Adorama Ad Intrusion

[Norma Desmond]

The new Adorama ad, the page that is now forever opening and closing in the upper right hand third of all PN pages,

is obnoxious, distracting, and intrusive.

 

I am happy if their advertising is providing needed funds to keep this wonderful site going.

 

And, if they are a good company, I am happy if they are getting exposure.

 

I won't, however, support them due to the obnoxiousness of their intrusive presence. That's the only tool I have with

which to express my distaste for their advertising overkill. I am happy to support advertisers on sites I frequent, but

not when they interfere with my enjoyment of and successful usage of the site. On PN, adorama is simply in the

way . . . all the time.

 

It is ironic that a site geared to visual excellence and creativity would include something so antithetical to its own

purpose, defeating any sense of visual decorum otherwise achieved by the ordered and clean presentation PN is

providing.

[Matt Laur]

I've already mentally mapped that Adorama corner land-mine ad out of my sight when looking at PN. I'm having a

little more trouble with pop-up layers (Circuit City, Care First Health Insurance, etc) that periodically cover the bottom

third of the page. That's a new format on me, for this site. We've seen those top-right corner peels before (Canon, I

think it was, last time). I've spent plenty of money with Adorama, and I'm all for PN getting a piece of the action... but

there are some boundaries it's sort of awkward to cross. The peel ad in the corner is one example of such, I think.

[frank_skomial]

You can configure your web browser and not allow this to happen to you. But you could as well stop things that you possibly want to see ?

[joshroot]

The peel ad is something that adorama wanted as part of the marketing push for this partnership. It will not be there forever, just for the first few weeks. Of course "voting with your feet" is a perfectly reasonable option for a consumer. All advertising, particularly noticeable advertising, carries the risk of creating annoyance as well as bringing attention. That is a risk every advertiser has to take.

 

But the fact is that we are lucky to have a photography focused company like adorama to partner with. Particularly in the economic times that we find ourselves right now. It is important to remember that ads pay for this site. Without that income, there would be no programmers, no staff, no new features and no improvements. Photo.net went through a number of years where it had very little in the way of advertising revenue. Anyone who has been here for more than a short while might remember those years, they were the ones where we had less than one full time programmer, nobody in my position answering email and fixing problems, and virtually nothing as far as site upgrades or new features. Subscription money alone can't make this site fly. There is a reason that just last spring did we move off of the servers that were bought years and years ago and onto new faster ones.

[joshroot]

<blockquote>I'm having a little more trouble with pop-up layers (Circuit City, Care First Health Insurance, etc)

that periodically cover the bottom third of the page. That's a new format on me, for this site</blockquote>

<p>

Matt,

<p>

I have heard a few reports about these ads, but I can't make them happen for me. I need help tracking them down

so I can look into where they are coming from. With the Adorama ad, I knew the deal with the peel ad and the fact

that it was soemthing we needed to do. I have not heard any such thing about any roll-over pop-up ads. And the

general rule I have laid down for PN advertising has always been "No pop-ups, pop-unders, talking ads or seizure

inducing ads."

<p>

So if people can help me by posting screenshots, giving URL's of where they are seeing these ads, and what

browser they are using, I would be very grateful.

[tampabaybrokers]

Just a personel observation , Adorama is a quality company I have made many purchases from them and have been happy with both the price and the items purchased ...But there ad can be annoying ...bust there balls when you call about an item ...maybe they will give you a deal ...Just my 2 cents ....

[Norma Desmond]

Josh--

 

I'm sure you realize that I wasn't questioning the need for advertising and I'm sure you noted that I, too, am thankful for the revenue that the ads may bring in to keep PN going. My problem is with the extreme intrusiveness of the ad, not with the ad itself or, in fact, the whole notion of advertising, which seems to keep the world going 'round. I am not hoping that they will stop advertising on PN. I am hoping they will realize that there are less obnoxious ways to get themselves visibility.

 

--Fred

[joshroot]

Fred,

 

I was actually just taking advantage of a good and valued user's well worded post to state some info for those users who don't know the score. So thanks for the opportunity.

[Norma Desmond]

My pleasure, Josh. Thanks for the followup.

[ronald_moravec1]

The Nikon ad and the banner across the top are ten times bigger. If I were to complain, which I am not, those would be second on the list. The real annoying one is the lens baby that keeps moving and is distracting. Worthless item anyway.

[helen_oster]

Josh

 

I don't know whether you've been in touch with our Marketing Department at Adorama? I have, & highlighted particularly Fred's complaint of yesterday.

 

I know you all recognize that these are hard times, and we are all scrambling for every opportunity to keep our respective corners up & running - and this partnership between Adorama & photo.net should be great for us all, particularly Adorama customers.

 

It's interesting that a number of users report that the peel covers the workspace button. It doesn't do that for me, but I admit to being irritated that when I was experimenting with how far I could pull it back, I was taken to the Adorama page, & couldn't just use my back button to get back to this page!

 

I do appreciate that for those of you that can't mentally block out the peel that it is annoying. If I can find out how long our Marketing Department had planned to leave the peel up, I'll re-post.

 

Helen Oster

Adorama Camera Customer Service Ambassador

[Norma Desmond]

Helen--

 

It does cover my workspace button and that is part of the annoyance. Thanks for following up.

 

--Fred

[dennisis]

Yes, not only do I find the advert intrusive, distracting and annoying but now it has extended itself to cover my workspace

button also and can only open Adorama's webpage which is a step too far. I am using Safari on a mac.

[mnelson]

I am getting random jumps to their site when I click on other things. Like if I click a person's name, it goes there. Or a photo link, it goes there. I stay away from that corner and it still takes me there. M

[joshroot]

<blockquote>but now it has extended itself to cover my workspace button</blockquote>

<p>

There are extra login and workspace links at the bottom of the page and under the "sharing" dropdown.<div></div>

[joshroot]

<blockquote>I am getting random jumps to their site when I click on other things. Like if I click a person's

name, it goes there. Or a photo link, it goes there. I stay away from that corner and it still takes me there.

M</blockquote>

<p>

What browser are you using? I have not heard of anyone else having this particular issue.

[mnelson]

Explorer 7. It may be lag from my page coming down and I click before it's finished? It's probaly just me. M

[lmcginnis]

<p>My 3 cents.  I find Adorama is a great supplier and pleasant to deal with.  I have purchased man

y things from there at affordable prices compared to other companies online.  However, I don't seem to have

the problem with the ad.  It didn't cover up anything when I come to th