It starts...

[Dave]

http://www.tweaktown.com/supportus.html

"Hello,
I noticed that you're using an Ad blocker program to block our ads. We ask
you to please disable Ad blocker for our site. By doing this, you are
helping us to pay for the hosting cost and for the time and effort we put in
to this site. We strive to bring you quality reviews and news on the hottest
products. You will continue to see this message, if you do not disable the
Ad blocker.

Once you disabled the Ad blocker, please click here to go back to the
article.

If you are not using an Ad blocker and feel you received this as an error,
please contact website support via contact us.

Thank you for supporting us,

TweakTown Staff"

I found this while using the latest version of Mozilla Firefox with AdBlock
Plus. I was brushing up on current PC technology, including nvidia hybrid
sli and hybrid power. One of the articles I was trying to read is here:

http://www.tweaktown.com/news/9219/nvidia_hybrid_sli_am2_chipset_details/ind
ex.html

But I got automatically re-directed to the error screen listed above.
(please turn off ad blocker, or you can't read the article you were trying
to read)

Ok, so this is not a major world-ending everybody panic type situation. But
it's just plain WRONG. By Tweaktown's own reasoning, it is wrong.
Tweaktown is acting just like the ($A)*#_ scumbags who use the national DO
NOT CALL list to get phone numbers for cold call sales leads. The reasoning
seems to be....Gee, y'know, this guy doesn't want to buy anything, so I'm
going to deliberately PISS HIM OFF by calling him and interrupting his
dinner and wasting his time, trying to sell him something wicked expensive
and totally useless...

In the same way, Tweaktown apparently figures that someone who deliberately
BLOCKS ads must be the exact target audience that the ads are aimed at.
Somehow.

Hint to the clueless ****s at TweakTown...

If someone uses adblocker software, it's because they are NOT INTERESTED in
ads. Someone like that is not going to buy anything from your sponsors. So
the only reason to re-direct that person to a nag screen is just to PISS OFF
people who visit your web site. That is the only thing you accomplish.
Your sponsors will not benefit IN ANY MANNER from pissing off the people who
visit your ad site with ad blocker software enabled. -Dave

 

[John Doe]

Tweaktown is acting just like the ($A)*#_ scumbags who use the
national DO NOT CALL list to get phone numbers for cold call sales
leads. The reasoning seems to be....Gee, y'know, this guy doesn't
want to buy anything, so I'm going to deliberately PISS HIM OFF by
calling him and interrupting his dinner and wasting his time,
trying to sell him something wicked expensive and totally
useless...

Two words... caller ID.
More words. Lots of fun. Not only identifies the caller, but
remembers the caller thereby functioning as an answering machine.
And when I'm really bored or annoyed at something, I might even
choose to play with the spammers. Caller ID... don't stay home
without it.

 

[Paul]

http://www.tweaktown.com/supportus.html

"Hello,
I noticed that you're using an Ad blocker program to block our ads. We ask
you to please disable Ad blocker for our site. By doing this, you are
helping us to pay for the hosting cost and for the time and effort we put in
to this site. We strive to bring you quality reviews and news on the hottest
products. You will continue to see this message, if you do not disable the
Ad blocker.

Once you disabled the Ad blocker, please click here to go back to the
article.

If you are not using an Ad blocker and feel you received this as an error,
please contact website support via contact us.

Thank you for supporting us,

TweakTown Staff"

I found this while using the latest version of Mozilla Firefox with AdBlock
Plus. I was brushing up on current PC technology, including nvidia hybrid
sli and hybrid power. One of the articles I was trying to read is here:

http://www.tweaktown.com/news/9219/nvidia_hybrid_sli_am2_chipset_details/ind
ex.html

But I got automatically re-directed to the error screen listed above.
(please turn off ad blocker, or you can't read the article you were trying
to read)

Ok, so this is not a major world-ending everybody panic type situation. But
it's just plain WRONG. By Tweaktown's own reasoning, it is wrong.
Tweaktown is acting just like the ($A)*#_ scumbags who use the national DO
NOT CALL list to get phone numbers for cold call sales leads. The reasoning
seems to be....Gee, y'know, this guy doesn't want to buy anything, so I'm
going to deliberately PISS HIM OFF by calling him and interrupting his
dinner and wasting his time, trying to sell him something wicked expensive
and totally useless...

In the same way, Tweaktown apparently figures that someone who deliberately
BLOCKS ads must be the exact target audience that the ads are aimed at.
Somehow.

Hint to the clueless ****s at TweakTown...

