Post by: Jonnyboy117 on October 26, 2005, 06:24:40 AM
Most of you have probably seen those green, double-underlined contextual links on other websites. Now they're on PGC too, and they work exactly the same way. These links are activated by software called IntelliTXT, which scans the pages after they load and creates links for certain words that match up with sales offers. So it's a form of advertising, not unlike Google AdSense, banners, and other types already seen on PGC. IntelliTXT is a bit more invasive since the links are located within the content, but it doesn't take up any extra space or flash different colors or play obnoxious sounds through your speakers. And it's completely safe. From the IntelliTXT website:
- IntelliTXT is not downloaded to your computer.
- IntelliTXT does not upload personally identifiable information from your computer.
- IntelliTXT does not collect or store any personally identifiable user information.
Our programmer, Brendan Gallagher (Gahiggidy), has worked hard over the past few days to set up IntelliTXT so that it works properly with our unusual website structure. He has also tried to exclude IntelliTXT from the main page, content listing pages, and other pages which we feel would be inappropriate for this form of advertising. If you find IntelliTXT to be interfering with normal links or slowing down the site, please contact Brendan via the Staff page and give him specific information about the incident.
As you know, PGC operates on a shoestring budget because we're not doing this to make money. The site has considerable expenses for this great WebCore dedicated server, and we support ourselves fully through these various forms of advertising. By exploring new advertising opportunities such as IntelliTXT, we hope to upgrade our capabilities to give you more and better content, including media, in the near future.
Post by: sycomonkey on October 26, 2005, 07:45:21 AM
You guys are evil for inflicting that crap on the ad-prone. Just so you know.
Post by: KDR_11k on October 26, 2005, 07:51:29 AM
.
Post by: Artimus on October 26, 2005, 08:24:06 AM
Post by: ShyGuy on October 26, 2005, 08:34:35 AM
You guys must use a lot of bandwidth to require a dedicated server.
Post by: Artimus on October 26, 2005, 08:42:23 AM
Post by: Ian Sane on October 26, 2005, 08:42:51 AM
Would anyone tolerate ads that came up in the middle of a TV show and obstructed the screen or ads that came on in the middle of a song on the radio? NO! So why do internet advertisers think all this annoying bullsh!t is such a great idea?
Post by: vudu on October 26, 2005, 09:01:29 AM
Post by: wandering on October 26, 2005, 01:00:54 PM
What's really annoying me right now are the pop-up ads that manage to get through firefox's adblock.
Post by: MarioAllStar on October 26, 2005, 01:38:13 PM
Post by: KnowsNothing on October 26, 2005, 02:06:14 PM
Adblock works perfectly for me though, I haven't gotten a popup or flash-ad in a very long time, and on the rare occasion that I do, I just enter in "*[advertisment host]*" and it blocks everything from them till the end of time.
Post by: ShyGuy on October 26, 2005, 02:12:56 PM
Post by: Plugabugz on October 26, 2005, 02:49:13 PM
Quote
Originally posted by: Ian Sane
Would anyone tolerate ads that came up in the middle of a TV show and obstructed the screen or ads that came on in the middle of a song on the radio? NO! So why do internet advertisers think all this annoying bullsh!t is such a great idea?
No, yet it happened here on Channel Five. In-programme advertising started on there and was trialled for one evening before it got pulled due to the uproar. Plus doing that is banned in the UK anyway.
Post by: MarioAllStar on October 26, 2005, 03:46:45 PM
Edit: Filterset G is a list of websites/objects that are commonly the source of ads. You can download and import this text file into Flashblock or you can use this extension for automatic updates. The homepage is here.
Post by: UncleBob on October 26, 2005, 04:02:53 PM
Post by: Jonnyboy117 on October 26, 2005, 04:18:25 PM
I don't understand the comparison between IntelliTXT and the pop-up ads. IntelliTXT doesn't obscure your view, and there's virtually zero chance of you accidentally clicking on a green link. Believe it or not, about 1% of people who see these things do click on them, presumably on purpose, and that's how we get paid.
Post by: Jonnyboy117 on October 26, 2005, 04:23:27 PM
Quote
Originally posted by: Ian Sane
Would anyone tolerate ads that came up in the middle of a TV show and obstructed the screen or ads that came on in the middle of a song on the radio? NO! So why do internet advertisers think all this annoying bullsh!t is such a great idea?
Ian, I hope you keep a close watch on your blood pressure.
Television has the most obtrusive advertising of any medium I can think of, other than NASCAR. The online analogy to TV would be if two-minute interstitial ad pages interrupted your browsing, about three or four every half hour. AND television has the same contextual advertising that the Internet does, with product placement all over the place and sponsored features in everything from SNL's music performances to the end-of-quarter stat boxes in college football games.
