Spam with jam

The Golden Age of Advertising

It was so disappointing to re-visit a website that I have previously found interesting, only to find it has sold its soul to the God of ClickThrough.

Gosh, I hope I don't lose too many friends for saying this.  I mean, I'm not anti advertising per se.  Nor am I against people taking advantage of the opportunity to earn a crust any way they can.  But oh, dearie me, I am getting so sick of having to wade through the bombardment.

As a matter of fact, my personal preference here is to avoid websites and blogs that have advertising.  Well, of course, there are commercial sites, and you obviously expect them to be promoting their goods and services.  That's not what I mean.

And then there are the sites whose primary purpose purports to be information, or community, or some such.  The site I mentioned in my first sentence is one such site.  Or should I say "was"?  Technical articles, mainly, which are now distastefully arranged amongst the rubbish.

I have heard it said that there's no such thing as a free lunch, that someone has to pay.  Well, all I know is that there are still plenty of great websites and blogs whose owners seem willing to provide via the "give & take" system.

I have heard it said that it is easy to turn a blind eye to the advertising, and just focus on the worthwhile content.  I don't know, maybe my own avoidance of advertising in other media as well (no TV, no newspapers, etc) means I haven't been sufficiently desensitised by over-exposure.

Here's what I don't understand... How is it different from spam?  I go to the internet to find some information, and scattered in amongst it are multiple unsolicited attempts to entice my attention to stuff I do not want or need, and which I was not seeking.  This stuff within my browsing experience is just as objectionable as this stuff within my email experience, and as best I can, I treat it the same way - ignore, avoid, delete.

It seems that the trend is for the role of internet advertising to be gaining in prominence.  I wonder how long this will continue.

Tags: internet, community, weblogs, information

Powered by Qumana