September 2, 2001

11:32 PM

ASAP!or A Stand Against Pop-under ads! is a cause started by Joe Jenett of CoolSTOP fame that you can support if you are tired of all those annoying pop-under ads on the web. To quote Joe, "... we shouldn't have to spend our time defending ourselves from their obnoxious attempt to take control of our browsers and desktops." I couldn't agree more.
posted by Firda (12 comments total)

Posting icons on web pages in protest is a largely futile way of dealing with the problem. Advertisers already know that we hate them; this isn't news.
posted by Steven Den Beste at 1:09 AM on September 3, 2001

Actually, I'm a bit surprised that the X10 offices are still standing. You'd think that of all the irritated users out there, someone would be, er, unstable enough to actually go and trash the place.

Maybe they just move around a lot.
posted by Poagao at 1:18 AM on September 3, 2001

I would rather read good content and pay the price of advertising than read something boring with no ads. The rare combination is the site I'm using right now, and maybe a couple others.

They are certainly annoying, and I can honestly say I have never clicked on a single one-- and I am an online shopper with some disposable income. Pop-ups and the like are just stopgaps until they can find more engaging advertising. I really hope that doesn't mean something that takes control of my browser or experience, because that would run contrary to the entire experience I desire when I go online: control, command, choice.
posted by chaz at 1:35 AM on September 3, 2001

Just use Pop-Up Stopper. It's the greatest thing. Lightweight, unobtrusive, free. Hold down shift or control whenever you want a window to actually open. Ta-da.
posted by frenetic at 2:45 AM on September 3, 2001

I suggest you download PopNot. This program actually gets rid of popups before they are able to appear. I'm guessing it scans the html for them. Its doing a great job so far!
posted by jif at 5:46 AM on September 3, 2001

Does anyone know of a Netscape-compatible pop-up stopper? I can't bring myself to use IE!
posted by apollo at 8:14 AM on September 3, 2001

I find it funny that a guy bitching about pop-under ads has no problem doing a redirect on his site that disables a user's back button.

Anyway, another simple way to stop this is just to get a decent web browser. I use Opera at home on my Mac, which has a setting to prevent new browser windows from opening. That way I don't even have to expend the effort of getting a pop-up stopper. Several of the Linux browsers have this as well.
posted by web-goddess at 8:30 AM on September 3, 2001

What I really hate is when a site includes a pop-up ad, which you close, so it then shoots up another pop-up ad, which you close, and then yet another pop-up ad appears. It makes you never want to go back to that site again.
posted by wondergirl at 9:57 AM on September 3, 2001

you probably missed the thread http://www.metafilter.com/comments.mefi/8024

Every OS I know of has a file like this that your computer uses to resolve domain names. The order to resolve what IP to use for a domain name goes something like this: Hosts* file----[Proxy]/DNserver1,DNserver2...---[otherDNservers]-----authoritativeDNserver. You can create, modify, and maintain the Hosts plain text file with minimal effort to block hosts that send unwanted ads saving bandwidth without additional cpu cycles etc. Details for UNIX/BSD/OS X/Linux/Solaris, Win, BeOS, MacOS found here. My personal Hosts file for Windows is here. If you need more assistance email me via my profile. I still can't figure out the syntax to loopback subdirectories of a domain--it might not be possible.
posted by greyscale at 12:24 PM on September 3, 2001

Does anyone know of a Netscape-compatible pop-up stopper?

For windows users, Icon Laboratories's Surf In Peace is both Netscape 4+ and IE 4+ compatable.
posted by iceberg273 at 4:37 AM on September 4, 2001

Does anyone know of a Netscape-compatible pop-up stopper?

For windows users, Icon Laboratories's Surf In Peace is both Netscape 4+ and IE 4+ compatable.
posted by iceberg273 at 4:41 AM on September 4, 2001

this will have all the effectiveness of placing a banner on your site demanding an end to spam.

spammers don't give a damn, and neither will the pop up/under ad culprits.
posted by bwg at 9:02 AM on September 6, 2001