If someone uses adblocker software, it's because they are NOT INTERESTED in
ads. Someone like that is not going to buy anything from your sponsors. So
the only reason to re-direct that person to a nag screen is just to PISS OFF
people who visit your web site. That is the only thing you accomplish.
Your sponsors will not benefit IN ANY MANNER from pissing off the people who
visit your ad site with ad blocker software enabled. -Dave

You can see the code in the page source... Specifically targeted to "abp".
Send the code to the Adblocker people, and ask for a workaround

*******
function detect_abp()
{

var AbpImage = document.createElement("IMG");
AbpImage.id = 'abp_detector';
AbpImage.src = '/textlink-ads.jpg';
AbpImage.style.width = '0px';
AbpImage.style.height = '0px';
AbpImage.style.top = '-1000px';
AbpImage.style.left = '-1000px';
document.body.appendChild(AbpImage);
hasABP = (document.getElementById('abp_detector').style.display == 'none');

var e = document.getElementsByTagName("iframe");
for (var i = 0; i < e.length; i++)
{
if(e.clientHeight == 0)
{
hasABP = true;
yes++;
}
}
x = yes / i;
if (x >= .04)
//if(hasABP == true)
{
history.go(1);
location = "http://www.tweaktown.com/supportus.html";
window.location(location);

}
/* if (yes != 0 ) {
x = yes / i;
var tag = document.getElementById('numtest');
if (tag.innerHTML) { tag.innerHTML = x; }
else if (tag.innerText) { tag.innerText = x; }
}*/
*******

HTH,
Paul

 

[Dave]

You can see the code in the page source... Specifically targeted to "abp".
Send the code to the Adblocker people, and ask for a workaround

*******
function detect_abp()
{

var AbpImage = document.createElement("IMG");
AbpImage.id = 'abp_detector';
AbpImage.src = '/textlink-ads.jpg';
AbpImage.style.width = '0px';
AbpImage.style.height = '0px';
AbpImage.style.top = '-1000px';
AbpImage.style.left = '-1000px';
document.body.appendChild(AbpImage);
hasABP = (document.getElementById('abp_detector').style.display ==
'none');

var e = document.getElementsByTagName("iframe");
for (var i = 0; i < e.length; i++)
{
if(e.clientHeight == 0)
{
hasABP = true;
yes++;
}
}
x = yes / i;
if (x >= .04)
//if(hasABP == true)
{
history.go(1);
location = "http://www.tweaktown.com/supportus.html";
window.location(location);

}
/* if (yes != 0 ) {
x = yes / i;
var tag = document.getElementById('numtest');
if (tag.innerHTML) { tag.innerHTML = x; }
else if (tag.innerText) { tag.innerText = x; }
}*/
*******

HTH,
Paul

That's a great idea!!! Consider it done. On a side note, there are two
versions of the software I was using, last I checked. One was adblocker and
one was adblocker plus. Both work great, from personal experience. I
wonder if I downgraded to the original version to get rid of the "ABP", if
that would get past the tweaktown filter? -Dave

 

[Guest]

Ok, so this is not a major world-ending everybody panic type situation.
But
it's just plain WRONG. By Tweaktown's own reasoning, it is wrong.
Tweaktown is acting just like the ($A)*#_ scumbags who use the national DO
NOT CALL list to get phone numbers for cold call sales leads. The
reasoning
seems to be....Gee, y'know, this guy doesn't want to buy anything, so I'm
going to deliberately PISS HIM OFF by calling him and interrupting his
dinner and wasting his time, trying to sell him something wicked expensive
and totally useless...

In the same way, Tweaktown apparently figures that someone who
deliberately
BLOCKS ads must be the exact target audience that the ads are aimed at.
Somehow.

Hint to the clueless ****s at TweakTown...

If someone uses adblocker software, it's because they are NOT INTERESTED
in
ads.

Not necessarily true - some percentage of people will use ad-blockers (or
have ad-blockers placed for them by the owner of the computer) precisely
because they don't have the willpower to resist ads.

 

[The Real Bev]

Not necessarily true - some percentage of people will use ad-blockers (or
have ad-blockers placed for them by the owner of the computer) precisely
because they don't have the willpower to resist ads.

The fact that such people exist is terrifying.

 

[Rod Speed]

SpammersDie wrote:

The fact that such people exist is terrifying.

Only if you are very easily terrified.