Post by: vudu on October 26, 2005, 04:43:53 PM
QuoteActually, when they first appeared on GameSpy I used to click them because I thought they were links to something I cared about. For example, if they were talking about Resident Evil 4 in some random article, I thought clicking on the link would bring me to the GameSpy review or something of that nature. It took a couple trys to figure out what was going on. I never said I was bright. Perhaps that's just because they were green and GameSpy's color-scheme is green.
IntelliTXT doesn't obscure your view, and there's virtually zero chance of you accidentally clicking on a green link.
EDIT: Just for the heck of it, I tried turning off IntelliTXT using Jonny's cookie method. Either I'm dumb, or the 'turn off cookie' option isn't where he said it was. I'm not ruling out either possibility.
Post by: NinGurl69 *huggles on October 26, 2005, 05:14:44 PM
Post by: Nephilim on October 26, 2005, 05:35:34 PM
I havnt seen a green link yet and I thank god
Post by: tForce on October 26, 2005, 05:38:11 PM
Post by: couchmonkey on October 26, 2005, 05:41:55 PM
TV has started getting it's share of ads that actually cover the show while you're watching it, and I hate them with a passion. Most of the time I find advertising on the internet to be the least intrusive, but maybe that's because I surf this site at work (bad boy) and the same program that blocks cars, pr0n and other entertainment related sites also handily blocks out ads.
Post by: KnowsNothing on October 26, 2005, 05:44:55 PM
Post by: vudu on October 26, 2005, 06:21:27 PM
QuoteYou really don't think this is intrusive? There are seven links in two paragraphs, five in the first paragraph alone. That's annoying. Especially with the double underlined text.
Originally posted by: tForce
I don't get the complaints. I'm all for IntelliTXT as an alternative to pop up ads. It's not intrusive in the slightest.
Post by: Artimus on October 26, 2005, 06:25:58 PM
Quote
Originally posted by: vuduQuoteYou really don't think this is intrusive? There are seven links in two paragraphs, five in the first paragraph alone. That's annoying. Especially with the double underlined text.
Originally posted by: tForce
I don't get the complaints. I'm all for IntelliTXT as an alternative to pop up ads. It's not intrusive in the slightest.
Would you rather pay a fee to read that article?
Post by: NinGurl69 *huggles on October 26, 2005, 06:41:09 PM
Post by: Jonnyboy117 on October 26, 2005, 06:48:34 PM
Quote
Originally posted by: vuduQuoteYou really don't think this is intrusive? There are seven links in two paragraphs, five in the first paragraph alone. That's annoying. Especially with the double underlined text.
Originally posted by: tForce
I don't get the complaints. I'm all for IntelliTXT as an alternative to pop up ads. It's not intrusive in the slightest.
It's definitely intrusive...but it's not obstructive. It doesn't get in the way of you reading the site just like you always have.
Post by: Jonnyboy117 on October 26, 2005, 06:53:36 PM
Quote
Originally posted by: vudu
EDIT: Just for the heck of it, I tried turning off IntelliTXT using Jonny's cookie method. Either I'm dumb, or the 'turn off cookie' option isn't where he said it was. I'm not ruling out either possibility.
You're not dumb, I am. That option has to be enabled on our end before you can use it; I thought it was available by default, but it's not. I've requested that it be turned on, so you should be able to use it sometime on Thursday.
Post by: Arbok on October 26, 2005, 07:11:31 PM
Quote
Originally posted by: vudu
Just for the heck of it, I tried turning off IntelliTXT using Jonny's cookie method. Either I'm dumb, or the 'turn off cookie' option isn't where he said it was. I'm not ruling out either possibility.
Try using Firefox's Adblock, and insert this into the program: *intellitxt.com*
That should stop them, or at least it works for me.
Post by: RABicle on October 27, 2005, 01:44:53 AM
Maybe my computer is too fistworthy for these.
Post by: Infernal Monkey on October 27, 2005, 03:04:58 AM
Quote
Originally posted by: Ian Sane
Would anyone tolerate ads that came up in the middle of a TV show and obstructed the screen
They've been doing that for years.
Post by: vudu on October 27, 2005, 03:07:07 AM
QuoteYeah, okay .... I meant obtrusive. I think tForce did, too.
It's definitely intrusive...but it's not obstructive. It doesn't get in the way of you reading the site just like you always have.
Post by: vudu on October 27, 2005, 03:37:50 AM
I'm picturing something like what they use at imdb.com where on any review there's a link to where you can purchase the game from amazon.com. It seems like a better way to increase revenue.
BTW, I really will import Osu! Tatakae! Ouendan one of these days. And you can bet I'll do it with PGC as the referring site.
Post by: Karl Castaneda #2 on October 27, 2005, 05:42:34 AM
Post by: miedo on October 27, 2005, 03:18:25 PM
Quote
Originally posted by: ViewtifulGamer
Guys, we realize that it takes a little getting used to if you can't just block it altogether, but try to look on the bright side. With this in place, we'll be able to do more with the site, which of course, means more for you. And vudu, you fail; I was able to read through your post with zero problems of being annoyed. This is completely an aesthetic issue - the content, nor your experience, will suffer.
