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Pop-Up Ad Creator Apologizes

By - Source: Ethan Zuckerman | B 24 comments

Ethan Zuckerman, the creator of the pop-up advertisement, recently wrote an article for The Atlantic apologizing for the tech, saying that he was the one who wrote the code so that an ad can launch in a separate window. The intentions were good, but he acknowledged that pop-ups have become the most hated advertiser's tool on the Internet.

So why were pop-up ads created? It started when he was working for Tripod.com from 1994 to 1999. Tripod created a website to provide services and content to college graduates, but that didn't pan out, so it decided to become a webpage host instead. The company tried a number of ways to generate revenue, but in the end, it had to rely on advertising.

"The model that got us acquired was analyzing users' personal homepages so we could better target ads to them," he said. "Along the way, we ended up creating one of the most hated tools in the advertiser's toolkit: the pop-up ad."

He said that the pop-up ad was the result of a car company complaining that it had purchased a banner ad that was shown on a pornography site. By throwing the ad in a pop-up window, the source ad wouldn't be associated with the website's content. Ultimately, what he wanted to create was a tool for Tripod.com that allowed users to express themselves, a service that was supported through ads.

"Charging users for the service would have blocked most of our potential customers — most of the world still doesn't have a credit card today, and fewer did in 1995," he said. "E-payment systems like PayPal didn't come online until 1999. But because Tripod's services were free and ad supported, users around the world found us and began posting webpages they could not host elsewhere."

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Top Comments
  • 16 Hide
    caqde , August 15, 2014 1:01 PM
    Well I'm sure that if he decided not to make it back then someone else likely would have came up with the idea not to long afterwards..
Other Comments
  • 7 Hide
    ickibar1234 , August 15, 2014 12:41 PM
    Thankfully popup blockers is standard equipment on most browsers and with adblock plus it really nukes just about all of them. Adblock plus is available even for IE now
  • 16 Hide
    caqde , August 15, 2014 1:01 PM
    Well I'm sure that if he decided not to make it back then someone else likely would have came up with the idea not to long afterwards..
  • Display all 24 comments.
  • 2 Hide
    RCguitarist , August 15, 2014 1:29 PM
    Quote:
    Thankfully popup blockers is standard equipment on most browsers and with adblock plus it really nukes just about all of them. Adblock plus is available even for IE now


    Yes, adblock plus is a program from the heavens. I do however have it disabled on my most visited websites to that they can continue to get revenue off of ads...like Tom's.
  • 1 Hide
    kidneydone3 , August 15, 2014 2:09 PM
    The link to this article has "Ethan" misspelled as "Ehtan"
  • 2 Hide
    mouse24 , August 15, 2014 2:12 PM
    Quote:
    Quote:
    Thankfully popup blockers is standard equipment on most browsers and with adblock plus it really nukes just about all of them. Adblock plus is available even for IE now


    Yes, adblock plus is a program from the heavens. I do however have it disabled on my most visited websites to that they can continue to get revenue off of ads...like Tom's.


    I agree, for toms though some ads are REALLY intrusive so I have it customized to show all except the intrusive ones.
  • 4 Hide
    anthony8989 , August 15, 2014 3:39 PM
    Apology rejected.
  • 2 Hide
    thor220 , August 15, 2014 4:59 PM
    Quote:
    Quote:
    Quote:
    Thankfully popup blockers is standard equipment on most browsers and with adblock plus it really nukes just about all of them. Adblock plus is available even for IE now


    Yes, adblock plus is a program from the heavens. I do however have it disabled on my most visited websites to that they can continue to get revenue off of ads...like Tom's.


    I agree, for toms though some ads are REALLY intrusive so I have it customized to show all except the intrusive ones.


    This is actually a compound problem. The people who do disable it for websites they visit allot are often bombarded with a ton of ads while others who keep it on get no ads.

    I really think they need to impose standards to ads on websites so that ad block is no longer necessary and everyone can chip in to website revenue. It's a win win really. End user sees few adds while website revenue increases.
  • 3 Hide
    ingtar33 , August 15, 2014 5:21 PM
    i can't stay mad at ben franklin.
  • 2 Hide
    hoofhearted , August 15, 2014 5:29 PM
    Apologizing .... Cmon Please. If he was really sincere, then he would follow the way of the Samuri - Seppuku.
  • 3 Hide
    dstarr3 , August 15, 2014 8:37 PM
    The road to Hell is paved with good intentions.
  • 2 Hide
    belardo , August 15, 2014 11:38 PM
    If not this guy, someone else would have come up with the POP-UP AD.
    Here is the real kicker... various Anti-Pop-up programs came out.. (okay) then these jerks would re-write code the work around the Anti-PU, and do a pop-up?!