 

[eye]

In this anarchistic madhouse, there is no such thing as "WRONG".

dont know why you smiled, , snipe, but you are on the right track,, just by making the
statement of knowing you are in a mad-house.

it isnt the house tho' snipe, cos' we all in the same one,, in fact, we are on the outside of it
floating in space.
what it really is, is the fact that humans in general are out of control, with the root of it being
'how they think'. and right now, the honest answer is the sheer fact that humans constantly
'think' how much better their lives would be if they had moneeeeee.... and this is also why
tweaktown are 'out there'..... they are just trying to get money;; just like starbucks, the
tyre fitter down the road, the vegeee shop on the corner,, and the moguls in tall buildings.

what your 'identity' problem is, snipe, is not noticing that all of this has been foretold,, and
becaus3e you dont realise what you are or what your purpose here is, .. then the more it
frustrates....... yes?

i have pointed you to the answer,, the one that will bring 'contentment' to your life, as oppossed
to constant ' frustration ',, use it at your will,, and any others here who chose to do the
same.
a man can have a million dollars, and still hate kittens....... another man can have nothing,
and yet love kittens,,,, who do you think is more content with himself?

cya

 

[Jon Danniken]

"The Real Bev"wrote:

The fact that such people exist is terrifying.

More like the fact that because such people exist, they keep down the cost
of consumer goods for those of us who don't consider shopping to be a sport.


Jon

 

[AllEmailDeletedImmediately]

http://www.tweaktown.com/supportus.html
snip

Hint to the clueless ****s at TweakTown...

If someone uses adblocker software, it's because they are NOT INTERESTED
in
ads. Someone like that is not going to buy anything from your sponsors.
So
the only reason to re-direct that person to a nag screen is just to PISS
OFF
people who visit your web site. That is the only thing you accomplish.
Your sponsors will not benefit IN ANY MANNER from pissing off the people
who
visit your ad site with ad blocker software enabled. -Dave

is this a popup blocker? or just one that won't show ads on the page?

 

[Dave]

is this a popup blocker? or just one that won't show ads on the page?

adblocker software extension for firefox

any web site you visit using the above (especially if you install the
filterset extension, also), 99% or more of ads simply will not be
hown. -Dave

 

[Same Guy]

Wed, 24 Sep 2008 15:18:32 GMT: written by "AllEmailDeletedImmediately"

is this a popup blocker? or just one that won't show ads on the page?

Won't shows ads on a page severed from specific servers that are listed
in a DB that is periodically updated.

--


UDP for Google Groups
http://improve-usenet.org/index.html
Petition your NewsAdmin today to block all posts from Google Groups

 

[Dennis M]

Hint to the clueless ****s at TweakTown...

If someone uses adblocker software, it's because they are NOT INTERESTED in
ads. Someone like that is not going to buy anything from your sponsors. So
the only reason to re-direct that person to a nag screen is just to PISS OFF
people who visit your web site. That is the only thing you accomplish.
Your sponsors will not benefit IN ANY MANNER from pissing off the people who
visit your ad site with ad blocker software enabled. -Dave

Hate to rain on your harangue but sometimes (particularly with sites that
get a lot of traffic) ad campaigns pay off per impression -- not by having
the visitor click through and buy something (and thank God people like you
who are anal rententive about not seeing any ads at all on the Web are in
the severe minority, otherwise there'd be nothing on it but Wikipedia).

 

[Dave]

Hate to rain on your harangue but sometimes (particularly with sites that
get a lot of traffic) ad campaigns pay off per impression

Well how are they going to pay off at all if lots of pissed off web users
decide to boycott the site where the ads are run?

-- not by having
the visitor click through and buy something

I'd like to know who is smart enough to search for articles written by
technical experts like tweaktown and yet STUPID enough to click through an
ad and buy something. Does that person exist?

(and thank God people like you
who are anal rententive about not seeing any ads at all on the Web are in
the severe minority, otherwise there'd be nothing on it but Wikipedia).

It's not about not seeing any ads at all. It's about web surfing without
getting annoyed by huge banner ads with flashing lights and animated mammals
with idiotic slogans like "hit the monkey and win a prize".

The average adblock user:
1) Doesn't pay attention to ads at all, so would rather see just the web
site he clicked on, without a lot of extra garbage to scroll around
2) If he did see an ad, would never click on it
3) Would not buy or support in any way any commercial product or service
advertised in an ad on a web site

As I said before, what Tweaktown has done is the online equivalent of using
the DO NOT CALL list as a list of numbers for cold sales calls. It is the
exact same thing. Telemarketer insists on calling people who the
telemarketer knows have taken ACTIVE measures to prevent telemarketers from
calling. Tweaktown insists on pushing ads at people who have taken ACTIVE
measures to prevent seeing ads on web sites. It is just as bad. -Dave

 

[Guest]

The average adblock user:
3) Would not buy or support in any way any commercial product or service
advertised in an ad on a web site

A common refrain but it never works because everyone knows that's just talk
with no substance to back it up. Everyone advertises on the web now so if
you really did that, you wouldn't buy anything ever. (In which case, you're
of no use to the web site owners so they lose nothing by pissing you off but
they do save some bandwidth when you don't come back.)

