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1.  

   News flash: 1999 is over!

   

   Advertising Mgr, Apr 30th, 2003 @ 1:07pm

   
   

   Look, people need to realize that the free ride is over on the Internet, and folks are going to have to start either paying for content or accepting the fact of more dynamic advertising. That's just the way it is, folks. No such thing as a free lunch!

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2.  

   No Subject Given

   

   Joe Schmoe, Apr 30th, 2003 @ 1:25pm

   
   

   Oh, don't give me that biased crap. The internet has been around long enough to have collapsed in on itself [for this reason] several times over by now.

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3.  

   Re: News flash: 1999 is over!

   

   Mike (profile), Apr 30th, 2003 @ 1:43pm

   
   

   Look, people need to realize that the free ride is over on the Internet, and folks are going to have to start either paying for content or accepting the fact of more dynamic advertising. That's just the way it is, folks. No such thing as a free lunch!
   
   Why is this so? You can't think of more creative business models? If a business model involves pissing people off, then it open up an opportunity for someone else to come in and offer a non-pissing-people-off business model.
   
   Look at Techdirt, for instance. We don't offer advertising. Yet, we're self-sufficient, because we came up with a business model that works.
   
   Why is it that people can't get their head around the idea that "free" content acts as promotional material for other things?
   
   Why also can't people get their head around the idea that intrusive advertising isn't good for anyone. It's annoying for the user, and unlikely to sell them on a product. I have nothing against non-intrusive, well-targeted advertising, like those found on Google.
   
   I'm not asking for a "free lunch". I'm just saying companies should be (and can be) more creative in their business models.

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4.  

   blah

   

   dr_stein, Apr 30th, 2003 @ 2:25pm

   
   

   What's annoying is the fact that advertising execs have noticed that *people are fed up with ads* but they're unable to think beyond "Bigger is better." Larger ads are not going to sell more product. What is going to happen is that people will attempt to read an article only to be interrupted by a full screen flashing, noisy advertisement that they didn't expect. Is that a good thing? Does that give a good impression of the product? No, because the comsumer will think "Oh yeah, that's the stupid ad that came up while I was trying to read."
   
   I know it's not 1999, but there really are better ways to generate revenue rather than blasting ads between page views. Especially when you *know* that it's going to be abused. They said that it'd be between pages on multi page articles. Haven't you seen web
   sites that do
   stuff like this.
   You know,
   cramming the
   article text on
   the side so they
   can fill up the
   ..rest of the page with ads?
   

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5.  

   Re: News flash: 1999 is over!

   

   Jim, Apr 30th, 2003 @ 2:49pm

   
   

   what is your business model Mike?
   
   jim

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6.  

   Re: News flash: 1999 is over!

   

   Anonymous Coward, Apr 30th, 2003 @ 2:59pm

   
   

   For some small sites, coming up with alternative business models is just not possible. I'm not saying that for every case, but sometimes sites with niche content just have no alternative than to show ads to cover their costs. If we're willing to accept this fact, webmasters have to run ads that are paying. Unforuntately right now a lot those ads are of the "annoying" type. I've started to see a shift in advertising though away from annoying pop/interstitial style ads to more integrated and non-intrusive branding style ads lately, so hopefully that trend will continue for both users and webmasters sakes.

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7.  

   Re: News flash: 1999 is over!

   

   Patrick, Apr 30th, 2003 @ 3:05pm

   
   

   1999? How about 1994? Does any one else have fond memories of the idyllic pre-.com(mercial) cyber-scenery? The days when you could actually obtain valuable info through usenet, before those generously providing their time became fed up with spamming, flaming, and lazy, no-FAQ-reading newbies? Before open SMTP relays became a problem? I'm sick of these new attitudes on the internet today, where every one's just out to make a buck. TGOS--Thank God for Open Source, the last remnant of the original internet ideals.
   
   BTW, back on the subject, I think the advertisers may be operating on the assumption that even annoying ads provide name and product recognition, and are therefore effective. Personally, I try to remember the perpetrators of annoying pop up ads and I refuse to patronize these businesses, even on the rare occasion the product or service advertised actually interests me.

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8.  

   Re: News flash: 1999 is over!

   

   Chris, Apr 30th, 2003 @ 4:32pm

   
   

   94? How about 96! It's not a coincidence that spam and clueless newbies became a big problem exactly whem AOL opened their door to the Internet.

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9.  

   Re: News flash: 1999 is over!

   

   Mike (profile), Apr 30th, 2003 @ 5:10pm

   
   

   what is your business model Mike?
   
   Perhaps I need to make this clearer on the site...
   
   Techdirt.com is a way of showing off our enterprise blogging work. We work with tech companies to make sure that, every day, they have all the news and analysis they need to better achieve their goals. We work with the companies to find out what they're most interested in, and then provide that information to them - nothing more, nothing less - in a great format (the blog) that makes it possible for them to archive the information, search and sort the information, and discuss and annotate the info.
   
   We've been in that business for a few years now, and Techdirt.com is just a way of demonstrating our skills.

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10.  

    Re: News flash: 1999 is over!

    

    oldguy, May 1st, 2003 @ 4:54am

    
    

    94? Usenet was useless by 94, it was pretty well unusable by 1990. The web was getting pretty sticky by the end of 1994 as well.

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