    Like take a fraggin hint! The person with the Anti-PU doesn't WANT POP UPS and won't buy from the add anyway!

    I use pop-up windows for my sites to show information, for which is was attended...
  • 3 Hide
    velocityg4 , August 16, 2014 4:28 AM
    Quote:
    Quote:
    Quote:
    Quote:
    Thankfully popup blockers is standard equipment on most browsers and with adblock plus it really nukes just about all of them. Adblock plus is available even for IE now


    Yes, adblock plus is a program from the heavens. I do however have it disabled on my most visited websites to that they can continue to get revenue off of ads...like Tom's.


    I agree, for toms though some ads are REALLY intrusive so I have it customized to show all except the intrusive ones.


    This is actually a compound problem. The people who do disable it for websites they visit allot are often bombarded with a ton of ads while others who keep it on get no ads.

    I really think they need to impose standards to ads on websites so that ad block is no longer necessary and everyone can chip in to website revenue. It's a win win really. End user sees few adds while website revenue increases.



    Like no Flashing or Flash, no video, no audio and none of those in window popups that cover the pages contents. Also no ads integrated into the content making it difficult to find the actual link. The worst offenders are on sites like Cnet downloads and Filehippo with fake links that say download.
  • 0 Hide
    Blazer1985 , August 16, 2014 7:28 AM
    Fair excuses.
    Uncanny but welcome.
    Chances are he is really a good person.
    Knowing how a technology will be applied is impossible.
    YOU are not the culprit.

    now read the capital letters.
  • 0 Hide
    boju , August 16, 2014 8:57 AM
    oi you just popped a rude word into my head Blaze1985.. But i'll forgive you this one time lol
  • 1 Hide
    thor220 , August 16, 2014 9:48 AM
    Quote:
    Quote:
    Quote:
    Quote:
    Quote:
    Thankfully popup blockers is standard equipment on most browsers and with adblock plus it really nukes just about all of them. Adblock plus is available even for IE now


    Yes, adblock plus is a program from the heavens. I do however have it disabled on my most visited websites to that they can continue to get revenue off of ads...like Tom's.


    I agree, for toms though some ads are REALLY intrusive so I have it customized to show all except the intrusive ones.


    This is actually a compound problem. The people who do disable it for websites they visit allot are often bombarded with a ton of ads while others who keep it on get no ads.

    I really think they need to impose standards to ads on websites so that ad block is no longer necessary and everyone can chip in to website revenue. It's a win win really. End user sees few adds while website revenue increases.



    Like no Flashing or Flash, no video, no audio and none of those in window popups that cover the pages contents. Also no ads integrated into the content making it difficult to find the actual link. The worst offenders are on sites like Cnet downloads and Filehippo with fake links that say download.


    Yes, those are all problem advertisement methods. The advertisers have to learn that there is a point where an ad turns into an annoyance and that's something you don't want your brand associated with.
  • 3 Hide
    jalek , August 16, 2014 4:24 PM
    The most hated for me are the inline ads that bring up unrelated garbage that match keywords. I first noticed how obnoxious they were on this very website.
  • 1 Hide
    gti88 , August 16, 2014 11:14 PM
    I couldn't open the article until I disabled the "Anti-banner" module in the Kaspersky Firewall.
    Because the article has "pop-up-advertisement" in its' title
    ))
  • 1 Hide
    Villers , August 17, 2014 2:46 PM
    Thought this was an apology from the person who made the huge popup that covered Toms Hardware every time I tried to access it from my nexus tablet. I Couldn't access the site for a month until I installed adblock.
  • 0 Hide
    bin1127 , August 17, 2014 11:17 PM
    Two Zuckers, how different are their ultimate fates. Both created content for college students, one was deeply reviled for their technology and the other is ... so okay they weren't that different after all.
  • 1 Hide
    gibbousmoon100 , August 17, 2014 11:21 PM
    Yup, I installed adblocker on my phone BECAUSE of Tom's. I would happily tolerate ads that are not obnoxious. Now, instead, I look at NONE of your ads. Well done.
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