the end of the Wired piece.

I have a OneClick script I wrote that auto-closes windows of certain sizes immediately when they appear. Unfortunately, it requires OneClick, a commercial "macro" utility. Fortunately they're having a 50% off sale, making it just $30.

The script itself is really rather simple:

On Startup
Schedule - 4, 1
Schedule - 3, 1
End Startup

On Scheduled
Variable Global msie_wincount
If Window.Width > 500 AND Window.Height < 200
If Menu("View", "Button Bar").Enabled AND Window.Kind <> 2 AND NOT Window.Collapsed
Type Command "w"
End If
End If
End Scheduled
posted by kindall at 10:51 AM on June 7, 2001

Whoops, you don't need the line "Variable Global msie_wincount." (That was left over from another script.) I also should mention that the script goes in any button on an application-specific palette for Internet Explorer.

OneClick is rather cool, it lets you (as you see here) trigger scripts when window order changes.
posted by kindall at 10:53 AM on June 7, 2001

Panicware.com's Popper-Stopper appears to work good.

I hate cheating content providers out of their impressions, but pop-unders are just *too* annoying..

ALso, MeFi is good, but it's worth noting that Slashdot probably gets more hits in an hour then MeFi and Plastic get in a month.. Being linked by Slashdot kills your server.
posted by Leonard at 10:54 AM on June 7, 2001

For the Macintosh, try WebWasher, which provides user configurable blocking of several annoying "stupid web tricks," including scripted opening of windows. And it's free, so the price is right..
posted by m.polo at 11:19 AM on June 7, 2001

For the Macintosh, try WebWasher

... if you like cutting your surfing speed in half. Kinda defeats the purpose of an ad blocker to make things slower.
posted by kindall at 11:54 AM on June 7, 2001

Funny, proxies like WebWasher are supposed to speed up page loading because they're removing images and other fluff. Maybe the Mac OS takes a performance hit while handling web proxies in general?
posted by waxpancake at 12:08 PM on June 7, 2001

Ouch. I don't know which I resent more: "Net-nerd" or being grouped with "Plastic.com".

Worse is being grouped with SlashDot. Yuck :P
posted by valerie at 1:42 PM on June 7, 2001

Slashmetaplasticdot:

Taglines:
- Where no server, frumpy housewife, or New York Times article is safe
- You must hate Microsoft this much to ride this ride
- Where the ban on self-linking is purely self-preservational
- Mock talk and two smoking barrels
- You can't HANDLE the traffic
- We have lives. We just choose not to live them...
posted by fooljay at 4:38 PM on June 7, 2001

Shuuuush. You think a pop-up window behind the current window is bad? Ha! You haven't seen nothin yet! Check out this link.

Don't tell any ad companies.

I prefer AdSubtract as my weapon of choice. It lets you customize certain sites that you want to keep pop-ups (fantasy.sportingnews.com) or cookies (yahoo.com). The Pro version is well worth the cost.
posted by andryeevna at 12:48 AM on June 8, 2001

Nah, that's actually very very easy. Any site who puts an uncloseable ad in front of their content for even the shortest time will quickly find that I, and I'm sure many others, are no longer a part of their audience...

You can try to make this like TV with forced commercials, but even TV commercials are no match for the archair remote maestro or the TiVo whiz. As we all have read, the web has made us into hyper-channel flippers.

Annoying ad, close window. Annoying ad but need content, switch windows and surf until the antics on the "advertiser's dream page" expire.
posted by fooljay at 5:56 PM on June 9, 2001