As I said before, what Tweaktown has done is the online equivalent of using
the DO NOT CALL list as a list of numbers for cold sales calls. It is the
exact same thing.

No, it's not. Telemarketers initiated the intrusion into your space,
Tweaktown didn't. The website didn't call you, you called them via your
browser sending an http request for content. It's their server, they have
the right to "hang up" on unwanted visitors, just as you have the right to
hang up on unwanted callers.

 

[TomT]

As I said before, what Tweaktown has done is the online equivalent of using
the DO NOT CALL list as a list of numbers for cold sales calls. It is the
exact same thing. Telemarketer insists on calling people who the
telemarketer knows have taken ACTIVE measures to prevent telemarketers from
calling. Tweaktown insists on pushing ads at people who have taken ACTIVE
measures to prevent seeing ads on web sites. It is just as bad. -Dave

I agree.

I've also wondered why politicians exempted themselves from the Do Not
Call list. I'm certainly not inclined to vote for someone that rings my
phone when I've asked telemarketers not to.

TomT

 

[Franc Zabkar]

You can see the code in the page source... Specifically targeted to "abp".
Send the code to the Adblocker people, and ask for a workaround

function detect_abp()

Paul

Can you temporarily disable Javascript?

Alternatively, fire up a lean browser such as OffByOne
(http://offbyone.com/) to view these ad-infested sites. For example, I
use OffByOne to view news sites or forums where the content is usually
only a half dozen sentences and the rest is of no interest.

Another way to view the page is to save the source for the URL, edit
out the ABP detection function, and open the edited source file.

- Franc Zabkar

 

[Dave]

A common refrain but it never works because everyone knows that's just talk
with no substance to back it up. Everyone advertises on the web now so if
you really did that, you wouldn't buy anything ever.

An adblock user would never make a purchase influenced by advertising,
anywhere. Of course I buy stuff. Ironically though, I *personally* am more
inclined NOT to purchase stuff that is advertised a lot. My reasoning
is...if it's so great, why do they have to try so hard to sell it? So
tweaktown advertisers are better off if I do NOT see their advertising.

No, it's not. Telemarketers initiated the intrusion into your space,
Tweaktown didn't.

OK, let's look at this another way. What if I were to phone tweaktown, and
got voicemail stating that tweaktown does not accept phone calls from people
who put their phone number on the Do Not Call list? It's a very similar
scenario, and just as ridiculous...NOT more or less so.
Fact: Tweaktown wants people to visit their web site. As many as possible,
in fact.
Fact: Tweaktown is deliberately trying to piss off many of the visitors to
their web site. (WHY?!?!?)
Fact: Tweaktown has nothing to gain by their current strategy of blocking
adblock users. And a lot to lose. -Dave

 

[Guest]

As I said before, what Tweaktown has done is the online equivalent of

using

OK, let's look at this another way. What if I were to phone tweaktown,
and
got voicemail stating that tweaktown does not accept phone calls from
people
who put their phone number on the Do Not Call list? It's a very similar
scenario, and just as ridiculous...NOT more or less so.

The reason businesses don't set up those voicemails is because by law, once
you call a business, that business can legally disregard your Do Not Call
membership and telemarket you - as long as your call can be characterised as
establishing some kind of customer relationship. (And there aren't many
other reasons you'd phone a business.) That's why businesses don't bother
with that voicemail - no need when your call gave them the right to ignore
the DNC anyway.

So you see, the real world is already as ridiculous... Tweaktown isn't the
annoyance innovator after all.

 

[Dave]

The reason businesses don't set up those voicemails is because by law, once
you call a business, that business can legally disregard your Do Not Call
membership and telemarket you - as long as your call can be characterised as
establishing some kind of customer relationship. (And there aren't many
other reasons you'd phone a business.) That's why businesses don't bother
with that voicemail - no need when your call gave them the right to ignore
the DNC anyway.

So you see, the real world is already as ridiculous... Tweaktown isn't the
annoyance innovator after all.

It is oh so ironic to see someone named spammersdie defending the predatory
practices of tweaktown. -Dave