Do ads ever scare you away from a site?

[ses5909]

When you come upon a blog have you ever been so turned off, you left?

Was it the placement? Was it that there were too many?

[t(-.-t)]

Placement and number have turned me away before actually. If I see a block of 4 ads in an area normally reserved for feature articles for example, I tend to be a lot more wary of the site and its content.

[Jeremy]

If the ads get in the way of easily reading the content that can certainly be a turnoff. As long as I can begin reading a post from beginning to end without much fuss I'm fine with it. The only other thing that can really bother me are very flashy, animated or those ads that float across the screen. Generally not an issue on blogs, but I hate those. :mad:

[MrSpooky]

I use AdBlock Plus, so I never see them :)

[Dan Schulz]

I use Opera along with the AdBlock.css user stylesheet, so I don't see them either. HOWEVER, I am not some "content stealing thief" as some "evangelists" claim - if I like the site in question, and I find out it's being supported by ads, I'll GLADLY turn off the adblock.css file for that site (Edit Site Preferences is a God-send).

[HAWK]

I don't even notice them. I never click ads, so they don't work for me, but I am also not bothered by them.

[Jeremy]

Dan is a content stealing thief! :D

[Dan Schulz]

Don't make me pull the sporks out of storage. :p

[country-writer]

What I hate are the new triple underlined ads that are appearing in some of my articles online.:mad: Thankfully, I haven't seen them in blogs (probably only a matter of time)

[BPartch]

I hate ads that float into the center of the screen and want me to click an X to close it,. I usually browse away from them instead.

Also ads that are placed in spots (whitespace) like, right below drop menus are sometimes annoying as I accidentally click them. I guess that is just strategy but seems to me to be shady. Ads should be clicked on the merit of the ads content, not because it is in a high click area of the screen.

[HAWK]

Also ads that are placed in spots (whitespace) like, right below drop menus are sometimes annoying as I accidentally click them. On a related subject... I always get gotten by the SP home link in the whitespace between the header logo and the search box. I use it by force of habit to click to change focus. It's SO annoying.

[BPartch]

Yes I always use whitespace to change focus and that is when these ads ususally get me.

I too have been gotten by that exact same area. They should make the logo less wide over there.

[Dan Schulz]

They should just replace the H1 heading and put an actual image in there. Would solve the problem quite nicely. :)

[Jelena]

I'm usually not bothered with ads. When I like the post or site, I would click some to support the site, however, if the site is mainly there for ads, I walk away.

[LiquidReflex]

I don't get scared away from them but they can sometimes drive me away. The one thing that will make me leave a site and never come back is a blog that is obviously just up for some advertising revenue. That trend became too popular: "ooh, I'll start a blog, put up some ads and make some money off it"! If I'm visiting your blog, I want to read your content, not try to make some money for you. As others have stated, if I want to support the site because I do like the content, I'll click on an ad or two, but you better reel me in with some good writing before plastering your site with ads ... otherwise I walk.

[lilmissjenny]

I have a couple ads on my site, but I try to keep them un-noticable. But I have been turned away from sites before because of ads. Some sites just have way to many it's hard to find the content.

[xxJoyfulxx]

Nah, ads don't bother me, I understand the purpose and I just don't click on them. Sometimes the placement annoys me, but not enough to leave if the content is something I'm interested in.
I do hate popups though, and the floating ads. Those just piss me off.

[Kristie]

I hate ads that float into the center of the screen and want me to click an X to close it,. I usually browse away from them instead.
^Gross! You poor thing!

I don't think I've ever come across a blog with ads like that, but if I ever do, I'll be getting the hell out of there! I HATE intrusive ads, but luckily for me, the sites I frequent don't have a lot of ads, and if they do, it's usually just text links off to the side and away from the content.

[Selkirk]

There is one guy who drives me absolutely nuts. He was in one aggregated feed I subscribed to and he wrote good headlines. I finally had to unsubscribe from the aggregated feed. He would take a 5 paragraph post and paginate it out to 3 pages. Then, he would have inline ads in his paltry content, surrounded by even more ads across the top and bottom of the post and in the sidebars. It was insane.

[aussietico]

I hate blogs that have more ads than substance. They're ridiculously easy to spot - the common 'flavour' seems to be the google ad keyword bar where menus used to be followed by a 300x300 block where content used to be.

They don't scare me away as such but they do irritate me. I bottle the rage though. Bottle it where it festers.

[elfreakz]

i have no problem with ads.. as long as they arrange it nicely. I click on the X button if the blog and ads are all around the place... yaiks! hate that ugly blog.

[ablaye]

When you come upon a blog have you ever been so turned off, you left?

Was it the placement? Was it that there were too many?

When there are too many ads and the ads are embedded in the blog article itself, it truly makes me not want to read the article.
I don't mind ads on the side, or on the header, anywhere but the main content section.

[deronsizemore]

I don't mind ads to much, as I don't see them either like others here.

I guess they are a necessary evil when so many people are making money online using ads, others think they can just start a site and plaster it with ads and make a million in a few days, that's what happens. If a site looks good and the ads are out of the way of the main content for the most part I'm fine, but if it gets to bad and I know that the site I'm on is basically a high end MFA blog, I usually don't stay long.

[jlee]

Absolutely. I have turned away from many sites because ads were either all over the place, or were in places that were a turn off (every post) or because someone participated in sponsored posts/blogging and that's ALL they did and some of the really lovely sites did a combination of the three.

[rhyswynne]

I think I have become ad blind, so I don't see them, probably why I allow them on my blog, though I try to blend them. Though Firefox is a wonderous thing.

[goldfries]

i hate blogs that look more like an ADS site than a BLOG.

i don't turn away at first sight, but i usually don't go back.

[Cedric]

Erm I have no issues with ads all over the page, just gimme a nice content so that I can sit and digest that post. Even if that blog has no ads and the contents are as boring as hell, screw it, I'm not going back.

[dojo]

I kinda ignore the ads myself, but I am annoyed when I cannot read the comments and content from all the advertising. I KNOW we have to earn something too, but if the advertising campaigns are too many and into my face I just leave

[Christina]

If a site has a pop-up ad or a lot of ads I automatically leave.

[pbradish]

^ I'm the same way.

If only more webmasters would realize that a larger quantity of ads plastered all over their page rarely converts into more income. In fact, it's usually the exact opposite.

[Calypso]

I'm not scared off by ads. However, it's really rare for me to click on an ad, either. Mostly, I just ignore them.

[samwoodfin]

I'm only bothered by certain types of ads. The really intrusive ones (which I don't really see much of with NoScript), the ones that slow the page down too much, anything that hangs Firefox, and the questionable-content ones.

I actually like it if a blog had a pretty add or two, and if I see one that sounds interesting, I'll click on it.

[doorlight]

I don't like ads, I don't click on them.

[aquariancore]

Floating out And I just click off. Can 't stand them And don't respect any one that has them.