We are not important. We are mindless little robots and this is our forum to go and "bitch about everything."
Although those ads that decide to pop-up right when you are clicking a link is too annoying. Helpful to the site or not, I make it a habit of paging through PGC quickly because of those damned ads. Same with Gamespot and IGN and yeah every site. I do love the intellitxt, as it never annoys me like these other ads do.
Post by: nickmitch on October 27, 2005, 04:26:57 PM
Quote
Originally posted by: Infernal MonkeyQuote
Originally posted by: Ian Sane
Would anyone tolerate ads that came up in the middle of a TV show and obstructed the screen
They've been doing that for years.
No, they haven't. What Ian is referring to is having a crappy singing old navy commercial comming up on the screen in the middle of a show like it was a damn breaking headline. Just imagine you're watching you're favorite show, then you hear that annoying buzz noise and no your looking at the show in a fourth of your screen. Now, instead of hearing, "Terrible blizzard is comming!" or, "Bomb goes off a local school," you get, "DRINK PEPSI BITCH!" Now, you've been distracted and the drama of tension of the show is ruined, so naturally, you get up and grab a coke.
Post by: KnowsNothing on October 27, 2005, 04:39:24 PM
It towards the end of the show. Commercial break. You get back, they show a two minute ending. Commercial break. The show comes on but WAIT, it's only the credits. Commercial break. Watch the opening to another show. Commercial break.
It's ridiculous and you can't block and them or skip them. The internet is paradise compared to that.
Post by: UncleBob on October 27, 2005, 07:18:05 PM
Post by: Pryopizm on October 27, 2005, 08:54:27 PM
Quote
Originally posted by: UncleBob
You know, it's funny. "Local" radio station programming is getting scared because of XM/Sirus's Commerical free programing and the number of people that are flocking to it...
Yeah, and they're paying for it in subscription fees (not to mention the cost of the receivers themselves). You either pay by tolerating ads, or you pay with your own cash.
Also, if you wanted to say, "Yeah, but we pay to get access to the internet!" (Which is a poor argument, anyway) There are many stations on XM that you have to pay a premium fee in order to listen.
Post by: Jonnyboy117 on October 27, 2005, 10:39:02 PM
Post by: Infernal Monkey on October 28, 2005, 03:15:00 AM
Quote
Originally posted by: TVman
No, they haven't. What Ian is referring to is having a crappy singing old navy commercial comming up on the screen in the middle of a show like it was a damn breaking headline. Just imagine you're watching you're favorite show, then you hear that annoying buzz noise and no your looking at the show in a fourth of your screen. Now, instead of hearing, "Terrible blizzard is comming!" or, "Bomb goes off a local school," you get, "DRINK PEPSI BITCH!" Now, you've been distracted and the drama of tension of the show is ruined, so naturally, you get up and grab a coke.
Like I said, they've been doing that for years.
Post by: UncleBob on October 28, 2005, 03:31:23 AM
Umm... the only station you have to pay extra for is the Playboy Channel. All other channels are included for the $12.95 monthly fee.
And really, who wants the Playboy Channel?
Post by: tForce on October 28, 2005, 04:12:43 AM
Back on topic... Intellitxt is hardly the same as TV commericals. Anyway, if you really don't want them, turn off CSS page stylings. Bye bye links. Unless you're some tool that just has to click on those emails that say "Sarah wants you to watch her! Click here to view her and her hot friends now!" and then ACTUALLY expect the girl to really want to get to know you... I don't think it will mess with your ability to view PGC.
Post by: Toruresu on October 28, 2005, 06:36:51 AM
Its really that easy.
Post by: KDR_11k on October 28, 2005, 06:41:35 AM
Post by: Pryopizm on October 28, 2005, 07:22:26 AM
Quote
Originally posted by: UncleBob
>There are many stations on XM that you have to pay a premium fee in order to listen.
Umm... the only station you have to pay extra for is the Playboy Channel. All other channels are included for the $12.95 monthly fee.
And really, who wants the Playboy Channel?
You got me there. It used to be that Channel 202 was at a premium due to the explicit content. I guess they freed it up.
Post by: Jonnyboy117 on October 30, 2005, 09:19:25 AM
Quote
Originally posted by: tForce
Anyway, if you really don't want them, turn off CSS page stylings. Bye bye links.
I would recommend finding another way. We are doing some experiments with CSS that may allow us to recode the site with all style information contained in CSS. It would load faster and make it easier for us to make changes to the layout.
The feature to turn off IntelliTXT with a cookie should now be available. Just hover over a green link, click "What's This?" and look at the bottom of that page.
Post by: Karl Castaneda #2 on October 30, 2005, 10:19:06 AM
Post by: Jonnyboy117 on November 02, 2005, 06:00:47 AM
