Comments on: Are Firefox Users Robbing You?

By: Jeffrey

Jeffrey — Sat, 25 Aug 2007 22:52:07 +0000

It seems dumb to block people who could potentially be customers because I'm sure only a few use the filters and blockers so therefore they write all Firefox users off as "robbers" and those who won't buy online and who block ads. You may find this leadership coaching blog insightful.

By: mary

mary — Wed, 22 Aug 2007 22:36:56 +0000

John,

Ah, but nobody knows you’re stupid on the Web…uh no, wait a minute…no that’s not right…uh…oh dear…

It is truly amazing what people will put there isn’t it? No wonder my small biz clients are so frequently perplexed by all this “web stuff.”

Ike – shhhhh….don’t tell ‘em about the RSS “leaks”

Mark – and why do we continue to be amazed at the lack of advertising (or marketing, or web) intelligence out there? Maybe we’re the dumb ones!

By: John Whiteside

John Whiteside — Wed, 22 Aug 2007 22:07:28 +0000

OMG, did you check out the other links on the page? They’re a scream – like the one abuot “firefox myths” that epxlains that yes, it’s capitalized incorrectly on the main page, or the one that complains that it’s not “100% IE compatible” (because you know, Microsoft owns the web). Scary stupid.

By: Ike

Ike — Wed, 22 Aug 2007 13:56:50 +0000

I wonder if any of these sites have RSS feeds. Imagine how p***ed off they’ll be if they find out there are other ways to get content.

By: mary

mary — Tue, 21 Aug 2007 13:02:23 +0000

Steve,

Always great to hear from a lurker! (now, that reads welrd, doesn’t it?)

I’m with you re the Ad Hell sites – they’re just not worth it. I can find whatever somewhere else. The only time I will stay on such a site is when I’m doing research for one of their competitors…and dissecting the lousy web site for that competitor (ah-yahhhh).

As for BSG, it took me until well into the second year. You might want to give it a second chance – and try to think of it as totally separate from the original. It’s a whole different type of show than the original (which was, I admit, fun.)

By: Steve

Steve — Tue, 21 Aug 2007 05:11:19 +0000

Ha! This gets me on four levels:
1. *Long* time firefox user. Was using firefox before it became firefox.
2. I do run adblock-plus and another plugin for updating ad blocking filters.
3. I run principally on Linux. Not Windows. I’m a Unix sysadmin by trade, so it’s just easier. I mention this as it seems I’m, apparently, from an even smaller freeloading minority. Or so we are often portrayed.
4. I would spend maybe $10’s of K online per year. When you spend so much time online for your job, it’s just *easier*. Living in a smaller city means you get access to “stuff” that is nigh impossible to physically/locally find as well.

As mentioned in 4, I spend vast quantities of time online. Researching problems, learning new things etc etc etc. All the irritating flashing YUK gets *very* annoying. So I switch it off. I still see ads – in google or gmail for example, but they’re not intrusive – and I do read them now and then too! Particularly on searches for “stuff”.

Now the real stupidity of these… people you reference, is that I can get another plugin that will allow firefox to “lie” as to which type of browser it is. It’s not in widespread use, last I looked, but it’s trivial to use, and essentially undetectable serverside. Or even with Javascript, which is “serverside” in this case too.
It was very useful to use this in the earlier days when sites were coded with “MSIE only” gumpf. Pretend to be IE, site lets me in. Sigh.

Now even with adblock there are some sites that I simply won’t go near any more. I refer to them as “Ad Hell”. I’m sure we know the type.

Cheers!
PS: Mary: long time lurker, 3rd time commenter, keep up the great writing! I’ve learnt heaps. Hugely appreciated.
PPS. Despite the obvious predilection to Sci-Fi, I’ve never been able to get with the new Battlestar Galactica. Too fond of the original, possibly. Sorry.

By: Mark Cahill

Mark Cahill — Mon, 20 Aug 2007 14:49:39 +0000

Oh my…they truly don’t understand the nature of advertising!

I sat through a meeting with the local radio station on Thursday aft. in which I hoped to get a good ad rate for some small business customers. Knowing I’m a “web guy” they kept coming back to pitching me on “Keyword Banner Ads” on their website. After telling them a few times “I am not interested in advertising on your website, but you can throw it in for free if you need to fill your inventory,” they got the idea…

Firefox is theft? Great guys…you probably won’t have to worry about all those pesky users soon…