Pop Ups In On-Line Articles
‘People Are Less Informed Today Than They Ever Have Been!’ said the headline of an article I tried to read before two ads and four videos got in the way. Two ads and four videos that had nothing to do with the article I was trying to read. You cannot read an article online without have to press X on about seven things. A recipe, a picture of a new rappers teeth, the stats of all the left turns made by every bus driver in San Francisco, stuff that has absolutely NOTHING to do with the article.
The way to get away from ads years ago was to read. You didn’t want to watch an episode of ‘Cops’ and have to see Cheez Whiz ads? Pick up ‘Cops: The Book’ and read about those shirtless backyard chases without having to see melted down plastic dyed orange be twirled in a jar. ‘Cops: The Book’ had no pop up ads. Just pop up man drunkingly tumbling through a bush. It wasn’t an assault on the senses. It was a jaunt through fun times.
Now to get around pop ups in articles, you have to subscribe to the paper of the article you’d like to read. Which how do they get you to do that? Another pop up. Try to read an article, get a bit into, you’re finding out that there is a dangerous cannibal in your city who is attacking people who wear…
‘SUBSCRIBE TO THE DAILY GUT PUNCH TO CONITUNE READING!’
Are you wearing what attracts the cannibal? Higher chance you’ll be eaten in rain boots or that Mets hat? Will cost you a dollar a week to find out. And it’s not as if that is a lot of money, but the subscription is the thing. Why do we have to subscribe to the whole thing? You can just buy A paper. You subscribed to the paper years ago if you didn’t want to put on your banana slippers and walk down to ‘Chucks Feed And Fill’. But if you DID want to show off those chiquita feet you could buy ONE paper. Just one. No subscriptions to anything. Why can’t this be done with articles? Let me buy this one I want to read for a penny, or ten cents or whatever. I don’t want to subscribe to everything here. Don’t need horoscopes or the editorial or the ‘Janices Love Hostel’ section. I want THIS article. The one about the cannibal guy eating people wearing certain things because I’m about to walk out the door in rain boots AND a Mets hat and will I be eaten?!
Or the paper WILL let you finish the cannibal article (guy eats people in plaid), and they’ll even let you finish that one about the new Air Fryer luggage (‘Fry While You Fly!’), but then you go back to read ANYTHING else, and there is another pop up letting you know you’ve reached your limit. You are allowed to read a certain amount of articles, which still have pop ups in them, before this ‘Subscribe’ pop up pops up. The site lets you know that you read two articles. They gave you a taste. NOW they want that twelve cents a day before you can have anything else. Fully 80’s street dealered you. Now? If you can’t even close the subscribe pop up to be given a video pop up to interrupt the article.
There were no videos playing in a newspaper. A video. A video! In the middle of an article that is for reading. Just a full movie starts to play in the center of it. Usually before that video starts playing it has an ad! An ad that plays before the video that you don’t want to see and have to close as is. Close the ad to close the video to finally be able to read that article about the health benefits of not taking your toaster into the tub with you. And there are a LOT of ads to videos to ads to close before you can know whether or not heating up that bagel while you bathe is a good idea.
Some articles are not even articles. You click on a headline, and it takes you RIGHT to a video. A video of a news piece or segment. Nothing to read. It’s an article to watch. Before the video article? An ad. During the video article? Pop ups about things not related to video article. Trying to read and now you’re watching something. When you open the book Jurassic Park it doesn’t start playing the movie. It should play the soundtrack, though.
People would have been less informed years ago as well if every time they went to read the newspaper or a book someone came up and starting singing a jingle in their face, or pushed a TV in between them and their paper, or interrupted to tell them that for just a dollar a month they could read this book as much as they wanted.
‘Liked chapter 2? Well you’ll LOVE what else the book has to offer! Just pay me once a quarter and you can fini…’
‘Will you get the hell out of my face, Steve!’
Please know I tried to put a ton of pop ups in this but sadly, Cheez Whiz is scared to run ads here.